The 20 Best Public Golf Courses in America

By YPB TeamSep 291 vote

Oceanside links, Midwest sand barrens and a muni that hosted majors, all open to anyone with a tee time. Cast your vote!

1
Streamsong Red
A Coore and Crenshaw design on reclaimed phosphate land in central Florida, with big dunes and wide fairways.
1000pts
BE
2
Bandon Dunes
The 1999 David McLay Kidd course that started the Oregon coast golf boom, played on foot over rolling dunes.
777pts
3
Bethpage Black
The muscular Long Island municipal course that hosted the 2002 and 2009 U.S. Opens and the 2019 PGA Championship.
777pts
4
Harbour Town Golf Links
Pete Dye and Jack Nicklaus's tight, tree-lined Hilton Head course famous for its lighthouse finish.
678pts
5
Arcadia Bluffs
A links-style course on Lake Michigan bluffs in northern Michigan with big elevation change.
678pts
6
Pacific Dunes
Tom Doak's Bandon Dunes resort course, routed along bluffs above the Pacific with a famous run of oceanside holes.
555pts
7
Erin Hills
A walking-only Wisconsin course on glacial terrain that hosted the 2017 U.S. Open.
555pts
8
Sweetens Cove
A nine-hole Tennessee course that became a cult favorite for its giant, wildly contoured greens.
555pts
9
Whistling Straits
A Pete Dye links-style course on the Lake Michigan shore with nearly 1,000 bunkers and multiple Ryder Cup and PGA Championship hosts.
555pts
10
TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course
Pete Dye's Florida home of The Players Championship, known for the island-green par-3 17th.
555pts
11
Pebble Beach Golf Links
Clifftop Monterey Peninsula links that has hosted six U.S. Opens and is open to any golfer willing to pay the green fee.
0pts
12
Old Macdonald
A Bandon Dunes course by Tom Doak and Jim Urbina that pays homage to the template holes of C.B. Macdonald.
0pts
13
Kiawah Island Ocean Course
Pete Dye's seaside layout on a South Carolina barrier island, host of the 1991 Ryder Cup and the 2021 PGA Championship.
0pts
14
Sand Valley
A Coore and Crenshaw course in the central Wisconsin sand barrens with wide, bouncy fairways.
0pts
15
Spanish Bay
The Links at Spanish Bay, a Scottish-style dunes course on the Pebble Beach property by the sea.
0pts
16
Pete Dye Golf Club
A West Virginia course by its namesake architect, routed through the West Virginia hills with dramatic elevation change.
0pts
17
Pinehurst No. 2
Donald Ross's North Carolina masterpiece with crowned greens, host to multiple U.S. Opens.
0pts
18
Torrey Pines South Course
Municipal cliffside course above the Pacific in San Diego, site of Tiger Woods's 2008 U.S. Open win.
0pts
19
Chambers Bay
A former gravel quarry on Puget Sound turned fescue links, host of the 2015 U.S. Open.
0pts
20
Spyglass Hill Golf Course
Robert Trent Jones Sr. course on the Monterey Peninsula that opens along the ocean and finishes through the forest.
0pts