Best golf courses near Annapolis, MD

Located across Seven River from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, the U.S. Naval Academy course received a significant boost in variety and complexity following a 2019 renovation from Andrew Green. The course has a rich heritage, designed by William Flynn in the 1920s, but the holes had become worn down and simplified, with lackluster bunkers and small, tilted greens. Green rebunkered the course as Flynn might have, adding over 20 of them in enlarged, more shapely forms. He also removed unnecessary trees and expanded fairways and greens to capture more playing angles and hole locations. A major improvement.

From Golf Digest Architecture Emeritus Ron Whitten: In 2015, when Pete Dye started work on Links at Perry Cabin, he had no idea that soon after his approval of the contours of its last green, he’d be forced into involuntary retirement by the cruelest aspect of the aging process, the dissipation of one’s memory. His fans should know that the 93-year-old Hall of Famer remains creative to the end.Though he has routed 18s in northern Florida and Indiana that others are now building, this is his final full design, from start to finish. It opened last year and is accessible to guests of The Inn at Perry Cabin in St. Michaels, Md., about an hour outside Annapolis.Assisted by his younger son, P.B., Pete transformed a low-profile 1971 collaboration with brother Roy, replacing it with a far more dynamic creation.Though it’s not meant to be the “best of Dye,” there’s no mistaking its inspirations. The diagonal fourth green—with its right half racing downhill and to the right—brings to mind Pete’s 13th at Crooked Stick.RELATED: Pete Dye's final chapterThe par-5 14th, its elevated fairway curving around a long strip bunker against a lagoon, resembles the fifth at Whistling Straits.The island-green, par-3 17th is a mirror image of Pete’s 17th at TPC Sawgrass, but with a larger green and a comforting ring of rough around the collar.Two holes are particularly engaging curtain calls. The par-3 seventh features a Biarritz green, and though it was added at the request of owner Richard Cohen, it’s fitting that a Dye course finally contains a replica of the most iconic C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor convention, given how much Dye admires their architecture.And the 487-yard 18th, a C-shape par 4 around an enormous lake, looks much like the Waterloo 13th at The Dunes Golf & Beach Club in Myrtle Beach, a Robert Trent Jones design. When Pete started his career, he said he’d do the opposite of whatever Trent Jones was doing, just to set himself apart. Can it be that Pete Dye’s final golf hole is a tribute to Old Man Jones?

The aptly named Renditions course features replica holes from host courses of all four men’s major championships. About 40 minutes east of Washington, D.C., Renditions opens with a replica of The Country Club’s 17th hole, which played a pivotal role in Francis Ouimet’s 1913 U.S. Open victory. All three holes of Augusta National’s Amen Corner are included on the front nine, though the replica of the par-3 12th is a little gentler, with a softer slope short of the green. The replica of the island-green 17th at TPC Sawgrass is impressively similar to the original, featuring the same prominent slopes and lone tree in the water to the right.

Oak Creek Golf Club, about 30 minutes east of Washington, D.C., opened in the early 2000s as a private club. Yet in 2013, the course underwent significant renovations to make the layout more player-friendly, and it reopened in 2015 as a public layout. The tree-lined course plays over rolling terrain and has large undulating greens that can leave players with difficult two-putts.

Water comes into play on numerous holes at Lake Presidential, which plays around a narrow, winding lake. The landing areas are generous, with many fairways canted towards the middle. The public course just over 30 minutes from Washington, D.C., will test your short game—many of the greenside bunkers are quite deep and the greens are undulating. With weekday rates around $50, Lake Presidential is a solid public option for D.C. golfers.