Tis the season for "Best of" lists, and even though we are weeks away from a new year, that doesn't prevent some media outlets from jumping the gun with their 2015 rankings. Most notable for those of us who follow golf communities is Golfweek magazine's "Best Residential Courses, 2015" list, which ranks the top 100 and then adds a supplemental list state by state.
Thirty-seven golf community courses from the Southeast made Golfweek's list of top 100 residential courses. (We include two courses in West Virginia and eastern Tennessee in that count.) Topping the list at #1 is Wade Hampton, the venerable and exclusive club and community in Cashiers, NC, named for the Confederate General who made the area his home. Its location tucked into the Blue Ridge Mountains and the 25-year old Tom Fazio gem of a layout have made Wade Hampton something of a Shangri-La among golf communities. Golfweek writer and golf architecture expert Bradley Klein wrote in 1995 that Wade Hampton "exudes the appeal of a modern classic." Twenty years later, it still does.
Old Tabby Golf Links, #28 on Golfweek's ranking of best residential golf courses.
Fazio must be pretty good at shaping the land around and atop the Blue Ridge Mountains as his effort at Mountaintop, also in Cashiers, ranks 9th on the Golfweek list, up from 12th a year ago. We haven't seen any studies recently of how much real estate weight the top designers can throw around, but our bet is that Fazio and Nicklaus would vie for the top spot. Prices top the million-dollar mark for most homes in the Mountaintop community.
