Union League Golf Club at Torresdale

The United States is home to some of the world's most celebrated golf courses, from spectacular coastal layouts to historic clubs that have hosted the game's biggest championships. But playing America's best golf is not always as straightforward as booking a tee time. Many of the country's highest-ranked courses are private clubs, while some resort venues require visitors to book accommodation before they can play. So where are America's top-ranked courses concentrated, and how many can the average golfer actually play? A state-by-state breakdown of the Top100 Golf Courses USA ranking reveals a striking divide. New York and California lead the way by course count, but of the 100 courses listed, just 16 meet our criteria for playing without knowing a member or staying at a resort. The remaining 84 have some form of access restriction, whether through private membership, accommodation requirements or other visitor policies. For golfers planning a trip to the United States, that distinction matters: a state might have an impressive collection of top-ranked courses, but that doesn't necessarily mean visitors can build a holiday around playing them. New York and California Lead the Rankings New York tops the state-by-state breakdown with 14 courses, narrowly ahead of California with 13. Massachusetts follows with seven, while Ohio and Wisconsin each have six. New Jersey and South Carolina account for five courses each. The figures highlight the strength of golf in the Northeast, alongside California's long-standing reputation as one of America's premier golfing destinations. New York is home to some of the country's most exclusive golf venues, including Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, National Golf Links of America and Fishers Island Club. However, it also has one of the world's most famous public courses. Located on Long Island, Bethpage Black has hosted multiple US Opens and the 2025 Ryder Cup. Its public status makes it an important exception in a ranking where access is often far from guaranteed. Demand is high and securing a tee time requires planning, but golfers do not need a private-club membership to play it. The other 13 New York courses in the ranking do not meet our public-access criteria. California presents a different mix of courses, from celebrated coastal layouts to championship venues further inland. Pebble Beach Golf Links is perhaps the best-known example, with its dramatic Pacific Ocean setting making it one of the most recognisable courses in golf. The state offers a wide range of golfing experiences, but green fees, booking conditions and accommodation requirements can influence whether a course is a realistic option for visiting golfers. Its size is another consideration, with distances between destinations potentially shaping how many courses golfers can fit into one trip. The States Where Top-Ranked Golf Is Hardest to Access Some of the states with the most courses in the ranking are also among the hardest for visiting golfers to explore. New York has 14 ranked courses, but 13 do not meet our criteria for playing without knowing a member or staying at a resort. California has 13 courses, with 11 falling outside those criteria, while none of Massachusetts' seven entries qualify. The contrast is striking. New York and California offer plenty of choice on paper, but their highest-ranked courses are often difficult to access independently. Massachusetts presents a similar challenge, with its rich golfing heritage reflected in a list dominated by venues that aren't straightforward for visitors to book. New Jersey faces a comparable issue. Its five courses include Pine Valley Golf Club, frequently ranked among the world's finest, but its reputation as a private club makes it a difficult destination for golfers without the right connections. These figures underline why course rankings alone don't tell the whole story. For visitors, the practical question isn't just how many highly ranked courses a state has, but how many they can realistically play. The Best States for Golf You Can Actually Play Of the 100 courses in Top100 Golf Courses' USA ranking, just 16 can be played by the public without knowing a member or staying at a resort. Wisconsin and Oregon lead the way, with four qualifying courses each, followed by South Carolina, Florida and California with two apiece. Oregon is an obvious choice for a multi-course golf trip. All four qualifying layouts are at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort on the Pacific coast: Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes, Bandon Trails and Old Macdonald. Having four highly ranked courses in one destination allows golfers to experience a variety of layouts without spending their holiday travelling between different parts of the state. The rugged coastal setting is a major part of the appeal. Wisconsin offers four qualifying courses across two destinations. Whistling Straits' Straits course is one of the state's best-known golfing venues, having hosted major championships on the shores of Lake Michigan. Further inland, Lawsonia Links offers a different style of golf, while Sand Valley and Sedge Valley give visitors two more courses to explore within the same resort destination. Together, they make Wisconsin a compelling choice for golfers looking to combine several highly ranked rounds in one trip. South Carolina has two qualifying courses, each offering a different experience. Kiawah Island's Ocean Course is known for its exposed coastal setting and championship pedigree, having hosted major events including the 2021 PGA Championship. Old Barnwell provides a contrasting inland experience, adding another option for golfers planning a trip around the state's top courses. Florida's two entries are Streamsong Red and TPC Sawgrass' Stadium Course. Streamsong Red is characterised by its expansive sandy terrain, while TPC Sawgrass is home to one of golf's most recognisable holes: the island-green 17th. The two courses offer very different experiences, from Streamsong's distinctive landscape to the chance to play one of the PGA Tour's most famous venues. California completes the group with Pebble Beach Golf Links and Pasatiempo. Pebble Beach is renowned for its Pacific coastline and history of major championships, while Pasatiempo, designed by Alister MacKenzie, offers a celebrated layout with a distinctive place in American golf history.

Alex Frolish has been a pilot for approaching 20 years and now travels to all corners of the globe in his role as a commercial airline pilot. His passion for flight is only equalled by his passion for golf and golf travel. Having picked up a golf club over 35 years ago when aged just 3 years old, Alex has played over 550 courses across every continent on planet earth furnished with a fairway. Over the next few months you’ll be able to follow Alex’s golfing travels as he brings you anecdotes of his life both in the air and on the course. One thing about being a travelling golfer and panellist who is also an airline pilot, is that you can guarantee nobody will have played the same last ten rounds that you have. This always makes for interesting clubhouse conversations, although keeping tabs on exactly where you’ve just been can be a little troublesome. I’ll be honest, life can be chaos at times. To illustrate that exact point, May might have been my most jam packed and varied month in some time, with thirteen rounds played in three countries at some of the best courses those countries have to offer. Summer rounds, winter rounds, links and parkland. My golfing diary is a myriad of contrasts. The month started on Top100 regional duty, at Bristol & Clifton Golf Club, the final course I had yet to play in my home county of Gloucestershire in England. It has to be said that Gloucestershire isn’t blessed with an abundance of architectural heritage, but it is in the Bristol area of the county that you find the most historic and well rounded golf clubs. One such club is Bristol & Clifton, located just a couple of miles from the famous Clifton suspension bridge, where the members and staff are fiercely proud of their golf course. I was impressed with this place (particularly the conditioning), and would highly recommend a visit if you are ever in the area. Photo credit: Bristol and Clifton Golf Club My next outing was formed in friendship rather than in the hunt for architectural splendour. Rocco and I first connected in 2018 and shared a round at Pittsburgh Field Club in Pennsylvania. It had been five years but we had stayed in touch and I had vowed I would get back out to share another round with him. This time we played at a local municipal, Pittsburgh National, a course I knew little about. It turns out that when you come to a golf course with no expectations, you are often pleasantly surprised, and this ex Country Club layout demonstrated an abundance of interest and value. A first time visit to a quartet of gems of English golf followed, played over two of the finest weather days of the year so far. I will remember Broadstone for its magnificent land and the way in which the course wraps itself around and across the varying undulations. Ferndown was possibly the most supremely conditioned course I have played in the U.K. in the last twelve months; the vista looking down the effervescent 1st fairway will be imprinted on my mind for some time. Woking’s understated historical majesty charmed me nearly as much as the brunch on the terrace after the round. And Worplesdon, just a few hundred yards from Woking, completed an epic 48 hours of golf in emphatic fashion. Photo credit: Ferndown Golf Club Next to the clifftops of Oregon, to play arguably the most wonderful par 3 course on the planet. Coore & Crenshaw were presented with some piece of land to route Bandon Preserve across, but they have done one hell of a good job in telling a story in just 13 par 3 holes. Surely the growth of the game should be focussed on creating more golf courses like this one; playable, enjoyable and accessible to all. Then on to Old Macdonald, to complete the Bandon set (for now). I played the tips in a steady breeze and played one of the rounds of my life to shoot a few under my handicap and a couple over the par of the course. Old Mac might get some stick in certain quarters, but I found it to be a solid blend of beauty and playability, two key ingredients for the enjoyment of a golf round for me, and it was a round I will remember for some time. The Duchess at Woburn was quite the contrast to play just a couple of days after Old Macdonald. This tree-lined parkland layout in the heart of the English countryside places a heavy premium on accuracy rather than options, and I found the contrast in styles a leap too far, following my best round in some time with my worst in living memory. That’s golf I suppose, and as my golfing years pass, I seem to be able to more easily accept these ups and downs! The game is always bigger than your score. Let that be no slight on the Duchess though, which is a beautifully peaceful place to play and to take in the relative solitude that the dense avenues of trees provide. The Jockey Club in Argentina is revered as one of South America’s most prized golf clubs. It boasts two (yes two) original Mackenzie golf courses, routed across surprisingly spacious grounds on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. We played the Red course, the more highly regarded of the two layouts, and we visited in early winter after a sustained period of wet weather, the course was in simply stunning condition. The land here was as flat as a snooker table when Mackenzie arrived, and this is one place in the world where the good Doctor had to work hard to generate undulations and interest that felt at the same time, in keeping with its surroundings. Of course, he managed it with aplomb and in doing so, left Argentina with one the best dual course layouts in world golf. As an aside, if you ever get the chance to play here, make sure you order the steak. However your round has gone, this plate of food (and accompanying glass of Malbec) will send you home one contented golfer. Photo credit: Patrick Koenig Finally, a whistle-stop stay in New Jersey found me visiting another world-renowned 36-hole golf club, Baltusrol. This golf club is the stuff of dreams for the average golfer, boasting two world-class golf courses with facilities to match, and it was awe-inspiring to walk the fairways of the Lower course just prior to the LPGA Championship. My lasting memory will be my drive into the 18th fairway which rolled to within a few inches of the plaque, celebrating Jack Nicklaus’s famous 1-iron in the 1967 US Open. Slightly overawed with the potential for replicating such a heroic piece of golfing history, my wayward 3 wood did no justice to the drive that had managed to follow so closely in greatness's footsteps. It didn’t matter though; to have had the chance to attempt it in the first place was the greatest of privileges. On to June, which looks no less packed with golf. It all begins with a pilgrimage to a part of Scotland I have wanted to visit for most of my golfing life. After that, there is plenty of potential for some last-minute madness, with trips planned to Spain, India and Singapore. In the meantime, the golfing season in the Northern Hemisphere is in full swing, so wherever you are and whatever you have planned, I wish you the straightest of drives, well-negotiated four- footers and happy rounds.

US Mid-Atlantic Division Best in State Rankings 2020 We’re closing in on the conclusion of our Best in State re- ranking process for the USA with this, our penultimate revision for the Mid-Atlantic states of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. In such a high quality golfing division, where twenty-seven of the courses are listed in our US Top 100, we’ve acquired additional local knowledge that now allows us to extend our listings in this northeast region by more than a third to a total of 235 courses. Without further ado, we’re going to dive straight in to our Mid-Atlantic reappraisal, starting with the Garden State of New Jersey, where we’ve added another twenty-five tracks to the fifty that we already featured. New Jersey It’s no surprise whatsoever to discover the course at Pine Valley Golf Club in Clementon stays firmly embedded as the No. 1 layout in New Jersey. It is, after all, second to only Cypress Point at the top of both our national and global Top 100 charts. All eighteen holes of George Crump’s Camden County masterpiece have been in play for just over a hundred years now and they collectively form one of the toughest tracks in all of golf. Pine Valley Golf Club Our Florida correspondent Marc Bender posted these comments four months ago: “there is no course that offers a greater variety of 18 unique and fabulous holes with this level of continuity… the attention to every little architectural detail of the course is unparalleled. The balance of holes, use of the terrain, and the green complexes is incredible. Little difference exists between the least memorable hole and the most memorable hole; that’s how good each and every one of them is.” Ten of the top twelve chart places remain unaltered, so the first real movement of significance occurs with the Highlands course at Hamilton Farm in Gladstone, rising six spots to #18, which is the position it previously held in 2016. A late 1990s Hurdzan/Fry co-design from when those two architects were working in partnership, this layout is complemented by a fantastic 18-hole par three course called The Hickory, offering a really diverse 36-hole experience at the club. Hamilton Farm - Highlands course Also climbing six spots to #26, the course at Arcola Country Club in Paramus is the sum product of three English-born architects – Herbert Haydn Barker, Willard G. Wilkinson and Robert Trent Jones Sr. – who fashioned the fairways over a fifty-year period between 1909 and 1958. Our US Correspondent Fergal O’Leary played at Arcola last year and felt it was “a truly wonderful club that has a lot to be proud of.” Arcola Country Club The first of our new additions arrives at #23 and it’s the course at Manasquan River Golf Club in Brielle, which was originally established back in 1923 when Robert White laid out an initial 9-hole track. Described by our regular contributor M. James Ward as “one of the most underappreciated courses in the Garden State,” this layout hosted the US Girls’ Junior Championship in 1990 and it’s just undergone an extensive restoration exercise by Andrew H. Green. Another place to greatly benefit from a recent restoration is the course at Watchung Valley Golf Club (new at #29) which started out in the late 1920s as a layout planned by Seth Raynor but construction was carried out by Marty O’Loughlin, the Plainfield professional, who oversaw the build after the architect’s untimely death. George Waters has completed a project to polish the Raynor template holes and integrate them seamlessly with the style of the other holes that has evolved over time. Watchung Valley Golf Club Rank/ Click the link to see full details of our latest New Jersey Best in State rankings. New York Such is the strength in depth at the top of the table in New York, the first eighteen courses are all listed in our US Top 100 – and eight of these layouts also occupy positions in our World Top 100 – so with those figures in mind, we’ve decided to expand our state chart to a Top 100, bringing an additional thirty courses under the golfing spotlight in the Empire State. The leading five courses stay exactly as they were after we refreshed the standings two years ago, which means the 18-hole layout at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton retains its No. 1 status. Golf has been played here since 1891, the year that Willie Davis set out an initial twelve holes, and the course has been modified a couple of times since then, first by C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor during World War I, then by Howard Toomey and William Flynn in the early 1930s. Shinnecock Hills Golf Club All the top amateur tournaments have been played here – including the US Amateur, US Women’s Amateur, US Senior Amateur and the Walker Cup – along with five editions of the US Open, the last of which was hosted two years ago. This prestigious event is due to return to Long Island for the 126th staging of the championship in another six years, when the club’s illustrious layout will once again take centre stage. Three courses make double digit upward moves in the new chart. Rising twelve to #31, the course at Teugega Country Club in Rome is a Donald Ross design dating back to 1921. The club was formed in 1899 and members played on a 9-hole layout next to the Mohawk River until a decision was made by the committee to move from their old waterlogged location five miles north to a new site on the southern shores of Delta Lake. Walter Hatch supervised construction, but Donald Ross made several site visits, even securing his first hole in one at the short par three 7th during a round on the new course. Teugega Country Club Advancing fifteen to #44, the course at Westhampton Country Club in Westhampton Beach is one of Seth Raynor’s earliest solo designs from 1915 which Gil Hanse restored a decade ago now. “A truly wonderful layout with plenty of fun for good measure,” is what Fergal O’Leary said about the course in his review last year. “It’s a shot-maker’s paradise and we walked off the 18th green wanting more.” Westhampton Country Club Up ten places to #50, the course at Metropolis Country Club in White Plains was founded in 1904, with Herbert Strong completing his first ever design here. A.W. Tillinghast remodelled the layout in the late 1920s and it was further altered at different times by Joe Finger and his design partner Ken Dye before Ron Forse carried out a new millennium restoration. Metropolis Country Club M. James Ward thought last year the layout had “clearly improved in terms of strategic interest” with the recent removal of trees. Furthermore, he felt “the visual dynamics are clearly improved and turf quality has clearly benefitted from the added air flow... place Metropolis in another area of the USA where the overall competition is not that keen and the overall standing would likely be more noticeable.” Leading the mass infiltration of newcomers into the New York listings, the course at Nassau Country Club in Glen Cove appears at #49. The club’s initial course was laid out by committee members but Devereux Emmet became the first architect to put his design stamp on the property in 1920. Others, such as Herbert Strong and Seth Raynor, made early changes to the course while Tom Fazio is credited with replacing all the greens eight years ago. Nassau Country Club Writing in his golf travel blog, Paul Rudovsky had this to say about Nassau when he played it a while back (as he chased down every venue to have hosted the US Amateur); “here is a course that never was on a top 100 and probably never will be... but a fun, fun course to play.” Click the link to see full details of our latest New York Best in State rankings. Pennsylvania Like New York, the top five layouts in Pennsylvania remain in the same order, so the course at Oakmont Country Club remains in the No. 1 slot. Located outside Pittsburgh, on the south bank of the Allegheny River, Oakmont’s reckoned to be one of the toughest tracks in American golf. Industrialist Henry Fownes and his son William devised this layout back at the start of the last century and William (who won the US Amateur in 1910) is said to have continued working on it right up until he died in 1950. It’s due to host the US Amateur in August next year, the sixth time the championship has been staged here. Oakmont Country Club Our International Correspondent David Davis commented last year, following his second visit to the club: “the routing is as good as anything on the planet … the bunkering and the greens really steal the show.” Javier Pintos, our Argentina Correspondent, also posted: “all the long holes are downhill and the short ones uphill so there you admire the design and the balance the course has.” There’s very little movement in the upper reaches of the new chart but casting an eye a little lower reveals a few upward motions of note. The course at Longue Vue Club (up five to #24) in Verona is exactly a hundred years old this year, having been designed by Scottish professional Robert White in 1920 then renovated by A. W. Tillinghast fifteen years later. Set two hundred feet above a bend in the Allegheny River, the layout “is certainly among the best in the Keystone State” according to M. James Ward. It’s also due to co-host the US Amateur in 2021. Longue Vue Club The Old course at the Omni Bedford Springs Resort also moves up five rungs on the ladder. Dating back to 1895, the layout had improvements made by A.W. Tillinghast (1912) and Donald Ross (1923) before a new millennium Ron Forse restoration revitalized the set-up, introducing new bunkers and mounds to build on the strategy and variety already inherent on the course. Omni Bedford Springs Old course White Manor Country Club’s 18-hole layout in Malvern (up to #32) reverses the fall from grace it suffered two years ago when it slipped seven places in the listings. The club was established in 1948 at Paxton Hollow but moved sixteen years later to its current location, where William and David Gordon laid out a new course for the members. Bobby Weed then renovated this layout in 2002. White Manor Country Club The progression made by the Militia Hill course at Philadelphia Cricket Club in Plymouth Meeting (up nine to #33) more than makes up for a drop of four places which took place during our 2018 revision exercise. When this Hurdzan/Fry co-design was unveiled in 2002, it meant the club was the only one in the United States to have had a course built in each of the last three centuries as its St. Martins 9-holer emerged in 1895 and its 18-hole Wissahickton layout took shape in 1922. The first of ten new entries in our enlarged Pennsylvania chart debuts at #35 and it’s the course at Llanerch Country Club in Havertown, where the 1958 PGA Championship was first contested as a stroke play event. Originally designed by Alex Findlay in the 1920s, the layout was reconfigured by J.B. McGovern, Donald Ross’s associate, after World War II. Last year, Brian Schneider from Renaissance Golf Design was appointed to carry out a renovation: “To make the golf course as fun, engaging, and visually attractive as possible.” Llanerch Country Club Click the link to see full details of our latest Pennsylvania Best in State rankings. Next up in our final release are the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses