The newest edition of one of the best guidebooks for public-access golfers, Golf Digest's "Best Places to Play," is in bookstores. The magazine offers a preview that includes some interesting categories and rankings.

"Best Places to Play 2004-2005" was compiled, the magazine's Web site says, using "reader ratings of more than 3,500 public-access golf courses across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Islands."

Courses are rated using a star system, five stars being the highest, and course listings include comments from golfers who've been there.

It's quite an honor to receive a 4-star rating from "Best Places to Play" - many courses will boast of such a rating in their marketing efforts. A 4 1/2-star rating is pretty rare; a 5-star rating so rare that only 16 public access courses in the U.S. receive the rating in the new edition.

Golf Digest's Web site now features several excerpts from the book, plus a couple articles about the book's findings written by the magazine's architecture editor, Ron Whitten. It's a great and very interesting way to get a preview of the book.

The 16 5-star courses are listed, along with such lists as Top Courses in Conditioning and Top Courses in Value.

In addition, the magazine lists the top 15 courses in each state, based on the ratings of golfers.

The main article on the new edition of "Best Places to Play," the article about the 16 5-star courses, is here. To view the state-by-state best-of lists, check this page.