Contact: Sammy McDavid
In a variation of its latest national survey announced two months ago, Golf Digest magazine is listing the Mississippi State University golf course among the top five public links in the state.
In an end-of-the-year supplement to the country's most widely circulated golf magazine, the 18-hole, par 72 Mississippi State course was included in the 1996-97 "Places to Play" listings. This was the third time in less than a decade that the magazine had recommended the year-round course, which is located three miles east of campus on state Highway 182.
Now, the January edition has provided a ranking of the "Top 10" public-access courses in each state. (Some facilities included in this edition are not among those listed in December.)
"These are the best public and resort courses in the U.S., reviewed both in terms of our latest design ranking and star ratings, then reshuffled into the order in which we feel you'd want to play them," the editors write in the article's introduction.
Mississippi State was ranked as fifth best in the state, behind Timberton Golf Course in Hattiesburg, Kirkwood National Golf Course in Holly Springs, Windance Country Club in Gulfport, and Diamondhead Country Club's Cardinal Course in Hancock County.
The remaining five include, in order, Diamondhead's Pine Course, Mississippi National Golf Course in Gautier, Ole Miss Golf Course in Oxford, and the Plantation and Wedgewood golf courses in Olive Branch.
Golf Digest, which has a monthly circulation of 1.5 million, had included Mississippi State in its "Places to Play" in 1990 and 1994. In the December supplement, the magazine called the Mississippi State course the "best college course in the South," adding that it was "challenging, but fair" with a "fun, walkable layout."
Overall, the course got a three-star rating (out of five) and was given the special designation of being a "great value." Green fees are $10 and $15.