Best golf courses near Boston, MA

Boston Golf Club, in the south suburb of Hingham, is a modern-day Pine Valley, massaged by architect Gil Hanse and his team from dramatic coastal topography with gashes of unsullied sand. Fairways tumble across the landscape, posing some blind shots that are embraced, not criticized. One stretch surrounds an old strip mine, with mining spoils incorporated as chocolate-drop mounds. One vein of sand serves as a “Hell’s One-Third Acre” hazard. Like No. 64 Garden City Golf Club, Boston finishes with a terrific par 3.

Winchester Country Club in Tyngsboro 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.

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

The Country Club’s 18-hole course that 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, utilizing a few holes from the club’s third Primrose nine. We rank the combination of the Main Course, 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. The USGA used a new configuration of 18 holes for the 2022 U.S. Open, won by Matthew Fitzpatrick, eliminating the par-4 fourth and adding the tiny par 3 11th, the first time the hole was used since the 1913 Open won by Francis Ouimet.

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 is consistently recognized as one of the best, most affordable public golf options anywhere. Much like The Country Club, "The Wright," as it’s known to locals, is routed through rocky outcroppings similar to Brookline and wild terrain that challenges the golfer with constant elevation changes, many blind shots and smallish greens. Donald Ross' routing through tree-lined corridors is bold and adventurous, but also highly walkable, with nearly every green just a few short steps away from the next tee. At $41 to walk for city residents ($50 for non-residents), you won't find a better deal in the state, which is probably why it's hard to secure a tee time. Plus, the course is always in good condition thanks to superintendent Leo Curtin and his crew, with our panelists reporting that George Wright’s greens are routinely on par with any of the high-end private courses operating with an exponentially higher budget. George Wright hosted the 2018 state amateur along with its sister course, William J. Devine.

Dedham Country and Polo Club 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

The semi-private, 27-hole facility is truly a part of the fabric of the city. As part of the 15-year, $24 billion road infrastructure project, nearly 900,000 truckloads of excavated dirt were deposited here. That afforded architect John Sanford the ability to use the 13 million tons of material to cap the site and mold some dramatic topography with the soil. With land sitting as high as 298 feet above sea level, the Milton, Quincy and Granite nines offer terrific views of downtown with impeccable conditions. The practice facilities are top-notch, and the tavern at Granite Links was named as one of Golf Digest’s best 19th holes.