The Most Scenic Golf Holes in America
Some golf holes are remembered for their difficulty. Others are remembered for a single image: the light on the water, the cliff dropping away from the green, the mountain framed in the gap between trees. These are the holes that stop you mid-stride and produce the involuntary pause, the moment where the game recedes and the landscape takes over.
Every hole on this list can be played by any golfer willing to pay the green fee and make a tee time. None are behind private gates. All of them reward the camera as much as they reward the swing.
This is a collection of the most visually striking holes on public and resort courses in the United States.
Oceanfront
The 7th at Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach, California Par 3, 106 yards
Harbour Town Golf Links
The shortest hole in U.S. Open history sits on a rocky shelf above the Pacific. There is nothing around the green but air, rock, and the sound of waves. Club selection is entirely dependent on wind, which can turn a smooth wedge into a full 8-iron. The hole is so visually arresting that first-time visitors often stand on the tee box longer than the shot requires. At 106 yards, you would think the difficulty is minimal. At 106 yards in a 25-mile-per-hour crosswind, you understand why professionals have made seven here.
The 8th at Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach, California Par 4, 428 yards
The approach shot carries across a chasm in the cliffs to a green perched on the far side with the Pacific immediately behind it. The combination of the 7th and 8th, played back to back, is among the finest consecutive holes in American golf. The 8th rewards a precise second shot; anything long will find the ocean, and anything short will find the chasm. The visual on the approach, with the green isolated against the sky and water, creates a tension between beauty and dread that is the hallmark of great coastal architecture.
The 18th at Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head, South Carolina Par 4, 472 yards
The red-and-white striped lighthouse behind the 18th green is the most recognized image in Lowcountry golf. The hole curves left along Calibogue Sound, with water in play on the approach and the lighthouse rising above the green. During the RBC Heritage each spring, the grandstands amplify the setting. When you play it on a quiet Tuesday afternoon, the lighthouse, the sound, and the live oaks create a finishing hole that is more about atmosphere than architecture.
The 16th at Kapalua Plantation Course, Maui, Hawaii Par 3, 200 yards
The tee box sits on a volcanic ridgeline above the Pacific, and the green is set against a backdrop of ocean and sky that makes distance judgment genuinely difficult. During winter months, humpback whales are visible in the channel between Maui and Molokai. Few golf holes in the world can claim marine wildlife as a visual feature.
Lakefront and Mountain
The 18th at Edgewood Tahoe, Stateline, Nevada Par 5, 572 yards
The final hole at Edgewood runs along the south shore of Lake Tahoe, with the green set against the lake and the Sierra Nevada mountains rising behind it. The water is a shade of blue that film struggles to capture accurately. The mountain backdrop, the lakefront setting, and the alpine light combine into one of the most photographed finishing holes in American golf. The American Century Championship celebrity tournament has made this hole familiar to television audiences, but the in-person experience is considerably more striking than the broadcast suggests.
The 14th at Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Par 3, 140-175 yards (floating green)
A par 3 where the green is a floating island in Lake Coeur d'Alene, reached after the shot by a mahogany boat. The green's position is adjusted daily, changing the yardage and the angle. The concept sounds like a novelty until you stand on the tee and realize that the lake, the mountains, and the isolation of the target create a genuinely beautiful image. Whether you hit the green is secondary to the experience of standing on the tee box and processing the view.
Desert
The 15th at Troon North Monument Course, Scottsdale, Arizona Par 3, 175 yards
The Monument Course takes its name from a 25-foot boulder that sits prominently near this par 3. The tee shot plays downhill to a green framed by desert scrub, saguaro cacti, and Pinnacle Peak in the background. In late afternoon light, the Sonoran landscape turns a deep amber that photographs extraordinarily well. The carry over desert waste area from the tee adds a note of anxiety to what is otherwise a contemplative moment.
The 17th at PGA West Stadium Course, La Quinta, California Par 3, 168 yards
Pete Dye's island green in the Coachella Valley, with the San Jacinto Mountains rising behind it. The water surrounding the green is not merely decorative. Lee Trevino once hit four balls into the water here during a senior event and walked off the course. The visual contrast between the green island, the blue water, and the brown desert mountains is uniquely American. This is a hole that could not exist anywhere else.
Bluffs and Cliffs
The 12th at Arcadia Bluffs, Arcadia, Michigan Par 3, 186 yards
The tee sits on the edge of a 200-foot bluff above Lake Michigan, and the green is set against the lake below. On a clear day, the water stretches to the horizon. The wind off the lake is a constant factor, and the exposed position of the tee box means you feel it fully. The Bluffs Course has dozens of holes with lake views, but the 12th is the one that demands a photograph.
The 13th at Ozarks National, Ridgedale, Missouri Par 4, 435 yards
Coore and Crenshaw routed this hole across a 400-foot wooden bridge that spans an Ozarks ravine. The bridge itself is a visual event, connecting two ridgelines with a structure that is both functional and striking. The drive and approach are fine holes of golf. The walk across the bridge, with the valley falling away on both sides, is the moment that stays with you.
Links and Dunescape
The 4th at Pacific Dunes, Bandon, Oregon Par 4, 463 yards
Explore our Bandon Dunes guide
The 16th at Whistling Straits, Kohler, Wisconsin Par 5, 583 yards
The 16th runs along Lake Michigan, and on a clear day the water extends to the horizon in a way that makes the Wisconsin shoreline feel like the coast of Ireland. The fescue grasses, the open terrain, and the lake combine into a landscape that is convincingly links in character. Dustin Johnson famously grounded his club in one of the course's 1,000-plus bunkers during the 2010 PGA Championship, not realizing the sandy area he stood in was, in fact, a bunker. The hole has both visual grandeur and cautionary history.
Manufactured Beauty
The 16th at SentryWorld, Stevens Point, Wisconsin Par 3, 177 yards
Robert Trent Jones Jr. surrounded this par 3 with a garden of more than 30,000 flowers that bloom from late spring through early fall. The "flower hole" is the most photographed hole in Wisconsin golf and one of the most unusual in the country. The contrast between the maintained garden and the golf course is deliberate and effective. It is a hole that exists as much for the eye as for the scorecard.
The Broader Point
Scenic holes in golf serve a purpose beyond the visual. They create the pauses that give a round its rhythm. A hole that stops you briefly, that forces your attention away from score and onto setting, resets the mind in a way that improves the golf that follows. The best courses in America understand this. They place their most visually striking holes at moments in the routing where a breath is needed, where the transition between holes benefits from a shift in attention.
These holes are not gimmicks. They are architecture that uses landscape as a design tool, creating difficulty and beauty from the same terrain. The 7th at Pebble Beach is short because the rocky shelf cannot accommodate a longer hole, and the result is both beautiful and tactically interesting.
The 4th at Pacific Dunes follows the cliff edge because the most natural routing of the course placed it there, and the ocean view is a consequence of good design rather than an imposition on it.
The verdict