Individual course profiles with design lineage, playing conditions, and practical detail.
Hillside layout with panoramic views of Torch Lake, one of the clearest inland lakes in the United States. Twenty-five minutes from Traverse City.
Links-style golf on 320 acres of Ak-Chin Indian Reservation in Maricopa. An annual U.S. Open qualifying site that plays nothing like the desert courses nearby.
Tom Fazio through salt marsh and oceanfront dunes, available to resort guests who know to ask.
Pete Dye's 1972 design, freshly renovated in 2025, with water on 14 holes and a green fee that respects the budget.
An inland counterpart to The Bluffs with square tees and greens paying homage to golden-age architecture. Walking only.
Links-style golf on 200-foot bluffs above Lake Michigan, ranked among Golf Digest's top 100 public courses.
Rees Jones's mature tree-lined layout, quietly aging into its best version.
A short, scenic par-71 at Arizona Grand Resort with lush semitropical landscaping and South Mountain Park as a backdrop.
Arnold Palmer's living room, and the only Orlando course with genuine PGA Tour history.
A complete reconstruction of Hilton Head's first golf course, with water on nearly every hole and Spanish moss overhead.
Established 1968 layout in Hayden Lake with mountain views and weekday rates that make it the budget anchor of the region.
The original. The course that proved links golf could work in America.
Thirteen par 3s on high ground between the ocean and the forest. Net proceeds go to charity.
The inland outlier that may be the most interesting walk on the property.
Pete Dye's contribution to Barefoot Resort: the longest, hardest, and most polarizing of the four courses.
The most visually refined of Barefoot's four courses, built by Fazio through pines, lakes, and waste bunkers.
Davis Love III's most playable design at Barefoot, routed through Lowcountry wetlands and live oaks.
Australian links influences transplanted to the Carolina Lowcountry, with greens built for ground-game creativity.
Three distinct nines carved through a former shale quarry, a Lake Michigan shoreline, and a wooded preserve. Played in 18-hole combinations.
A former military course that still fights back, especially over the final four holes.
The most welcoming course on the Grand Strand, with the slope rating to match.
Closed to public play since June 2025. A Jack Nicklaus tribute course converting to a private luxury club.
Nick Faldo's only North American design, built into lakeside terrain with elevation changes rare for Florida.
The younger sibling at Fort Ord, with Pacific views from the elevated tees and a modern renovation underneath.
The most approachable of Dye's Kohler courses, and the one that rewards a return visit most.
Pete Dye's first Kohler course, carved through river bluffs and still his most natural work in Wisconsin.
Jay Morrish's desert design among iconic granite boulder formations. No other course in the area looks anything like it.
A composite course recreating 18 of Donald Ross's most celebrated holes from courses across the country.
Robert Trent Jones Sr.'s championship design and the flagship course at Boyne Highlands. Recently renovated.
The longest course in Branson, routed through rock outcroppings, waterfalls, and Ozark creek bottoms
Tom Fazio's 18-hole design through rolling Ozarks grassland, where a resident bison herd grazes alongside the fairways. Ranked among Golf Digest's Top 100 Public.
The Grand Strand's quietest argument for greatness, served with a bowl of fish chowder.
A 27-hole complex where the Canyon nine, carved from hunting grounds with extreme elevation, produces the Trail's most dramatic terrain
GOLF Magazine declared it worthy of hosting a U.S. Open, and at $65-$105 the green fee remains difficult to reconcile with the architecture
A Rees Jones design in Boulder City with a 418-foot waterfall cascading through the clubhouse. Nevada's 8th-ranked course.
The highest course rating in Florida, and the closest thing to links golf that Orlando produces.
Greg Norman's parkland counterpart to the International, with 80 bunkers winding through former orange groves.
Rees Jones along the Intracoastal Waterway in Mount Pleasant, public access, cart included, and no resort gate to clear.
620 acres of rolling meadows and ponderosa pines on tribal land, consistently ranked among the top public courses in Idaho.
The only NFL-branded golf course in the country, a Jeff Brauer design in Grapevine where the all-inclusive green fee covers cart, range, and on-course food.
250 acres of Sierra forest with no homes on the course and significant elevation changes
The only Arnold Palmer design in the area, with six sets of tees and green fees that start at $34.
A former Nicklaus associate's best value play in the Calabash corridor.
Municipal golf in the Hill Country, priced like a public course should be.
The more demanding half of Desert Willow, rated among the top public courses in California, where desert washes and elevation changes create a round that earns its reputation.
Desert Willow's gentler layout, where the mountain views outperform the scorecard difficulty and the conditioning matches its tougher sibling.
The original. Robert Trent Jones Sr's 1949 design that put Myrtle Beach golf on the map.
Lakefront golf on Tahoe's south shore, where the closing stretch plays along the water
A U.S. Open venue built on glacial terrain, where the fescue does most of the talking.
Generous corridors, clear sightlines, and the widest green-fee range in the valley make Escena the course that fits every budget.
Rees Jones conditioning at a public-course price, quietly reliable since 1993.
A public Hill Country layout where the 8th hole, and its waterfall, justify the entire green fee.
Gil Hanse's walking-only championship layout at PGA Frisco, host of the 2027 PGA Championship, where mandatory caddies and strategic green complexes set the standard for modern public-access golf in Texas.
Beau Welling's resort complement to Fields Ranch East, routing 75 feet of elevation change along Panther Creek with generous fairways and large, fast greens.
The first Trail course to exceed 8,000 yards, perched above the Tennessee River with the highest slope rating in the system
Tom Weiskopf's original Forest Dunes layout, named Best New Upscale Course in America by Golf Digest upon opening. Set among towering pines and natural sand.
The world's first reversible golf course, playing as the Black Course on odd days and the Red Course on even days. Walking only.
Robert Trent Jones Sr.'s first island green, on Colonial Williamsburg's grounds since 1963.
The longer Golden Horseshoe course at a fraction of the price, with Rees Jones routing through natural terrain.
Tom Fazio design on a private peninsula overlooking Lake Coeur d'Alene. Ranked among the top 100 courses in the US. Members and guests only.
Jack Nicklaus built a tribute to the Old Course at St Andrews in the shadow of Walt Disney World.
One of the original Trail courses, routed around a 600-acre lake as part of a 54-hole complex in Opelika
The longest course on the Grand Strand, with five holes along the Intracoastal Waterway.
Meadow and river golf at the base of Northstar with Truckee River frontage
Tom Fazio's Arizona contribution and former NCAA Division I Championship host. Consistently ranked among the top daily-fee courses in the state.
Golf Magazine ranked it among the Top 10 You Can Play in the U.S. Bent grass greens and a slope of 149 provide a test that does not suffer by comparison with the Raptor.
Peter Jacobsen and Jim Hardy championship design adjacent to JW Marriott Marco Island, with restricted access November through April.
Fazio's second act at Wild Dunes, where the Intracoastal Waterway replaces the ocean and the green fees drop accordingly.
The lighthouse, the tournament, and a Pete Dye design that has not stopped being relevant for more than fifty years.
A 27-hole Gordon Lewis facility offering public play at green fees roughly one-third of the Naples average.
Pete Dye returned to Sea Pines nearly four decades after Harbour Town and built a course that plays like a conversation between two eras.
Two distinct design voices on a single routing, with time-of-day pricing that rewards flexible scheduling.
Robert Trent Jones Sr. carved 62 bunkers and 10 water hazards into the Hill Country rock, then called it The Challenger.
Nicklaus Signature design in the Hill Country, reserved for members who own the view.
Split-level lakes, waterfalls, and television history on a resort course that prioritizes visual drama over strategic subtlety.
John Fought's homage to classic American architecture, stretched to 7,376 yards across the Coachella Valley floor.
Arnold Palmer's 1975 design features the iconic 17th hole playing over the ocean, with whale-watching opportunities from the fairways in winter.
Home of the PGA Tour's The Sentry, this Coore & Crenshaw renovation plays across volcanic ridgelines above the Pacific with elevation changes that reward strategic positioning over brute force.
Cabot's Florida Opening Statement
Palmer's Grand Strand staple, rebuilt for a new generation.
Arnold Palmer's more forgiving offering at Kingsmill, with wide fairways and water on eight holes.
Pete Dye along the James River, with four decades of LPGA history and a par-3 on the bluff.
A 1930 Langford and Moreau design in Green Lake with massive elevated greens and deep bunkers, ranked among America's best affordable public courses.
Dramatic Ozark ridgeline golf where elevation changes do the talking.
A Nicklaus-family design at $119 a round. The best pure value in the Sandhills.
Tom Doak's links experiment on the Carolina coast, wind included.
The Dye family's trademark visual intimidation, priced for resort play.
Robert Trent Jones Sr.'s 1989 design with island fairways, water on 12 holes, and Champion Ultra Dwarf Bermuda greens at public-access pricing.
Lee Trevino's only Southwest Florida design, a 7,230-yard layout with 12 lakes built on his philosophy of challenging but fair golf for all skill levels.
Tom Fazio's first solo commission, revised and reopened on the Isle of Palms oceanfront.
Dan Maples designed it for families. The Longleaf Tee System makes it work for everyone else, too.
Golf Digest Four Star Award for nine consecutive years. A hillside design at Hilton Phoenix Tapatio Cliffs with elevation changes that earn the name.
Prairie hills give way to river pines on the east side of Austin, at a price that ranges from reasonable to resort.
David McLay Kidd's 2018 design features some of the widest fairways in American golf, sculpted around a massive sand ridge with enormous greens.
Steve Smyers' private fortress in Carrollton with an 80.5 course rating, water on 14 holes, and a reputation as the most difficult course in Texas.
Robert Trent Jones Sr.'s 1964 design pioneered destination golf in Hawaii and remains a formidable test across rugged lava terrain with panoramic ocean and mountain views.
Six oceanfront holes through ancient lava fields along the Kohala Coast make this one of the most visually dramatic resort courses in the United States.
Donald Ross at his most natural, restored to original intent. The quieter sibling that returning players prefer.
Gary Player's 13-hole par-3 course routed through Ozarks rock formations at elevation. Walking only, designed to be accessible across all skill levels.
Arthur Hills redesign in the middle of everything, priced for daily play.
A Rees Jones championship layout through 200 acres of mangrove preserve, affiliated with Naples Grande Beach Resort and open to walking at all times.
The most affordable entry point to Kiawah resort golf, set among marshland and oak canopy just outside the main gate.
Twenty-seven holes of Ted Robinson design in Chandler with water features on most holes, a Golf Digest 4.5-star rating, and complimentary replay and range balls.
A links-style collaboration between Tripp Davis and Justin Leonard on the shores of Lake Lewisville, named Golfweek's Best New Course in 2010 and consistently ranked as the top course in DFW.
Jack Nicklaus design at 6,000 feet through Truckee's Jeffrey pines
A tribute to the father of American golf architecture, built with greens large enough to land a small aircraft.
Lowcountry marsh golf at mainland prices, with a slope of 141 that keeps the design honest.
Coore and Crenshaw's second course ever built, and the one you can walk.
Fazio's canyon sequel at Barton Creek, and the course Golfweek once called the best in Texas.
Limestone cliffs, natural caves, and Tom Fazio's most geological routing in Texas.
The tougher sibling at Orange County National, with a 76.0 rating that tests accomplished players.
A 900-acre golf-only facility that consistently ranks among the best public courses in Florida.
The Kiawah course that resort guests return to, routed through freshwater lakes and Lowcountry marsh.
The original Trail site, built on former U.S. Steel mining land with exposed shale and 200 feet of elevation through hardwood forest
Coore and Crenshaw's ridgeline routing through the Ozarks, featuring panoramic views and a 400-foot wooden bridge on the 13th hole. Golf Digest Best New Public 2019.
Eleven holes with ocean views, all of them earned on foot.
Jack Neville's other course on the Monterey Peninsula, where the ocean views cost $53.
The thinking player's course at Palmetto Dunes, where lagoons wind through ten holes and accuracy matters more than distance.
The only par 70 on the island, built around long par 4s and Diamond Zoysia greens that separate the Palmetto Dunes trio by temperament.
The first course at Palmetto Dunes, and the one that best represents the Jones Sr. philosophy of bold bunkering and strategic risk-reward.
A wooded corridor through towering pines and moss-draped oaks, away from the plantation resort atmosphere.
A City of Phoenix municipal course that plays 7,380 yards with Papago Buttes as a backdrop. Renovated in 2008 at a cost of $5.8 million.
Nicklaus Signature design where Lowcountry marsh meets strategic golf.
Tiger Woods' first public-access course, an 18-hole championship layout with a bonus 19th par-3 carved through Ozarks ridgelines above Table Rock Lake.
Nine holes along the Pacific, six U.S. Opens, and the green fee that everyone has an opinion about.
The most expensive public tee time in the Coachella Valley, with two island greens and Q-School pedigree to justify it.
Pete Dye's desert proving ground, where the 17th island green is the most famous hole you will probably lose a ball on.
The Granddaddy of the Grand Strand, playing golf since 1927.
Four U.S. Women's Opens on a Donald Ross routing that proves championship golf does not require championship length.
The course Donald Ross spent a lifetime refining, restored to the sandy, wire-grassed original that the USGA keeps coming back to.
Gil Hanse rebuilt a Donald Ross original into the resort's most complete modern test. Golf Digest agreed.
Tom Fazio's centennial tribute to Donald Ross, with false fronts and collection areas filtered through Fazio's groomed sensibility.
The only Nicklaus design in the Sandhills. A different voice in a region defined by Donald Ross.
Rebuilt in 2019 by Davis Love III as a Golden Age homage, routing through live oaks and marsh with wide strategic corridors on St. Simons Island.
Branson's original championship course, with water on 12 of 18 holes and green fees that start at $35
The NCGA's own course in Del Monte Forest, and the peninsula's best value for members who know to ask.
One of the first courses on the island, where small greens and thick rough reward accuracy over ambition.
SC's 2025 Course of the Year, open to the public and flying under the radar.
A public course ten minutes from Disney with greens that punch above its price point.
Carmel Valley's quiet alternative, where the fog lifts earlier and the pace slows down.
Dramatic elevation changes on 7,249 yards of Rees Jones desert design, 45 minutes northwest of Scottsdale in Peoria.
A Carolina-style layout with 6,000+ imported Georgia pines, five miles from Sky Harbor Airport. Scottsdale desert golf, this is not.
The only Jack Nicklaus Signature Design in Nevada, with multiple holes along the Lake Las Vegas shoreline. Former host of the Wendy's 3 Tour Challenge.
The most relaxed of the three Sea Island courses, routed through mature live oaks and marshland at a length that invites enjoyment over endurance.
Jack Nicklaus's precise demand for iron play, with pot bunkers and small greens that accept nothing casual.
Arnold Palmer's signature elevation changes bring hill-country drama to flat Florida.
Tom Watson's strategic test on rolling terrain, and the most cerebral of Reunion's three designs.
Palmer's riverside signature in Brunswick County, with the slope rating to prove it.
Arnold Palmer's marshland routing along the Wando River, with 13 waterside holes and green fees that start at $50.
The Trail's flagship at 8,191 yards, routed through pine forests and across two lakes with 200 feet of elevation change
Mike Strantz brought Royal County Down to Virginia. The course divides opinion and rewards conviction.
Three British Isles-themed nines at a price that makes five-round Orlando trips possible.
Raymond Floyd's original 2001 course through 500 acres of Estero Bay preserve, reopened in November 2023 after a $20M renovation managed by Troon.
The resort's original Coore and Crenshaw course plays through exposed sand dunes with firm-and-fast conditions and multiple strategic playing options.
The most accessible course on St. Simons Island, a George Cobb design managed by Troon with public tee times and sensible green fees.
Host of the PGA Tour's RSM Classic and the original heart of Sea Island golf, routed along tidal marshes and the Georgia coast since 1929.
Tom Doak's heathland-inspired par 68 packs a 74.2 course rating into fewer than 5,900 yards through small, complex green sites.
An all-inclusive green fee, a par 3 framed by 33,000 flowers, and a redesign that earned a second life.
Formerly Rio Secco. A Rees Jones desert-canyon layout in Henderson with dramatic elevation changes and the Butch Harmon School of Golf on site.
A $60 million Tom Fazio creation carved from flat desert, ranked among the top 25 courses in America. The limousine ride is included.
Arnold Palmer design set in the hills above Lake Bellaire with significant elevation change and resort stay-and-play packages.
No bunkers. Every hole with an ocean view. The wind does the rest.
Water on 15 of 18 holes along the headwaters of the Everglades, redesigned by the Palmer firm in 2016.
Twenty-seven holes across three nines, with a green fee range wide enough to accommodate nearly any budget.
Nineteen par 3s from 60 to 160 yards. The resort's seventh course and newest reason to stay an extra day.
A former Bob Hope Classic host that charges municipal rates. The value gap between what SilverRock costs and what it delivers is the widest in the valley.
The original Pete Dye course at Paiute and the most forgiving of the three layouts, with a 126 slope that welcomes mid-handicappers.
Pete Dye in the Florida Hills
The hardest course most golfers will ever play on the Monterey Peninsula, and possibly the most honest.
Gil Hanse's Answer to the Streamsong Landscape
The Quieter Genius of Streamsong's Original Pair
The Course That Rewrote What Florida Golf Could Be
The most playable of Pete Dye's three Paiute courses, with railroad-tie bunkers and undulating greens on open desert terrain.
Mountain views and honest golf at Lake Tahoe's most accessible green fee
The cheapest legitimate round in the Coachella Valley, on a 1959 municipal course with 40 Palmer-era bunkers and peak-season green fees under $65.
Rees Jones built it for Golf Digest's Top 5 in 1991. The restored greens still hold up.
Flat, links-style Coore-Crenshaw design with views of the McDowell Mountains and Pinnacle Peak. Consistently top-5 in Arizona by Golfweek.
The more traditional counterpart to the O'odham. Tree-lined fairways, raised greens, and a Coore-Crenshaw design that rewards accuracy.
Jeff Brauer's municipal gem in Grand Prairie with bentgrass greens, Bermuda fairways, and green fees that start at $55.
A municipal course reborn in 2018 adjacent to Globe Life Field, offering modern public golf at Arlington pricing with a Texas Rangers brand.
Twelve Holes, No Tee Times, Pure Golf
Arnold Palmer's longest Coachella Valley design, with Bermuda greens and a Bob Hope Classic pedigree.
Home of the famous floating green on the par-3 14th, reached by mahogany boat. Mandatory forecaddie service and lake views throughout.
A 12-hole, par-45 afternoon course inspired by ancient Scottish links like Prestwick and North Berwick, opening in 2026.
Jack Nicklaus Signature design on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille, with limited public tee times and a setting few Nicklaus courses can match.
A Joe Lee design on St. Simons Island with saltwater marshes, mature trees, and the lowest green fees in the Golden Isles.
A down-to-the-inch recreation of C.B. Macdonald's lost 1917 Long Island masterpiece, rebuilt on Wisconsin sand dunes and opened in 2023.
A links course on the Pacific, a bagpiper at sunset, and a Hanse renovation that will redefine it.
Built for a Ryder Cup, defined by the Atlantic, and still the most demanding seaside test in American golf.
Two acres of putting contours inspired by the Himalayas at St. Andrews. Free for resort guests.
Fazio's inland Kiawah layout along the river and tidal creeks, sheltered from the wind that defines the Ocean Course.
A 7,180-yard resort layout managed by Marriott Golf, redesigned by Robert Cupp in 2003, with difficulty ratings that match the premium tier at lower pricing.
Eighteen Architects, Eighteen Par 3s, One Afternoon
A 17-hole par-3 short course with holes ranging from 40 to 140 yards, featuring template greens including a Biarritz, Lion's Mouth, and Redan.
The Short Course That Completes the Cabot Day
Tripp Davis's tribute to Scottish links design on the banks of Lake Lewisville, a former top-ranked daily-fee course in North Texas and sister layout to Old American.
Twenty-seven holes of Scottish-flavored design in Sunset Beach.
A par-64 executive layout through hilly Ozark terrain with resort convenience and the area's best stay-and-play value
Greg Norman's second Tiburon design with pine straw-lined fairways, crushed coquina waste areas, and the highest slope rating in Naples at 147.
Home of the PGA Tour's QBE Shootout and the LPGA's CME Group Tour Championship, a Greg Norman design featuring stacked sod-wall bunkers on a 7,288-yard layout.
Oceanfront holes and marsh crossings on the Cherry Grove peninsula, at a fraction of the expected price.
Mike Strantz carved a sand quarry into the most polarising course in the Southeast. The slope of 150 is not a misprint.
The only par-3 course ever used by the PGA Tour, a Jack Nicklaus design through limestone cliffs above Table Rock Lake.
Home of the PGA Tour's CJ CUP Byron Nelson, a Tom Weiskopf design in McKinney that underwent a $22 million renovation and remains strictly private.
A PGA TOUR-managed facility in the desert canyons northwest of the Strip, with six sets of tees and tournament-standard conditioning.
The only TPC-branded public course on the Grand Strand, built by Fazio through Lowcountry wetlands.
The second course at TPC Sawgrass, redesigned in 2014, that earns its tee time on its own terms.
The island green, the stadium mounding, and a Pete Dye design that changed how tournament courses are built.
The quieter sibling at TPC Scottsdale. Same facility standards, less than half the green fee, and a par-71 layout that measures 7,235 yards.
Home of the loudest tournament in professional golf and a par-3 16th that seats 20,000. The rest of the course rewards strategy over power.
Robert Trent Jones Sr.'s Gaylord design with elevation changes up to 300 feet. Named second-best new course in America by Golf Digest in 1987.
British links principles transplanted to the Sonoran Desert. Firm greens, bump-and-run approaches, and four par 5s exceeding 500 yards.
Desert target golf through steep arroyos and saguaro forests. The signature par-5 16th measures 609 yards through a natural wash.
Mike Strantz's bolder sibling to Caledonia, routed through the ruins of an indigo plantation.
Jack Nicklaus on a barrier island, with three oceanfront holes and a 2016 renovation that sharpened every edge.
Forty-five minutes from Austin, in Blanco, where the green fees drop and the Hill Country opens up.
A Gordon Lewis public course in North Naples offering year-round access with TifEagle Bermuda greens and peak-season rates starting at $85.
Tom Fazio's private layout in Westlake, freshly remodeled by Andrew Green in 2023, within the exclusive Discovery Land Company community.
The more forgiving companion to the Gold, the Emerald features wider fairways and dramatic tropical landscaping with ocean views from every hole in South Maui.
The more demanding of the two Wailea RTJ Jr. courses, the Gold plays through natural lava outcroppings with ocean views from every hole on the slopes of Haleakala.
Rees Jones routed through a wetland preserve to produce Orlando's most visually immersive resort course.
Named one of the ten best new public courses in the world upon opening. Scott Miller's bolder, longer counterpart to the Saguaro.
Ranked number one in Arizona by Golfweek for 15 of the past 16 years. Coore-Crenshaw minimalism on Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation land.
The Straits Course gets the headlines. The Irish Course gets under your skin.
Four major championships, a thousand bunkers, and Lake Michigan as the permanent backdrop.
A well-conditioned daily-fee option that delivers consistent quality without demanding heroics.
The longest course in Las Vegas at 7,604 yards and the most demanding of Pete Dye's three Paiute layouts. Desert links on tribal land.
The only course co-designed by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, and a better golf course than that footnote might suggest.
Bobby Weed's tribute to Snead and Sarazen, built with the kind of playability that honors both names.
The only golf course on the Las Vegas Strip. Six par 3s, a finishing hole beneath a waterfall, and a flat rate that covers everything.