Ranking the 5 Best Golf Courses That Haven't Hosted a Major Tournament

There are plenty of great golf courses that haven't hosted a major championship.

Some haven't because they're not interested, others because they're old classic courses and just don't have the room necessary for all of the infrastructure that accompanies a major championship.

Here's a list of five great courses that have not hosted majors. It is not based on whether those courses have the facilities to host a major or whether they'd get the OK from their members to host such a big event.

Check out my five choices, and see if you agree.

5. Cypress Point

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The famous 16th tee at Cypress Point.

The most stunning visual about Cypress Point is the world-famous 16th, a 233-yard par three that features a tee from a rock formation that overlooks the Pacific Ocean. If a player chooses to go for the pin, there's nothing between him and the green, except rocks and plenty of water.

With a constant wind blowing, there are always surprises on the Alister Mackenzie beauty.

It's an ultraprivate layout and does not rank among the most difficult courses in the country.

But it would certainly make for an interesting major. Golf Digest ranked Cypress Point first in its No. 1 Private Fun Course.

Like Seminole and Harbour Town, accuracy would be at a premium on the 6,524-yard layout.

4. Bandon Dunes

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Bandon Dunes has become a major destination in the northwest United States.

This is a prime example of a course(s) being on this list just because of the golf and not all of the other stuff that goes along with hosting a major.

The trio of courses at Bandon Dunes (Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes and Old Macdonald) are spectacular links-style layouts and have all the necessary ingredients to host a major: great layouts, the occasional ocean view and changing weather conditions that could affect play every day.

Any of the three courses in remote Bandon, Oregon, could be made major-ready and would not only give players that links feel, but they would provide great challenges because of the uniqueness of the layout.

Pacific Dunes, the second of the three, features some nontraditional routing which leads to the back nine having four par threes.

The resort itself has become a hot destination spot for its golf and would definitely make for an interesting U.S. Open or PGA Championship.

3. Harbour Town Golf Links

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The 18th green is guarded by the red and while lighthouse.

A U.S. Open staged on the Harbour Town Golf Links would be an event golf fans would not want to miss.

Harbour Town is already a regular stop on the PGA Tour with the RBC Heritage Classic, but if the course were to be made Open-ready, it could create one of the great Opens of all time. 

Add a little rough, firm up those tiny greens just a bit and speed them up to make them treacherous but fair and it would make for a great week. 

This is a course, designed by Pete Dye, in which power does not fit into the equation. Many of the fairways are tree-lined with gentle doglegs, leading to approach shots that require great accuracy. 

There are plenty of Dye's famous railroad ties framing greens that seem to hang out over water hazards.

The fairways are tight and players can find themselves being blocked from the fairways with trees that make them create other shots into greens.

The par-four 18th is one of the most famous in the game with the red and white lighthouse behind the green. It's also one of the most fearsome if the wind is howling off the Calibogue Sound.

2. Seminole Golf Club

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Seminole Golf Club's modest sign at its entrance.

Seminole Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, is one of the great mysteries in the world of golf.

It puts the "p" in private and the "up" in ultraprivate.

While it has long been ranked as one of the top five courses in the United States, this Donald Ross classic has rarely been seen by the public eye.

It has always been viewed as one of the jewels in the game, and Ben Hogan certainly believed it was. Many years, Hogan would practice there daily for almost a month leading up to the Masters, per Tim Rosaforte in Links magazine.

Tall palms, sand dunes, holes that play along the Atlantic Ocean and with the breezes off the ocean, this beauty would be a stout test, even though it measures a shortish 6,836 yards. Ross routed this course to make the players face something of a different wind on each hole.

1. Muirfield Village

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Muirfield Village's 14th is a classic short par four.

Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, is the creation and the masterpiece of legendary player and golf course designer Jack Nicklaus.

Situated on a great piece of property in suburban Columbus, the course has become a labor of love for Nicklaus, who grew up in Columbus. It has been the subject of almost yearly tweaks and adjustments by The Golden Bear, and those have yielded a spectacular 18 holes.

His latest renovations have centered around the par-three 16th and the par-four 17th. The 16th has transformed from a long downhill par three to a long downhill par three with a pond guarding the left side of a reconfigured green.

It is now one of the most spectacular holes on the course. Nicklaus has adjusted the tees on the 17th, moved some bunkers around and has made a good hole into a great one.

Facilitating crowds would not be a problem here; huge crowds annually flock to the course for the Memorial Tournament in early June.