Golf Magazines Top 100 Courses You Can Play

Pebble Beach, Sea Island, Pinehurst, Mauna Kea: many of America's most fabled golf courses are open to visitors. This indispensable, superbly illustrated guide by veteran golf journalist Brian McCallen shows exactly what to expect at each of the top 100 U.S. courses, and offers savvy advice on nearby dining and lodging.

Here's the good news: you don't have to cash in all your stock options to pay the initiation fee at an exclusive club to play a great golf course. Some of the most spectacular--and storied--tracks in the nation are, indeed, open to everyone. The bad news is you'll still need more than a few bucks--and some spare time--to get on to them. Golf Magazine's Top 100 Courses You Can Play beckon from this lushly illustrated coffee-table volume, and the names alone should send serious hackers raiding their savings and scrambling to the phone for tee times: Pinehurst No. 2, Torrey Pines, Spyglass Hill, Pebble Beach, the Links at Spanish Bay, Bethpage Black, Bay Hill, Sawgrass, Grayhawk, and Troon. That's just a hint of what's out there.

Designed for the golfer whose motto is, "Have clubs, will travel," Top 100 first lures you in with its enticing introductions to the best resort, municipal, semi-private, and daily-fee tracks around the country. Then, once it has you salivating, it helps plan your getaway. Say you feel like trying to tame Sugarloaf, the demanding 18 carved from the Maine woods by Robert Trent Jones Jr.; Golf Magazine's experts deem it the ace of the nation's wilderness courses. Top 100 sends you off with hints to help you navigate the layout; suggests area accommodations, restaurants, and other courses nearby; and, in case you have a few moments between tee times, where to find other activities like fishing, biking, rafting, museums, and even a rail excursion.

"It's a wonderful time to be alive if you're an ardent golfer with the wherewithal to take your game on the road and put your skills to the test around the nation," writes author Brian McCallen. To that end, Top 100 does pretty much everything but carry your bag. --Jeff Silverman