Links Magazine | The Best Of Golf | The Next Whistling Straits?

18 public courses that could host a major championship

We are in the midst of an unprecedented stretch in which public golf courses have been hosting major championships. The PGA is at Whistling Straits in 2010 and at Kiawah Island's Ocean Course in 2012, before returning to Whistling Straits in 2015.

And in the 10-year period from 2008 to 2017, the U.S. Open will have gone to six public courses: Torrey Pines, Bethpage, Pebble Beach, Pinehurst, Chambers Bay and Erin Hills.

Now that public layouts are major mainstays, where should the USGA and PGA go next? Click the link at the bottom to learn more about 18 public courses around the country that deserve major invites.

Each course has received a rating of 1 to 5 (5 is best) in the following five categories that influence site selection.

The Ratings Explained

TEST OF GOLF	Self-explanatory, but this rating is for the pros. Whistling Straits is a 5; your local 6,000-yard muni layout scores a 1.

LOCATION	Includes factors like nearby cities, accommodations and agronomy. Courses with bentgrass greens and are near cities—like Whistling Straits, north of Milwaukee—score higher while those with bermuda greens or in remote areas score lower.

ON-SITE LOGISTICS	How well the site accommodates spectators, trailers, tents and concessions. Again, Whistling Straits, which has three other courses, is a 5. Tiny Merion is a 1.

BLUE BLAZER QUOTIENT	The USGA and PGA prefer courses with tradition and lineage. Designed by Pete Dye, who has designed multiple major sites and has become one of golf's most influential men, Whistling Straits rates at least a 4; your local muni is a 1.

BUZZ FACTOR	How much interest the site would generate. As a wild, natural-looking course with eight lakefront holes, Whistling Straits is a 5. A cookie-cutter inland course would have been a 1.

Click on the icon on the following pages to refer to this rating scale.

>> First course: Arcadia Bluffs