Since 2020, when golf was one of many few actions that allowed for protected socializing, the sport has continued to climb a progress curve of participation. In different phrases, nation golf equipment and public programs throughout the nation are packed.
Bandon Dunes in a distant enclave of coastal Oregon is absolutely booked two years out and has turn out to be so widespread a lottery is now held twice annually for the probability to e-book your journey. Pinehurst Resort, which hosted the U.S. Open final 12 months on its No. 2 course, simply introduced the development of its twelfth (!) course this fall.
The Nationwide Golf Basis reviews that in 2024, 28.1 million folks performed golf, the best variety of individuals since 2008, when Tiger Woods’ electrical recreation and omnipresent advert campaigns flooded the sport with learners and newly transformed zealots.
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(Picture credit score: Barnsley Resort)
In case you’ve fallen in love with the sport, you recognize considered one of its pleasures is touring to seek out extra programs to play. In spite of everything, the attraction of golf is that no two programs are alike. Every affords a distinct set of challenges, and the setting usually dictates these challenges. Golf alongside the ocean is totally different from golf within the mountains, not simply what you see visually, however how you could play the course.
A slew of podcasts and web sites have made the typical golfer extra educated in regards to the rules after all design and the virtues of well-constructed programs – kind of like how that Artwork Appreciation course modified your idea of shading freshmen 12 months. In some methods, that’s made it even more durable to seek out nice programs with nice worth as they’ve gotten extra widespread, however there are nonetheless loads of greens to find.
Right here, you’ll find a mixture of locations to go to that provide glorious golf – and are tucked away sufficient to beat the crowds. These locations would require you to fuel up your automotive or rental and are undoubtedly well worth the trek, providing first-rate golf programs in distinctive environments.
1. Wild Horse Golf Membership in Gothenburg, Nebraska
Three hours west of Omaha, Wild Horse is an unlikely golf course in what may seem to be an unlikely panorama – the Sandhills of Nebraska.
But the area is the locus for a golf journey motion that reshaped the trade when the eponymous Sand Hills Golf Membership opened in Mullen in 1994. That personal course proved golfers will journey to out-of-the-way places to play spectacular golf.
Its success spurred the city of Gothenburg to enlist Dave Axland and Dan Proctor, who labored on the crew constructing Sand Hills, to assemble its personal course as a way to enhance the city’s high quality of life. What they acquired is a course that strikes by refined, undulating floor, offering strategic shot-making selections and the most effective offers within the nation at a high charge of $80 per spherical on the weekend with onsite lodging as nicely.
2. Gamble Sands, in Brewster, Washington
(Picture credit score: Gamble Sands)
Hours from the Canadian border and 136 miles from Spokane, Gamble Sands has emerged as one of the vital fascinating and picturesque golf settings in America. Architect David McLay Kidd has original a course that sits above the Columbia River, providing panoramic views of its winding path set in opposition to a mountain panorama.
The golf is pretty much as good as you’ll discover wherever, providing gamers of all ranges challenges and a great deal of enjoyable. For 2025, a second course, Scarecrow, opens August 1 and joins the unique course in addition to a brief course. Peak charges for lodge friends are $245 per spherical.
3. The Golf Programs of Lawsonia, Inexperienced Lake, Wisconsin
I drove to Inexperienced Lake final summer time at evening in a rainstorm throughout roads that have been merely numbered sitting subsequent to agricultural fields. One in all them might need been dust.
Within the morning, I made my strategy to the Golf Programs of Lawsonia and was astounded by how good the golf was, significantly its Hyperlinks Course, an architectural gem that flew beneath the radar for a few years to all however the golf cognoscenti. What makes the Hyperlinks so particular are its greens, that are constructed into hillsides and perched above you with fascinating contours.
The course is a wide-open affair you’ll be able to look out over, but it surely additionally has sufficient motion in its land to offer a number of blind photographs. Peak charges are $125 per spherical.
4. The Highlands at Harbor Springs, Harbor Springs, Michigan
(Picture credit score: The Highlands at Harbor Springs)
Northern Michigan gives lengthy days of daylight, and you may wish to make the most of that to play the 4 programs at The Highlands. Located 4 hours north of Ann Arbor, the Highlands gives a number of the greatest golf in a area wealthy with it.
The Heather is the oldest of the resort’s programs however its greatest – and sternest. The par-5 fifth gap is framed by water and reaching pine timber, hallmarks indicative of the course’s magnificence and the way in which it makes use of the land to attract out its challenges. Peak charges are $110 per spherical.
5. Barnsley Resort, Adairsville, Georgia
(Picture credit score: Barnsley Resort)
Solely about an hour north of Atlanta, Barnsley feels a lot farther away. Its rustic setting is ideal for an prolonged weekend in considered one of its onsite cottages, which have not too long ago been up to date.
The golf course gives a wonderful mixture of problem and ease off its tees and winds by a surprisingly hilly terrain. The greens are giant and welcoming and, like most resort programs, comparatively flat. Nonetheless, there’s some fireplace with reasonably quick inexperienced speeds and difficult method photographs.
The closing gap is the hardest of the batch, however you’ll be able to take the sting out of hitting into the water as I did by heading to the resort’s inn for a nightly bourbon tasting. An 18-hole Himalayas placing inexperienced course is to open in early fall. Peak charges are $130 per spherical.
6. Sand Valley Resort, Nekoosa, Wisconsin
(Picture credit score: Sand Valley Resort)
The resort in center Wisconsin sits on the bottom Aldo Leopold made well-known in his seminal work of environmental literature, Sand County Almanac. That distinctive ecosystem and its plentiful sand makes for excellent {golfing} floor and can also be the Keiser household’s Midwest reply to Bandon Dunes, which in addition they based.
With 5 programs (and extra on the way in which), the resort has grown to one of the vital widespread within the nation regardless of being virtually three hours from Milwaukee and two from Madison, its nearest airports for these not flying non-public.
Each course is a must-play at Sand Valley, however the authentic, Sand Valley, and the Lido are each placing examples of how golf programs can turn out to be thrilling theaters, offering as a lot distinctive visible pleasure because the golf they engender. Peak charges are $295 per spherical.
7. Rancho de los Caballeros, Wickenburg, Arizona
(Picture credit score: Rancho de los Caballeros)
An hour outdoors the crowded Scottsdale Golf market, Rancho de los Caballeros is a working dude ranch and resort. Distinctive course conditioning is commonly the least essential standards for me when evaluating a course, however given the local weather and site, Los Caballeros deserves some reward for a way nicely maintained it’s.
Greens are sometimes unobstructed by obstacles, permitting golfers the choice of working photographs in on the bottom or offering newer gamers an opportunity to nonetheless get on the inexperienced with mishit photographs. Then there are a number of elevated greens that add to the course’s selection. Peak charges are $80 per spherical.
