This week for Power Rankings we're looking back at the top performing courses for the month of April, according to Golf Advisor reviews submitted that month.
The results show that courses further north than the big Arizona and Florida destinations are doing well early in 2016. Even a Seattle-area facility, Gold Mountain Golf Club, earned impressive reviews early, even for conditions, in a largely wet springtime in the Pacific Northwest.
Farmlinks at Pursell Farms, the no. 1 course in Alabama in 2015 (and no. 7 in Golf Advisor's nationwide top 50), was the top course of the month.
One reviewer added a trip to Farmlinks after the Masters and was still blown away by the experience.
This course is amazing. It exceeded my expectations. I just got done with a day at the Masters on Monday and 2 days at the RTJ trail in Opelika and this was my favorite part of the trip. 3 of the par 3s are some of the coolest par 3s I have ever played. The golf carts are amazing, the staff top notch, the restaurant had amazing food (loved the Pig Candy). I cant wait to come back. The tee boxes make this course playable for the high handicap to the scratch golfer. It has everything, although there is no way I would ever walk this course. I bet this course is so beautiful in the fall when the leaves change color.
You can view the full top 10 below, and we've also selected our top review and photo of the week.
Top 10 golf courses in April, 2016
Sylacauga, Ala.
Lakeland, Fla.
Florence, Ind.
Fort Myers, Fla.
Tucson, Ariz.
Bremerton, Wash.
Estero, Fla.
Conyers, Ga.
Scottsdale, Ariz.
La Quinta, Calif.
Image of the week: Streamsong Blue in Florida
Reviewer JEKelley titled his review of the Blue Course at Streamsong Resort "once in a lifetime," though the experience in some ways didn't meet expectations. He rated the experience four stars in his April review and filed this wonderful image of the rippling sand dunes at sunset:
Review of the week: Sewailo Golf Club
When Sewailo Golf Club was named our best course of 2015 in Arizona according to reviews and ratings throughout the year, we had some skeptical readers say the course in no way deserved to be ahead of such courses as We-Ko-Pa and Troon North among other state stalwarts.
But as we see time and time again in our reviews, great staff members can go a long way towards earning excellent reviews. This review of Sewailo demonstrates that when staff hustles, golfers notice, especially when it's a large group, as reviewer czaepfel stated in his review:
This was the best run tournament I have ever been part of. The staff was super prepared, from pre-meetings months in advance to the post-event wrap-up. Sudden light rain & lightning meant plan B for our luncheon but you could not tell it was plan B. The staff welcomed our golfers and volunteers warmly and the staff was amazing as the totally organized professionals I had come to expect from our meetings. I truly cannot say enough good things about how easy my job became due to their superior service and most importantly, how delighted my even most cynical golfers (some are former pros) were at how well hosted this fundraising tournament was. Junior Achievement is indebted to Sewailo and Casino del Sol. Thank you!! And yes, we already booked a date for next year. I would be an idiot not to be at Sewailo for years to come.
