Public golf
The best courses you can play in California
When looking at the best courses you can play in California, the top course—Pebble Beach—will hardly surprise, but with such a golf-rich state, all 35 courses in this guide are well getting out to. The depth of great golf, both private and public, makes California one of the best golf states in the country.
When figuring out which courses you should play on your next trip to California, location is an obvious limiting factor, considering the size of The Golden State. Not to worry, though, as there are great options on this list spread across the state. Be sure to use our map feature in this guide to find the best courses near wherever you are headed.
Scroll on for the complete ranking of the best courses you can play in California, and be sure to click through to each individual course page for bonus photography and reviews from our course panelists. We also encourage you to leave your own ratings on the courses you’ve played … so you can make your case for why a course should be higher or lower on our rankings.
The best courses you can play in California
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Explore Golf Digest's new Course Reviews section where you can submit a star rating and evaluation on all the courses you’ve played. We've collected tens of thousands of reviews from our course-ranking panelists to deliver a premium experience, which includes course rankings, experts' opinions, bonus course photography, videos and much more. Check it out here!