These Are The Best Golf Courses Our Nation Has To Offer
The United States has a long, rich history of stealing other nation’s treasured traditions and doing them way better. Nowhere is this more apparent than the ancient and noble sport of golf. Where the British Isles are reminiscent of a “lovely little garden,” the New World sprawls immeasurably into the boundless frontiers like vast, untamed wilderness. And all that land makes for some of the most amazing and varied courses in the world.
In 1977, Golf Digest started ranking the best courses in each state. Almost all are private. Some are very exclusive. But it’s enough to say if you’re a golfer and you haven’t played any of these, you’re missing out on the finest fairways your great nation has to offer. These aren’t necessarily all the best courses in America, but each one of them says something about the state of the sport and the terrain in their home regions.
Here they are:
(*”Invitation only” or private club. X “extremely exclusive.”)
Alabama: Shoal Creek*
Alaska: Anchorage Golf Course
Arkansas: The Alotian Club*
Arizona: The Estancia Club*
California: Cypress Point Club, Pebble Beach*
Note: Cypress Point is a masterpiece that is also said to be the most exclusive course in America. It is virtually impossible to play here, as tee times are limited to guests of one of only 275 total members. Anybody played a round? Hit the comments.
Colorado: Castle Pines*
Connecticut: The Stanwich Club
Delaware: Wilmington Country Club*
Florida: Seminole Golf Club *X
Georgia: Augusta National Golf Club*X
Note: The universally-known home of the Masters, no course in the world has been more reinvented and engineered. The greatest course architects in American history all left their mark on this course at one point, and it layers many different design signatures from the likes of Mackenzie, Jones, and Maxwell interwoven into its fabric. You have to pretty much be a pro or rich/famous to get a tee time. Although, even Bill Gates was kept out for years just because he had said publicly once that he wanted to be let in. Can’t have that riff raff at Augusta.
Hawaii: Nanea Golf Club*X
Note: Another of the most exclusive clubs in the world, but students at the local high school are allowed to practice here. Community service?
Idaho: Gozzer Ranch*
Illinois: Chicago Golf Club*X
Indiana: Victoria National Golf Club*
Iowa: The Harvester Golf Club
Kansas: Prairie Dunes Country Club*
Kentucky: Valhalla Golf Club*
Louisiana: Country Club of Louisiana, Baton Rouge*
Maine: Belgrade Lakes Golf Club
Maryland: Congressional Country Club*
Massachusetts: The Country Club*X
Note: This is the original “country club” of America. If your family weren’t members in 1882, it’s unlikely you will become one now.
Michigan: Crystal Downs*
Minnesota: Interlachen*
Mississippi: Fallen Oaks Golf Club
Missouri: Bellerive*
Montana: Rock Creek Cattle Co, Deer Lodge
Nebraska: Sand Hills
Nevada: Shadow Creek
New Hampshire: Baker Hill*
New Jersey: Pine Valley*X
New Mexico: Paako Ridge
New York: Shinnecock Hills*
North Carolina: Wade Hampton Golf Club*
North Dakota: Hawktree
Ohio: Muirfield Village*
Oklahoma: Southern Hills*
Oregon: Pacific Dunes, Bandon
Note: Consistently ranked as one of the best public courses in the world, Pacific Dunes is a gorgeous, suitable alternative to the Pebble Beach clubs you can’t get in.
Pennsylvania: Oakmont Country Club*
Rhode Island: Newport Country Club
South Carolina: The Ocean Course
South Dakota: Sutton Bay*
Texas: Whispering Pines*
Tennessee: The Honors Course*
Utah: Glenwild*
Vermont: Ekwanok Country Club*
Virginia: Kinloch Golf Club*
Washington: Sahalee Country Club*
West Virginia: Pikewood National Golf Club*
Wisconsin: Whistling Straits
Wyoming: Snake River Sporting Club*
[via Golf Digest]
Image via Shutterstock
Whoever made this list is smoking crack. The fact Pinehurst wasn’t on the list nor mentioned is grade A horsefuckery.
8 years ago at 12:59 amI’ve played there three times and I’m barely a junior B at my parents club in another region of the United States.
8 years ago at 1:18 amI once found myself my freshman year tasked with the unfortunate labor of having to, by candlelight only, and with just an onion and lukewarm sixpack of stale lager for sustenance, count the number of dimples on a golf ball. I was not allowed to emerge from the basement – for that is where I was forced to engage in the job – until I was able to shout through the locked door the correct number. No phone was left me for a convenient internet search, no brother by my side to share in the misery.
Four days later I emerged, half-delirious and nearly famished beyond recovery, my breath smelling of that rotten vegetable which somehow nourished me enough through those grueling hours. For days afterward I couldn’t look at a white wall without seeing the repetition of dots superimposed on it, and I had an undeniable compulsion to count collections of all manner of things. And still, now, if I have the misfortune of coming across a golfball during daylight hours, I will without doubt during the night wake in a sweat and with horror find myself screaming that horrible number:
Three eighty three! Three eighty three!
8 years ago at 4:15 amGo back to the basement.
8 years ago at 5:28 amNanea GC on the big island of Hawaii is top 10 material in my book. Built by Charles Schwab and George Roberts, roughly only 150 members, and you can see the ocean from every hole.
8 years ago at 12:10 pmGolf does not exist
8 years ago at 9:13 am