It’s a good thing golf courses aren’t human and don’t have egos, otherwise all these awards could begin to go to a golf course’s head ...

Kansas State University has long been recognized as one of the top ranked universities in regard to producing scholars — ranked first nationally among all 500 state universities in Truman, Goldwater and Udall scholarship competition; ranked second nationally in Goldwater and Udall and sixth in Truman competition among all four-year colleges and universities in the United States. Now its golf course has been ranked magna cum laude among college courses.

T&L Golf Magazine has ranked Colbert Hills as one of the Top 10 college golf courses in the United States. The ranking appears in the magazine’s September/October issue. Colbert Hills is ranked 10th.

According to the magazine, while the classics at Colgate, Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona still rank among the elite of college courses, Colbert Hills and the other courses ranked are the newer tracks that have college coaches raving. T&L Golf notes that the decision by the course’s namesake, K-State alumnus and Senior PGA golfer Jim Colbert, to sod rather than seed the course, combined with its staggering length (7,525 yards), 106 bunkers and the howling winds sweeping across the Flint Hills’ make Colbert Hills a "freshman prodigy" among college courses and create "one lush track."

A total of three Big 12 college courses were named to this honor fraternity of collegiate golf courses. Ranked at the top of its class was Karsten Creek Club’s Blue Course at Oklahoma State University. Jimmie Austin Course at the University of Oklahoma, ranked sixth, was the other Big 12 courses named to this honor roll of college courses.