10 Best Golf Courses with Mountain Views

Mountain golf operates under different rules. The air is thinner, which means the ball flies further. The elevation changes are dramatic, which means the yardage on the card is a starting point rather than a final answer. And the views, when the course is sited correctly, create moments of genuine awe that flat-terrain courses can never provide. The courses on this list use their mountain settings as active design elements, not scenic wallpaper.

1. Edgewood Tahoe, Stateline, Nevada

The Sierra Nevada reflected in Lake Tahoe on a still morning, seen from a fairway at 6,200 feet of elevation. Edgewood Tahoe uses the mountain backdrop on nearly every hole, but the finishing stretch along the lakeshore, with the mountains framing the entire composition, is where the setting achieves its full effect. The thin air adds 10 to 15 percent to every club, which creates a recalibration that most flatlanders find disorienting and delightful.

2. Kapalua Plantation Course, Maui, Hawaii

The West Maui Mountains rise above the course, and the routing drops hundreds of feet from tee to green on several holes, with the Pacific Ocean visible below. The 18th, a sweeping downhill par 5, uses the mountain slope as a canvas and the ocean as a frame.

Kapalua is mountain golf in a tropical setting, which is a combination that exists nowhere else in American golf.

3. Troon North (Monument Course), Scottsdale, Arizona

Pinnacle Peak dominates the horizon at Troon North, and the 12-million-year-old granite boulders that frame several holes create a mountain-desert hybrid that is visually unique. The Sonoran Desert mountains provide a colour palette that shifts with the light: purple at dawn, gold at midday, red at sunset.

The Monument Course is mountain-adjacent rather than mountain-top, but the views are as compelling as any course at higher elevation.

4. Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

The northern Idaho mountains surround the course on three sides, with Lake Coeur d'Alene providing the fourth. The mountain views are constant and dramatic, with the Bitterroot Range visible on clear days and the immediate forested hills providing a closer layer of visual interest. The mountain setting here is gentler than the Sierra Nevada or the Rockies, which gives the course an intimate quality that higher-elevation mountain courses sometimes lack.

5. Old Greenwood, Truckee, California

Jack Nicklaus designed Old Greenwood in the mountains above Lake Tahoe at roughly 5,800 feet of elevation. The course plays through a forest of Jeffrey pines with the Sierra Nevada crest visible on clear days. The mountain air, the pine scent, and the quality of the light create a sensory experience that supplements the golf. The conditioning in summer is strong, and the Nicklaus design uses the natural contours of the mountain terrain to create strategic variety.

6. Payne's Valley, Branson, Missouri

The Ozarks are mountains in the geological sense, even if their scale is gentler than the Rockies or Sierra Nevada. Tiger Woods' design at Big Cedar Lodge routes through Ozark hollows and ridgelines, with long views across the hills from elevated tees. Payne's Valley uses the Ozark elevation changes as design tools: downhill par 3s, uphill approaches, and ridgetop tees that reveal the next hole far below. The mountain views here are intimate rather than grand, which suits the course's overall character.

7. Coyote Moon, Truckee, California

Brad Bell designed Coyote Moon in the Tahoe-area mountains, and the course routes through granite outcrops and pine forest at roughly 6,000 feet. The views are more forested than panoramic, with the mountains appearing through gaps in the trees rather than dominating the horizon. Coyote Moon is mountain golf at its most immersive: you are in the mountains, not looking at them.

8. Circling Raven Golf Club, Worley, Idaho

Gene Bates designed Circling Raven on the Coeur d'Alene Reservation, with the course occupying rolling terrain between mountain ridges. The views extend to the Coeur d'Alene Mountains in multiple directions, and the native meadow grasses that frame the fairways provide a visual connection between the course and the surrounding landscape. The mountain views here are background rather than foreground, which gives the course a panoramic quality.

9. Omni Barton Creek (Fazio Foothills), Austin, Texas

The Texas Hill Country is not a mountain range by any strict definition, but the limestone hills, canyon views, and elevation changes at Barton Creek provide a mountain-golf experience in spirit. Barton Creek Fazio Foothills uses the Hill Country terrain to create dramatic elevation changes between tees and greens, and the views across the valleys and canyons reward the golfer who looks up from the ball.

10. Horseshoe Bay (Summit Rock), Horseshoe Bay, Texas

Jack Nicklaus designed Summit Rock on the highest point of the Horseshoe Bay resort property in the Texas Hill Country, with panoramic views across the hills and Lake LBJ below. The elevation, modest by Rocky Mountain standards but dramatic by Texas standards, creates a sense of being above the landscape rather than within it. Summit Rock demonstrates that mountain views do not require mountains in the alpine sense: they require elevation, sightlines, and an architect who understands how to use them.

The Elevation Effect