Great public golf can be found in every corner of the United States. Our new 2021 ranking of America's 100 Greatest Public Courses will help lead the way
(RELATED: The best courses in every state)
Public can mean different things when it comes to golf. Does the word refer to primarily municipal courses and straight daily-fee operations? Do resort courses count, where an accompanying room night might be required to play? The answer as it relates to the biennial Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses is all of the above.
This includes several traditionally private clubs that now offer limited stay-and-play packages—if you really want to play them, there’s a way.
Several new courses made impressive entrances, notably No. 15 Sheep Ranch at Bandon Dunes, Golf Digest’s 2020 Best New Course, and Ozarks National (No. 30), both designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, as well as Pinehurst’s No. 4, remodeled by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner in 2019.
Overall, it was a year of movement with 17 courses debuting or returning after an absence. Check out our full list with photos and descriptions below.
800-654-9300 / pebblebeach.com
Jack Neville & Douglas Grant (1919)/Herbert Fowler (R. 1920)
7,075 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 67.3675
Pebble Beach has been the No. 1 course ever since we introduced the 100 Greatest Public in 2003. It's not just the greatest meeting of land and sea in American golf, but the most extensive one, too, with nine holes perched immediately above the crashing Pacific surf—the fourth through the 10th plus the 17th and 18th. Pebble's sixth through eighth are golf's real Amen Corner, with a few Hail Marys thrown in over a ocean cove on eight from atop a 75-foot-high bluff. Pebble hosted another U.S. Amateur in 2018 and its sixth U.S. Open in 2019.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 1, 2003, 2015-16 through present
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Bandon, Ore. / 888-345-6008 / bandondunesgolf.com
Tom Doak (2001) / 6,633 Yards, Par 71 / Points: 64.8645
The second course built at Bandon Dunes Resort. To best utilize ocean frontage, Tom Doak came up with a unorthodox routing that includes four par 3s on the back nine. Holes seem to emerge from the landscape rather than being superimposed onto it. The rolling greens and rumpled fairways are framed by rugged sand dunes and marvelously grotesque bunkers. The secret is Doak moved a lot of earth to make it look like he moved very little.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 2, 2007-12, 2015-16 through present
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Haven, Wis. / 800-344-2838 / whistlingstraits.com
Pete Dye (1998) / 7,790 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 64.5043
Pete Dye transformed a dead flat abandoned army air base along a two-mile stretch of Lake Michigan into an imitation Ballybunion at Whistling Straits, peppering his rugged fairways and windswept greens with 1,012 (at last count) bunkers. There are no rakes at Whistling Straits, in keeping with the notion that this is a transplanted Irish links. It has too much rub-of-the-green for the comfort levels of many tour pros, two dozen of whom will tackle the Straits again in the 2021 Ryder Cup.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Previous ranking: No. 3. Highest ranking: No. 2, 2013-14
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Kiawah Island, S.C. / 888-854-2924 / kiawahgolf.com
Pete Dye & Alice Dye (1991) / 7,849 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 64.4146
The first course designed for a specific event—the 1991 Ryder Cup—this manufactured linksland-meets-lagoons layout might well be Pete Dye's most diabolical creation. Every hole is edged by sawgrass, every green has tricky slopes, every bunker merges into bordering sand dunes. Strung along nearly three miles of ocean coast, Dye took his wife's advice and perched fairways and greens so golfers can actually view the Atlantic surf. That also exposes shots and putts to ever-present and sometimes fierce coastal winds.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Prrevious ranking: No. 4. Highest ranking: No. 3, 2017-18
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North Las Vegas, Nev. / 866-260-0069 / shadowcreek.com
Tom Fazio, with Steve Wynn (1990)
7,560 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 64.1319
One of a kind, and maybe Tom Fazio's finest work ever. Shadow Creek plays like a musical composition in three movements, with alternating heavy beats and light moments, building to a resounding crescendo. Every golfer should experience Shadow Creek at least once. Few remember Shadow Creek started out as a private course. It was Golf Digest's Best New Private Course of 1990.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 3, 2005-06. Previous ranking: No. 5.
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800-487-4653 / pinehurst.com
Donald Ross (9 1902 /Donald Ross & Walter Travis (A.9 1907)
Donald Ross (R.1935)
7,588 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 63.9639
In 2010, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw led a team that descended on Pinehurst No. 2 and killed out all the Bermuda grass rough that had been foolishly planted in the 1970s. Between fairways and tree lines, they established vast bands of native hardpan sand dotted with clumps of wiregrass and scattered pine needles. They reduced the irrigation to mere single rows in fairways to prevent grass from ever returning to the new sandy wastelands. Playing firm and fast, it was a wildly successful fortnight when the 2014 Men's and Women's U.S. Opens were played on consecutive weeks at No. 2. Because of its water reduction, the course was recently awarded a Green Star environmental award by Golf Digest. It will host the 2024 U.S. Open.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 2, 2003-06. Previous ranking: No. 6.
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888-345-6008 / bandondunesgolf.com
David McLay Kidd (1999)
6,732 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 63.3123
Maybe not as visually mesmerizing as Whistling Straits (which it beat for Best New Upscale Public Course of 1999), but talented golfers consider Bandon Dunes to be the consummate shotmaker's course, as good a total examination of one's game as there is in America. What's more, the holes are a more natural fit into the windswept terrain than the mammoth-mounded Straits Course. Bandon Dunes is also ranked sixth among our 50 Most Fun Public Courses.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 5, 2011-12. Previous ranking: No. 7.
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Farmingdale, N.Y. / 516-249-4040 / nysparks.state.ny.us
Joseph H. Burbeck & A.W. Tillinghast (1936)
7,468 Yards, Par 71 / Points: 63.1529
Gone are its rock hard tees, gravely bunkers, patchy fairways and thatchy greens. Bethpage Black now has the conditioning of a U.S. Open or PGA Tour stop, both of which it has been in recent years. No need to sleep in the parking lot just to get a tee time anymore (just go online), but you may still have to verify your handicap. As a sign on the first tee states, Bethpage Black is an extremely difficult course recommended only for highly skilled players. The Black will host its first Ryder Cup in 2025.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 3, 2003-04. Previous ranking: No. 8.
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866-772-4769 / erinhills.com
Michael Hurdzan, Dana Fry & Ron Whitten (2006)
7,731 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 62.8534
Despite the legend spread by many, Erin Hills wasn't designed specifically to host a U.S. Open. Its original concept was to be a simple, affordable, lay-of-the-land layout that proved Mother Nature is indeed the best golf architect. The concept changed—some greens moved, one blind par 3 eliminated—as the quest for a U.S. Open grew. After trial runs hosting the 2008 U.S. Women's Publinks and the 2011 U.S. Amateur, Erin Hills hosted the 2017 U.S. Open, the first time the event was ever played in Wisconsin.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2013. Highest ranking: No. 8, 2015-16. Previous ranking: No. 9.
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Pebble Beach / 800-654-9300 / pebblebeach.com
Robert Trent Jones (1966)
6,960 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 62.5718
Given the task of designing a course just up 17 Mile Drive from Pebble Beach and Cypress Point, Robert Trent Jones responded with a combination of Pine Valley and Augusta National. The five opening holes, in Pine Valley-like sand dunes, are an all-too-brief encounter with the Pacific seacoast. The remaining holes are a stern hike through hills covered with majestic Monterey pines (which, sad to say, may someday disappear to pitch canker, but are being replaced in some areas with cypress trees). Add several water hazards that hearken back to the 16th at Augusta (a hole which Trent Jones designed, by the way), and you have what some panelists consider to be Trent's finest work. Others say it's the best course never to have hosted a major event. After all, even Pine Valley and Cypress Point have hosted Walker Cups.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 5, 2003-04. Previous ranking: No. 10.
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Ponte Vedra Beach / 904-273-3235 / tpcsawgrass.com
Pete Dye (1980)
7,245 Yards, Par 72 | Points: 62.5002
TPC's stadium concept was the idea of then-PGA Tour commissioner Deane Beman. The 1980 design was pure Pete Dye, who set out to test the world's best golfers by mixing demands of precision with target golf. Most greens are ringed by random lumps, bumps and hollows, what Dye calls his "grenade attack architecture." His ultimate target hole is the heart-pounding sink-or-swim island green 17th, which offers no bailout, perhaps unfairly in windy Atlantic coast conditions. The 17th has spawned over a hundred imitation island greens in the past 30 years. To make the layout even more exciting during tournament play, Steve Wenzloff of PGA Tour Design Services remodeled several holes, most significantly the 12th, which will now be a drivable par 4.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 9, 2009-14. Previous ranking: No. 11.
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Bandon, Ore. / 888-345-6008 / bandondunesgolf.com
Tom Doak & Jim Urbina, with George Bahto, Bradley Klein,
Karl Olson & Mike Keiser (2010)
6,944 Yards, Par 71 / Points: 62.3008
When it opened in 2010, we predicted Old Macdonald would eventually become the most popular course at Bandon Dunes Resort, mainly because it has wide fairways and generous greens. At the urging of "Design Fairness proponent" Arthur Little, owner Mike Keiser installed a set of Royal Blue tee markers at 4,258 yards for beginners and older golfers. That should just add to its popularity.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2013. Previous ranking: No. 12 Highest ranking: No. 10, 2017-18
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800-345-6008 / bandondunesgolf.com
Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw (2005)
6,788 Yards, Par 71 / Points: 62.0223
Bandon Trails might be ranked lower than some of its counterparts at Bandon like Pacific Dunes and Old Macdonald, but we’ve long considered it such a compelling layout that it needs no seascape to command one’s attention. Bandon Trails starts and finishes in serious sand dunes (the 18th being recently remodeled by Coore) while the remainder rolls through Oregon forest. Bump-and-run is the name of the game but the structure of each hole requires thoughtful bumps and targeted runs. It’s most controversial hole is the short par-4 14th with a thumb of a green personally fashioned by Crenshaw.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2007. Highest ranking: Current. Previous ranking: No. 14.
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800-494-8666 / arcadiabluffs.com
Rick Smith & Warren Henderson (2000)
7,300 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 61.5764
Can a 100 Greatest course be a sleeper? Arcadia Bluffs has been overshadowed by No. 2 Pacific Dunes, ever since it finished second to it in the Best New Upscale Public Course race of 2001. And likewise second-fiddle to No. 12 (on America's 100 Greatest Courses) Crystal Downs, a neighbor every northern Michigan that visitor wants to play, even though it's private and Arcadia is public. And even by Whistling Straits, the imitation links on the opposite side of Lake Michigan that Arcadia Bluffs resembles, although the sand dunes at Arcadia are natural, not manmade. A second 18, the South, designed by Dana Fry opened in Spring 2019.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 10, 2005-12. Previous ranking: No. 13.
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Bandon, Ore. / 888-345-6008 / bandondunesgolf.com
Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw (2020)
6,636 yards, par 72 / Points: 61.5402
Sheep Ranch began life as a different Sheep Ranch in the early 2000s, a rag-tag, cross-country, 13-hole course with no irrigation built by Tom Doak on a bluff just north of what would later become Old Macdonald. It was a little-used recreation that only insiders knew about. Mike Keiser tapped Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw to convert it into Bandon Dunes’ fifth regulation 18-hole course and Coore and Crenshaw’s second. Spread across an open, windswept plateau, using many of the same greensites, Coore managed to triangulate the holes in such a way that nine now touch the cliff edge along the Pacific Ocean. Extremely wide fairways and large putting surfaces allow the exposed course to be playable in extreme winds, and with its fast arrival to the top 15 alongside Bandon’s other courses, Sheep Ranch has accomplished the most difficult of feats for resort courses—distinction among equals.
100 Greatest Public History: Newly ranked.
Kohler, Wis. / 800-344-2838 / blackwolfrun.com
Pete Dye (9 1988, A. 9 1990)
7,404 Yards, Par 72 | Points: 61.1407
Only Pete Dye could have convinced owner Herb Kohler to rip apart an award-winning course and still come out a winner. Dye coupled the front nine of America's Best New Public Course of 1988 (now holes 1-4 and 14-18) with nine newer holes built within a vast bend of the Sheboygan River to produce the River Course. It possesses some of Dye's most exciting holes, from the triple-option reachable par-4 ninth to the boomerang-shaped par-5 11th to the monster par-4 18th, where Kohler surprised Dye by converting a long waste bunker into a temporary lagoon for tournament events. For major events, like the 2012 U.S. Women's Open, Dye's original 18 was used. But for survey purposes, Golf Digest evaluates the River 18 available for general play.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 11, 2005-06. Previous ranking: No. 15.
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Santa Cruz, Calif. / 831-459-9155 / pasatiempo.com
Alister MacKenzie & Robert Hunter (1929)
6,495 Yards, Par 70 / Points: 61.0755
Pasatiempo is arguably Alister Mackenzie's favorite design. (He lived along its sixth fairway during his last years.) With its elaborate greens and spectacular bunkering fully restored by Jim Urbina, it is a classic example of Mackenzie's art. The back nine, playing repeatedly over deep barrancas, is a test for even the most talented. In 2014, Pasatiempo received a Golf Digest Green Star environmental award for its measures in dealing with drought. Today, water worries are in the past, in part because of a new storage tank that allows the club to capture and store recycled water.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: Current. Previous ranking: No. 16.
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Nekoosa, Wis. / 888-651-5539 / sandvalley.com
Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw (2017)
6,938 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 60.6800
Given a thousand acres of rolling sand hills in Central Wisconsin, Coore and Crenshaw were also given carte blanche to route this course, the first of several for the Sand Valley Resort. (Rumor has it Coore located a hole outside the property line and owner Mike Keiser reluctantly bought that additional parcel.) Given the name, many conclude Sand Valley is a combination of Nebraska’s Sand Hills Golf Club and New Jersey’s famed Pine Valley, but Sand Valley has its own personality, with some dual fairways, deep sand spits, perched greens and even a hidden punchbowl putting surface.
100 Greatest Public History: Highest (and previous) ranking: No. 18, 2017-18 through present.
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888-936-9360 / frenchlick.com
Pete Dye (2009)
8,102 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 60.6000
If you're foolish enough to want to play Pete Dye at French Lick from the tips, you'll do a lot of walking back from previous greens to those tees. From the 6,400-yard white markers, however, you'll breeze though an 18. Pete Dye and his companions have twice played the course from those tees in less than three-and-a-half hours, on foot. It's an incredibly easy walk for a mountain course. Pete Dye at French Lick was Golf Digest's Best New Public Course of 2009.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2011. Highest ranking: No. 17, 2013, 2015-16, Present. Previous ranking: No. 17.
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Streamsong, Fla. / 863-428-1000 / streamsongresort.com
Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw (2012)
7,110 Yards, Par 72 | Points: 60.5785
Coore and Crenshaw's Red Course is one third of the hottest golf destination to open in America this decade. (The companion Blue Course, a Tom Doak design, is ranked No. 26 and the Black course is 34th.) Built from sand spoils resulting from a massive phosphate strip mine, with some piles formed into dunes reaching 75 feet into the air, the Red has a wonderful mix of bump-and-run links holes and target-like water holes. Some greens are perched like those at Pinehurst, others are massive with multi-levels, like those at St. Andrews. The Bermuda turf is firm and bouncy, and while the routing is sprawling, it's easily walkable.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2015. Highest ranking: No. 17, 2017-18. Previous ranking: No. 19.
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Lanai City, Lanai, Hawaii / 808-565-2222 / fourseasons.com/lanai/golf/
Jack Nicklaus (1993)
7,039 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 60.5232
Manele, previously called The Challenge at Manele, has unseated Kapalua’s Plantation course as the highest-ranked public course in Hawaii. And the Nicklaus design is worthy of high praise. It has three ocean-cove holes, including the par-3 12th and dogleg-right par-4 17th. You might argue Manele has been perpetually underranked, starting with its finish on Golf Digest’s ranking of Best New Resort Courses in 1994, well behind World Woods’ Pine Barrens course, which is currently 90th on this list.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Previous ranking: No. 29. Highest ranking: Current.
University Place, Wash. / 253-460-4653 / chambersbaygolf.com
Robert Trent Jones, Bruce Charlton & Jay Blasi (2007)
7,585 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 60.1416
By the time Golf Digest named Chambers Bay as America's Best New Public Course of 2008, the USGA had already awarded the course the 2010 U.S. Amateur and 2015 U.S. Open. At the Amateur, it proved to be hard, both in the firmness of its dry fescue turf (Jones called the fairways "hardwood floors") and its difficulties around and on the windswept greens. Some greens have been toned down—and the fine fescue surfaces have been allowed to transition to Poa annua—some fairways have been narrowed and a few new tee angles introduced. A nasty deep bunker now sits in the center of the 18th fairway.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2009. Highest and previous ranking: No. 21.
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Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii / 877-527-2582 / kapaluamaui.com
Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw (1991)
7,596 Yards, Par 73 / Points: 59.9800
Here's a curious fact: Kapalua's Plantation Course, built on old pineapple fields, is irrigated by the same system used a hundred years ago to water pineapples. A century-old stone aqueduct brings water from the top of a rain-soaked volcano down to a pond that sits 800 feet above the course. The pond supplies Kapalua's sprinkler system, which is pressurized solely by gravity.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 17, 2011-12. Previous ranking: No. 22.
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Stillwater, Okla. / 405-743-1658 / karstencreek.com
Tom Fazio (1994)
7,449 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 59.9734
Karsten Creek, winner of Golf Digest's Best New Public Course title in 1994, was developed by Oklahoma State University and thus is also often at the top of rankings of the best collegiate courses in America. Bold in its features and contours, this is Tom Fazio in a surprisingly challenging mood. Karsten Creek is potentially one of the toughest layouts among America's 100 Greatest Public.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 12, 2011-12. Previous ranking: No. 20.
Hilton Head Island / 800-955-8337 / seapines.com
Pete Dye & Jack Nicklaus (1969)
7,099 Yards, Par 71 / Points: 59.9078
The 16th at Harbour Town has contributed a term to golf. Back when Pete Dye was building the course, he was asked to dispose of a huge quantity of sewer sludge from housing developments on Hilton Head, so he dug a big pit to the left of the par-4 16th, had it dumped in there, then covered it with acres of sand. The late golf writer Charlie Price, who lived on the island, took one look at it and dubbed it a "waste bunker." Actually, that's the sanitized version of what he called it. But "waste bunker" is the term that stuck.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 10, 2003-04. Previous ranking: No. 23.
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Streamsong, Fla. / 863-428-1000 / streamsongresort.com
Tom Doak (2012)
7,176 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 59.7721
We suspect many a discussion will occur in Streamsong's 19th hole comparing the merits of both the Tom Doak-designed Blue Course and Coore and Crenshaw-designed Red Course (ranked No. 20). Our take: The Blue starts a bit more dramatically, with the back tee on Hole 1 atop a 75-foot sand dune. It's also a bit more compact, since the Blue sits in the center with the Red Course looping around its outside edges. The Blue definitely has the bolder set of greens, some with massive shelves and dips. Bottom-line: Blue is no little brother. Many may well prefer it.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2015. Highest ranking: No. 22, 2017-18. Previous ranking: No. 24.
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Kohala Coast, Hawaii / 808-882-5400 / maunakeabeachhotel.com
Robert Trent Jones (1965) / Rees Jones (R.2008)
7,370 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 59.7842
The immediate thrill at Mauna Kea is its iconic par-3 third, a daunting tee shot over an ocean cove that's a great substitute for those unable to gain an invitation to tackle the 16th at Cypress Point. The remaining holes at Mauna Kea are thrilling, too, with constant views of the ocean, awkward lies on sloping fairways and roughs of crunchy lava rock.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 17, 2003-04. Previous ranking: No. 26.
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Meadows of Dan, Va. / 866-960-7746 / primland.com
Donald Steel (2006)
7,053 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 59.7283
Just as Cascades is considered the one of nation's best mountain courses, so too is The Highland Course at Primland, named as 2007's Best New Public Course in the $75 and Over category. Primland sits atop a mountain plateau overlooking some of the most unusual scenery in America, a deep river valley dotted with tall spirals of rock. The course design by veteran British architect Donald Steel is austere in its green contours and bunkering, as if not to overpower the setting.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2011. Highest ranking: No. 13, 2011-12. Previous ranking: No. 30.
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Nekoosa, Wis. / 888-651-5539 / sandvalley.com
David McLay Kidd (2018)
6,988 Yards, Par 73 / Points: 59.6886
The latest 18 to open at Wisconsin’s Sand Valley Resort is David Kidd’s aptly named Mammoth Dunes. To distinguish it from the adjacent Coore-Crenshaw Sand Valley design (ranked No. 18), Kidd exposed entire hillsides of sand, which are now deftly landscaped to add beauty as well as stability against rain and wind. To retain playability for resort golfers, Kidd provided some of the widest fairway corridors in all of American golf, an experiment he first undertook, with great success, a few years early at No. 38 Gamble Sands in Washington. The drivable par-4 14th is based on Brian Silvernail’s winning design from Golf Digest’s 2016 Armchair Architect contest.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2017-18. Highest (and previous) ranking: No. 27, 2017-18.
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Hollister, Mo. / 417-339-5460 / bigcedar.com
Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw (2019)
7,036 yards, par 71 / Score: 59.6256
The Ozarks of southern Missouri are not tall, but their ridge-and-valley topography provides a sense of heightened elevation. Ozarks National at Big Cedar Lodge takes advantage of the illusion with holes that run out along ridgetops and onto elongated fingers of land that fall off into wooded ravines. Formerly the site of a different, much narrower golf course, Coore & Crenshaw found ways to widen many of the same spaces and added new holes on previously unused parts of the property. Though not as broad as is customary for the designers, the cant of the holes and the engaging fairway bunkering puts a premium on shaping shots and hitting the correct lines off the tee.
100 Greatest Public History: Newly ranked.
Hot Springs, Va. / 800-838-1766 / thehomestead.com
William Flynn (1923)
6,873 Yards, Par 70 / Points: 59.5748
As Wayne Morrison and Tom Paul point out in their massive, comprehensive biography of William Flynn, Seth Raynor was originally consulted about building the course, but declared the property insufficient. So the relative unknown Flynn got the job and made the most of it. The topography of the course is magnificent, the bunkering is superb (particularly the crossbunkers on 12 and 13) and the course finishes with a rare par-3 18th. Cascades was ranked by Golf Digest as one of America's 100 Greatest for 40 years and is No. 157 on our exclusive Second 100 Greatest ranking in 2021.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 4, 2003-04. Previous ranking: No. 25.
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Pinehurst, N.C. / 800-487-4653 / pinehurst.com
Gil Hanse & Jim Wagner (2019)
7,227 yards, par 72 / Score: 59.4574
The No. 4 course at Pinehurst has always been something of a Mulligan Stew. Created in the 1950s using parts from other resort courses, it had undergone a succession of renovations over the years by Robert Trent Jones, Rees Jones and Tom Fazio. The most recent version by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner attempts to differentiate the design from the other Pinehurst offerings with a garden-like presentation studded with pot bunkers. Hanse’s and Wagner’s new iteration ties No. 4 into the resort’s long-established genetics with exposed sand, provocative green contours, broad fairways and contiguous short-grass recovery areas. While it looks at home in the Pinehurst sand hills, it functions as an extroverted counterpoint to the No. 2 course’s subtler stateliness.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked on inaugural list through 2015-2016. Highest ranking: Current. Previous ranking: 57th, 2015-2016.
Roscommon, Mich. / 939-275-0700 / forestdunesgolf.com
Tom Weiskopf (2002)
7,116 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 59.4566
Forest Dunes is another course, like Spyglass Hill, that has portions that look like Augusta National (pristine turf, pines and gleaming white sand bunkers) and other portions that look like Pine Valley (rugged holes edged by native sand dunes deposited by the nearby Au Sable River). Forest Dunes has clever greens with subtle contouring, with some treacherous hole locations, just beyond false fronts of steep putting surface or right beside fall-away ear lobes the lead off the sides of greens.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2007. Highest ranking: No. 18, 2009-10. Previous ranking: No. 28.
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Streamsong, Fla. / 888-294-6322 / streamsongresort.com
Gil Hanse (2017)
7,320 Yards, Par 73 / Points: 59.3133
Like its sister courses, No. 20 Streamsong Red and No. 26 Streamsong Blue, Streamsong Black was reshaped from a decades-old phosphate strip mine, which designer Gil Hanse described, “As good a golf grounds as we’ve ever worked with.” Hanse provided character by shaping such unique touches as a hidden punchbowl par-4 green, a hole with dual greens and a windswept features throughout the course. After grassing both greens and their bold surrounds in the same MiniVerde Bermuda turf, it was decided to mow everything at the same low height of cut. So while Mammoth Dunes has the widest fairways in American golf, Streamsong Black now has the biggest greens in the country.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2017-18. Highest (and previous) ranking: No. 32, 2017-18.
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Bibawik, Minn. / 800-688-7669 / giantsridge.com
Jeff Brauer (2003)
7,201 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 59.2455
It doesn't get the press that courses such as Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes, Whistling Straits or Arcadia Bluffs, but The Quarry at Giants Ridge plays very links-like with its collection of fairway speed slots, greenside backboards and backstops and reverse-camber greens. Its very inventive design also demands some aerial play, too. A standout is its 13th, a drivable par 4 that's nearly as wide as it is long, with three alternate routes to a 100-yard-wide green.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2005. Highest ranking: No. 16, 2005-06 & 2011-12. Previous ranking: No. 31.
St. Simons Island, Ga. / 855-572-4975 / seaisland.com
Tom Fazio (1999)
7,005 Yards, Par 70 / Points: 59.2018
The resort continues to credit H.S. Colt for its design, but in truth the present Seaside Course is purely Tom Fazio, who incorporated the original Colt-designed nine (called Seaside) and the Marshland nine designed in 1974 by Joe Lee to create a new 18-hole course. But in keeping with the resort's heritage, Fazio styled his new course in the manner of Colt, with big clamshell bunkers as well as exposed sand dunes off most of the windswept fairways.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 22, 2005-06. Previous ranking: No. 33.
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White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. / 855-453-4858 / greenbrier.com
C.B. Macdonald (1915) / Lester George (R.2006)
7,246 Yards, Par 70 / Points: 59.1852
C.B. Macdonald's nearly 100-year-old design of the Old White at The Greenbrier was always respected, but after Lester George's restoration (re-establishing such things as a Principal's Nose bunker and Dragon's Teeth mounds), Golf Digest panelists rediscovered its pleasures and ranked it the Best New Public Remodel of 2007. It hosted Military Tribute at The Greenbrier, an annual event on the PGA Tour, until 2020.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2013. Highest ranking: No. 29, 2014-15. Previous ranking: No. 34.
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Brewster, Wash. / 509-436-8323 / gamblesands.com
David McLay Kidd (2014)
7,169 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 59.0990
Winner of Golf Digest's Best New Course of 2014 award, Gamble Sands, on a high plateau of sand overlooking the Columbia River Valley, is oversized in every respect, with enormously wide fairways, mammoth greens, no rough and the most panoramic vistas of any ranked course. Using "friendly contours" that divert shots away from bunkers and toward targets, designer Kidd wants everyone to have fun, maybe even shoot personal best scores. With three reachable par 4s on the 18, that's a possibility.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2017. Highest (and previous) ranking: No. 35, 2017-18.
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Lecanto, Fla. / 352-746-3440 / stay.blackdiamondranch.com
Tom Fazio (1987)
7,056 yards, Par 72 / Score: 59.0420
In the early 1990s when Black Diamond Ranch’s Quarry Course was the hot new thing on the block, it charted as high as No. 24 on Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses ranking. Though it has slipped from that lofty parapet, the course is still the same. It plays like a Hitchcockian thriller, creating tension with visually alluring holes that roam the hills of the sandy, wooded terrain of west central Florida before dropping a mind-bending plot twist in the third act. In this case it’s a sudden descent into the namesake quarry, including four holes benched into the rock walls around the perimeter. Traditionally a private club (there are a total of 45 holes on property), Black Diamond now offers on-site accommodations and stay and play packages, hence its inclusion in this ranking.
**The club is still private other than these stay-and-play packages.
100 Greatest Public History: Newly ranked.
Bend, Ore. / 866-372-1003 / pronghornresort.com
Jack Nicklaus (2003)
7,379 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 58.9293
When it first opened, Pronghorn was strictly private and its Nicklaus Course was ranked second by Golf Digest among America's Best New Private Courses of 2004. In the last decade, the club (which also has a Fazio-designed 18) began allowing public play on its Nicklaus track. Its back nine may be the most delightful Jack has ever designed, with gambling holes and gorgeous scenery at every turn.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2011. Highest ranking: No. 23, 2011-12. Previous ranking: No. 37.
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Saucier, Miss. / 877-805-4657 / fallenoak.com
Tom Fazio (2006)
7,487 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 58.8847
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.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2009. Highest ranking: No. 18, 2009-10. Previous ranking: No. 38.
La Jolla, Calif. / 800-985-4653 / sandiego.gov/golf
William F. Bell (1957)
7,802 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 58.7683
Torrey Pines sits on one of the prettiest golf course sites in America, atop coastal bluffs north of San Diego with eye dazzling views of the Pacific. Rees Jones's remodeling of the South Course in the early 2000s not only made it competitive for the 2008 U.S. Open, it brought several coastal canyons into play for everyday golfers, especially on the par-3 third and par-4 14th. The USGA returned to Torrey Pines for another U.S. Open in 2021.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 33, 2017-18. Previous ranking: No. 36.
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Williamsburg, Va. / 800-648-6653 / colonialwilliamsburg.com
Robert Trent Jones (1963) / Rees Jones (R.1997 & 2016)
6,817 Yards, Par 71 / Points: 58.7427
Back in 1966, Golden Horseshoe was ranked among America's 200 Toughest Courses by Golf Digest. How times change. In 2012, we ranked The Gold Course as one of America's 50 Most Fun Public Courses. "Trent Jones in his kinder, gentler persona," we wrote. "Even the island green seventh hole is a generous target."
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 32, 2009-10. Previous ranking: No. 67.
Colorado Springs / 800-634-7711 / broadmoor.com
Donald Ross (9 1919) / Robert Trent Jones (A.9 1952)
7,355 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 58.7350
Another classic mountain course, built hard against Cheyenne Mountain with green contours that pose optical illusions. Many putts that look uphill are actually running downhill. Few golfers recognize that the East is a combination of Donald Ross holes (one through six and 16 through 18) and Robert Trent Jones ones (holes seven to 15). It was the site of Jack Nicklaus's first U.S. Amateur win in 1959 and Annika Sorenstam's first U.S. Women's Open win in 1995. It has also hosted the 2008 and 2018 U.S. Senior Opens, won by Eduardo Romero and David Toms, and 2011 U.S. Women's Open, won by So Yeon Ryu.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 22, 2007-08. Previous ranking: No. 39.
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Valentine, Neb. / 888-402-1101 / theprairieclub.com
Tom Lehman & Chris Brands (2010)
8,073 Yards, Par 73 / Points: 58.6244
Both 18s at Nebraska's premier golf resort join the 100 Greatest Public this year. The Dunes Course, as the name implies, flows through a rumpled blanket landscape of the rugged, treeless, windswept sand hills of central Nebraska. Most fairways are generously broad, most greens are perched, tucked or otherwise half-hidden to reward only shots correctly placed at certain angles. The most fascinating hole comes early, the par-4 second with out-of-bounds indicated by a barbed-wire fence hard along the right from tee to green.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2015. Highest ranking: No. 35, 2015-16. Previous ranking: No. 41.
New Haven, Conn. / 203-392-2377 / yalegolf.yale.edu
C.B. Macdonald/Seth Raynor (1926)
6,409 yards, par 70 / Score: 58.5922
Like the rest of the world, Yale Golf Course fell on hard times in 2020 and even shuttered its doors for a period of time, letting the course grow over while it was forced to downsize staff due to COVID-19. But Yale is the rare course that doesn’t need immaculate grass and landscaping for its superior architecture to shine. Reawakened in the fall of 2020, the Leviathan-sized golf course and magisterial holes like the Road, Cape, Knoll and the world’s best Biarritz once more breathe fire over the rocky, tumbling site. Once COVID restrictions are lifted, Yale expects to open to outside play, thus the inclusion on this list at No. 46 (the first time making our 100 Greatest Public since 2003). When it does open, it will be one of the few places in the U.S. where the general public can experience the original architecture of C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor.
100 Greatest Public History: First appearance since 2003.
Haven, Wis. / 855-444-2838 / whistlingstraits.com
Pete Dye (2000)
7,201 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 58.5657
The Irish Course has the same manufactured dunescape found on its more famous sister Straits Course, but has three major differences. The fairways are bent grass, not fescue. Carts are allowed, although confined to cart paths. (It's walking only on the Straits. Both 18s are relatively easy to walk.) And the Irish has the only blind par 3 found at Whistling Straits, the 13th playing 183 yards over sand hills to a huge green ringed by more than a dozen bunkers. It doesn't get more Irish than that.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 30, 2009-10. Previous ranking: No. 43.
Bluffton, S.C. / 866-706-6565 / palmettobluff.com
Jack Nicklaus (2004)
7,171 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 58.3870
Built some 35 years after nearby Harbour Town Golf Links, May River is an interesting contrast in Jack Nicklaus's portfolio. It's an equally low-profile layout with a number of bump-and-run approach shots but with several Pine Valley-like waste areas and with larger, bolder greens. The classic routing has the front nine turning clockwise through forest while the back nine circles counter-clockwise. Both touch repeatedly on the wetlands of namesake May River.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2009. Highest ranking: No. 22, 2009-12. Previous ranking: No. 40.
Sanford, N.C. / 877-284-3762 / tobaccoroadgolf.com
Mike Strantz (1999)
6,557 Yards, Par 71 | Points: 58.3597
The late Mike Strantz was the game's most unconventional course designer, and Tobacco Road was perhaps the best example of his unorthodoxy. In the horse-drawn-carriage neighborhood of Pinehurst No. 2, he created a landscape more suitable for motocross racing, with mammoth hills and deep craters. Each hole looks intimidating from the tee but reveals plenty of elbow room for tee shots and approaches, as well as spin-outs and crash landings.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2009. Highest ranking: Present. Previous ranking: No. 52.
Stevens Point, Wis. / 715-345-1600 / www.sentryworld.com
Robert Trent Jones Jr. (1982)
7,145 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 58.2029
The lush, tree-lined SentryWorld won Golf Digest's first-ever Best New Public award in early 1984, but never made our 100 Greatest Public ranking until this year, as the highest-ranking newcomer. Four years ago, Trent Jones Jr. partner Charlton and their former associate Blasi remodeled SentryWorld, rerouting four holes and adding a new par-3 12 and par-4 13th, but they preserved the famous "Flower Hole," the par-3 16th which uses petunias, snapdragons, marigolds, geraniums and other annuals grown on site as decorative hazards. The flower beds are treated as lateral hazards.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2017. Highest ranking: No. 34, 2017-18. Previous ranking: No. 44.
San Martin, Calif. / 408-695-4590 / cordevalle.com
Robert Trent Jones Jr. (1999)
7,360 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 58.1888
Located in the little-known but abundant golfing area south of San Jose, the gorgeous CordeValle was a private club when it first opened, but is a high-end resort destination these days, with climbing and descending soft hills dotted by gnarled oaks. It hosted both the U.S. Senior Women's Amateur and PGA Tour's Frys.com Open in 2013 and was the site of the U.S. Women's Open in 2016.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2009. Highest ranking: No. 42, 2017-18. Previous ranking: No. 46.
Bear Lake, Mich. / 800-494-8666 / arcadiabluffs.com
Dana Fry & Jason Straka (2019)
7,412 yards, par 72 / Score: 58.1482
The challenge at Arcadia Bluffs for architects Dana Fry and Jason Straka was to create a course that guests would want to play as often as they do the original course. But how can golf built on non-descript farmland compete with a course set on dramatic bluffs overlooking Lake Michigan? The answer? Do something entirely different. Channeling another famous but rather indifferent site, the designers turned to Chicago Golf Club and the architecture of McDonald/Raynor for inspiration. The South Course is a throwback in time, a jigsaw puzzle of intersecting bunkers, centerline hazards, alternate routes of play and geometric shaping. It interprets the strategic spirit of Raynor and Chicago Golf Club without replicating any specific holes. Where the Bluffs Course is a feast for the eye, the South Course is a treat for the intellect.
100 Greatest Public History: Newly ranked.
Pebble Beach / 800-654-9300 / pebblebeach.com
Robert Trent Jones Jr., Tom Watson & Sandy Tatum (1987)
6,821 Yards, Par 72 | Points: 58.1383
The Links at Spanish Bay was the first true links course built in America in many decades, but it took years for conveyor belts to deposit sand atop exposed bed rock to return this mined-out sand quarry back to a linkland site. The trio of designers, playfully dubbed "The Holy Trinity," thoughtfully shaped an 18 that looks natural, plays strategically and is sensitive to the coastal wetland environment.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 44, 2017-18. Previous ranking: No. 48.
Please see the footnote at the end of this ranking.
La Quinta, Calif. / 800-742-9378 / pgawest.com
Pete Dye (1986)
7,300 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 57.8848
Originally private, the Stadium Course (the original 18 at PGA West) finished third in Golf Digest's survey of Best New Private Courses of 1986. It was also once among the rota of courses for the old Bob Hope Desert Classic, until some pros, objecting to its difficulty, petitioned to remove it. It's Pete Dye at his rambunctious best, with a finish that mimics his later design at TPC Sawgrass: a gambling par-5 16th (called San Andres Fault), a short par-3 17th to an island green and an intimidating par-4 18th with water hard against the left edge all the way to the green.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 38, 2013-14. Previous ranking: No. 49.
Lemont, Ill. / 866-264-4455 / coghillgolf.com
Dick Wilson (1965)
7,554 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 57.7972
Some tour pros were critical of Rees Jones's remodeling of Cog Hill No. 4, insisting it's too hard for high handicappers. What did they expect? Its nickname is, after all, Dubsdread. And there are three easier courses at Cog Hill for high handicappers. Original owner Joe Jemsek wanted a ball-busting championship course when it was built back in the mid-1960s. Jones's renovation was true to the philosophy of original architect Dick Wilson, who liked to pinch fairways with bunkers and surround greens with more bunkers, all of them deep.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 8, 2003-04. Previous ranking: No. 51.
Eureka, Mont. / 406-889-6501 / wildernessclubmontana.com
Brian Curley & Nick Faldo (2009)
7,207 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 57.7787
Sitting far closer (just eight miles) from the Canadian border than from any major city in Montana, Wilderness Club was an ill-timed residential development venture a decade ago, and thus the once-private club now accepts outside play, much of it from day-trip Canadians. The stunning design benefits from quick-draining sandy soil native to the site, some of which is used in free-form waste bunkers on several holes. There are many lakes in play, including long Grob Lake that dominates the left side of the par-3 17th and par-5 18th. Three mountain ranges surround the site: the Whitefish, Purcell and Rockies Mountains. Pine trees are prevalent but not imposing. In an age of destination golf, Wilderness is still undiscovered by most American tourist golfers. Perhaps its appearance on America’s 100 Greatest Public will change that.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2017-18. Highest (and previous) ranking: No. 42.
Sandia Park, N.M. / 505-281-6000 / paakogolf.com
Ken Dye (2000) / 7,562 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 57.7663
Paako Ridge, Golf Digest's Best New Affordable Public Course of 2000, is quite long from the tips and regular tees. Yes, a golf ball carries farther at its 6,500-foot elevation, but Paako also plays long because both nines work up mountain foothills for several holes before playing downhill. The 496-yard par-4 seventh is the same shape and dimensions as the 10th at Augusta National and the back tees of the par-4 17th, atop a butte, affords perhaps the best vista in New Mexico. There are very wide and deep greens here, too, so a depth chart is a must.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 20, 2005-06. Previous ranking: No. 50.
Roscommon, Mich. / 989-275-0700 / forestdunesgolf.com
Tom Doak (2016)
6,704 Yards, par 70 / Points: 57.7615
The idea of a reversible golf course is as old at the Old Course at St. Andrews, and golf architect Joel Goldstrand built a series of nine-hole reversible courses for small clubs in Minnesota, Iowa and North Dakota back in the 1980s. But give Tom Doak credit for convincing a client to take a chance on an 18-hole reversible layout. “The goal is to have two very different courses over the same piece of ground, so people will want to stay over to play it both ways and compare and contrast the two.” says Doak. For our 2016 Best New competition, Doak wanted the entire 36 holes considered as one entry. We allowed that, and it won. For subsequent rankings, we’ve separated the two into conventional 18-hole candidates. The Black Course is the clockwise routing, slightly shorter and, at No. 59, ranked slightly higher than its reverse image Red Course.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2017-18. Highest (and previous) ranking: No. 45.
West Point, Miss. / 662-524-1000 / mossyoakgolf.com
Gil Hanse (2016)
7,212 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 57.7544
George Bryan, who also owns No. 75 Old Waverly, gave Gil Hanse land directly to its north and asked him to build a public course good enough to serve as the new home course for Mississippi State University’s golf teams. Hanse’s design takes advantage of a prominent diagonal ridge that runs across the site and his routing works up, down and sideways across that landform. There’s a stream that comes prominently into play, as well as an irrigation lake over which the par-3 11th plays, but there are just 19 trees on the course, mostly ancient oaks. Mississippi State has recently become the home of President Ulysses S. Grant’s official papers, so Gil dubbed his massive 30,000 square-foot fairway bunker on the 17th, “Grant’s Tomb.” But the name hasn’t stuck; club officials opted to honor their boss instead, calling it, “George’s Bunker.”
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2017-18. Highest ranking: Current ranking. Previous ranking: No. 63.
Sunriver, Ore. / 800-801-8765 / sunriver-resort.com
Bob Cupp (1995)
7,683 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 57.7008
Part of Crosswater was reportedly built in the meadow where John Wayne, as Rooster Cogburn, filmed his climactic charge with guns blazing in the 1969 film, True Grit. The Bob Cupp design is far more subtle than a Wayne western, with low-profile greens edged by graceful chipping areas and fairways intersected repeatedly by the Big and Little Dechutes rivers. Crosswater was Golf Digest's Best New Resort Course of 1995.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 32, 2007-08. Previous ranking: No. 55.
Brainerd, Minn. / 800-642-5363 / maddens.com
Scott Hoffmann, with Geoffrey Cornish, John Harris & Warren Rebholz (1996)
7,102 Yards, Par 72 | Points: 57.6490
The Classic is a genuine amateur architect design, although course superintendent Scott Hoffmann consulted with veteran course architect Geoff Cornish as well as others in creating The Classic at Madden's. It's beautiful but not for the faint of heart, a hilly course with some narrow, pine-lined fairways and occasional challenging shots over water from sidehill or downhill lies. But, like other multiple course operations such as Bethpage and Cog Hill, Madden's has easier alternate layouts for high-handicappers.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 33, 2003-04. Previous ranking: No. 59.
231-439-4028 / bayharborgolf.com
Arthur Hills, with Stephen Kircher (1998)
6,845 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 57.6225
One of three grand "new Pebble Beaches" that debuted in the late 1990s, Bay Harbor was ranked third in Golf Digest's survey of Best New Upscale Public Courses of 1999, behind the twin juggernauts (and fellow Pebble Beach clones) Bandon Dunes and Whistling Straits. Bay Harbor consists of 27 holes, but we rank its Links 9, which plays mostly on a plateau overlooking Lake Michigan, and its Quarry 9, which dips in and out of a lakefront stone quarry.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 23, 2007-08. Previous ranking: No. 80.
Myrtle Beach / 855-409-2177 / thedunesclub.net
Robert Trent Jones (1949) / Robert Trent Jones (R.1959)
7,450 Yards, Par 72 | Points: 57.6094
Its ocean-side dunes are mostly covered with turfgrass and mature trees now, but when Robert Trent Jones built The Dunes back in the late 1940s, the property was primarily windswept sand dotted with lagoons. Those lakes come in prominently on many holes, particularly on the 11th through 13th, dubbed Alligator Alley. (The boomerang-shaped par-5 13th is called Waterloo.) The home hole, with a pond in front of the green, started as a gambling par 5 but today is a daunting par 4.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 15, 2003-04. Previous ranking: No. 56.
Mesquite, Nev. / 866-252-4653 / golfwolfcreek.com
Dennis Rider (2000)
6,939 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 57.4490
Wolf Creek is a fantasy calendar come to life, with holes clinging to stark canyon hillsides and plunging down narrow ravines. A genuine amateur architect design (although Jim Engh provided an early routing), Wolf Creek finished third in Golf Digest's survey of America's Best New Upscale Public Courses of 2001, behind Pacific Dunes and Arcadia Bluffs (Bluffs). All three are now ranked among America's 100 Greatest Public Courses.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 21, 2009-10. Previous ranking: No. 53.
Wolcott, Colo. / 866-873-3759 / redskygolfclub.com
Greg Norman (2003)
7,480 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 57.4345
There are two 18s at Red Sky Ranch, one by Greg Norman, the other designed by Tom Fazio, No. 79 on this year's ranking. Public play on each alternates on a daily basis. A ridgeline separates the two courses (the ridge is designated as a wildlife corridor), with the Norman 18 positioned on an old sheep ranch on the western slope, affording long-range views of the Rockies to the west and south as well as gorgeous sunsets. Typical of a Norman design, the greens are big but docile and the bunkering is plentiful and dramatically shaped.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2013. Highest ranking: Current ranking. Previous ranking: No. 78.
906-225-0721 / golfgreywalls.com
Mike DeVries (2005)
6,828 Yards, Par 71 / Points: 57.4242
A decade before architect Mike DeVries created the world-class Cape Wickham GC in Australia, he produced an equally compelling design in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, a second 18 for Marquette G.C. It’s called Greywalls because of all the granite rock outcroppings that edge some holes and squeeze others, like the short par-4 fifth, and because the rock provides the rugged topography over which this course scampers up and plunges down. The vistas out over Lake Superior are fantastic, beginning with the opening tee shot. Like No. 57 Wilderness Club, this is a destination course worth hiking to play.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2017-18. Highest (and previous) ranking: No. 54.
Green Lake, Wis. / 800-529-4453 / lawsonia.com
William Langford & Theodore Moreau (1930)
6,853 Yards, Par 72 | Points: 57.4026
The geometric shapes and steep, angular slopes of Lawsonia's massive green pads and deep bunkers have led many to conclude it's a Seth Raynor design, which it is not. Langford and Moreau built the course using steamshovels, which resulted in most of those distinctive landforms. The par-3 seventh has another explanation entirely. Its green, perched like a birthday cake, was formed by piling dirt over an old railroad boxcar.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2015. Highest (and previous) ranking: No. 58.
Tower, Minn. / 800-992-4680 / golfthewilderness.com
Jeff Brauer (2004)
7,207 Yards, Par 72 | Points: 57.3412
In 2005, The Wilderness at Fortune Bay won America's Best New Upscale Public Course, a year after architect Jeff Brauer won the same award for No. 25 The Quarry at Giant's Ridge, also in northern Minnesota. Where The Quarry uses slopes and ramps, Wilderness rewards aerial play, with some high-low alternate fairways, lake-edged greens and a pair of drop-shot par 3s. As we wrote back in 2005, "its options outnumber its rock outcroppings, and there are outcroppings galore."
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2011. Highest ranking: No. 40, 2011-12. Previous ranking: No. 72.
Boulder City, Nev. / 702-294-2005 / golfcascata.com
Rees Jones (2000)
7,137 Yards, Par 72 | Points: 57.3001
One of the great engineering feats in golf thus far in this century, Cascata climbs up and down a steep, rocky mountain hillside southeast of Las Vegas. It's authentically Nevada on the edges, the barren areas akin to Wolf Creek in Mesquite, but its turfed areas, planted with date palms, ironwoods and willows, and crossed by endless babbling brooks, is something of a salute to nearby Shadow Creek. Cascata plays mostly uphill on the front, downhill on the longer back nine. The ninth tee is 600 feet above the clubhouse; it reportedly snowed on the ninth one day while people were dining on the clubhouse patio below.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 46, 2015-16. Previous ranking: No. 62.
Gothenburg, Neb. / 308-537-7700 / playwildhorse.com
Dan Proctor & Dave Axland (1999)
6,955 yards, Par 72 / Points: 57.2343
Proctor and Axland, two of the country's best golf course shapers (they've worked on many Coore & Crenshaw projects) also team on occasion to build high-quality, low-profile, low-budget daily-fee layouts. Wild Horse is perhaps their finest, laid out on the southern edge of the Nebraska sand hills and patterned after the great Sand Hills Golf Club to the northwest, which both Proctor and Axland helped build. With green fees under $50 on weekdays and just over $50 on weekends, Wild Horse is a true bargain among America's 100 Greatest Public.
100 Greatest Public History: Since 2015-16. Highest (and previous) ranking: No. 68.
Farmington, Pa. / 800-422-2736 / nemacolin.com
Pete Dye (1995)
7,550 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 57.2019
Mystic Rock is one of the more curious courses Pete Dye ever designed, with mostly oval greens and rectangular bunkers. Because many holes were blasted from rock, some holes have fields of boulders in the rough and all water hazards are bulkheaded with stacked stone. The course concludes with Dye's favorite finish, a gambling par-5 16th, a 17th over water (in this case, 205 yards) and a now-strong par-4 18th. Mystic Rock's 18th was rebuilt and lengthened before the course hosted a PGA Tour event, the 84 Lumber Classic from 2003 to 2006.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2009. Highest ranking: No. 60, 2015-16. Previous ranking: No. 66.
Southern Pines, N.C. / 800-747-7272 / pineneedles-midpines.com
Donald Ross (1928) / Donald Ross (R.1937)
7,062 Yards, Par 71 | Points: 57.1713
Whenever golfers visit Pinehurst, they always book rounds at Pinehurst No. 2 as well as the others at the resort. Pine Needles, just down the highway in Southern Pines, often gets overlooked. It shouldn't, especially since its Donald Ross heritage has been reinforced by a restoration by John Fought more than 10 years ago. Pine Needles has hosted three U.S. Women's Opens, so was it being overlooked when the 2014 U.S. Women's Open was conducted at Pinehurst No. 2? In fact, the USGA is bringing back the Women's Open again in 2022.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked 2003-04 & since 2007. Highest ranking: No. 43, 2007-08. Previous ranking: No. 79.
Kohler, Wis. / 855-444-2838 / blackwolfrun.com
Pete Dye (1989)
7,250 Yards, Par 72 | Points: 57.1627
Even before Pete Dye completed the River Course at Blackwolf Run, he had taken the front nine of the original Blackwolf Course (Best New Resort winner of 1988) and merged it with a newly-constructed nine to form the Meadows Valley Course. Although the Sheboygan River isn't in play as much on Meadows Valley as it is on the River (the 18th hole plays over it), there are plenty of deep bunkers and tricky pin positions.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2009. Highest (and previous) ranking: No. 57.
West Point, Miss. / 662-494-6463 / oldwaverly.com
Bob Cupp & Jerry Pate (1988)
7,088 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 57.1303
A carefully crafted design, Old Waverly was No. 3 among Best New Private Courses in 1989 and was the site of Juli Inkster's only U.S. Women's Open win, in 1999. It has twice been ranked among America's 100 Greatest, from 1995 to 1998 and from 2005 to 2006. Five years ago, the former private club became semi-private, began accepting outside play and soon made our ranking of America's 100 Greatest Public Courses. It now genuinely serves as a country club for the day.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2011. Highest ranking: No. 29, 2011-12. Previous ranking: No. 60.
800-487-4653 / pinehurst.com
Tom Fazio (1996)
7,099 Yards, Par 72 | Points: 57.1251
Located not within the Pinehurst Resort complex but about a mile north, Pinehurst No. 8 is one of Tom Fazio's most versatile designs, as each hole plays differently from the previous. The front nine is mostly tree-lined, the back more open, with both touching on ponds, marsh and Pine Valley-like sandy wastelands. For putting surfaces, Fazio built crowned greens with greenside swales, intended as a salute to Donald Ross and Pinehurst No. 2.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 44, 2005-06. Previous ranking: No. 64.
Eatonton, Ga. / 800-800-5250 / reynoldslakeoconee.com/
Jack Nicklaus (1992)
7,436 yards, Par 72 / Points: 57.0965
Early in his design career, Jack Nicklaus said he would design resort courses differently than championship ones. Great Waters is a vivid example of that intent. With a routing that features 10 holes on Lake Oconee, Jack and his associate Jim Lipe worked hard to vary the encounters with water. On one hole it's a carry off a tee, on another, it's beside a green, while on a couple, it's a cove in front of a green. Every encounter features a generous bailout option. Another concession to resort golfers: The greens are big but simple, with few complex contours.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked 2003-08 & 2015-present. Highest ranking: No. 61, 2005-06. Previous ranking: No. 94.
The Red Course is the counterclockwise routing of The Loop, and as the name suggests, both it and the Black Course play out to ninth holes at a far corner of the property, then back in. What’s most impressive in playing the Red (and the Black, for that matter), is that there is never the sensation of playing a hole backwards. The topography, bunkering and green entrances are all so compelling that it’s barely noticeable that each serves two purposes. The Loop is part of the Forest Dunes resort, which also contains No. 33 Forest Dunes, a fine Tom Weiskopf design.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2017-18. Highest (and previous) ranking: No. 47.
Wolcott, Colo. / 970-754-8425 / redskygolfclub.com
Tom Fazio (2002)
7,116 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 56.9939
The companion to No. 66 Norman Course at Red Sky, the Fazio 18 features more elevation change, with the mostly open front nine atop a bluff dotted with hand-planted sage and juniper bushes and the back nine rising in switchback fashion far up a mountain slope through groves of aspen before plunging downhill on the final three holes. The bunkers here are some of Fazio's most elaborate.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2015. Highest ranking: No. 76 (previous).
Akron, Ohio / 330-644-8441 / clubcorp.com/clubs/firestone-country-club
Robert Trent Jones (1959)
7,283 yards, Par 70 / Score: 56.9599
Golf design is about transforming land. Sometimes it’s a native piece of soil, and in other cases the subject is an existing course. In the late 1950s, Robert Trent Jones was hired to take a somewhat benign and toothless layout built in the 1920s for employees of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company and toughen it up for the 1960 PGA Championship, much like what he did in turning Oakland Hills South into a “monster” prior to the 1951 U.S. Open. At Firestone he added dozens of bunkers, closed off green fronts, lengthened it to over 7,000 yards and installed several new water hazards. If complaints from the pros about its difficulty was an indication, the remodel was a profound success. Over the decades the tree-lined South Course, still a demanding tournament venue, has gained the respect of the best players who appreciate its unambiguous demands and ability to identify the best ball-strikers. Now it’s accessible to the public, who can reserve rooms and rounds through new stay and play packages.
100 Greatest Public History: Newly ranked.
Kauai, Hawaii / 808-826-1912 / makaigolf.com
Robert Trent Jones Jr. (1971)
7,223 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 56.9212
The first solo design of Robert Trent Jones Jr., Princeville Makai is situated on bluffs overlooking Kauai's Hanalei Bay and pipeline surf. Two of its three nines (the Lake and Ocean 9s) were re-grassed and re-bunkered in 2009 by Jones and partner Bruce Charlton, who also re-established the width of several holes. The untouched Woods 9, now considered the resort's walking course, provides a graphic reminder of how golf has changed in five decades.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2013. Highest ranking: No. 65 (2015-2016 and previous).
Bend, Ore. / 541-388-2582 / tetherow.com
David McLay Kidd (2008)
7,293 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 56.7729
A decade after David McLay Kidd established his architectural reputation with the original Bandon Dunes course, he returned to Oregon, settled in Bend and built another dazzling course, Tetherow. Far different than Bandon, with a manufactured landscape of lumps and bumps, far more bunkers, plus a couple of lakes, it nonetheless has the same fescue as at Bandon, so tee shots get plenty of roll and some approach shots can be bounced into flagsticks.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2011. Highest ranking: No. 54, 2015-16. Previous ranking: No. 71.
Bloomington, Ind. / 812-855-7543 / thepfaucourse.com
Steve Smyers (2020)
7,908 yards, par 71 / Score: 56.7416
College golf courses can be the most challenging of assignments for architects because of the need to accommodate the broad range of abilities that play the course day to day. On one hand the design needs to be enjoyable for students, faculty and local play, and on the other it has to have the mettle to test the skills of the best amateurs in the country. At Indiana, Smyers, a nationally competitive amateur player himself, has thought deeply about the topic. He challenges talented players, including the Hoosiers’ golf teams, with length, subtly angled drives, compressed landing areas bordered by light rough and contouring slopes around the edges of greens. But the course is also broad where handicap players drive the ball, the greens are open in front and the bunkers are shallow. Native grass roughs and groves of hardwoods add an idyllic touch.
100 Greatest Public History: Newly ranked.
Nashport, Ohio / 740-763-1100 / thevirtuesgolfclub.com
Arthur Hills (1999)
7,243 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 56.7315
Course designer Arthur Hills called The Virtues (formerly known as Longaberger) "probably as beautiful as piece a property as I've had to work with." Told to route the course to preserve as many trees as possible, Hills made the brawny Virtues course wander gracefully from ridge top to valley, testing every shot with uphill, downhill and sidehill lies. It's Hills's most natural design, and it won Golf Digest's award for Best New Upscale Public Course of 2000.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 51, 2013-14. Previous ranking: No. 73.
Pawleys Island, S.C. / 800-483-6800 / fishclub.com
Mike Strantz (1994)
6,526 Yards, Par 70 / Points: 56.6737
Caledonia, the first solo design in the short, brilliant career of Mike Strantz, is an 18 shoehorned into an oak-dotted sand-dune parcel so tight that the ninth is a pitch-shot par 3 over the entry road to a wide green that's smaller than the bunker fronting it. No room for a practice range, either. Players use the one across the highway at sister course True Blue, another Strantz gem.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked 2003-10 & since 2013. Highest ranking: No. 66, 2009-10. Previous ranking: No. 77.
Stateline, Nev. / 775-588-3566 / edgewoodtahoe.com
George Fazio (1968)
7,529 yards, par 72 / Score: 56.6713
Though not a stop on any of the professional tours, Edgewood Tahoe is one of golf’s most televised courses as the annual host of the American Century Championship. Once a member of Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses, Edgewood Tahoe is as telegenic as they come, with fairways framed by stately pines, greens flanked by sparkling ponds and several holes positioned on Lake Tahoe, including the final three. The design rewards shaped drives and precise approaches that come in high. At over 6,000 feet elevation the ball flies roughly 10-percent farther than at sea level, and you can cross two items off your all-50-state bucket list by playing here as the ninth hole crosses the state line into California.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked from 2003 through 2012. Highest ranking: 35th, 2003-2004. Previous ranking: 93rd, 2017-2018. Member Golf Digest's America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses for 10 years, 1985-1992 & 1999-2000.
Doral, Fla. / 305-592-2000 / trumpgolfdoral.com
Dick Wilson (1961)
7,608 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 56.6385
The linchpin of the famous four-course complex previously known as Doral Golf Resort, the Blue Monster had hosted a PGA Tour event annually from 1962 to 2016. The fearsome layout has been given added bite by Hanse and Wagner by creation of new slopes and ridges on several holes and the excavation of new lakes on par-3 15 and drivable par-4 16 to add more excitement to the finish. But they wisely left the legendary 18th nearly untouched. Why mess with history?
100 Greatest Public History: 2017. Highest ranking: No. 61, 2017-2018. Previous ranking: No. 75.
Peoria, Ariz. / 928-501-1500 / quinterogolf.com
Rees Jones & Steve Weisser (2000)
7,208 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 56.5957
Perhaps no course in the greater Phoenix area provides a better experience of the area's diverse topography. Some holes are framed by mountain ridges, others are out in the Sonoran desert. Still others are edged by manmade irrigation lakes or natural desert washes. Holes like the par-5 eighth and par-4 14th climb up long slopes, while dazzling par 3s at six and 16 plunge dramatically downhill. Quintero, a former private club, is a scenic and playable delight.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2017. Highest (and previous) ranking: No. 84.
Berthoud, Colo. / 970-663-5063 / tpc.com/colorado
Art Schaupeter (2019)
7,991 yards, par 72 / Score: 56.5501
As with all courses in the TPC network, TPC Colorado was designed with an eye toward hosting professional events (it hosts a tournament on the Korn Ferry Tour), and at the mile-high altitude that mandates the ability to stretch out to 8,000 yards or more. There are numerous tips of the hat to TPC originator Pete Dye, including a fair smattering of sod-faced pot bunkers dotted throughout the fairways, but the design pulls from many sources. The holes are either very long or tantalizingly gettable. Broad chipping collars slide off elevated greens. A Biarritz-modeled putting surface is cocked out into a lake and surrounded on three sides by water (take that, Yale). The drivable par-4 sixth is a riff on Riviera’s 10th, and there’s a little Pebble Beach-inspired downhill par 3 with a reservoir and Front Range views taking the place of the Pacific Ocean backdrop.
100 Greatest Public History: Newly ranked.
Brooksville, Fla. / 352-796-5500 / worldwoods.com
Tom Fazio (1993)
7,237 Yards, Par 71 / Points: 56.4991
Back when Golf Digest's named the Pine Barrens Course at World Woods' America's Best New Resort Course of 1994, most panelists said the layout, carved from a sand-based pine plantation, compared favorably to Pine Valley, with similar belts of sand and vegetation lining each hole. Pine Barrens also has some canyons of sand that jut into fairways and pose risks and rewards. The Pine Barrens Course was ranked among America's 100 Greatest from 1999 until 2003.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 26, 2003-06. Previous ranking: No. 82.
Sheboygan Falls, Wisc. / 920-467-1500 / golfthebull.com
Jack Nicklaus (2003)
7,354 yards, Par 72 / Score: 56.4385
It’s not wise for a rebel force to stand toe-to-toe against an empire—success depends upon more radical measures. In the case of The Bull at Pinehurst Farms, the empire is Herb Kohler’s neighboring 36-hole Blackwolf Run (plus the 10-hole Baths course), not to mention Kohler’s Whistling Straits complex just north of Sheboygan. To make The Bull equally attractive, Team Nicklaus went full commando with the design, using all the available assets of the 400-acre site to build broad meadow holes in the meadows, tightrope holes through the woods, and shorties along and across the winding Onion River. Traps are sprung everywhere—in the form of pot bunkers, inside doglegs, draped in front of greens—and numerous ravines are positioned to ensnare miscalculations. There’s a lot going on, but as they say, when you take on The Bull, you get the horns.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked 2011-2018. Highest ranking: No. 70, 2015-2016.
Pebble Beach / 831-625-1513 / poppyhillsgolf.com
Robert Trent Jones Jr. (1986)
7,002 Yards, Par 71 | Points: 56.4317
When originally built, Poppy Hills had unpopular perched greens framed by massive containment mounds. Following a 2013 remodeling by Jones and Charlton, it's now a graceful, low-profile layout. "We popped the hills at Poppy Hills," says Trent Jr. A new feature are sandy naturalized areas and pine straw off the fairways instead of manicured rough, part of a concerted effort to significantly reduce water consumption.
100 Greatest Public History: 2017 to current. Highest ranking: No. 62, 2017-18. Previous ranking: No. 81.
Southern Pines, N.C. / 910-692-9362 / pineneedles-midpines.com
Donald Ross (1921)
6,732 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 56.4297
What began as a private retreat called Knollwood, funded by Roaring Twenties millionaires like James Barber, Horace Rackham and Henry Ford, is now a charming public Donald Ross design, revitalized by young first-time designer Kyle Franz in the style of nearby Pinehurst No. 2, on whose restoration crew Franz had worked. Mid Pines now features acres of exposed sand instead of traditional rough and marvelous naturalized bunkers protecting small, perched putting surfaces. Any trip to Pinehurst should include a round on this gem.
100 Greatest Public History: 2017. Highest (and previous) ranking: No. 91.
Havre de Grace, Md. / 888-285-5375 / bullerock.com
Pete Dye (1998)
7,375 Yards, Par 72 / Points: 56.4285
This great course is built on the old Blenheim Farm, which had been the home of many thoroughbred race horses. Indeed, Bulle Rock is named for a direct descendant of the very first thoroughbred stud brought to America. Pete Dye's bold design spreads over 275 acres, with no homesites or amenities other than golf. Besides being named America's Best New Upscale Public Course of 1998, Bulle Rock hosted the LPGA Championship from 2005 through 2009.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2003. Highest ranking: No. 33, 2005-06. Previous ranking: No. 74.
Portola, Calif. / 530-322-5575 / grizzlyranchliving.com
Bob Cupp (2005)
7,411 yards, par 72 / Score: 56.3960
One of the most attractive aspects of Grizzly Ranch, other than its actual attractiveness, is how far out of the way it is. Located in the Sierra Nevada foothills 50 miles northwest of Reno, this is getaway, escapist golf and a refreshing trek through nature. When given such serenity and untouched natural beauty, it’s important not to overcook the design. The late architect Bob Cupp didn’t. He layered the holes onto a basin of forest floor with minimal buildup, directing them easily up and down the tilted property toward the base of Turner Ridge, and positioned the greensites in ways that mingle thoughtfully with various creeks and dry washes.
100 Greatest Public History: Newly ranked.
Williamsburg, Va. / 800-832-5665 / kingsmill.com
Pete Dye (1975)
6,831 yards, par 71 / Score: 56.3763
Pete Dye gained notoriety in the 1960s for his unique, trend-setting take on architecture at courses like The Golf Club, Crooked Stick and Harbour Town. He became a virtual household name in the 1980s after creating sensations like The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, PGA West and Blackwolf Run, and the fame continued throughout the 90s and for the rest of his career—at The Ocean Course, Whistling Straits,The Dye Course at French Lick and numerous others—until his passing in 2020. Less heralded are his courses from the 1970s. But among them, the River Course at Kingsmill Resort continues to stand out and remains a strong expression of Dye’s early design period, more in the mode of Harbour Town than Sawgrass. The course, which hosted the PGA Tour’s Michelob Championship from 1981 through 2002 and now hosts an LPGA event, sits quietly on the land and lets the natural movements of the wooded site—rather than sharp architectural features—define the character. The final three holes circle near the James River, including the par-3 17th that plays on a bluff above the water.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked from 2011 through 2014. Highest ranking: 79th, 2011-2012.
Valentine, Neb. / 888-402-1101 / theprairieclub.com
Graham Marsh (2010)
7,403 Yards, Par 73 / Points: 56.3556
Not as pure a Nebraska sandhills experience as sister Dunes Course, which is ranked No. 45, the Pines Course has just 11 holes playing in the tumbling prairie topography. It repeatedly touches the edge of a deep canyon formed by the Snake River. Those seven holes (6 & 7, 10 & 11 and 16 through 18) are lined with tall pines and cedars and bring to mind a collection of holes in the Colorado Rockies. For pure golfing variety, Prairie Club rivals even Bandon Dunes.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked since 2015. Highest ranking: No. 75, 2015-16. Previous ranking: No. 88.
Borrego Springs, Calif. / 760-767-3500 / ramshill.com
Tom Fazio (2008)
7,232 yards, Par 72 / Score: 56.3556
The desert can be a harsh environment, both physically and economically. The property where Rams Hill is located in the Anza Borrego Desert State Park, on the western edge of the Sonoran Desert, about an hour from La Quinta, Calif., was first developed for golf in 1993. Its fortunes rose and fell with the temperatures, going out of business but later revived by local residents in the mid 2000s with an entirely new golf course built by Tom Fazio. That iteration struggled initially as well, but Rams Hill has now found its footing, in part by attracting pilgrimages from an eager contingent of traveling players. Some of Fazio’s spacious holes are molded into the desert earth and others ride the up and down rocky elevations, leading to a finish that includes the short par-4 17th and gambler’s par-5 18th that streaks downhill around a water feature.
100 Greatest Public History: Newly ranked.
Rising Fawn, Ga. / 706-398-0882 / themclemore.com
Bill Bergin & Rees Jones (2020)
7,005 yards, Par 71 / Score: 56.3342
This course, formerly known as Canyon Ridge, opened in 2005 to regional acclaim in large part due to several holes that crept out to the edge of Lookout Mountain in northwest Georgia, peering down to a valley floor several hundred feet below. Other parts of the design were less successful. New owners rechristened the club McLemore and brought in Rees Jones and Georgia native Bill Bergin to remodel the course. Those soaring views were opened up even further, revisions were made to the bunkers and greens, and a new 18th hole was built on a previously inaccessible ledge of land farther out over the precipice of the mountain. Golf Digest deemed that hole, a breathtaking par 4 that rides the clifftop and seems to levitate above McLemore Cove, one of the best 18 holes built in the U.S. since 2000. Part of a gated community, McLemore offers attractive overnight packages, and a new 245-room hotel and resort will soon be added to the collection.
100 Greatest Public History: Newly ranked.
Zion Crossroads, Va. / 540-832-0744 / springcreekgolfclub.com
Ed Carton (2007)
7,348 yards, Par 72 / Score: 56.2808
There’s an admirable polish and sophistication to the holes at Spring Creek as they wind attractively through a quiet property of hardwoods and pine, with the first nine circling out broadly through undisturbed nature and the second moving out and back along the Spring Branch stream. Winner of Golf Digest’s Best New Public Course Under $75 in 2007, the scale and positioning of the bunkering, for reference, brings to mind Bethpage Black, while the topography of streams and ravines recall Mike Strantz’s no-longer-open Stonehouse on the opposite side of Richmond, which won the magazine’s Best New Upscale Course in 1996. Most greens are angled to the line of play and present a decision between playing to a safe, open side or a challenging side only accessible through strategic positioning and precision.
100 Greatest Public History: Ranked 2011-2018. Highest ranking: No. 55, 2015-2016.
Course descriptions by Ron Whitten and Derek Duncan. Research and coordination by Stephen Hennessey.
* Traditionally private clubs that offer stay-and-play packages.
** Since publication, Point O' Woods, a private club in Michigan that was No. 54, has altered its guest policy and no longer offers stay-and-play packages to non-members and thus no longer qualifies as public-access. For consistency across our platforms, we have omitted Point O' Woods but kept the rest of the ranking intact.
Photographs: Opening photo of Tobacco Road: Brian Oar; Others: Courtesy of Dom Furore, Stephen Szurlej, J.D. Cuban, Evan Schiller, Jon Cavalier, Andy Johnson/The Fried Egg, Larry Lambrecht and others courtesy of the courses