
Dan Murphy
Handicap 1
Dan is the chairman of the NCG Top 100s Panels and has played every course on these lists multiple times.
Home club
Course I love
A great course in four words?
Design, turf, consistency, options
NCG Top 100s
Welcome to NCG Top 100s Our NCG Top 100s chairman, Dan Murphy, is responsible for assembling our panels and indeed the lists themselves.
We use a different set of panellists for each NCG Top 100s list. The one constant is Dan.
Although we refresh our panel for each and every ranking, many of our panellists have contributed to several of our lists over a long period. What do we look for in a panellist? Well, we insist that all our panellists are widely golfed and enthusiastic. Panellists must also commit to visiting a minimum of eight courses from the shortlist in the year of an update. We want our rankings to be contemporaneous. So our panellists must be active – and willing and able to get out there and see the courses in the year of a ranking update. We like to use panellists who are strong in particular countries and we are always on the lookout for additional panellists who will strengthen our group. Rest assured that all of our panellists have plenty of experience in the field.
So why does our panel change from one list to the next? Well, there are several good (and practical) reasons:
• We assemble bespoke panels who are specialists in a particular region or country
• We regularly refresh our panels to avoid 'groupthink' or becoming stale
• We periodically meet new panellists who can make our lists better
• We insist on our panellists committing to going out and playing a proportion of the courses on our shortlist every time we begin a project to update a list. Not all previous panellists are able to commit Now, let's meet the panel.
You can check out all of our panellists here, to learn about their golfing passions and experiences.

Handicap 1
Dan is the chairman of the NCG Top 100s Panels and has played every course on these lists multiple times.
Home club
Course I love
A great course in four words?
Design, turf, consistency, options

Handicap 2
Solicitor
Home club
Course I love
A great course in four words?
Strategic, challenging, natural, varied

Handicap 14
Sean describes himself as “an American ex-pat who enjoys playing the back alley courses of GB&I”.
Home club
Course I love
A great course in four words?
Routing, soil, turf, greens

Handicap 15
Co-founder of Oltomo, publishr of Golfland Scotland
Home club
Course I love
A great course in four words?
Setting, variety, fairness, condition

Handicap 4
MD of a promotional merchandise company
Home club
A great course in four words?
Naturalness, flow, memorability, playability

Handicap 0
Jim describes himself as “a nomadic golfer who believes few courses can rest on their laurels”.
Home club
Course I love
A great course in four words?
Elegant, sophisticated, utterly unforgettable

Handicap 3
Ed says he enjoys “visiting new courses and returning to the best ones which almost exclusively involve firm turf, natural movement in the land and lots of strategic options”.
Course I love
A great course in four words?
Options, firm turf, cadence

Handicap 1
Phil's interests include golf and beer... The perfect combination!
Course I love
A great course in four words?
Somewhere near the sea

Handicap 0.3
NHS Finance
Home club
Course I love
A great course in four words?
Unforgettable, challenging, conditioning, fairness

Handicap 11
NCG's Club Golf Editor
Home club
Course I love
A great course in four words?
Fun, firm, variety, challenge

Handicap 8
Software Consultant
Home club
A great course in four words?
Layout, Condition, Challenge, Enjoyment.

Handicap 6
Sports Marketing Specialist
Home club
Course I love
A great course in four words?
Maintained, aesthetic, variety, character

Handicap 0
Founder
Home club
Course I love
A great course in four words?
Heather, wildlife, swales, hollows

Handicap 20
Accountant
Home club
A great course in four words?
Diversity, reasonable forgiveness, beauty

Handicap 22
Home club
A great course in four words?
Natural beauty, impeccable maintenance

Handicap 7
Marketing Consultant
Home club
A great course in four words?
Setting, turf, design, greens

Handicap 9
Marketing Manager
Home club
A great course in four words?
Challenge, Variety, Excellence, Beauty

Handicap 0
Owner of Precision Pressure Washing
Home club
A great course in four words?
Challenging, Scenic, Condition, Memorable

Handicap 12
Dove describes herself as: “An American that adores golf in GB&I and until I figure out being an ex-pat I’ll keep being over here every chance I get”.
Home club
A great course in four words?
Strategy, fairness, condition, variety

Handicap 0
Managing Director, Education Enterprise
Home club
A great course in four words?
Challenge, variety, aesthetics, agronomy

Handicap 11
Inventory Manager
Home club
Course I love
A great course in four words?
Setting, condition, challenging, memorable

Handicap 9
Postman
Home club
Course I love
A great course in four words?
Conditioning, variety, natural, accessible

Handicap 8
Author
A great course in four words?
Meaning, unity, rhythm, balance

Handicap 9.8
Tournament Controller, The PGA
Home club
A great course in four words?
Strategy, routing, personality, condition

Handicap 7.1
Retired Company Director (Owner)
Home club
A great course in four words?
Conditioning; Variety; Playability; Design

Handicap 8
Water Industry Consultant
Home club
A great course in four words?
Heather, Sand, Challenge & Variation

Handicap 8
Engineer
Home club
A great course in four words?
Architecture, strategy, undulation, agronomy

Handicap 0.5
Account Manager, 18Players
A great course in four words?
Location, variation, firm turf

Handicap 6
Telecom company owner
A great course in four words?
Setting, design, fairness, turf

Handicap 12
Interior Designer
Home club
A great course in four words?
Conditioning, cohesion, interesting, beauty

Handicap 0
Online Sports Betting
A great course in four words?
Choices, Challenge, Variety, Adventure

Handicap 1
Business Operations Manager
Home club
A great course in four words?
Design, setting, challenge, fun

Handicap 7
Judge
Home club
Course I love
A great course in four words?
Fairness, challenging, scenic, memorability

Handicap 0
Company Director
A great course in four words?
Beautiful, natural & thought-provoking

Handicap 6
Pharmacist
A great course in four words?
Interesting, fair, memorable, accessible

Handicap 18
Retired
A great course in four words?
Condition, Fairways, Variety, Greens

Handicap 10.5
Retired Journalist
A great course in four words?
Layout, uniqueness, conditioning, land

Handicap 8
Course Architect
Home club
A great course in four words?
Turf, engaging, environment, options

Handicap 17
Journalist
A great course in four words?
Condition, playability, variety, vista