Officially titled the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the Bluegrass State is located in the east central area of the United States. Bordered by seven other states, Kentucky’s famous for livestock breeding, horseracing, bourbon distilleries and tobacco production – hell, it’s the state that all good gamblin’, drinkin’ and smokin’ golfers should be heading for, pronto!

The Kentucky Golf Association was formed in 1911 and it looks after the interests of amateur golfers in over 200 member clubs. The association works closely with the Kentucky Section of the PGA which, since 1925, has overseen the activities of hundreds of professionals and apprentices across the Commonwealth.

A pair of Arthur Hills courses – Olde Stone in Alvaton and Champion Trace in Nicholasville – figure prominently in Kentucky state rankings, as do a couple of recently renovated 1920s layouts: Big Spring (reworked by Rees Jones) and Idle Hour (upgraded by Ron Prichard). Most well known, however, is Jack Nicklaus’s 1986 design at Valhalla, host to the PGA Championship in 1996 and 2000 as well as the venue for the 37th Ryder Cup series of matches in 2008, when the USA beat Europe 16½ to 11½.

Our Kentucky Best In State Rankings were last updated in September 2020. Click the link to read the story.