Last year, I wrote about the most overrated and most underrated courses I’ve played.
I thought it would make sense to bring back this concept to talk about my favorite courses within the U.S.
This is a personal list. These 10 courses are not necessarily the “best” I have played but they are the ones I dream about the most as I am falling asleep recounting past golf shots.
Before I get into it, here is some of the criteria I look for in a favorite course.
- Playability—Is it reasonably playable for my skill level (10 handicap) or does the difficulty suck the fun out of the experience?
- Intriguing design—What stands out about the layout? Interesting strategy? Fun green complexes?
- Wow factor—Do you get a certain inspiration on the course? Is it memorable? Do you get butterflies walking into the clubhouse? Is there history?
- Conditions—Are the conditions mediocre, solid or truly exceptional?
- Experience—Was the service particularly good/bad? Great caddie? Fun food or other cool features?
Keeping that in mind, here are my 10 favorite courses I’ve played in the U.S.
10. Chambers Bay (University Place, Wash.)
While Chambers does have a decent serving of holes I don’t like, the opposite is also true. There are almost no holes where I’m apathetic.
Among the good: Nos. 4, 7, 10, 15 and 16. Among the bad: Nos. 8, 12, 17 and 18.
The setting on the Puget Sound is life-affirming. The firm turf, dramatic dunes and fun elevation changes add to the experience. And the greens were awesome (they’ve been completely redone since the 2015 U.S. Open debacle).
That major championship gave Chambers a bad reputation but the real ball knowers understand this place is a great venue for recreational golf.
That we get to have debates about so many holes on this course—good and bad—is much preferred to playing a course lacking in that department.
9. Pittsburgh Field Club (Pittsburgh, Penn.)
OK, yes, I have a couple of private clubs on here.
This place is old-school cool (and old-school money) all the way through. It oozes 1920s.
When you walk behind the clubhouse, you can see most of the course, which hosted the 1937 PGA Championship, sprawled out beneath you. The layout is sensible and straightforward, the kind of place that is right in front of you with no gimmicks.
This is more of a vibe pick because it feels like you go back in time. A symbol of that is the 17th hole which features an elevator bringing golfers up to the 18th tee.
8. Spyglass Hill (Monterey, Calif.)
I’m a big advocate for Spyglass.
The first five holes are pretty phenomenal as you head right out to the water. The stretch of Nos. 3, 4 and 5 is among my favorite three-hole sequence ever.
While there are some bland moments for the remainder of the round, the forest section of the course deserves more love than it gets. There are a couple of cool par-3s (Nos. 12 and 15) and awesome par-5s (Nos. 11 and 14).
I also found the conditioning and service here to be superb.
7. TPC Sawgrass (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.)
It’s so much narrower in person than it looks on TV. The tee shots on the par-5 second and par-4 15th come to mind.
Man, those are some tight corridors. The pros make it look easy.
Not every famous course is like this but I think Sawgrass really benefits from a) the history of the Players Championship and b) the anticipation you feel throughout the round as the famous final three holes await you.
From the moment you walk on property, you are constantly thinking about 16, 17 and18.
Everything about this place is refined. The range is world-class. The grass is perfectly manicured. The French toast in the clubhouse is rich (in a good way).
There are so many outstanding golf holes here that don’t have the same PR team as No. 17. The par-4 fourth and par-5 11th are among my favorite holes in the country (hmm … sounds like a new story idea).
The closing stretch lives up to the hype—although if your life depended on making par on one hole, you would immediately run to the 17th tee. Without wind, it’s a pretty basic shot.
6. We-Ko-Pa Saguaro Course (Fort McDowell, Ariz.)
I’m a sucker for desert golf and it’s hard to beat a place like We-Ko-Pa just northeast of Scottsdale.
This is definitely a place where the conditioning brings it to another level. Lush ribbons of fairway splintering the seemingly endless desert … intoxicating.
The Coore and Crenshaw-designed Saguaro Course has generous fairways but the approach shots are more delicate, something I really appreciate in a layout. Difficulty is high but it’s playable. It’s also more walkable than most desert courses which is a huge bonus.
The service, clubhouse, practice facility are also terrific.
We-Ko-Pa is desert golf at its purest.
5. Pacific Dunes (Bandon, Ore.)
Few courses in the world can rival the beauty of Pac Dunes.
On a sun-splashed day, the Pacific Ocean cliffside holes are pretty much golf heaven.
One thing I will say is that this is probably the hardest course on my list. You can really get smashed into oblivion here, especially when the wind gets up. That is just a fact of life when you put a course in the Oregon sand dunes right next to the ocean.
Offsetting that difficulty factor for me is how flawlessly designed this place is. The routing is superb. Pac Dunes holds your hand on the first few holes as you make your way out to the water and then turns up the volume to 11, deftly weaving around the dunes to provide gorgeous views and thought-provoking golf shots where the firmness of the turf can be utilized.
I got my ass handed to me here but I still want to go back.
4. Streamsong Red (Bowling Green, Fla.)
I fell in love with Streamsong in the early days before the Black course, hotel and other amenities were built.
While I do really enjoy the Black and Blue courses, the Red will always have a special place in my heart.
Another Coore-Crenshaw on this list, the Red strikes a balance by being creative, fun and intriguing without gimmicks. The green complexes are enticing. It’s just one of those places that looks so handsome. It’s my favorite section of land on the property.
There are challenging elements here but the fairways are forgiving and there are plenty of birdie holes.
3. Pasatiempo (Santa Cruz, Calif.)
The first time I played Pasatiempo, I dropped a ball down on the practice green and absentmindedly hit a putt to a hole 10 feet away. By the time I looked up, the ball was about 15 feet beyond the hole.
Whoops.
A few moments later, I was looking out at the straightaway par-4 1st as the cold fog hung heavy in the air. As the round progressed, the fog lifted and unveiled beautiful, warm sunshine.
Pasatiempo felt special in both conditions.
Every hole is artfully designed. The bunkering is sublime, the fairways are often wonderfully framed by mature trees and there are virtually no throwaway holes.
I want to call out the 14th hole, a clinic on how to test golfers without being overly punishing. The fairway has two tiers and you are better off on the right side because that gives a better view (and angle) to the hole.
The penalties for missing are generally not catastrophic at Pasatiempo but it’s a place that will paper-cut you to death. Get above the hole? You might be watching your putt roll a lot farther past than you would expect.
There is just something that screams golf here. The course is equal parts welcoming and intriguing.
2. Tobacco Road (Sanford, N.C.)
Similar to how a band you love starts playing small clubs and eventually goes on a stadium tour, I fell in love with Tobacco Road before it was cool.
When I as attending the N.C. State Professional Golf Management program, we regularly took trips down to the Sandhills. No course in the area struck me quite like Tobacco Road.
When you stand on the first tee and look out to the fairway in between massive sand dunes, it’s really the definition of a “wow” moment. Designer Mike Strantz offers a lot of those “I can’t believe this is real” kind of holes on what is a super fun and not overly difficult course.
I often daydream about Nos. 13 and 14. The first is the oddest of par-5s with a well-protected green surrounded by dunes. An extra-long flagstick is needed to see the top of the flag. Then you turn around to the par-3 14th, a lovely and frightening tee shot to a green with water on the right.
Golf is supposed to be fun and Tobacco Road is fun. There are so many shots where you think, “I can’t wait until I get to this hole.”
1. Seminole (Juno Beach, Fla.)
As someone who was raised in South Florida, getting to play Seminole meant a lot to me.
I drove past the club all the time growing up. The word “Seminole” brought up all these visions of the purest golf course imaginable. I revered it like most people worship Augusta.
When I got into golf writing, I was invited to cover the Coleman Invitational, a national mid-am event that takes place there each April. Just walking around the course, I was immediately enamored.
And then I was invited to play for the 2021 Walker Cup media day. I honestly consider it my favorite day in golf. It’s the one I would desperately want to repeat if I had the option.
They say you shouldn’t meet your heroes but this one lived up to the hype.
Some people call the course overrated and I think that is because it’s not flashy relative to other standout tracks. Seminole is right next to the Atlantic Ocean but water almost never comes into play. There are no true signature holes. When you walk onto the grounds and stand at the first tee, there is this sense of “Wait, this is it?“
But like a painting with unlimited subtleties, Seminole’s brilliance can be found in its nuance and simplicity—the kind of place you can play 100 times and learn something new each and every time.
Seminole offers laughably wide fairways. Everyone is in the game—until you have to hit your approach.
My caddie said the stat they keep is GVR (greens visited in regulation) because hitting a green and staying on the green are two entirely different things.
The course straddles the line perfectly between treacherous and inviting, a great example being the short par-4 12th where a wide-open fairway leads to a delicate wedge shot facing a crowned green defended by bunkers.
When you are walking around Seminole on a sunny day, the salt air wafting all around you and the palm trees drunkenly swaying back and forth, it’s basically perfection. And that’s not even talking about the pink stucco clubhouse and legendary locker room.
So there you have it. Which of these courses have you played? What are your favorite courses?
Let me know below in the comments.
Top Photo Caption: The 11th hole at Pacific Dunes. (GETTY IMAGES/David Cannon)
The post These Are My 10 Favorite Courses I’ve Played In The U.S. appeared first on MyGolfSpy.
