Golf.com

Why this low-country gem was my favorite course I played in 2024

Maddi MacClurg — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 00:39:00 +0000

As I reflect on my year in golf and all the rounds I played, one course stands out above the rest. Nestled in the low country of South Carolina is Yeamans Hall Club, a GOLF Top 100 Course. It’s worth mentioning off the top that Yeamans boasts incredible architecture, stunning views and pristine course conditions. But that’s not why I selected it for my favorite course in 2024. To better understand why I chose it, we’ll have to go back to the fall of 2013.

At the time I was a freshman playing on the Women’s Golf Team at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (not to be confused with the Tar Heels just up the road) and we were in qualifying for the first event of the fall golf season. Unfortunately, I missed the lineup and had to sit at home while my teammates made the trek down to play in the Cougar Classic, a tournament hosted by the College of Charleston at, you guessed it, Yeamans Hall Club.

When my teammates returned home, they regaled me with their stories from their incredible experiences playing the well-known private club.

“You would have loved it, wide fairways and greens that are so undulating they look like elephants were buried under them,” one teammate said.

“It felt like traveling back in time! We couldn’t even use our phones on the range,” said another.

“And it’s right off the water, the views were amazing,” my other teammate gushed.

As I listened, I promised myself that I would do whatever it took to make the lineup the following year. Over the next 12 months I practiced harder than I ever had. I was determined to get to ChuckTown. And my hard work paid off when I qualified for the 2014 Cougar Classic.

From the moment we drove through the gates, every expectation I had was blown out of the water. Right down to the bagpiper that played up the entire first hole through the morning fog to kick off the final round.

Maddi McClurg

Flash forward to October of 2024 and I stood over the same opening tee shot from 10 years ago (above left). As I looked out from the first tee scanning the horizon for my target line, I was drenched in nostalgia. I had chills thinking about how far I’ve come.

Each hole I played unlocked some long-lost memory from my college golf career. I even tapped into some local knowledge that helped me navigate a few of the challenging course features that you’d expect from a great Seth Raynor design — the cross bunkers, elevated greens, iconic par-3s and dramatic landscapes that offer multiple routes into the green.

I attempted to beat my tournament low from college, and it’s safe to say my game was put to the test. The wide open fairways were perfectly baked out, giving drives a few extra yards of roll. But you needed more than additional length off the tee to score on this course. Good ball-striking was often rewarded, but even well-struck approach shots would occasionally catch the dramatic curves of the green and send the ball tumbling into the collection areas below or the deep bunkers that guarded the elevated greens.

Chipping onto the raised greens was challenging, especially over the gaping bunkers that were hard to ignore. And if your ball landed in one of the many greenside bunkers, you’d have a daunting up-and-down ahead of you as you’d have to splash the ball over the tall green pads. And it didn’t get easier once you got on the green. Two-putt pars felt more like birdies on the large undulating surfaces.

Maddi McClurg

But, the views, from the vast waterfront to the Spanish Moss dangling from the trees, helped to soften the blows to my score. And the half-way house provided me with the sustenance (canned Gatorade and Nekot crackers) needed to make a few birdies on the back.

As I strolled down the 18th fairway, I was greeted by the enchanting clubhouse and reminded that, a decade later, my incredible day had come to a close. Playing Yeamans Hall Club was a treat I won’t soon forget.

The post Why this low-country gem was my favorite course I played in 2024 appeared first on Golf.

A course that exists just one day a year inspired our best-read travel story of 2024

Josh Sens — Fri, 27 Dec 2024 17:02:26 +0000

“Imagine a golf course worthy of the World Top 100, a classic Scottish links, tucked along the coast just 15 miles from St. Andrews that few people are aware of and even fewer get to play.” As enticing openers go, it was tough to top the first line of what turned out to be the best-read travel story on Golf.com in 2024.

Its author, Timothy Gallant, a GOLF Magazine course rater based in Scotland, went on to paint a portrait of a purist’s playground, with bouncy turf, “spectacular sea views” and “an eclectic set of holes that imprint themselves in memory.”

“Its par 3s are cunning, its par 4s as original as those of any links. Its routing works harmoniously with the winds,” Gallant wrote.

There was just one catch, Gallant noted. Landing a tee time on this alluring-sounding layout is pretty much impossible — not so much because the course is exclusive but because it is elusive.

It is only open one day a year.

Come again? How does a course with a mayfly’s lifespan exist in the first place?

In his story, which you can revisit here, Gallant discussed the history of a one-of-a-kind links and the rare opportunity he got to play it.

Like a lot of great stories about golf in Scotland, the tale has a tie to Old Tom Morris, who in the latter half of the 1800s, built out an existing 9-hole course into a full 18.

The expanded layout, along the Firth of Forth, sat along the boundary line between two links, Leven and Lundin, and it was beloved. So coveted were its grounds, in fact, that by the turn of the century, the course had been pulled apart, with nine holes going to Leven and nine holes going to Lundin — a King Solomon-like scenario that left the original 18, known as the Old at Leven, cloven in two, with a dyke running between the nines.

From that point on, golfers on either side of the dividing line could only dream of playing the Old in its entirety.

Once a year, though, that dream comes true when the clubs at Leven and Lundin come together for a friendly competition called the McDonald Trophy, held on the reconstituted links.

Gallant scored an invite to the event and recounted the experience of what ranks among the toughest tee times in the game.

Someday, it might get easier. In recent years, the memberships at Leven and Lundin have discussed the possibility of allowing limited outside play on the original 18. If that were to happen, the lifespan of the world’s most ephemeral course would have to be extended beyond a single day.

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The best golf courses in all 50 states for 2024-25, ranked!

GOLF's Course Raters and Ran Morrissett, Architecture Editor — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 14:03:58 +0000

In the weeks since we rolled our latest U.S. Top 100 and Top 100 You Can Play rankings, our audience has been clamoring for more. After all, be it new builds, renovations or restorations, high-quality courses are continually coming online to the point where scores of courses that golfers would love to play are absent from our Top 100 ranks. A hundred spots — or even 200 spots — are simply not enough to do justice to the breadth of the American golf scene.

To cast a wider spotlight and give a shout out to several hundred more courses, we are now publishing our best-by-state rankings, as well as — coming soon! — the best courses by region (Northeast, Southeast, Heartland and West). No other country on earth has a deeper bench of exceptional courses.

Think about the abundance of golf riches from shore to shore: links, clifftop, prairie, parkland, desert, coastal. You name it, you can find it in the U.S. Just look at a state like Wisconsin as a microcosm for the rest of the country and how far it has come in just the past few decades. In 1985, the Badger State might not have ranked among the country’s top half of states for golf. Now, it is arguably in the top 5. Who knew the state’s geographic bounty beyond the fact that it bordered Lake Michigan? Today, its glacial moraines and large swaths of sand have golfers heading there in droves.

Wonder what state might be next? Florida and Texas have several high-profile designs that are about to open or whose constructions are well underway. Developers and architects are exploiting to perfection the vein of sand that starts in Pinehurst and runs through South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Great golf is no longer confined only to major metro areas. Witness the fine work at Dornick Hills in Ardmore, Okla. (population: 25,000), or the new courses blossoming around Aiken, S.C. (population: 33,000).

For deep dives on the latest in course trends, check out our all-new travel podcast Destination GOLF. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: APPLE | SPOTIFY | IHEART | AMAZON

Ultimately, one of golf’s great attributes is that it makes you spend time outside — and for geographic diversity and splendor, few countries can compete with the U.S. We should all count ourselves fortunate that we are in the midst of a second Golden Age of Architecture.

You may browse our state lists below. Enjoy!

The best golf courses in all 50 states for 2024-25

(sorted alphabetically)

To browse our state lists in map form, visit our all-new Course Finder tool.

Best golf courses in Alabama (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Alaska (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Arizona (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Arkansas (2024-25)

Best golf courses in California (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Colorado (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Connecticut (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Delaware (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Florida (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Georgia (2024-25)

The par-4 3rd hole at Augusta National Golf Club. Augusta National

Best golf courses in Hawaii (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Idaho (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Illinois (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Indiana (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Iowa (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Kansas (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Kentucky (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Louisiana (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Maine (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Maryland (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Massachusetts (2024-25)

The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. Channing Benjamin

Best golf courses in Michigan (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Minnesota (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Mississippi (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Missouri (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Montana (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Nebraska (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Nevada (2024-25)

Best golf courses in New Hampshire (2024-25)

Best golf courses in New Jersey (2024-25)

Plainfield (N.J.) CC Keyur Khamar

Best golf courses in New Mexico (2024-25)

Best golf courses in New York (2024-25)

Best golf courses in North Carolina (2024-25)

Best golf courses in North Dakota (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Ohio (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Oklahoma (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Oregon (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Pennsylvania (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Rhode Island (2024-25)

Best golf courses in South Carolina (2024-25)

Old Macdonald at Bandon Dunes in Oregon Evan Schiller

Best golf courses in South Dakota (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Tennessee (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Texas (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Utah (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Vermont (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Virginia (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Washington (2024-25)

Best golf courses in West Virginia (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Wisconsin (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Wyoming (2024-25)

How we rank courses

There is only one variable in the voting process for GOLF’s Top 100 Course rankings: the ballot, which is always in flux with new builds, restorations and even deletions should the quality of the course deteriorate.

For our newly released Top 100 U.S. and Top 100 You Can Play lists, each panelist was provided a ballot that consisted of 609 courses. Beside the list of courses were 11 “buckets,” or groupings. If our panelists considered a course to be among the top three in the U.S., they ticked that first column. If they believed the course to be among Nos. 4-10, they checked that column, followed by 11-25, 26-50, and so on out to 250+ and even a column for “remove.”

Panelists were also free to write in courses that they felt should have been included on the ballot.

Points were assigned to each bucket; to arrive at an average score for each course, we divide its aggregate score by the number of votes. From those point tallies, the courses are then ranked accordingly. It is an intentionally simple and straightforward process. Why? Because it historically has produced results that are widely lauded. Like the game itself, there’s no need to unnecessarily complicate things or try to fix something that already works so well.

The key to the methodology is the experience and expertise of our panel. For sure, our process is only as good as the panel itself. Hailing from 15 nations (and that is counting Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales as one, the United Kingdom), each of our 127 handpicked panelists has a keen eye for architecture, both regionally and globally.

Typecasting our panel would be impossible, except to say they all share a golf wanderlust. More than 55 years separate our youngest panelist from the oldest. Playing abilities vary from plus-handicaps to those in the low double digits. If 30 panelists have seen a course, you are almost assured that every set of tees was used. Many of our panelists have played more than 1,000 courses in 20-plus countries. In the rankings world, experience is essential. Communication between panelists is enhanced by maintaining a relatively small, tight group.

Because we don’t prescribe a set method to assess courses as other ranks do, no one opinion carries the day — our rank is a democracy. Some panelists believe that enjoyment is the ultimate goal, and thus prioritize design attributes such as width and playing angles, while frowning upon the need to constantly hunt for balls in thick rough. Other panelists value challenge and the demands of hitting every club in the bag. Still others consider a course’s surroundings and overall environment of paramount importance, thereby emphasizing the setting and naturalness of the course. In the end, allowing raters to freely express their tastes is what produces the desired eclecticism in our Top 100 lists.

Panelist integrity is vital. Voters with any ties or associations to eligible courses must flag such conflicts. Any vote that falls outside the statistical norm is investigated. Panelists know not to let the quality of their play influence their ballot — same for a luxe experience or clubhouse. While opulence may make for a more a memorable outing, it’s not what GOLF’s course lists are about. Our focus is on design and architecture. We study the course, not the trappings around it.

Our pledge to you with each and every ranking is that we put forward our best, most earnest effort. Ultimately, you are judge and jury of our success.

The post The best golf courses in all 50 states for 2024-25, ranked! appeared first on Golf.

Best golf courses in Wyoming for 2024-25

GOLF's Course Raters and Ran Morrissett, Architecture Editor — Wed, 25 Dec 2024 14:39:33 +0000

As part of GOLF’s rigorous ratings process for our newly released Top 100 Courses in the U.S. and Top 100 Courses You Can Play rankings, our fleet of 100-plus expert panelists identified the best golf courses in every state.

You can check out the links below to browse all of our course rankings, or scroll down to see the best courses in Wyoming. And if you’re looking to create your own trip in the future, you’d be wise to let GOLF’s new Course Finder tool assist you. Here, you can toggle all of our lists — Top 100 public, best munis, best short courses, best par-3s and more — or filter by price to create the perfect itinerary for your next trip.

Check out our all-new travel podcast Destination GOLF. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: APPLE | SPOTIFY | IHEART | AMAZON

Explore our all-new Course Finder

Golf courses near you? Search here!

Begin Browsing

The best golf courses in Wyoming (2024/2025)

SYMBOL GUIDE
# = Top 100 Course in the U.S.
Y = Top 100 You Can Play in the U.S.
V = Top 100 Value Course in the U.S.
P = Public/Resort

Ed. note: Some courses were omitted from our rankings because they did not receive enough votes.

1. Shooting Star GC (Teton Village)

2. Snake River Sporting Club (Jackson)

3. 3 Creek Ranch (Jackson)

4. Teton Pines (Wilson)

5. GC at Devils Tower (Hulett)

How we rank our courses

For our newly released Top 100 U.S. and Top 100 You Can Play lists — a process that helped us create 50 best-in-state rankings — each panelist was provided a ballot that consisted of 609 courses. Beside the list of courses were 11 “buckets,” or groupings. If our panelists considered a course to be among the top three in the U.S., they ticked that first column. If they believed the course to be among Nos. 4-10, they checked that column, followed by 11-25, 26-50, and so on out to 250+ and even a column for “remove.” Panelists were also free to write in courses that they felt should have been included on the ballot.

The key to the process is the experience and expertise of our panel. Hailing from 15 nations and all the worldwide golf meccas, each of our 127 handpicked panelists has a keen eye for architecture, both regionally and globally. Many of our panelists have played more than 1,000 courses in 20-plus countries, some over 2,000. Their handicaps range from +5 to 15.

Because the nature of course rating is so intensely subjective, no one opinion carries the day. The only way, then, to build meaningful consensus is to incorporate this diversity of panelists and experiences into one ranking.Need help unriddling the greens at your home course? Pick up a custom Green Book from 8AM Golf affiliate GolfLogix.

The post Best golf courses in Wyoming for 2024-25 appeared first on Golf.

Best golf courses in Wisconsin for 2024-25

GOLF's Course Raters and Ran Morrissett, Architecture Editor — Wed, 25 Dec 2024 14:37:53 +0000

You can check out the links below to browse all of our course rankings, or scroll down to see the best courses in Wisconsin. And if you’re looking to create your own trip in the future, you’d be wise to let GOLF’s new Course Finder tool assist you. Here, you can toggle all of our lists — Top 100 public, best munis, best short courses, best par-3s and more — or filter by price to create the perfect itinerary for your next trip.

Check out our all-new travel podcast Destination GOLF. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: APPLE | SPOTIFY | IHEART | AMAZON

Explore our all-new Course Finder

Golf courses near you? Search here!

Begin Browsing

The best golf courses in Wisconsin (2024/2025)

SYMBOL GUIDE
# = Top 100 Course in the U.S.
Y = Top 100 You Can Play in the U.S.
V = Top 100 Value Course in the U.S.
P = Public/Resort

Ed. note: Some courses were omitted from our rankings because they did not receive enough votes.

1. Lido (Rome) [#, Y, P]

The Lido in Rome. Brandon Carter/Courtesy Sand Valley

The Lido, on Long Island’s South Shore, opened for play in 1917, the work of C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor. The course met an unkind fate in the 1940s, but not until luminaries like Bernard Darwin had lavished praise on it; Darwin said he thought Lido was the best course in the world “as a battlefield for giants.” Well! Some eight decades later Michael and Chris Keiser decided to recreate the course adjacent to their Sand Valley Resort. Key to the equation was Peter Flory, who open-sourced hundreds of vintage photos of the original Lido and fed them into a software program that modeled the new Lido as accurately as possible. The Keisers then hired Tom Doak and Brian Schneider (who spent more than 230 days on-site) to build the course. This process included the use of GPS bulldozers, though discretion by Doak and Schneider was certainly required in getting the green contours just right. The scale of the course, the depth of its hazards and the size of the greens, which average over 12,000 square feet, is dazzling. Almost all of the great template holes are represented, from the Alps 10th to the Redan 16th, making this course a strategic marvel. Panelist Clyde Johnson calls Lido the “ultimate IQ test for golf-course architecture.” One of America’s great designs is back!

2. Whistling Straits (Sheboygan) [#, Y, P]

Home of the 2004, ’10 and ’15 PGA Championships, this 1998 Pete Dye design on Lake Michigan was once a poker-table-flat military training base in World War II. Eventually it became a site for illegal dumping of toxic waste. Dye and owner Herb Kohler engineered a mind-boggling cleanup, moving 3 million cubic yards of dirt, trucking in 7,000 loads of sand to create the hills and bunkers and relocating the bluffs back off the shore. Kohler told Dye “I want the course to look like it’s in Ireland.” Mission accomplished. The 2021 Ryder Cup played here highlighted what a great match-play course it is, too, with its plethora of ½-par holes. Its set of par-3s is virtually unmatched and is complemented by a slew of other standout holes that come in all shapes and sizes, including the long par-4 4th, the short par-4 10th with its central hazard, and the par-5 11th, which rivals any par-5 that Dye built over his six-decade career.

3. Milwaukee (River Hills) [#]

Designed by C.H. Alison, Milwaukee Country Club is a charming old-school layout that challenges the modern player with fast greens and deep bunkers. You walk out the men’s locker door and — boom — you’re standing on the first tee. A series of stout two-shotters gets the round underway while the middle section of the course (especially holes 8-12) enjoys a spectacular component courtesy of the Milwaukee River and its valley. The course gallops home at 17, a brute of an uphill one-shotter, and 18, with its green featuring a wicked false front.

4. Lawsonia – Links (Green Lake) [#, Y, V, P]

Lawsonia Links in Green Lake. Patrick Koenig

After years of course improvements helped bring it out of the shadows, Lawsonia no longer counts as a sleeper. But it still qualifies as one of the country’s greatest steals. Golden Age maestros Langford and Moreau spent some $5 million in 2024 dollars to produce this literally groundbreaking Wisconsin design. With the help of steam shovels, they built fairways with bedeviling browns and greens with remarkably bold contours. Of the many superb holes, the par-3 7th rightly gets the most attention, in part because of the story behind it. Rumor is that a boxcar is buried beneath it. Given its bulging surface and the 20-foot drop-off along its front-right side, that’s easy to believe.

5. Sand Valley – Sand Valley (Nekoosa) [Y, P]

A Midwestern production from the same Keiser family that gave us Bandon Dunes, Sand Valley lacks an ocean but still has much in common with its coastal counterpart. On the prehistoric sand dunes of central Wisconsin, Bill Coore worked his trademark magic, routing a fun, firm and fair course around a heaving canvas. After an opening tee shot from a massive dune dubbed the Volcano, Sand Valley bucks and rolls along a scenic property, showcasing majestic bunkers, delightful contours and, on the par-3 17th, one of the game’s great punchbowl greens.

6. Erin Hills (Hartford) [Y, P]

Erin Hills is a modern course whose foundations were laid eons ago, when glaciers sloughed their way across central Wisconsin, roiling the landscape in their wake. Far more recently, Michael Hurdzan, Dan Fry and Ron Whitten took their turn, shaping a burly but graceful layout where Brooks Koepka won the 2017 U.S. Open, the first of his five majors. Stout as it is, the course also poses subtle questions, as on the 2nd hole, a short par 4 with a tiny, tiered green. And the back nine is pure elegance, with exquisite undulations that are perhaps most striking on the tumbling fairway of the 12th hole.

7. Sand Valley – Sedge Valley (Nekoosa) [Y, P]

Sedge Valley in Nekoosa. courtesy

In his long and heralded design career, Tom Doak has pretty much done it all. What remained on his wish list was to build a course inspired by the great heathland layouts of England. At Sand Valley, he finally got his chance to channel his inner-Harry Colt. A clever, compact complement to the resort’s three other 18-hole courses (Sand Valley, Mammoth Dunes and semi-private Lido), Sedge Valley tips out at a shade under 6,000 yards. But length is not the best tell of its tape. Forgiving-looking fairways are wonderfully deceptive, with slopes and brows that place a premium on finding the right angle. Greens, too, have ample movement, and approaches to them are often complicated by rises in the land that shroud the target from view. Sedge Valley is a reminder that size does indeed matter, and that bigger isn’t always best.

8. Pine Hills (Sheboygan)

9. Sand Valley – Mammoth Dunes (Nekoosa) [Y, P]

True to its name, this broad-shouldered design takes advantage of some of the largest dunes in the vast sand barrens of central Wisconsin, with a routing that winds around a towering V-shaped wedge. But if the scale is imposing, the course is not. Once known as a staunch defender of par, McLay Kidd intentionally softened his approach here, with fairways so wide they are difficult to miss, and myriad ground game options that allow for friendly access to generous greens. The point here is beauty, not intimidation, and the end result is terrific fun.

10. Blackwolf Run – River (Kohler) [Y, P]

Whistling Straits claims the greatest wow-factor, with two miles of frontage along Lake Michigan, but this inland Dye layout might have just as many ardent fans. Built a decade before Whistling, the River course occupies one of the best wooded parcels that Dye was ever given, studded with hills and stitched through by a creek. The famed architect also benefited from an owner who offered him carte blanche, allowing Dye to create one of his most challenging tests. The demands come in many shapes and sizes, from angled greens set on plateaus to risk-reward par-5s with water lurking. Among the toughest shots is on the par-3 13th, which plays over a bend in the river with a large tree looming on the left. Though its branches have been cut back in recent years, it remains a nightmare for righthanders who favor a fade.

11. Blue Mound (Wauwatosa)

12. West Bend (West Bend)

13. SentryWorld (Stevens Point) [Y, P]

SentryWorld in Steves Point. Getty Images

In 2013, Wisconsin native Jay Blasi, working in collaboration with Robert Trent Jones Jr., rerouted the SentryWorld design by implementing unused land throughout the property. The new par-3 3rd was once just a stand of trees, and the new par-3 12th once a lone peninsula in the middle of the swamp. Now these holes smartly connect the layout. One of Blasi’s favorites additions is the par-4 15th, the preferred angle for the approach protected by a strategically placed, right-side fairway bunker. Superintendent Matt Smith has catapulted SentryWorld into one of the best maintained courses in the country, helping it land the 2023 U.S. Senior Open.

14. Blackwolf Run – Meadow (Kohler)

15. Club at Lac La Belle (Oconomowoc)

16. Steven’s Point CC (Stevens Point)

17. Whistling Straits – Irish (Sheboygan)

18. Kenosha (Kenosha)

19. Bull at Pinehurst Farms (Sheboygan Falls) [V, P]

20. Washington County (Hartford)

How we rank our courses

Because the nature of course rating is so intensely subjective, no one opinion carries the day. The only way, then, to build meaningful consensus is to incorporate this diversity of panelists and experiences into one ranking. Need help unriddling the greens at your home course? Pick up a custom Green Book from 8AM Golf affiliate GolfLogix.

The post Best golf courses in Wisconsin for 2024-25 appeared first on Golf.

Best golf courses in West Virginia for 2024-25

GOLF's Course Raters and Ran Morrissett, Architecture Editor — Wed, 25 Dec 2024 14:14:04 +0000

You can check out the links below to browse all of our course rankings, or scroll down to see the best courses in West Virginia. And if you’re looking to create your own trip in the future, you’d be wise to let GOLF’s new Course Finder tool assist you. Here, you can toggle all of our lists — Top 100 public, best munis, best short courses, best par-3s and more — or filter by price to create the perfect itinerary for your next trip.

Check out our all-new travel podcast Destination GOLF. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: APPLE | SPOTIFY | IHEART | AMAZON

Explore our all-new Course Finder

Golf courses near you? Search here!

Begin Browsing

The best golf courses in West Virginia (2024/2025)

SYMBOL GUIDE
# = Top 100 Course in the U.S.
Y = Top 100 You Can Play in the U.S.
V = Top 100 Value Course in the U.S.
P = Public/Resort

Ed. note: Some courses were omitted from our rankings because they did not receive enough votes.

1. Pikewood National (Morgantown) [#]

Built by two mining executives with no previous design experience, Pikewood National is pure golf for avid players. This walking-only course covers seven-plus miles with major elevation changes, and the hike is more than worth the effort to experience one of the game’s most scenic and best conditioned layouts. Located on top of a mesa, 30-mile views are routinely afforded across three different states. Pikewood’s collection of one-shot holes is second to none, including the 5th, which is backed by a natural waterfall, and the 12th, with its expertly contoured modified Redan green. The three-shot holes are notable, too, led by the horseshoe 8th, which plays around a gaping, rocky depression. The relative paucity of bunkers adds to the design’s distinctiveness. How these first-time architects built so many world-class greens is worthy of conversation. Best of the bunch might be the bunkerless 11th green complex with a wicked surface that slopes from front to back.

2. Pete Dye (Bridgeport)

3. Greenbrier – Old White (White Sulphur Springs) [Y, P]

The 18th hole at the Greenbrier’s Old White course in White Sulphur Springs. Courtesy

A Golden Age classic that’s always in pristine condition, The Old White is one of the few C.B. Macdonald designs the public can play. The Greenbrier’s signature course offers a great set of template holes, including Biarritz, Alps, Eden and Redan. The quirks here — only 2 par-5s (both on the back), the par-3 closer — only add the charm. It’s also a surprisingly great walk given that it’s one of the country’s best mountain courses. The Old White has hosted PGA Tour and LIV events, and the service is unparalleled. It can more than hold up to your next golf adventure.

4. Greenbrier Sporting Club – Snead (White Sulphur Springs) [P]

5. Glade Springs (Daniels) [P]

How we rank our courses

Need help unriddling the greens at your home course? Pick up a custom Green Book from 8AM Golf affiliate GolfLogix.

The post Best golf courses in West Virginia for 2024-25 appeared first on Golf.

Best golf courses in Washington for 2024-25

GOLF's Course Raters and Ran Morrissett, Architecture Editor — Wed, 25 Dec 2024 14:06:49 +0000

You can check out the links below to browse all of our course rankings, or scroll down to see the best courses in Washington. And if you’re looking to create your own trip in the future, you’d be wise to let GOLF’s new Course Finder tool assist you. Here, you can toggle all of our lists — Top 100 public, best munis, best short courses, best par-3s and more — or filter by price to create the perfect itinerary for your next trip.

Check out our all-new travel podcast Destination GOLF. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: APPLE | SPOTIFY | IHEART | AMAZON

Explore our all-new Course Finder

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The best golf courses in Washington (2024/2025)

SYMBOL GUIDE
# = Top 100 Course in the U.S.
Y = Top 100 You Can Play in the U.S.
V = Top 100 Value Course in the U.S.
P = Public/Resort

Ed. note: Some courses were omitted from our rankings because they did not receive enough votes.

1. Gamble Sands (Brewster) [#,Y,P]

After stamping his name on some penal, polarizing courses, Bandon Dunes designer McLay Kidd had what he describes as a come-to-the-mountain moment. It was time to return to his Scottish roots and the fundamentals that had worked so well at Bandon. In other words, time to put a renewed emphasis on fun. In apple-orchard country in Eastern Washington, Kidd shaped fairways as wide as landing strips while adding contours that steer borderline shots away from trouble. Greens are sizable but tame, with tightly mown runoffs where putter is often the wiser play. While the course has hosted top-flight amateur events, it is the poster-child of design for everyone. Fun, it turns out, isn’t losing your ball. It’s finding it with ease, and then sorting through the options for how to play it next.

2. Chambers Bay (University Place) [Y,P]

“Linksy” might be the most overused word in golf, but Chambers Bay is the real deal. Carved out of a former gravel mine hard by Puget Sound, the Robert Trent Jones Jr. layout offers magnificent water views from almost every hole. Train tracks and a design that welcomes bump-and-run shots add to the British Open vibe, but the sweeping Olympic Mountain vistas are pure Americana. At the 2015 U.S. Open, the dry, bumpy greens confounded the pros — Henrik Stenson griped that it was “like putting on broccoli.” But those fine fescue surfaces have since transitioned to native poa annua, so players now enjoy a much smoother putting experience…when they’re not distracted by those stunning water views.

Chambers Bay in Unviersity Place. Getty Images

3. Aldarra (Sammamish)

4. Sahalee – S/N (Sammamish)

5. Seattle GC (Seattle)

6. Wine Valley CC (Walla Walla) [Y,P]

Golfers are accustomed to seeing fescue blowing in the breeze by the ocean, but what about 200 miles inland between alfalfa fields and Syrah vines? Dan Hixson, the brains behind Silvies Valley Ranch and Bandon Crossings, approached his work at Wine Valley as if he were shaping linksland rather than the field of wild grass that was his canvas. Monstrous bunkers and rifts of waste areas require thoughtful play, but the fairways are wide enough and greens expansive enough to offer much variance setup from round to round. The par-5s, including the punchbowl 7th, also will make you think: hit the hard shot now … or later.

7. Tumble Creek (Cle Elum)

8. Gold Mountain – Olympic (Bremerton) [V,P]

Not much has changed since 2011 when then-17-year-old Jordan Spieth won the U.S. Junior Amateur here — because why mess with a good thing? Elevation changes produce challenging lies on wide fairways lined by 100-foot fir and cedar trees. The greens have plenty of subtle breaks, and adjacent collection areas will test your short game. The course drains well (a handy trait in the Pacific Northwest), but there is permanent water on six holes. Only one hole — the signature par-3 16th — is all carry over the hazard. The reachable par-4 closer offers a huge risk/reward opportunity, with water up the right side to the green. The Seattle ferry docks only 15 minutes from the course. Fees: vary with on-demand tee-time pricing.

9. Fircrest (Fircrest)

10. Canterwood (Gig Harbor)

How we rank our courses

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The post Best golf courses in Washington for 2024-25 appeared first on Golf.

Best golf courses in Virginia for 2024-25

GOLF's Course Raters and Ran Morrissett, Architecture Editor — Wed, 25 Dec 2024 13:52:03 +0000

You can check out the links below to browse all of our course rankings, or scroll down to see the best courses in Virginia. And if you’re looking to create your own trip in the future, you’d be wise to let GOLF’s new Course Finder tool assist you. Here, you can toggle all of our lists — Top 100 public, best munis, best short courses, best par-3s and more — or filter by price to create the perfect itinerary for your next trip.

Check out our all-new travel podcast Destination GOLF. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: APPLE | SPOTIFY | IHEART | AMAZON

Explore our all-new Course Finder

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The best golf courses in Virginia (2024/2025)

SYMBOL GUIDE
# = Top 100 Course in the U.S.
Y = Top 100 You Can Play in the U.S.
V = Top 100 Value Course in the U.S.
P = Public/Resort

Ed. note: Some courses were omitted from our rankings because they did not receive enough votes.

1. Omni Homestead – Cascades (Hot Springs) [Y, P]

A William Flynn masterpiece in the heart of Virginia’s Allegheny Mountains, the Cascades features rolling terrain and strategic bunkering. Legend has it both A.W. Tillinghast and Seth Raynor passed on the challenging site before then little-known Flynn accepted the design job. He had to dynamite through limestone to find some of the fairways, but in 12 months he carved out one of America’s finest mountain tracks. Young Sam Snead honed his game here and once said that if he could only play one course, Cascades would be it. The remote location makes it a tough track to get to, but for fans of Slammin’ Sammy and Golden Age architecture, it’s a must-visit.

2. Robert Trent Jones GC (Gainesville)

3. Kinloch (Manakin Sabot)

4. Farmington CC (Charlottesville)

5. Olde Farm (Bristol)

6. CC of Virginia – James River (Richmond)

7. The Foundry (Powhatan)

8. Primland (Meadows of Dan) [Y,P]

Primland in Meadow’s of Dan. Michael Clemmer

When oil billionaire Didier Primat bought 12,000 acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, he could have never envisioned the course that would be built here. British architect Donald Steele and associate Martin Ebert laid out 18 excellent holes with the help of ingenuity and dynamite, shaping the hilly terrain to their creative will. Among the most memorable holes is the par-5 opener, where the Pinnacles of Dan serve as the backdrop. Deep gullies line the property’s edge, and rock outcroppings bring intrigue to the design. The open-faced greens welcome more than just an aerial game.

9. Ballyhack (Roanoke)

10. Keswick Hall – Full Cry (Keswick) [Y,P]

The course’s architectural identity has changed three times since its inception in 1949, with an original design by Fred Findlay and an Arnold Palmer redesign in the early 1990s. Come 2014, another firm with a heralded pedigree would put its thumbprint on the property: Pete and Alice Dye. The course features classic Dye staples, including railroad ties and penal bunkering, but you wouldn’t characterize it as “Dye-abolical.” Generous greens with short-grass openings encourage all manner of shot-making, and the fairways are also welcoming. Full Cry is a fascinating and inviting change from the Dyes’ usual m.o., a course that makes high-handicappers feel comfortable while keeping the interest of better players.

11. Golden Horseshoe – Gold (Williamsburg) [P]

12. The Club at Creighton Farms (Aldie)

13. Birdwood (Charlottesville) [P]

14. Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech (Radford) [P]

15. Hermitage – Sabot (Manakin Sabot)

How we rank our courses

Need help unriddling the greens at your home course? Pick up a custom Green Book from 8AM Golf affiliate GolfLogix.

The post Best golf courses in Virginia for 2024-25 appeared first on Golf.

Best golf courses in Vermont for 2024-25

GOLF's Course Raters and Ran Morrissett, Architecture Editor — Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:02:24 +0000

You can check out the links below to browse all of our course rankings, or scroll down to see the best courses in Vermont. And if you’re looking to create your own trip in the future, you’d be wise to let GOLF’s new Course Finder tool assist you. Here, you can toggle all of our lists — Top 100 public, best munis, best short courses, best par-3s and more — or filter by price to create the perfect itinerary for your next trip.

Check out our all-new travel podcast Destination GOLF. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: APPLE | SPOTIFY | IHEART | AMAZON

Explore our all-new Course Finder

Golf courses near you? Search here!

Begin Browsing

The best golf courses in Utah (2024/2025)

SYMBOL GUIDE
# = Top 100 Course in the U.S.
Y = Top 100 You Can Play in the U.S.
V = Top 100 Value Course in the U.S.
P = Public/Resort

Ed. note: Some courses were omitted from our rankings because they did not receive enough votes.

1. Ekwanok (Manchester)

2. Burlington (Burlington)

3. Dorset Field (Dorset)

4. Rutland (Rutland)

5. Country Club of Barre (Orange) [P]

How we rank our courses

Need help unriddling the greens at your home course? Pick up a custom Green Book from 8AM Golf affiliate GolfLogix.

The post Best golf courses in Vermont for 2024-25 appeared first on Golf.

Best golf courses in Utah for 2024-25

GOLF's Course Raters and Ran Morrissett, Architecture Editor — Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:01:06 +0000

You can check out the links below to browse all of our course rankings, or scroll down to see the best courses in Utah. And if you’re looking to create your own trip in the future, you’d be wise to let GOLF’s new Course Finder tool assist you. Here, you can toggle all of our lists — Top 100 public, best munis, best short courses, best par-3s and more — or filter by price to create the perfect itinerary for your next trip.

Check out our all-new travel podcast Destination GOLF. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: APPLE | SPOTIFY | IHEART | AMAZON

Explore our all-new Course Finder

Golf courses near you? Search here!

Begin Browsing

The best golf courses in Utah (2024/2025)

SYMBOL GUIDE
# = Top 100 Course in the U.S.
Y = Top 100 You Can Play in the U.S.
V = Top 100 Value Course in the U.S.
P = Public/Resort

Ed. note: Some courses were omitted from our rankings because they did not receive enough votes.

1. Sand Hollow (Hurricane) [Y, P, V]

Built on the same colorful sedimentary stone as nearby Zion National Park, Sand Hollow is as close as you’ll get to playing golf on Mars. The more traditional desert front nine winds through red sand bunkers and native sage brush. The wild backside takes golfers across a rising ridgeline to an astonishing five-hole stretch that makes picking a favorite hole impossible. The short par-4 13th with mind-blowing cliffside views? The long par-3 15th some compare to the iconic 16th at Cypress Point? The epic 525-yard par-4 14th (yes, we said par-4)? You’ll still be trying to decide as you ask the pro shop if you can play another 18.

2. Glenwild (Park City)

3. Victory Ranch (Karmas)

4. Black Desert (Ivins)

Black Desert in Ivins. Brian Oar

5. The Country Club (Salt Lake City)

How we rank our courses

Need help unriddling the greens at your home course? Pick up a custom Green Book from 8AM Golf affiliate GolfLogix.

The post Best golf courses in Utah for 2024-25 appeared first on Golf.