West Point, Miss. / 662-524-1000 / mossyoakgolf.com / Gil Hanse (2016) / 7,212 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 57.0924
Six years ago, George Bryan, who also owns No. 60 Old Waverly, gave Gil Hanse land directly to its north and asked him to build a public course good enough to serve as the new home course for Mississippi State University’s golf teams. Hanse’s design takes advantage of a prominent diagonal ridge that runs across the site and his routing works up, down and sideways across that landform. There’s a stream that comes prominently into play, as well as an irrigation lake over which the par-3 11th plays, but there are just 19 trees on the course, mostly ancient oaks. Mississippi State has recently become the home of President U.S. Grant’s official papers, so Gil dubbed his massive 30,000 square-foot fairway bunker on the 17th, “Grant’s Tomb.” But the name hasn’t stuck; club officials opted to honor their boss instead, calling it, “George’s Bunker.”
100 Greatest Public History: Newly ranked. Highest ranking: Present ranking.