Olympic View, #20 Best Golf Experience in USA and Canada West, Fairways and Greens Magazine 2006

Fairways + Greens Magazine tabs top golf courses for 2006. The verdict is in and once again it’s clear that for the greatest golf in the West, you’ve got to go coastal.

Fairways + Greens Magazine’s (FG’s) third annual Signature Series issue, which covers the best of golf in the American west, has named Pacific Dunes in Bandon, Ore., the top Resort Course and Trump National Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., the top Non-Resort Course for 2006.

FG covers golf, travel and lifestyle throughout the West and beyond, but the year-end issue is dedicated to filling readers in on the top experiences to be had from the Sonoran desert of Phoenix-Scottsdale to Vancouver Island, from Coeur d’Alene in northern Idaho to the island of Kauai. The two Top 36 lists were compiled by FG editors Vic Williams and Darin Bunch with input from the magazine’s stable of well-traveled freelance writers.

Pacific Dunes, architect Tom Doak’s contribution the Bandon Dunes Resort’s incredible golf trimvirate, wins out for its “visceral and visual power, with enough stunning sea-meets-sand-meets heather wonder to impress even the most jaded traveler.” Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore’s Bandon Trails came in at No. 4 on the list while the original Bandon Dunes is No. 6.

Filling out the top 10 in the Resort category are Spyglass Hill (Pebble Beach, Calif.), Pebble Beach, CordeValle (San Martin, Calif.), Cascata (Boulder City, Nev.), Shadow Creek (Las Vegas), the Links at Spanish Bay (Pebble Beach) and Crosswater (Sunriver, Ore.). Northern Idaho’s stellar pair of resort tracks — Coeur d’Alene and Circling Raven — are No. 11 and 12, while Princeville’s Prince Course on Kauai is No. 13.

On the non-resort list — that is, courses without a hotel or other accommodations directly onsite — Donald Trump’s links-style course on the southern tip of the Palos Verdes Peninsula earns its No. 1 spot, says FG’s editors, “with Pacific views from every hole, a never-boring routing on a challenging site, a rousing collection of long and short 4-pars and exemplary service from stem to stern.” The course is also given “T is for Trump” status in the magazine’s 60-page “The West’s Best from A to Z” section. Trump himself is listed as the course’s architect, overseeing the extensive $250 million overhaul of Pete Dye’s original Ocean Trails layout, and he’s characteristically blunt about why he included three controversial waterfalls. “They’re very simple,” he told FG. “They’re highly expensive, and the people who complain about them are the people who don’t have the money to build them. In the end, it’s a much better course because of them.”

Joining Trump National in the Non-Resort top 10 are Edgewood Tahoe (Stateline, Nev.), We-Ko-Pa (Fort McDowell, Ariz.), Wolf Creek (Mesquite, Nev.), Coyote Moon (Truckee, Calif.), Royal Links (Las Vegas), Big Sky (Pemberton, BC), Paiute Wolf (Las Vegas), Sandpines (Florence, Ore.) and Rancho San Marcos (Santa Barbara, Calif.).

Together with its extensive A to Z roundup, FG Magazine’s 2006 Signature Series is its most comprehensive single-issue look at the West’s best golf experiences to date. “No other regional magazine takes on this kind of project every year, and does a more thorough job of giving readers a clear picture of why golf in the West is so fascinating, fun and filled with variety,” says Williams. “And the best thing about it is, we haven’t even come close to a definitive list, and never will. The West is so vast, it’s an unending supply of amazing golf. We invite readers and fellow writers to let us know what we’re missing, and we’ll do our best to visit as many different courses and resorts as we can each year.”

The Signature Series issue also features a cover story on Jack Nicklaus and his stature as the world’s most popular golf architect; a trip through Idaho and Montana by motorcyle; a golfer’s planning guide to Major League Baseball’s Cactus League; a stirring and memorable father-son journey to St. Andrews; and FG’s annual Buyer’s Guide featuring top products from 2006.

A complete list of the Top 36 Courses is included below. FG Magazine’s Signature Series is available by subscription at www.fgmagazine.com or on selected Barnes & Noble, Borders and Books-A-Million outlets across America, plus major West Coast airports. For more information call (877) 399-4733.