Best golf courses near Burlington, MA

Winchester Country Club in Winchester is ranked as one of the best golf courses in Massachusetts. Discover our experts' reviews and tee time information

Salem was a mainstay on the Golf Digest ranking of America’s 100 Greatest Courses since the list’s inception in 1966, until falling off in 2005. Hoping to jolt the venerable Donald Ross-designed course into relevance, the club hired Eric Iverson to engage in a major, $3.5 million restoration of Ross’s bunkers that also included adjusting and adding tees, redefining fairway lines, increasing hole flexibility on the putting surfaces and taking down several hundred trees that had been choking many of the holes.

Vesper Country Club in Tyngsboro is ranked as one of the best golf courses in Massachusetts. Discover our experts' reviews and tee time information

The Country Club’s 18-hole course, which was the scene of the 1963 and 1988 U.S. Opens, is not the 18-hole course ranked by Golf Digest. Those events were played on a composite course that utilizes several holes from the club’s third nine, Primrose, designed by William Flynn. We rank the combination of the Main Course (the Clyde and Squirrel nines), clearly good enough to be one of the top courses in the world. Gil Hanse performed some course restoration prior to the 2013 U.S. Amateur at The Country Club and again before the 2022 U.S. Open, won by Matthew Fitzpatrick. The USGA used a new configuration of 18 holes for that championship, eliminating the par-4 fourth and adding the tiny, downhill par-3 11th to the mix, the first time the hole was used since the 1913 Open won by Francis Ouimet.

Concord Country Club is ranked as one of the best golf courses in Massachusetts. Discover our experts' reviews and tee time information

Charles River Country Club in Newton Centre is ranked as one of the best golf courses in Massachusetts. Discover our experts' reviews and tee time information

Belmont Country Club is ranked as one of the best golf courses in Massachusetts. Discover our experts' reviews and tee time information

This Mark Mungeam design is an inviting and fair test of golf. The signature hole is the 416-yard par-4 17th (pictured), which asks you to take some risk off the tee in order to have a chance to stick an elevated green. Be careful of the native area as the landing area bottlenecks the further you go down the fairway. It's tough to beat in terms of value in the area (about 35 minutes from Boston), at $60 to walk 18 holes.

Brae Burn Country Club's Main Course in West Newton is ranked as one of the best golf courses in Massachusetts. Discover our experts' reviews and tee time information

George Wright has always gotten love as the better of the two courses, but the other city-owned course—affectionately known as "The Park"—is as good as it's ever been. Thanks to some tree removal and an effort to improve drainage, William J. Devine usually plays firm and fast and can be a fun challenge for players of all skill levels. At just 6,000 yards from the tips, players will have lots of wedges for approach shots, but the bouncy turf and tiny, and sometimes severely sloping greens demand that those approach shots be precise or the bogeys can pile up fast. Much like George Wright, very few holes here lie on flat ground and there are plenty of blind tee shots, adding to the intrigue of the round. Unlike George Wright, the landscape here is wide open and much more forgiving for those who tend to get a little wild off the tee, while also providing for some lovely vistas from the high points on the property. Word is that Francis Ouimet prepping his game here before the 1913 U.S. Open. It’s also believed to be the second-oldest public course, having opened in 1896, just a year after Van Cortlandt Park in New York City debuted.

Weston Golf Club has a distinguished history, boasting a Donald Ross golf course that dates back to 1923 when Ross expanded on his own original layout on new land the club acquired after a move after its opening in 1894. Geoffrey Cornish, one of the esteemed architects of his time, worked on two holes (11 and 12) in the 60s, expanding the layout to a par 72. Sitting 15 miles outside Boston, Weston is an esteemed club for those in the area seeking some strong Ross features utilizing unique New England topography.

Fresh Pond should absolutely be on your radar. It's a nine-hole, Donald Ross original that’s run by the city of Cambridge and offers great value. At least half of the holes offer strong strategic design, giving you options and making you think. And there are some great views from downtown.