Golf Digest: America's 100 Greatest Public Courses (2025)

[crcraig]

4 hours ago, act0fgod said:

That is an interesting point that courses change.  I've played a number before renovations and courses like Pinehurst and Pebble aren't exempt from big changes through time. 

 

Changes can even be dramatic depending on the day visited even.  When looking at criteria that include conditioning, esthetics and character a rater who visits on a Tuesday in February after a big Monday outing can have a dramatically different experience than a rater who visits a perfect July day.

Right, where do you draw the line? I played TPC Sawgrass in the 80s, does that still count? How about Pinehurst #2 in the 90s before the Coore/Crenshaw restoration? (At least the greens are the same.) Pinehurst #4 before Hanse's renovation? World Woods Pine Barrens before it became Karoo? (Yeah, probably not.)

[Argonne69]

11 hours ago, WesternRacing said:

I’ve played 11 of them, including six of the top 20, but one of my 11 was Cascata, which 100% does not deserve to be on this list.  That’s laughable.  I could pick 20 courses off the top of my head that were better than Cascata.  

 

I think Cascata is on the list for the same reason Quintero is on the list, wonderful views from elevated tees.

 

[mshills]

I’ve played a handful on that list. Highest ranked was The Ocean Course, that was more than 25 years ago….dang. 

 

No WeKoPa is weird. Maybe I overvalue it for the setting, but it’s one of my favorite public access facilities anywhere, and by far the best in the valley, especially now that Big Wick is fully private. 
 

Tobacco Road I enjoyed but I’m not itching to return. It was fine, but think it’s overvalued. Pine Needles on the other hand, I could play that place every day for the rest of my golfing life and never get bored. It’s my idea of American golf perfection. Southern Pines and Mid Pines both just a click behind. 

[Hawkeye77]

I’ve only played one - No. 1. Great experience. 

[teejaywhy]

Thought it would be interesting to present the methodology GD uses to compile these rankings.  I looked for but was unable to find info about the makeup of the rating panel.  As of a few years ago, I believe one had to be a single digit handicap.

 

Anyway - The info below is pulled from and copyright by GolfDigest.com:

 

"To arrive at our ranking of America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses, our panelists play and score courses on the eight criteria below.

 

SHOT OPTIONS
How well does the course present a variety of options involving risks and rewards and require a wide range of shots?

 

CHALLENGE
How challenging, while still being fair, is the course for a typical scratch golfer playing from the tees designated as back tees for everyday play (not from seldom-used championship tees)?

 

LAYOUT VARIETY
How varied is the physical layout of the course in terms of differing lengths (long, medium and short par 3s, 4s and 5s), configurations (straight holes, doglegs left and right), hazard placements, green shapes and green contours?

 

DISTINCTIVENESS
How individual is each hole when compared to all others on this course?

AESTHETICS
How well do the scenic values of the course add to the pleasure of a round?

 

CONDITIONING
How firm, fast and rolling were the fairways, how firm yet receptive were the greens and how true were the roll of putts on the day you played the course?

 

CHARACTER
How well does the course design exude ingenuity and uniqueness and possess profound characteristics that you would consider outstanding for its era?

 

FUN
How enjoyable for all levels of golfers would this course be to play on a regular basis?

 

To arrive at a course's final score, we total its averages in the seven categories, doubling Shot Options. A course needs 75 evaluations over the past 10 years to be eligible for America's 100 Greatest and the Second 100 Greatest.

 

To maintain the integrity of our rankings, it has been a long-standing practice for Golf Digest’s statistician Dean Knuth to perform “outlier analysis”—in which he statistically removes any extreme outliers that deviate from the mean of the panel by more than two standard deviations—in order to calculate a course’s scores."

[mci711]

14 hours ago, Chanceman said:

I reckon the Golfweek list is better than GD. At least they include WeKoPa ahead of Quintero. Perhaps I am biased though as I have played 35 of that list and only 25 of GD.

Golfweek has some headscratchers as well. Sweetens cove is cool, but it isn't the 38th best public course in the country. Karsten Creek doesn't even need to be in the top 100 and it is 33. Sea Island seems high at 30. The Park West Palm 38. Mystic Creek top 50. 50-100 gets really goofy. 

 

Ranking list are a good resource and fun to look at but extremely subjective. Everyone likes different things. I think the top 30 or so if pretty similar across most rankings and there are people that would rank those all differently. After that it is pretty much a crap shoot. 

[WesternRacing]

6 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

 

I think Cascata is on the list for the same reason Quintero is on the list, wonderful views from elevated tees.

 

 

Hmmm, Vegas and wonderful views don’t belong in the same sentence, IMHO… 😁

[Argonne69]

Just now, WesternRacing said:

 

Hmmm, Vegas and wonderful views don’t belong in the same sentence, IMHO… 😁

 

Lol. Cascata is in Boulder City. 🙃

 

 

 

 

[WesternRacing]

1 minute ago, Argonne69 said:

 

Lol. Cascata is in Boulder City. 🙃

 

 

 

 

 

Meh, Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City.  It’s all the same to me.  A desert wasteland dotted with concrete and small spots of irrigated land.  I didn’t find Cascata beautiful at all.  I found it boring, poorly laid out, and at least when we played it, in terrible condition with serious poa issues.  And holy schnikes is it spread out.  IIRC, it was originally to be a high end private course but failed at that and decided to try public.  I’m not sure why anyone would ever want to play there twice.

[Argonne69]

6 minutes ago, WesternRacing said:

 

Meh, Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City.  It’s all the same to me.  A desert wasteland dotted with concrete and small spots of irrigated land.  I didn’t find Cascata beautiful at all.  I found it boring, poorly laid out, and at least when we played it, in terrible condition with serious poa issues.  And holy schnikes is it spread out.  IIRC, it was originally to be a high end private course but failed at that and decided to try public.  I’m not sure why anyone would ever want to play there twice.

 

I enjoyed Cascata, but it does get a little monotonous. I wouldn't mind playing it a second time, but not at $550. 

 

[WesternRacing]

58 minutes ago, Argonne69 said:

 

I enjoyed Cascata, but it does get a little monotonous. I wouldn't mind playing it a second time, but not at $550. 

 

 

I think I paid $400, plus an exboritant fee for the worst fore caddie any of us had ever had.

 

The problem with that course is that it was shoe horned into a property that wasn’t remotely appropriate for a golf course.  So they just put holes whereever they could, without any real concern for hole design, shot making, etc.  It honestly would have been one of the most forgettable rounds of golf I’ve ever played, except for the awful conditions and our horrible fore caddie.  I’m gobsmacked that it’s on any top 100 list.  I’d play all three of the Paiute courses before I’d play Cascata again.

 

Edited July 5 by WesternRacing

[jrg75]

I'm at 18 and feel like all that I've played are worthy of top 100 public status.  My first was Chambers Bay and it may be my favorite to date, such a fun track. It's a shame it got such a bad wrap from the USGA setup at the 2015 US open.

 

Question for those that have played it but I have a weekend in the DC area coming up and I'm thinking about a small road trip to knock off the Highlands Course at Primland.  Looks like it's a little over a 5 hour drive from where I'm staying.  For those of you who have played, is it worth a road trip?

Edited July 5 by jrg75

[Argonne69]

13 minutes ago, jrg75 said:

I'm at 18 and feel like all that I've played are worthy of top 100 public status.  My first was Chambers Bay and it may be my favorite to date, such a fun track. It's a shame it got such a bad wrap from the USGA setup at the 2015 US open.

 

Question for those that have played it but I have a weekend in the DC area coming up and I'm thinking about a small road trip to knock off the Highlands Course at Primland.  Looks like it's a little over a 5 hour drive from where I'm staying.  

 

Played Highlands a month ago. Definitely worth a visit, but that's a very long drive. 

 

https://forums.golfwrx.com/topic/1842161-args-travel-log/?do=findComment&comment=25868516

 

[Chanceman]

10 hours ago, teejaywhy said:

Thought it would be interesting to present the methodology GD uses to compile these rankings.  I looked for but was unable to find info about the makeup of the rating panel.  As of a few years ago, I believe one had to be a single digit handicap.

 

Anyway - The info below is pulled from and copyright by GolfDigest.com:

 

"To arrive at our ranking of America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses, our panelists play and score courses on the eight criteria below.

 

SHOT OPTIONS
How well does the course present a variety of options involving risks and rewards and require a wide range of shots?

 

CHALLENGE
How challenging, while still being fair, is the course for a typical scratch golfer playing from the tees designated as back tees for everyday play (not from seldom-used championship tees)?

 

LAYOUT VARIETY
How varied is the physical layout of the course in terms of differing lengths (long, medium and short par 3s, 4s and 5s), configurations (straight holes, doglegs left and right), hazard placements, green shapes and green contours?

 

DISTINCTIVENESS
How individual is each hole when compared to all others on this course?

AESTHETICS
How well do the scenic values of the course add to the pleasure of a round?

 

CONDITIONING
How firm, fast and rolling were the fairways, how firm yet receptive were the greens and how true were the roll of putts on the day you played the course?

 

CHARACTER
How well does the course design exude ingenuity and uniqueness and possess profound characteristics that you would consider outstanding for its era?

 

FUN
How enjoyable for all levels of golfers would this course be to play on a regular basis?

 

To arrive at a course's final score, we total its averages in the seven categories, doubling Shot Options. A course needs 75 evaluations over the past 10 years to be eligible for America's 100 Greatest and the Second 100 Greatest.

 

To maintain the integrity of our rankings, it has been a long-standing practice for Golf Digest’s statistician Dean Knuth to perform “outlier analysis”—in which he statistically removes any extreme outliers that deviate from the mean of the panel by more than two standard deviations—in order to calculate a course’s scores."

Item 1 “Shot Options” should immediately disqualify Quintero.

[teejaywhy]

8 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

 

Lol. Cascata is in Boulder City. 🙃

 

 

 

 

Jeez, nothing in those photos is compelling me to visit. Rees Jones, what a hack. Right up there with Quintero.  

[mci711]

On 7/5/2025 at 12:00 PM, WesternRacing said:

 

Hmmm, Vegas and wonderful views don’t belong in the same sentence, IMHO… 😁

 

What constitutes wonderful views to you? I think desert is beautiful as well as the mountains. Vegas and the Vegas suburbs, especially west, has both. 

[eboettne]

Very lucky to have played 19 of the top 100.  Pebble and Pac top my lists as well. Controversial take, Erin Hills although well designed didn't blow me away like some people. Bandon Trails is in my 3rd spot. Agree on Quintero, very uninspiring outside of some views. 

 

1. Pebble 

2. Pac Dunes

4. Whistling Straits

7. Bethpage 

9. Bandon Dunes

10. Erin Hills

11. Bandon Trails

12. The Lido

14. Old Mac

17. BWR - River

21. Sand Valley

25. Mammoth Dunes

58. Quarry at Giants Ridge

59. Wolf Creek

65. Whistling Straits- Irish

67. Wynn

72. Wilderness at Fortune Bay

80. Classic at Madden's

93. Quintero

[graveydellic]

Played 15 of the top 20.  My personal favorite is Trails, which I would probably play as my last round on earth if given the chance.  I say this having also played some of the most exclusive clubs in the country...the course just speaks to me in a way that others don't.  

 

There are a lot of courses on the list that I would play over Pebble.  Everyone should have Pebble on their bucket list, but I've played it a couple times and the course occupies minimal space in my brain.  I love 17 mile drive and the aura of Pebble Beach Resort, but for my liking, the course is "fine".  

[SilverBullets]

On 7/2/2025 at 8:33 PM, Chanceman said:

I have only played 25 of these but if Quintero is rated Top 100 then a few that possibly should be in there:

 

Wekopa Saguaro ilo Quintero

Pilgrim’s Run MI

Troon North MonumentA AZ

Ak Chin Southern Dunes AZ

Rams hill CA

Rustic canyon CA

Thunderhawk IL

Salish Cliffs WA

Gold mountain WA

 

 

 

Ive played 30ish of them...

 

I wouldnt have Quintero in the top 5 in the Valley either lol I'd have both Wekopa's, both Troon North's, Southern Dunes, and both TPC's ahead of it... 

[SilverBullets]

On 7/5/2025 at 5:56 PM, Chanceman said:

Item 1 “Shot Options” should immediately disqualify Quintero.

Shot options and fun lol... Quintero offers exactly 1 right way to play every hole. It's a repeat of approach shots which require a high ball flight into the dead center of the green. It has 3 par 3's which are basically identical. 

 

The course is a grind. I always say it's a phenomenal plot of land it's probably the worst design/course they could have walked away with on that land 

[Jayjay_theweim_guy]

On 7/5/2025 at 12:04 PM, Argonne69 said:

 

Lol. Cascata is in Boulder City. 🙃

 

 

 

 

Dang.  I've played that Fallout just too many times.  I'm looking at totally different things than the golf in those shots...

 

Looks very pretty though, or as pretty as that area gets.

Edited July 8 by Jayjay_theweim_guy

[bcjim]

On 7/5/2025 at 3:49 PM, jrg75 said:

I'm at 18 and feel like all that I've played are worthy of top 100 public status.  My first was Chambers Bay and it may be my favorite to date, such a fun track. It's a shame it got such a bad wrap from the USGA setup at the 2015 US open.

 

Question for those that have played it but I have a weekend in the DC area coming up and I'm thinking about a small road trip to knock off the Highlands Course at Primland.  Looks like it's a little over a 5 hour drive from where I'm staying.  For those of you who have played, is it worth a road trip?

Unless you're *really* keen to play it,  that seems like a bit too much effort unless you we're staying a night. 

[me05501]

Excited for local boy Rob Collins seeing Landmand sneak into the top 25. Good for him. 

[zer0]

On 7/2/2025 at 3:12 PM, Argonne69 said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

my list, only 12 of them but will be adding to that with next year's Michigan trip.

 

 

1. Pebble Beach Golf Links

4. Whistling Straits: Straits Course

10. Erin Hills Golf Course

17. Blackwolf Run: River
18. French Lick Resort: Pete Dye Course

21. Sand Valley Golf Resort: Sand Valley

28. Harbour Town Golf Links

49. SentryWorld Golf Club

65. Whistling Straits: Irish Course
66. The Golf Courses of Lawsonia: Links

76. Cog Hill Golf & Country Club: Dubsdread (Course #4)

93. Quintero Golf Club

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 11 by zer0
forgot Dubsdread

[Mullenboy]

I was curious because I figured I probably hadn't played a lot of these but... well... I guess I have been playing a lot of years and have gotten around a bit.  Here are the ones I have played.:

 

1. Pebble Beach Golf Links
2. Pacific Dunes
3. Shadow Creek
5. Kiawah Island Golf Resort: The Ocean Course
9. Bandon Dunes
11. Bandon Trails
12. Sand Valley: The Lido
13. Spyglass Hill Golf Course
14. Old Macdonald
15. Pasatiempo Golf Club
19. Chambers Bay
21. Sand Valley Golf Resort: Sand Valley
22. Manele Golf Course
23. Kapalua: Plantation
25. Sand Valley Golf Resort: Mammoth Dunes
27. Bandon Dunes Golf Resort: Sheep Ranch
35. Black Desert Resort
36. The Prairie Club (Dunes Course)
38. Yale Golf Course
40. Torrey Pines Golf Course: South

43. Mauna Kea Beach Hotel Golf Course
51. Sedge Valley at Sand Valley
52. CordeValle Golf Club
54. The Links At Spanish Bay
56. Paako Ridge Golf Club
59. Wolf Creek Golf Club
62. PGA West: Stadium Course
73. Makai Golf Club
76. Cog Hill Golf & Country Club: Dubsdread (Course #4)
83. Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course
84. Wild Horse Golf Club
85. Black Mesa Golf Club
90. The Prairie Club: Pines Course

 

I think the rankings are fine.  Nothing crazy.  Pebble Beach is rightly at the top.  The rest is pretty much quibbling.  Oldf Macdonald is too high.    I bet the Lido rises over time...  Not much else to say.

 

 

 

 

[jrg75]

11 hours ago, bcjim said:

Unless you're *really* keen to play it,  that seems like a bit too much effort unless you we're staying a night. 

I agree and scrapped my plan for Primland, @Argonne69 review really helped and while it looks awesome, it didn't seem to be worth 10 hours of round trip driving.  Decided to stay localish and play more golf, have 4 rounds booked!  

[barry87]

On 7/9/2025 at 12:47 PM, Mullenboy said:

I was curious because I figured I probably hadn't played a lot of these but... well... I guess I have been playing a lot of years and have gotten around a bit.  Here are the ones I have played.:

 

1. Pebble Beach Golf Links
2. Pacific Dunes
3. Shadow Creek
5. Kiawah Island Golf Resort: The Ocean Course
9. Bandon Dunes
11. Bandon Trails
12. Sand Valley: The Lido
13. Spyglass Hill Golf Course
14. Old Macdonald
15. Pasatiempo Golf Club
19. Chambers Bay
21. Sand Valley Golf Resort: Sand Valley
22. Manele Golf Course
23. Kapalua: Plantation
25. Sand Valley Golf Resort: Mammoth Dunes
27. Bandon Dunes Golf Resort: Sheep Ranch
35. Black Desert Resort
36. The Prairie Club (Dunes Course)
38. Yale Golf Course
40. Torrey Pines Golf Course: South

43. Mauna Kea Beach Hotel Golf Course
51. Sedge Valley at Sand Valley
52. CordeValle Golf Club
54. The Links At Spanish Bay
56. Paako Ridge Golf Club
59. Wolf Creek Golf Club
62. PGA West: Stadium Course
73. Makai Golf Club
76. Cog Hill Golf & Country Club: Dubsdread (Course #4)
83. Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course
84. Wild Horse Golf Club
85. Black Mesa Golf Club
90. The Prairie Club: Pines Course

 

I think the rankings are fine.  Nothing crazy.  Pebble Beach is rightly at the top.  The rest is pretty much quibbling.  Oldf Macdonald is too high.    I bet the Lido rises over time...  Not much else to say.

 

 

 

 

I haven’t played a ton of these but was also shocked that old Mac was that high. I liked it, but that’s probably because it was my best round out there. 

[Mullenboy]

7 minutes ago, barry87 said:

I haven’t played a ton of these but was also shocked that old Mac was that high. I liked it, but that’s probably because it was my best round out there. 

Old Mac is a good course.... it just plays terribly in the winter wind.  I counted 14 approach shots from 50-100 yards... because the long holes play downwind and the short holes play into.  Doak admitted it is this way and said he didn't care - Keiser apparently said the higher-paying customers came in the summer.  🙂

 

In any case for this reason I just can't rate it that highly.  Most others don't care.

 

 

[jvincent]

8 minutes ago, barry87 said:

I haven’t played a ton of these but was also shocked that old Mac was that high. I liked it, but that’s probably because it was my best round out there. 

 

Old Mac gets beat on a lot but it's my favourite course at Bandon.

[Mullenboy]

48 minutes ago, jvincent said:

 

Old Mac gets beat on a lot but it's my favourite course at Bandon.

Interesting.  I haven't heard Old Mac get beat on much besides by me.  It's pretty beloved, as the ranking suggests.

 

Since it's your favourite course though... I have to ask... have you played it in winter wind?