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Golf Digest Logo | 2025-2026 ranking

The best golf courses in Mississippi

May 29, 2025

Mississippi is not a particularly deep state when it comes to top-level golf, but there are certain clusters of public-access courses that make a visit here worthwhile. It begins with the Gulf Coast region surrounding Biloxi, particularly the region from Saucier to Gautier where four of Mississippi's top ten courses are clustered, including the first-ranked course, Fallen Oak, a secluded Tom Fazio design in the mode of Shadow Creek in Las Vegas available to guests staying at the Beau Rivage MGM resort in Biloxi.

A visit to the Pearl River Resort, 90 minutes northeast of Jackson, is also an attractive overnighter with two more Fazio-designed, Augusta National-themed courses at Dancing Rabbit Golf Club. The state's second- and third-ranked courses, Mossy Oak (Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner) and Old Waverly (Bob Cupp and Jerry Pate), which hosted the 1999 U.S. Women's Open, are located on the same property in West Point, just outside Starkville.

Below you'll find our 2025-'26 ranking of the Best Golf Courses in Mississippi.

Scroll on for the complete list of the best courses in Mississippi. 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 … so you can make your case for (or against) any course that you've played.

Public
9. Shell Landing Golf Club
Gautier, MS
3.2
7 Panelists
Previous rank: 9
Currently ranked in the top 10 on our Best in Mississippi ranking, Shell Landing is a Davis Love III design just outside Biloxi. The course fits nicely into the natural terrain, playing among rolling marshlands. The fairways are generous, guarded periodically by large fairway bunkers. The greens are vast and undulating, allowing for a variety of possible pin locations.
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Public
8. Dancing Rabbit Golf Club: The Oaks
Philadelphia, MS
3
1 Panelists
Previous rank: 6

From Golf Digest Architecture Editor emeritus Ron Whitten:
 

Back in the late 1990s, Tom Fazio and Jerry Pate collaborated on the design of two golf courses for the Mississippi Band of Choctow Indian's casino operation. It was one of the first of a slew of casino golf courses created by native American tribes around the country and was named Dancing Rabbit after a nearby creek where a treaty was signed between the Choctaws and the Federal Government that returned land back to the Indian nation.

I followed the construction of both courses, the Azaleas Course, which opened in 1997, and the Oaks Course, which opened two years later. Both remind me of courses found in Birmingham, Ala., with fairways running over red clay hills slashed by creeks and lined in pines and scattered hardwoods. As its name suggests, the Oaks Course has grand old oak trees decorating some holes.

Explore our complete review here—including bonus photography and ratings from our expert panelists.

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Public
7. The Preserve Golf Club
Vancleave, MS
4.2
6 Panelists
Previous rank: 8
This Jerry Pate design, recognized by Audubon International, makes compelling use of the natural terrain, with native fescues, bunkers and marshlands framing many holes. Currently ranked on our Best in Mississippi list, The Preserve has many forced carries over wetlands and bogs, requiring quality ball-striking off the tee. The Preserve’s natural aesthetic makes it a must-play on a trip to the Mississippi Coast.
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Public
6. Grand Bear Golf Club
Saucier, MS
3.9
2 Panelists
Previous rank: 7
Grand Bear Golf Club is one of the best courses in Mississippi. Read our experts' reviews and discover tee time and scorecard information.
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Public
5. Dancing Rabbit Golf Club: Azaleas
Philadelphia, MS
3.6
4 Panelists
Previous rank: 5

From Golf Digest Architecture Editor emeritus Ron Whitten: Back in the late 1990s, Tom Fazio and Jerry Pate collaborated on the design of two golf courses for the Mississippi Band of Choctow Indian's casino operation. It was one of the first of a slew of casino golf courses created by native American tribes around the country and was named Dancing Rabbit after a nearby creek where a treaty was signed between the Choctaws and the Federal Government that returned land back to the Indian nation. I followed the construction of both courses, the Azaleas Course, which opened in 1997, and the Oaks Course, which opened two years later. Both remind me of courses found in Birmingham, Ala., with fairways running over red clay hills slashed by creeks and lined in pines and scattered hardwoods.

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Private
4. Annandale Golf Club
Madison, MS
4.3
4 Panelists
Previous rank: 4
Annandale Golf Club in West Point is one of the best courses in Mississippi. Discover our experts’ reviews and where Annandale Golf Clubsits in our rankings.
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Private
3. Old Waverly Golf Club
West Point, MS
4.1
12 Panelists
Previous rank: 3

From Golf Digest Architecture Editor emeritus Ron Whitten:

I've always admired Jerry Pate's work in golf architecture. He was one of the few PGA Tour pros who really got down and dirty in golf design, and I especially liked the few courses he did with architect Bob Cupp. Their second collaboration was Old Waverly in tiny West Point, Miss., a dream project of West Point native George Bryan, who at the time was chairman of the meat division of the Sara Lee Corporation based in the tri-city area (West Point, Starkville and Columbus) known as Mississippi's Golden Triangle.

Explore our complete review here—including bonus photography and ratings from our expert panelists.

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Public
2. Mossy Oak Golf Club
West Point, MS
Previous rank: 2

From Golf Digest Architecture Editor emeritus Ron Whitten:

Back in mid-1980s, George Bryan, who ran Bryan Foods, now part of Sara Lee Corp., created Old Waverly Golf Club in tiny West Point, Miss., a Bob Cupp/Jerry Pate design and former U.S. Women’s Open host that to me is a bit underrated. In the early 2000s, Bryan bought an old dairy farm (Knob Hill Dairy) across the highway and hired Gil Hanse to give him an Old School public golf course.

George named it Mossy Oak, after a West Point company of the same name that supplies outdoor camouflage gear. (The company has a 10-percent interest in the course.) He was going to call it Howlin' Wolf after a legendary blues singer born in West Point, but his heirs wanted too much money.

Hanse got the job before he was awarded the Rio Olympics design in 2012, and it was the first project he tackled after completing his work in Brazil. The site footprint is smaller than Old Waverly across the road, but except for some cottages along No. 10, there's no residential on Mossy Oak, so the course feels more expansive.

Explore our complete review here—including bonus photography and ratings from our expert panelists.

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Private
1. Fallen Oak
Saucier, MS
Previous rank: 1
Although it didn't get built for another 15 years, Fallen Oak was first conceived in the early 1990s by Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn soon after Tom Fazio had completed Shadow Creek. Wynn wanted Fazio to design a similar course for his Beau Rivage casino hotel on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Wynn's empire got swallowed by MGM Grand, which ultimately had Fazio create Fallen Oak. Unlike Shadow Creek, it's built on rolling forest and wetlands, with no need for mammoth earth-moving.
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