# 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!

*By YPB Team · Published August 17, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-22-best-golf-courses-in-the-world*

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## Current results (4 votes)

1. **St Andrews Old Course** — 50% (2 votes · score 1000/1000)
   The Scottish links widely called the Home of Golf, dating back over 600 years in the town of St Andrews.
2. **Pine Valley Golf Club** — 0% (0 votes · score 764/1000)
   A secluded New Jersey course of sandy waste areas and thick pines, often ranked the toughest test in golf.
3. **Augusta National Golf Club** — 0% (0 votes · score 716/1000)
   The private Georgia club that hosts the Masters every April, famed for its blooming azaleas and Amen Corner.
4. **Cape Kidnappers** — 0% (0 votes · score 716/1000)
   A Tom Doak design on New Zealand's North Island, known for fairways perched atop dramatic ocean cliffs.
5. **Teeth of the Dog** — 25% (1 votes · score 681/1000)
   A Pete Dye design at Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic, with seven holes running along the Caribbean Sea.
6. **Muirfield** — 0% (0 votes · score 661/1000)
   One of Scotland's oldest links, home to The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers and repeat Open host.
7. **Royal County Down** — 25% (1 votes · score 611/1000)
   A rugged links in Newcastle, Northern Ireland, set beneath the Mourne Mountains with dramatic dune bunkering.
8. **Cabot Cliffs** — 0% (0 votes · score 600/1000)
   A modern Coore & Crenshaw design on Nova Scotia's Cape Breton coast, celebrated for its dramatic cliffside holes.
9. **Royal Melbourne Golf Club** — 0% (0 votes · score 529/1000)
   An Alister MacKenzie sandbelt masterpiece in Australia, celebrated for strategic bunkering and firm fairways.
10. **Royal Dornoch Golf Club** — 0% (0 votes · score 529/1000)
   A remote Scottish Highlands links credited with influencing Donald Ross and revered by traveling purists.
11. **Shinnecock Hills Golf Club** — 0% (0 votes · score 529/1000)
   A windswept Long Island links-style course and one of the founding clubs of the USGA.
12. **Royal Portrush (Dunluce Links)** — 0% (0 votes · score 448/1000)
   A dramatic dunesland course on Northern Ireland's Antrim coast, host of the 2019 and 2025 Open Championships.
13. **Barnbougle Dunes** — 0% (0 votes · score 448/1000)
   A wild oceanfront links on Tasmania's north coast, a modern cult favorite among traveling golfers.
14. **Bethpage Black** — 0% (0 votes · score 448/1000)
   A rugged, punishing public course on Long Island that has hosted multiple U.S. Opens and a Ryder Cup.
15. **Cypress Point Club** — 0% (0 votes · score 353/1000)
   An exclusive Pebble Beach-area links-and-forest course famed for its cliffside par-3 16th hole over the Pacific.
16. **Carnoustie Golf Links** — 0% (0 votes · score 353/1000)
   A famously demanding Scottish links nicknamed 'Car-nasty' for its punishing finishing holes along the Barry Burn.
17. **Turnberry (Ailsa Course)** — 0% (0 votes · score 353/1000)
   A Scottish Ayrshire links famous for its lighthouse hole and views across the Firth of Clyde to Ailsa Craig.
18. **Pinehurst No. 2** — 0% (0 votes · score 353/1000)
   A Donald Ross design in North Carolina known for its crowned, turtleback greens and sandy waste areas.
19. **Sand Hills Golf Club** — 0% (0 votes · score 353/1000)
   A minimalist Coore & Crenshaw design carved into the dunes of remote rural Nebraska.
20. **Whistling Straits** — 0% (0 votes · score 240/1000)
   A rugged Wisconsin links built along Lake Michigan, host of multiple PGA Championships and the 2021 Ryder Cup.
21. **Kiawah Island Ocean Course** — 0% (0 votes · score 106/1000)
   A Pete Dye design along the South Carolina coast, exposed to Atlantic winds and host of the 2012 PGA Championship.
22. **Pebble Beach Golf Links** — 0% (0 votes · score 106/1000)
   A dramatic California links perched along the cliffs of Carmel Bay on the Monterey Peninsula.

Tags: travel, sports, golf, courses