The 22 Best Golf Courses in the World

From cathedral-like Masters fairways to windswept Scottish links and cliffside dunes on the far side of the world, this lineup spans championship royalty and cult pilgrimage sites alike. Cast your vote!

1

St Andrews Old Course

The Scottish links widely called the Home of Golf, dating back over 600 years in the town of St Andrews.

1000pts

2

Pine Valley Golf Club

A secluded New Jersey course of sandy waste areas and thick pines, often ranked the toughest test in golf.

764pts

3

Augusta National Golf Club

The private Georgia club that hosts the Masters every April, famed for its blooming azaleas and Amen Corner.

716pts

4

Cape Kidnappers

A Tom Doak design on New Zealand's North Island, known for fairways perched atop dramatic ocean cliffs.

716pts

5

Teeth of the Dog

A Pete Dye design at Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic, with seven holes running along the Caribbean Sea.

681pts

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6

Muirfield

One of Scotland's oldest links, home to The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers and repeat Open host.

661pts

7

Royal County Down

A rugged links in Newcastle, Northern Ireland, set beneath the Mourne Mountains with dramatic dune bunkering.

611pts

8

Cabot Cliffs

A modern Coore & Crenshaw design on Nova Scotia's Cape Breton coast, celebrated for its dramatic cliffside holes.

600pts

9

Royal Melbourne Golf Club

An Alister MacKenzie sandbelt masterpiece in Australia, celebrated for strategic bunkering and firm fairways.

529pts

10

Royal Dornoch Golf Club

A remote Scottish Highlands links credited with influencing Donald Ross and revered by traveling purists.

529pts

11

Shinnecock Hills Golf Club

A windswept Long Island links-style course and one of the founding clubs of the USGA.

529pts

12

Royal Portrush (Dunluce Links)

A dramatic dunesland course on Northern Ireland's Antrim coast, host of the 2019 and 2025 Open Championships.

448pts

13

Barnbougle Dunes

A wild oceanfront links on Tasmania's north coast, a modern cult favorite among traveling golfers.

448pts

14

Bethpage Black

A rugged, punishing public course on Long Island that has hosted multiple U.S. Opens and a Ryder Cup.

448pts

15

Cypress Point Club

An exclusive Pebble Beach-area links-and-forest course famed for its cliffside par-3 16th hole over the Pacific.

353pts

16

Carnoustie Golf Links

A famously demanding Scottish links nicknamed 'Car-nasty' for its punishing finishing holes along the Barry Burn.

353pts

17

Turnberry (Ailsa Course)

A Scottish Ayrshire links famous for its lighthouse hole and views across the Firth of Clyde to Ailsa Craig.

353pts

18

Pinehurst No. 2

A Donald Ross design in North Carolina known for its crowned, turtleback greens and sandy waste areas.

353pts

19

Sand Hills Golf Club

A minimalist Coore & Crenshaw design carved into the dunes of remote rural Nebraska.

353pts

20

Whistling Straits

A rugged Wisconsin links built along Lake Michigan, host of multiple PGA Championships and the 2021 Ryder Cup.

240pts

21

Kiawah Island Ocean Course

A Pete Dye design along the South Carolina coast, exposed to Atlantic winds and host of the 2012 PGA Championship.

106pts

22

Pebble Beach Golf Links

A dramatic California links perched along the cliffs of Carmel Bay on the Monterey Peninsula.

106pts