2024-25 ranking of the best golf courses in the 50 states!

In the weeks since we launched our latest America’s Top 100 and Top 100 You Can Play rankings, our viewers have been clamoring for more. After all, whether new, renovated or restored, high-quality courses continue to come online, so much so that dozens of courses golfers love to play are missing from our top 100. One hundred positions, or even 200 positions, is simply not enough to fully reflect the breadth of golf in the United States.

To attract wider attention and cheer for hundreds of additional courses, we are releasing our best-in-state rankings now, and will be coming soon! — Best courses by region (North East, South East, Heartland and West). No other country on earth has a more in-depth quality curriculum.

GOLF course ranking: Top 100 in the world | Top 100 in the US | Top 100 you can play | Top 100 best value courses in the US | Best municipal courses in the US | Best courses in the US for $100 or less | Top 100 UK and Ireland | Asia Pacific Regional Top 100 | Global Top 100 Short Course

Think of the wealth of golf from coast to coast: links, cliff tops, prairies, parks, deserts, coasts. You can find it in the United States just by looking at a state like Wisconsin as a microcosm for the rest of the country and seeing how far it has come in the past few decades. In 1985, the Badger State probably wasn’t among the top half of states in the country when it came to golf. Now, it’s arguably in the top five. Who knew the state was in a great location besides its proximity to Lake Michigan? Today, its glacial moraines and large sandy expanses draw golfers there in droves.

Want to know what’s next? There are several eye-catching designs opening soon or under construction in Florida and Texas. Developers and architects are perfecting the vein of sand that starts in Pinehurst and runs through South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Great golf is no longer limited to major metro areas. Witness the beautiful work at Dornick Hills in Ardmore, Oklahoma (population: 25,000), or the boom in new courses around Aiken, South Carolina (population: 33,000).

For an in-depth look at the latest course trends, check out our new travel podcast destination golf. No matter where you get your podcasts, you can listen and subscribe: Apple | Spotify | My Heart | Amazon

Ultimately, one of the great things about golf is that it allows you to spend time outdoors—few countries can compete with the United States in terms of geographic diversity and splendor. era.

You can browse the list of states below. enjoy!

Best golf courses in all 50 states in 2024-25

(Sort alphabetically)

To browse our state listings as a map, visit our new course finder tool.

Best Golf Courses in Alabama (2024-25)

Alaska’s best golf courses (2024-25)

best Arizona golf courses (2024-25)

Best Golf Courses in Arkansas (2024-25)

best California golf courses (2024-25)

Best Golf Courses in Colorado (2024-25)

best golf courses in connecticut (2024-25)

Best Golf Courses in Delaware (2024-25)

Best Golf Courses in Florida (2024-25)

Best Golf Courses in Georgia (2024-25)

Best Golf Courses in Hawaii (2024-25)

Best Golf Courses in Idaho (2024-25)

Best Golf Courses in Illinois (2024-25)

Best Golf Courses in Indiana (2024-25)

Best Golf Courses in Iowa (2024-25)

Best Golf Courses in Kansas (2024-25)

Kentucky’s best golf courses (2024-25)

Best Golf Courses in Louisiana (2024-25)

best Maine golf courses (2024-25)

best maryland golf courses (2024-25)

best Massachusetts golf courses (2024-25)

best Michigan golf courses (2024-25)

best Minnesota golf courses (2024-25)

Mississippi’s best golf courses (2024-25)

best Missouri golf courses (2024-25)

best Montana golf courses (2024-25)

best Nebraska golf courses (2024-25)

best Nevada golf courses (2024-25)

best golf courses in new hampshire (2024-25)

best new jersey golf courses (2024-25)

best new mexico golf courses (2024-25)

best new york golf courses (2024-25)

North Carolina’s Best Golf Courses (2024-25)

North Dakota’s best golf courses (2024-25)

Ohio’s best golf courses (2024-25)

Oklahoma’s best golf courses (2024-25)

Oregon’s best golf courses (2024-25)

best golf courses in pennsylvania (2024-25)

Rhode Island’s best golf courses (2024-25)

South Carolina’s Best Golf Courses (2024-25)

South Dakota’s Best Golf Courses (2024-25)

The best golf courses in Tennessee (2024-25)

The best golf courses in Texas (2024-25)

Utah’s best golf courses (2024-25)

Vermont’s best golf courses (2024-25)

Virginia’s best golf courses (2024-25)

Washington’s best golf courses (2024-25)

Best golf courses in West Virginia (2024-25)

best golf courses in wisconsin (2024-25)

Best golf courses in Wyoming (2024-25)

How we rank courses

The voting process for golf’s top 100 courses has only one variable: votes, which are always changing, being built, restored, or even deleted when courses deteriorate in quality.

For our newly released America’s Top 100 and Top 100 You Can Play lists, each panelist received a ballot consisting of 609 courses. Next to the course list are 11 “buckets” or groupings. If our panelists think a course ranks among the top three in the country, they put a check in the first column. If they think a pitch belongs 4-10, they’ll check that column, then 11-25, 26-50, and so on up to 250+, and even check the “remove” column.

Panelists were also free to write on courses they felt should be included on the ballot.

Each bucket is assigned a score; to find the average score for each course, we divide its total score by the number of votes. Based on these scores, courses will be ranked accordingly. It’s an intentionally simple and straightforward process. Why? Because it has produced widely acclaimed results throughout history. Like the game itself, there’s no need to complicate things unnecessarily or try to fix something that already works well.

Key to this approach is the experience and expertise of our group. Of course, our workmanship is only as good as the panel itself. Our carefully selected 127 panelists come from 15 countries (Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales count as the UK), each with a keen eye for architecture both regionally and globally.

It would be impossible to typecast our group, other than to say they all share a common golf wanderlust. Our youngest team member and our oldest team member are more than 55 years apart. Playing ability ranges from plus handicap to low double digits. If 30 panelists look at a course, you can almost certainly be sure that every set of tees has been used. Many of our team members have attended over 1,000 courses in over 20 countries. In the world of rankings, experience counts. By maintaining a relatively small, close-knit group, communication among group members is enhanced.

Because we don’t prescribe a set of methods for assessing courses like other levels, no one opinion can prevail – our level is democratic. Some panelists believed enjoyment was the ultimate goal, thus prioritizing design attributes such as width and play angle while frowning upon the need to constantly hunt for the ball in the thick rough. Other team members valued the challenge and the requirement to hit every club. Others consider the surroundings and overall environment of the course to be crucial, thus emphasizing the environment and nature of the course. Finally, allowing raters to freely express their tastes is what produces the ideal eclecticism in our Top 100 list.

The integrity of team members is of paramount importance. Voters with any connection or association with the qualifying course must flag such conflicts. Any vote that exceeds statistical criteria will be investigated. Panelists know not to let the quality of their play sway their votes — the same goes for luxury experiences or clubhouses. While luxury may make an outing more memorable, that’s not the purpose of a GOLF course list. Our focus is on design and architecture. We work on the curriculum, not the trappings around it.

Our commitment to every ranking is to do our best. Ultimately, you are the judge and jury of our success.