Golfweek Releases 2012 Best Municipal Courses List

(ORLANDO, Fla.) - Following the May 1 release of its state-by-state Best Courses You Can Play guide, Golfweek continues its celebration of public golf in the May 11 issue by unveiling its fifth annual Golfweek's Best Municipal Courses list, which recognizes the top 50 government-owned courses that have gone above and beyond to redefine the meaning of "municipal golf" in the United States.

"No list we do hits closer to home for everyday golfers than this municipal list," said Bradley S. Klein, national director of Golfweek's Best Courses rating program. "We have everything from bucolic parkland settings that have hosted U.S. Opens like No. 1 Bethpage State Park-Black Course (Farmingdale, N.Y.) to reclaimed urban landfills like No. 46 Harborside International Golf Course-Starboard (Chicago). This list represents the heart of American public golf."

In addition to Bethpage State Park's Black Course at No. 1, both No. 2 Chambers Bay (University Place, Wash.) and No. 3 Butterfield Trail Golf Club (El Paso, Texas) kept their top spots on this year's list. Joining these staples in the 2012 rankings are five new additions, including leading newcomers No. 23 Sleepy Hollow Golf Course (Brecksville, OH) and No. 28 Presidio (San Francisco).

To produce Golfweek's Best Municipal Courses list, an experienced team of nearly 750 evaluators rated each public layout on the basis of 10 criteria, including routing, conditioning, variety and memorability of holes. The result is an average of scores dictating a course's overall ranking.

Visit Golfweek.com/GolfweeksBest to view the complete list of the 2012 Golfweek's Best Municipal Courses.

Contact: AmericanGolferBlog@gmail.com