The best golf courses in Arkansas

The Alotian Club has been the crown jewel of Arkansas since 2004, when Warren Stephens, son of former Masters chairman Jackson Stephens, commissioned Tom Fazio to create an oasis for him and his buddies. Fazio moved more than 1.5 million cubic yards of earth and top soil was trucked in on this incredibly steep and undulating land, which features 100 feet of elevation change, for instance, on the par-3 sixth hole. The club made one of the highest debuts in our ranking’s history when it entered our America’s 100 Greatest Courses ranking at No. 14 in 2011-2012. (It now sits at 38th on our rankings.) A top-level collegiate event, the Stephens Cup, was held at The Alotian Club, offering elite amateur players a chance to see this gloriously private club.

Another fast-rising course on our Best in Arkansas list, the Blessings Golf Club, also hosted the best players in college golf for the 2019 NCAA golf championships and is the venue for other collegiate events. Following an extensive renovation by Kyle Phillips, Blessings entered our national rankings for the first time in 2023—ranking 144th on our America’s Second 100 Greatest courses.

We hope these events continue to shine a spotlight on a golf state that offers a depth of solid golf elsewhere in its borders.

Below you'll find our 2023-'24 ranking of the Best Golf Courses in Arkansas.

We urge you to click through to each individual course page for bonus photography, drone footage and reviews from our course panelists. Plus, you can now leave your own ratings on the courses you’ve played … to make your case why your favorite should be ranked higher. 

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Explore Golf Digest's recently relaunched Places to Play community, where you can add star ratings and reviews for all the courses you play. We've collected tens of thousands of reviews from our course-ranking panelists to deliver a premium experience, which includes experts' opinions, bonus course photography and videos, plus much more. Check it out here!