Here's a little bit of sacrilege for all the fawning golf historians out there: Winged Foot's nice enough, but it's no once in a lifetime play. It isn't Augusta National. It isn't the Old Course. It's certainly not Bethpage Black. Heck, it isn't even Baltusrol.

Sure, the English Tudor clubhouse sets a neat, staid, stuffy tone, but the West Course itself runs out over largely flat New York land.

Give me the showy over-the-top high-end public golf of courses like Wolf Creek in Mesquite, Nev., Mexico's Cabo del Sol and my new favorite - Lake Tahoe's Edgewood - any day.

For the mid-to-high handicapper, that trio is going to deliver more wows than Winged Foot. And it's not even that close.

A.W. Tillinghast probably wished he had better piece of land to work with too. Not that he'd readily recognize his creation under the USGA's tinkering anyways.

For a complete story on Winged Foot - and a no-bull look at the USGA's changes - stay tuned to TravelGolf.com tomorrow.

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