Maryland

Maryland, the Free State, is considered by some to be a microcosm of America and earns its nickname of “America in Miniature” due to its climatic extremes and its topographical variety.

One of the smallest states in the Union, Maryland has a long golfing history, which some reckon dates back to the mid-18th century, but the Maryland State Golf Association was definitely formed in 1921 and now looks after the interests of around 160 golf clubs across the length and breadth of the Free State.

For the golfing aficionado, Maryland offers a little bit of everything, from the classic Baltimore Country Club, which was founded in 1898 and hosted the US Open one year later, to the perennially top rated Blue course at the Congressional Country Club, to modern layouts from Pete Dye at Bulle Rock and Tom Fazio at Caves Valley.

Our Maryland Best In State Rankings were last updated in June 2018. Click the link to read the story.

Top 100 Golf Courses - Maryland

Baltimore (East)

1^st

Although the club was inaugurated in 1898, the East course at Baltimore Country Club was designed by the great genius of golf course architecture, A.W. Tillinghast and it opened for play in 1926.

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Congressional (Blue)

2^nd

Founded in 1924 and officially opened by President Calvin Coolidge, the Congressional Country Club started out with a relatively straightforward 18-hole course designed by Devereux Emmet...

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Caves Valley

3^rd

Venue for the US Senior Open in 2002, the Tom Fazio-designed course at Caves Valley Golf Club sits amidst the rolling hills of Baltimore County with many of the fairways routed through attractive areas of woodland.

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Columbia

4^th

An old Walter Travis layout from 1916, the course at Columbia Country Club hosted the US Open five years after it first opened for play. Since then, little has altered on any of the holes.

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Four Streams

5^th

Nick Price teamed up with architect Steve Smyers to produce the golf course at the private members club at Four Streams in 1998. It’s a layout that sits nicely on the pleasantly rolling Maryland landscape.

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Bulle Rock

6^th

The Bulle (pronounced Bully) Rock golf course is named after the first thoroughbred horse brought to the US from England in the 18th century...

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Chevy Chase

7^th

Donald Ross established the 18-hole golf course at the Chevy Chase Club in 1910 but Charles Alison completely reworked the layout in 1922 and a number of architectural revisions followed down the years.

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Burning Tree Club

8^th

The course built by Toomey & Flynn Contracting Engineers to a design by C. H. Alison at the private, all-male Burning Tree Club in Bethesda made its debut in 1923.

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Congressional (Gold)

9^th

Laid out in 1924, the Gold course at Congressional Country Club was redesigned by Arthur Hills in 2000 though the best holes on the card may still be two of the Devereux Emmet originals, the 1st and the 18th.

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Lighthouse Sound

10^th

With fairways laid out alongside the tidal marshes of Assawomen Bay, The Links at Lighthouse Sound was constructed with almost half a mile of wooden walkways to protect the wetland areas...

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