Sometime last year a French publisher approached me about assisting with an ambitious project it was undertaking. In conjunction with Rolex, the publisher was looking for rankings and descriptions of the Top 1000 courses in the world. In turn they asked if I could do the Canadian reviews and then the written descriptions. The reviews were done through a web-based form. I wasn’t entirely crazy about the format, but it seemed to come up with a solid list of courses, from Banff Springs to Capilano, through to Sagebrush and Tobiano. In other words it was a strong mix of old and new. And they let me be critical of courses like Royal Montreal, whose recent renovation was badly done, in my estimation.
I haven’t really had time to go through the entire book — it is 1,300 pages after all — but it might be the first project to try to rank courses throughout the world, while also offering accommodation suggestions and restaurant locations nearby.
I can’t find a North American website where it is for sale yet — but I’m sure that’s forthcoming. In the UK the book is retailing for about £25.00, so it won’t be cheap. But did I mention it is 1,300 pages long? My God, what a massive volume.
I’ll keep you posted when I hear more about the book in North America.
A bestselling author and award-winning columnist, Robert Thompson has been writing about business and sports, and particularly golf, for almost two decades. His reporting and commentary on golf has appeared in 
Dear Robert,
Is it possible to gain insight into which criteria are applied for the reviews ?
Thanks for your comment !
Jon
Jon: There was a web form filled out and it came out with an overall score. I can only speak to the courses I did, but it seems like a relatively fair take on Canadian golf…
Dear Robert
This seems like a superb initiative- is it possible to get a listing of the top 100 as depicted in the publication.
With Thanks
Jason Bird
Golf Director
Durban Country Club