The 20 Best Public Golf Courses in America

By YPB TeamSep 29

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

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