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Lochenheath   Newly added and still under construction.  A way under the radar Smyers in Michigan.  (May as always be accessed from A Collection of Courses)

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The Doak Scale

A very useful method of comparing golf courses based upon architectural merit, basically what is truly important about a golf course.  This is taken directly from  The Confidential Guide to Golf Courses by Tom Doak - one of golf architecture's best modern books, currently unavailable outside the secondary/resale market for somewhere between $300-$1500 depending on the particular bound edition.  The original iteration of the book, handed out as a noteboook to a few pals is really not available, so valuing it is pointless.

This is a much mis-understood scale, first off it it not linear, I'd describe it as logarithmic - exponential if you will with the whimsical "0" thrown in for a good laugh. Secondly, it deals specifically with golf courses that ask a lot of questions - my terminology.  Golf at its best is a series of questions to be answered.  The best of courses which are very very rare are perhaps best described as Mackenzian Ideal.  Doak's "Hero" if you will is Alister Mackenzie.  Mackenzie thought the ideal golf course should be accessible to players of all levels (within reason) and ask a different set of questions to various golfers to use my terminology.  Doak's scale perhaps ignores this concept a little in that many of the 8's, 9's and very rare 10's (And there is no 11!)  are often geared to the proficient golfer, a necessary exception if one really contemplates this concept of greatness. No one in their right mind would downgrade Pine Valley to a 9 (there are no decimals, either) because it suffers fools (and foozlers) poorly.  Pine Valley is a quintissential 10 in that there is arguably more architecture per square meter than on any other course in the world. Another 10 is the Sublime National Golf Links of America which while having as much architecture in 98% of its acreage, better accommodates the weaker player as if one looks extremely carefully, it is much more egalitarian than Pine Valley - nearly always providing an alternate route at the cost of a stroke or two.

To me, one of the greatest tests of a great course is to play the game "What is the weakest hole?".  Pine Valley and NGLA are both winners at this game with several holes mentioned (depending on one's tastes) when this game is played.  Certainly the Old Course at St. Andrews in Fife is very close to Mackenzian as it is a 10 and accommodates all manner of players.

Keep this scale in mind as I will be incorporating it into my course reviews and there will be another page on the website wherein I repeat this list with a few well-know examples of each numerical level.  I do tend to think of courses as groups of equals as seen on my blogspot site, I don't care which among equals is better and it may change day to day.  Tom is brutally honest and I try to be as well, but it is his scale and must be given the honour of devising any similar imitating scale.  These are to me more approachable than Top Lists that are rigid (Usually comprised of rigid lists of many skilled opiners)  in that most can agree on equals. If you've never seen it enjoy and study this methodology, if you are familiar with it, study it even harder as I find most who fancy themselves critics are too quick to throw out 8, 9 and 10 - very tall orders to fill.  To the uninitiated everyting 7 (or even 6) and above is a 10- remember that. this is all about hair-splitting.  One must put away his own biases (and mine will show through, too, occasionally) as have Tom's (Crystal Downs does not fit his own criteria -sorry Tom!!) and commonly among critics a favorite architect - be it Ross, Braid, Thompson or Coore and Crenshaw (even Doak) gets preferred status.

Above all, this is not life nor death, have fun.  Then again, golf is somewhere between a religion and a disease, isn't it?  Hmmmmmmm

0

A course so contrived and unnatural that it may poison your mind, one I cannot recommend under any circumstances. Reserved for courses that wasted ridiculous sums of money in their construction, and probably shouldn’t have been built in the first place.

1

A very basic golf course, with clear architectural malpractice and/or poor maintenance. Avoid even if you’re desperate for a game.

2

A mediocre golf course with little or no architectural interest, but nothing really horrible. As my friend Dave Richards summed up: “Play it in a scramble, and drink a lot of beer.”

3

About the level of the average golf course in the world. (Since I don’t go out of my way to see average courses, my scale is deliberately skewed to split hairs among the good, the better and the best.)

4

A modestly interesting course, with a couple of distinctive holes among the 18, or at least some scenic interest and decent golf. Also reserved for some very good courses that are much too short and narrow to provide sufficient challenge for accomplished golfers.

5

Well above the average golf course, but the middle of my scale. A good course to choose if you’re in the vicinity and looking for a game, but don’t spend another day away from home to see it, unless your home is in Alaska.

6

A very good course, definitely worth a game if you’re in town, but not necessarily worth a special trip to see. It shouldn’t disappoint you.

7

An excellent course, worth checking out if you get anywhere within 100 miles. You can expect to find soundly designed, interesting holes, good course conditioning and a pretty setting, if not necessarily anything unique to the world of golf.

8

One of the very best courses in its region (although there are more 8s in some places, and none in others), and worth a special trip to see.

Could have some drawbacks, but these will clearly be spelled out, and it will make up for them with something really special in addition to the generally excellent layout.

9

An outstanding course—certainly one of the best in the world—with no weaknesses in regard to condition, length or poor holes. You should see this course sometime in your life.

10

Nearly perfect; if you skipped even one hole, you would miss something worth seeing. If you haven’t seen all the courses in this category, you don’t know how good golf architecture can get. Call your travel agent—immediately.

The wide-open spaces of Black Mesa   

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Black Mesa 12th hole:  Likely one of the 25 most important modern courses in the USA.

Famous Men Corner

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It's not how you play that matters, it's how you handle how you play. 

Taken from Aldous Huxley:  “Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens to you.”

As the gentleman in this case at Crail!  BK, you're a good sport.