Augusta National Ranked No. 1 Private,

Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Grand National Golf Club Ranked No. 1 Public

and Kiawah Island Golf Resort Ranked No. 1 Resort

NEW YORK, NY-The first ever Golf World "Readers' Choice Awards" have been unveiled, recognizing the 50 best private, public and resort golf destinations in the country. The distinctions are based solely on the input of Golf World readers and will be published in the October 17 issue of the magazine. The full lists, including special online-only sections, can be viewed at www.golfworld.com. The "Readers' Choice Awards" is the first ranking published by Golf World in its 61-year history.

Golf World readers were asked to evaluate the nation's courses in three distinct categories-private, public and resort-based on 13 different performance criteria, such as quality of the course, course conditions, reputation/prestige and service. Over 21,000 individual golf course evaluations were received.

"Golf World readers are the most passionate golfers in the game and they place a strong emphasis on the courses they play," said Geoff Russell, Golf World editor-in-chief. "I cannot think of another group of people that are more qualified to rate golf facilities than our readers."

Augusta National Golf Club, the famed Masters venue, is the top-rated course in the private category. Rounding out the top-five are: No. 2 Pine Valley G.C. (Pine Valley, NJ), No. 3 Hidden Creek G.C. (Egg Harbor Twp., NJ), No. 4 Firestone C.C. (Akron, OH), No. 5 Oak Hill C.C. (Rochester, NY).

On the public side, Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Grand National Golf Club in Opelika, AL was voted by Golf World readers as the number one public course. The rest of the top-five includes: No. 2 Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Capitol Hill (Prattville, AL), No. 3 Paa-Ko Ridge G.C. (Sandia Park, NM), No. 4 Longaberger G.C. (Nashport, OH, No. 5 Tobacco Road G.C. (Sanford, NC).

The number one resort is Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina. The rest of the top-five consists of: No. 2 Turning Stone Resort (Verona, NY), No. 3 Sea Island Golf Club (Sea Island, GA), No. 4 Reynolds Plantation (Greensboro, GA), No. 5 Pinehurst Resort (Pinehurst, NC).

To determine the overall rankings, the ratings that were received by each facility in each of the 13 performance categories were totaled and then balanced to fit on a 100 point scale.