Every course we'd fly for

A charming gold-rush-era nine beside the Arrow River, walkable and cheap.

Par

70

Yardage

5,900

Green fee

$45+

A full rebuild of the old Sea Pines course, with restored dune ridges and native grasses.

Par

72

Yardage

6,800

Green fee

$160+

Tom Watson's favourite. Vast dunes, cliff-edge fairways and the graveyard first tee.

Par

71

Yardage

6,802

Green fee

$180+

The original: gorse, cliff-edge holes and the course that started the pilgrimage.

Par

72

Yardage

6,732

Green fee

$115+

A thirteen-hole par-3 course above the ocean whose profits fund coastal conservation.

Par

39

Yardage

1,234

Green fee

$95+

Dunes to forest to meadow — the most varied and most underrated round at the resort.

Par

71

Yardage

6,788

Green fee

$115+

Built around faux plantation ruins, wide and rhythmic with sandy waste bunkering.

Par

72

Yardage

7,047

Green fee

$95+

Hill Country limestone, waterfalls and cliff-edge greens twenty minutes from downtown Austin.

Par

72

Yardage

6,956

Green fee

$150+

El Paso desert Fazio with Franklin Mountain views and almost no crowds.

Par

72

Yardage

7,307

Green fee

$70+

A former rice plantation turned Strantz masterpiece. Oak-lined and short on card, huge on strategy.

Par

70

Yardage

6,526

Green fee

$110+

The hardest links in the Open rota. The Barry Burn and closing three define careers.

Par

72

Yardage

7,421

Green fee

$150+

Grapevine's all-inclusive Cowboys-themed club with more elevation than DFW should have.

Par

72

Yardage

7,017

Green fee

$125+

The seventh-oldest golf club in the world, wrapped around a rocky point.

Par

69

Yardage

5,922

Green fee

$60+

A municipal desert course good enough to host tour qualifiers, with superb conditioning.

Par

72

Yardage

7,056

Green fee

$100+

A classic RTJ layout with Waterloo, the horseshoe par-5 13th around Lake Singleton.

Par

72

Yardage

7,450

Green fee

$140+

Fazio at his most muscular: deep bunkering, generous landing areas and a demanding closing stretch.

Par

72

Yardage

7,135

Green fee

$110+

RBC Heritage host. Tiny greens, live oaks in the line, and the lighthouse 18th along Calibogue Sound.

Par

71

Yardage

7,213

Green fee

$300+

Dye at his most angular, with railroad ties, waste bunkers and marsh edges.

Par

72

Yardage

7,035

Green fee

$150+

The most photographed course on Lake LBJ, waterfall par 4 included.

Par

72

Yardage

6,834

Green fee

$120+

Waterfalls, flowers and generous fairways; the friendliest premium round in the valley.

Par

72

Yardage

7,050

Green fee

$120+

Between Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables, with schist outcrops framing nearly every green.

Par

72

Yardage

7,008

Green fee

$120+

A modern links so convincing it feels ancient, with the sea visible from every hole.

Par

72

Yardage

7,227

Green fee

$180+

The best bunkering on any flat site in golf, and a par-3 15th that is close to perfect.

Par

72

Yardage

7,002

Green fee

$230+

Quarry-side Palmer design with big elevation swings for South Texas.

Par

72

Yardage

6,926

Green fee

$95+

Holes pressed directly against the Santa Rosa cliffs — the valley's most photographed layout.

Par

72

Yardage

6,732

Green fee

$130+

The St Andrews of Ireland, complete with the blind Dell par 3 and resident goats.

Par

72

Yardage

6,950

Green fee

$150+

Walking-caddie golf at Palmetto Bluff, with no cart paths and pure zoysia throughout.

Par

72

Yardage

7,171

Green fee

$190+

The best muni-to-Tour story in America, right inside Houston's loop.

Par

72

Yardage

7,475

Green fee

$40+

Arguably the finest turf in Australia, with immaculate couch fairways and bentgrass greens.

Par

72

Yardage

6,959

Green fee

$180+

A perfectly preserved Ross routing restored by Kyle Franz, and a strong contender for best value in America.

Par

72

Yardage

6,528

Green fee

$120+

NZ Open co-host, set in an old farm valley beneath Coronet Peak.

Par

72

Yardage

7,005

Green fee

$110+

Consistently rated Portugal's best: one tee time every ten minutes and immaculate turf.

Par

72

Yardage

7,185

Green fee

$195+

A diamond of land 300 feet above the Atlantic, with nine holes on the cliff edge.

Par

72

Yardage

7,217

Green fee

$250+

A tribute to C.B. Macdonald's template holes, played across enormous greens and open ground.

Par

71

Yardage

6,944

Green fee

$115+

Widely rated the best modern course in America. Wild dunes, blowout bunkers and back-to-back par 3s.

Par

71

Yardage

6,633

Green fee

$115+

The poor man's Pebble: a back nine in true dunes for a fraction of the price.

Par

70

Yardage

5,732

Green fee

$55+

True links holes on the beach at Lagos plus vineyard holes above the bay.

Par

72

Yardage

6,903

Green fee

$95+

The island's only oceanfront golf hole plus a lagoon system that touches nearly every hole.

Par

72

Yardage

6,710

Green fee

$120+

Six-time US Open host. The cliff-top run from 4 through 10 is the most famous stretch in golf.

Par

72

Yardage

6,972

Green fee

$625+

A recent OCM restoration returned this to the front rank of the Sandbelt.

Par

72

Yardage

6,975

Green fee

$160+

A fairer Nicklaus counterpoint to the Stadium, still hosting American Express rounds.

Par

72

Yardage

7,204

Green fee

$150+

Alcatraz, San Andreas Fault and the deepest bunkers in resort golf. Q-School's old torture chamber.

Par

72

Yardage

7,300

Green fee

$175+

Doak's 2024 addition on old sand-mine land — the most dramatic terrain in the Sandhills.

Par

70

Yardage

6,900

Green fee

$200+

Three-time US Open host and the definitive turtleback-green test. Restored to sandy native areas by Coore & Crenshaw.

Par

72

Yardage

7,588

Green fee

$350+

Hanse's reimagining next door to No. 2: bold bunkering, sandy scrub and huge width.

Par

72

Yardage

7,117

Green fee

$200+

The Centennial course, routed through wetlands and pine savannah away from the main village.

Par

72

Yardage

7,092

Green fee

$150+

Sand-capped and firm after its restoration, the best-value round on the peninsula.

Par

71

Yardage

7,002

Green fee

$150+

On a peninsula in Lake Wakatipu with 360-degree mountain views; reachable by ferry.

Par

72

Yardage

6,300

Green fee

$70+

Eight-time Portuguese Open host, umbrella pines and wide, rolling fairways.

Par

72

Yardage

7,158

Green fee

$140+

Russell's companion course, six of whose holes form the Composite Course.

Par

72

Yardage

6,598

Green fee

$220+

Top-five in the world. MacKenzie's bunkering and greens on perfect sand — the standard everything else is measured against.

Par

72

Yardage

6,987

Green fee

$250+

Routed through the Ria Formosa lagoon with a famous run along the salt marsh.

Par

72

Yardage

6,822

Green fee

$150+

Nine greens on the cliff edge, no bunkers, and more ocean frontage than anywhere in America.

Par

72

Yardage

6,741

Green fee

$115+

Five dune holes then a hard turn into the Del Monte forest. Statistically the toughest AT&T Pro-Am course.

Par

72

Yardage

6,960

Green fee

$425+

Threaded between twelve-million-year-old boulder piles in Carefree, the most scenic round in the valley.

Par

71

Yardage

6,726

Green fee

$140+

Cliff-top drama above the town with the most severe greens in Fife.

Par

71

Yardage

6,759

Green fee

$90+

A nine-hole short course of pure joy, walkable in an hour with a beer in hand.

Par

27

Yardage

789

Green fee

$60+

A private sculpture-park course that opens for the NZ Open and select visitor times.

Par

72

Yardage

7,302

Green fee

$250+

A firm, fescue links along the shoreline with a bagpiper walking the dunes at sunset.

Par

72

Yardage

6,821

Green fee

$330+

Opened in 1895 and still called New. Many locals prefer it to the Old.

Par

71

Yardage

6,625

Green fee

$60+

Twenty-nine Open Championships, seven double greens, the Swilcan Bridge and the Road Hole. The origin of everything.

Par

72

Yardage

7,305

Green fee

$120+

Doak on the West Texas plains: wind, width and severe green contours.

Par

72

Yardage

7,207

Green fee

$60+

Lake Lewisville links tribute with holes modeled on Scottish originals.

Par

72

Yardage

7,002

Green fee

$70+

Holes on bluffs above the marsh and the Atlantic — the most scenic card on the Strand.

Par

72

Yardage

7,044

Green fee

$90+

Former Senior Tour Championship host, immaculate and fair with wetland carries.

Par

72

Yardage

6,950

Green fee

$105+

Tour-length Hill Country golf under live oaks on the north side of San Antonio.

Par

72

Yardage

7,490

Green fee

$120+

Home of the WM Phoenix Open and the loudest hole in golf, the par-3 16th. Wide desert fairways and a stadium finish built for spectacle.

Par

71

Yardage

7,261

Green fee

$225+

Palmer said he designed the front nine and God designed the back. The dunes there are enormous.

Par

71

Yardage

6,975

Green fee

$150+

Named for the granite monolith splitting the par-5 3rd. Boulder-strewn corridors and pure Sonoran target golf.

Par

72

Yardage

7,028

Green fee

$150+

The sportier sibling to Monument, with more elevation change and long views back over the valley.

Par

72

Yardage

7,044

Green fee

$150+

Strantz's wild sandy sibling to Caledonia: enormous waste areas and heroic angles.

Par

72

Yardage

7,043

Green fee

$95+

A crescent of dunes along the Clare coast with a famously wild par-3 14th.

Par

72

Yardage

6,885

Green fee

$150+

Home of the cliff-carry 16th, the most photographed hole in continental Europe.

Par

72

Yardage

6,480

Green fee

$150+

Peter Thomson's home club, sharing a fence with Royal Melbourne and the same glorious sand.

Par

72

Yardage

6,800

Green fee

$180+

Payne Stewart's Irish home, with the Mass Hole and a monumental back nine in the dunes.

Par

72

Yardage

7,378

Green fee

$160+

A walkable Coore & Crenshaw desert course with no houses in sight and superb ground-game options.

Par

71

Yardage

6,966

Green fee

$120+

Bastrop's resort course tumbles off the Lost Pines ridge down to the Colorado River bottom.

Par

72

Yardage

7,205

Green fee

$95+