Where should you travel to play great golf courses and experience interesting architecture? From Hawaii to New York, Texas up to Minnesota, there are plenty of options. But, of course, some states have more on tap than others.Â
Anybody checking in with this website is likely familiar with the traditional hot spots. Florida, Arizona, California, both of the Carolinas as examples – each is frequently considered a golf heavyweight depending on seasonality and personal preference in style of course. But when breaking down the Golfweek’s Best ranking data and comparing each state, there are plenty of surprises, especially for golfers who might not have been paying attention to development trends in recent years. If you know, you know, but it’s still a fun exercise to crunch the numbers and see how the states stack up and which defy traditional expectations.
For this comparison, we looked at three of Golfweek’s Best most popular lists, each published in June of 2025. They include the ranking of top public-access courses in each state, the ranking of top private courses in each state and the ranking of the Top 100 Best Courses You Can Play, which reveals the greatest public-access courses across the country.Â
In those two rankings of public and private courses in each state, we averaged the Golfweek’s Best rating of just the top five courses in each state possible to establish a comparison of elite courses. (A few states have only four courses ranked in either the public or private rankings, so in those cases the four are averaged.) By looking at the comparisons of elite public-access and private courses, we can get a handle on what are the real golf hot spots in the United States.
To take it further, we pulled the data on the top 100 public-access courses in the U.S. by state. Not every state has a course on that list, which is dominated by just 16 states. Three states have nine courses among the top 100 public-access courses in the country, and two of those three states might be a surprise to some readers. In all, just 16 states are home to 81 percent of the entire list.Â
Some of the results are predictable, and some are eye-opening. The takeaway: If you never try something new, you’ll miss out on a lot of great golf.Â
Ranking each state’s elite public-access golf courses
Sunny stalwarts such as California, Florida and Hawaii are expected to score highly in comparison to other states, and they do. But which states offer the best elite courses, using the average of the top five courses in each state as a measuring stick?Â
To anybody who has visited Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, the No. 1 state shouldn’t be a surprise. Oregon sits atop the list purely on the strength of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort’s five full-size courses: Pacific Dunes, Bandon Trails, Old Macdonald, Bandon Dunes and Sheep Ranch. The Sheep Ranch is rated by Golfweek’s Best as the No. 5 course in the state and at the coastal resort with a 7.66 average rating on the Golfweek’s Best 10-point scale, but it would be the highest-rated public-access course in 42 states.Â
No. 2 among the elite public golf states might be a greater surprise to some. Wisconsin jumps to that elevated spot, led by the Straits Course at Kohler’s Whistling Straits and buoyed further by the four courses at Sand Valley Resort to round out the state’s top five public-access layouts. And this exercise compares only those top five, when in reality Wisconsin’s great golf runs much deeper. Its next five courses – Erin Hills, Lawsonia Links, the River Course at Kohler’s Blackwolf Run, the Irish Course at Kohler’s Whistling Straits and SentryWorld – would have Wisconsin ranked No. 8 on this list of elite golf states. The golf season might be short in the Badger State, but it’s not to be missed.
The rest of the top 10 elite states for public-access golf probably would be considered more predictable, with a few exceptions – we see you hiding there in plain sight, Michigan and Washington.Â
This ranking of states was compiled by averaging the ratings, on a scale of 1 to 10, of the top five public-access layouts in each state:Â
1. Oregon: 8.07
2. Wisconsin: 7.66
3. California: 7.62
4. Florida: 7.37
5. North Carolina: 7.29
6. Hawaii: 7.12
7. South Carolina: 7.04
8. Washington: 6.87
T9. Michigan: 6.86
T9. Nebraska: 6.86
11. Nevada: 6.80
12. Virginia: 6.77
13. New York: 6.76
14. Mississippi: 6.67
15. Texas: 6.65
16. Utah: 6.63
17. Minnesota: 6.61
18. Georgia: 6.56
19. Missouri : 6.52
20. Arizona: 6.50
21. North Dakota: 6.44
22. Colorado: 6.42
23. Indiana: 6.42
24. New Mexico: 6.35
T25. Alabama: 6.31
T25. Massachusetts: 6.31
T27. Illinois: 6.29
T27. Ohio: 6.29
29. Pennsylvania: 6.22
30. Tennessee: 6.20
31. Maryland: 6.19
32. Oklahoma: 6.15
33. West Virginia: 6.13
34. Arkansas: 6.12
T35. Idaho: 6.06
T35. Maine: 6.06
37. New Jersey: 5.99
38. Connecticut: 5.95
39. Iowa: 5.93
40. Vermont: 5.77
41. Louisiana: 5.76
T42. Montana: 5.74
T42. South Dakota: 5.74
44. Kansas: 5.71
45. Kentucky: 5.69
46. Rhode Island: 5.62
47. New Hampshire: 5.56
48. Wyoming: 5.52
49. Delaware: 5.37
50. Alaska: 5.26
Ranking each state’s elite private golf courses
Ranking states as measured by their top five private courses offers fewer possible surprises than found on the public-access lists. New York tops the list largely on the strength of three all-world facilities on Long Island – Shinnecock Hills, National Golf Links of America and Friar’s Head – and adding in Fishers Island Club and Winged Foot West. Each is among the best golf courses in the country.Â
California is second on the list with Cypress Point, Los Angeles Country Club, Riviera, San Francisco Golf Club and California Golf Club. New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Georgia round out the top five states for elite private clubs. Not a revelation in the bunch on a list packed with historically significant courses that sprang up in golf’s golden age of design in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Worth noting and to confirm the suspicions of many daily-fee players on a budget, most state’s top five private courses combine to outrank that state’s public-access courses. Only in five states – Mississippi, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin – do the top five public courses combine to outrank that state’s private offerings.Â
This ranking was compiled by averaging the ratings, on a scale of 1 to 10, of the top five private layouts in each state:
1. New York: 8.87
2. California: 8.57
3. New Jersey: 8.22
4. Pennsylvania: 8.13
5. Georgia: 8.11
6. Illinois: 8.02
7. Ohio: 7.83
8. Massachusetts: 7.82
9. Michigan: 7.78
10. Florida: 7.74
T11. Nebraska: 7.73
T11. North Carolina: 7.73
13. Colorado: 7.64
14. South Carolina: 7.63
15. Texas: 7.38
16. Montana: 7.32
17. Minnesota: 7.31
18. Arizona: 7.28
19. Maryland: 7.27
20. Rhode Island: 7.24
21. Hawaii: 7.18
22. Kansas: 7.14
23. Virginia: 7.13
T24. Idaho: 7.06
T24. Oklahoma: 7.06
T24. Tennessee: 7.06
27. Connecticut: 7.03
28. Indiana: 6.97
29. Alabama: 6.95
30. Missouri: 6.92
31. Iowa: 6.91
32. Nevada: 6.89
33. Wisconsin: 6.84
34. Arkansas: 6.81
35. Oregon: 6.77
36. Washington: 6.67
T37. Utah: 6.65
T37. Wyoming: 6.65
39. Kentucky: 6.59
40. Vermont: 6.47
41. Delaware: 6.38
42. New Hampshire: 6.36
43. West Virginia: 6.34
44. New Mexico: 6.28
45. Mississippi: 6.23
46. Maine: 6.19
47. South Dakota: 6.13
48. Louisiana: 5.96
49. North Dakota: 5.12
- Editor’s note: Alaska doesn’t appear in the Golfweek’s Best rankings of private courses.Â
Best states for golf, public and private courses combined
How do the states stack up when combing the top five elite public-access courses with the top five private courses (or top four courses, when only four are available)? This is where traditional expectations for great golf states take their strongest hold.Â
California tops the list as the best golf state when comparing elite public and private courses with an average rating of 8.72 for the 10 courses. New York is second, followed by Florida, North Carolina and Oregon.Â
This list was compiled by averaging the ratings, on a scale of 1 to 10, of the top five public-access layouts and the top five private courses in each state:
1. California: 8.1
2. New York: 7.8
3. Florida: 7.6
4. North Carolina: 7.5
5. Oregon: 7.4
T6. South Carolina: 7.3
T6. Georgia: 7.3
T6. Michigan: 7.3
T6. Nebraska: 7.3
T6. Wisconsin: 7.3
T11. Pennsylvania: 7.2
T11. Illinois: 7.2
T11. Hawaii: 7.2
T14. New Jersey: 7.1
T14. Massachusetts: 7.1
T14. Ohio: 7.1
T17. Colorado: 7.0
T17. Texas: 7.0
T17. Minnesota: 7.0
T17. Virginia: 7.0
T21. Arizona: 6.9
T21. Nevada: 6.9
23. Washington: 6.8
T24. Maryland: 6.7
T24. Missouri: 6.7
T24. Indiana: 6.7
T27. Utah: 6.6
T27. Alabama: 6.6
T27. Tennessee: 6.6
T27. Oklahoma: 6.6
T27. Idaho: 6.6
T32. Montana: 6.5
T32. Connecticut: 6.5
T32. Arkansas: 6.5
T32. Mississippi: 6.5
T36. Rhode Island: 6.4
T36. Kansas: 6.4
T36. Iowa: 6.4
39. New Mexico: 6.3
40. West Virginia: 6.2
T41. Kentucky: 6.1
T41. Maine: 6.1
T41. Vermont: 6.1
T41. Wyoming: 6.1
45. New Hampshire: 6.0
T46. South Dakota: 5.9
T46. Delaware: 5.9
T46. Louisiana: 5.9
49. North Dakota: 5.8
- Editor’s note: Alaska doesn’t appear in the Golfweek’s Best rankings of private courses.Â
States with the most Top 100 public-access golf courses
Not every state has a course ranked among the top 100 public-access courses in the U.S., and a few states stand out for gobbling up most of that elite ranking. Only 16 states have three or more courses among the top 100 public-access layouts, and just 10 states have four or more.Â
At the top are California, Oregon and Wisconsin, each with nine public-access courses ranked among the top 100. California isn’t a surprise, but Oregon and Wisconsin might be for some golfers. Perhaps more than any other comparison, this shows that elite golf is available far beyond the sunny-all-year states where most golfers expect to find it.Â
The following list shows the 16 states with three or more courses in the Golfweek’s Best ranking of the top 100 public-access courses in the U.S.:
California: 9
Oregon: 9
Wisconsin: 9
Florida: 7
Michigan : 6
North Carolina: 6
Hawaii: 5
Nebraska : 4
South Carolina: 4
Virginia: 4
Minnesota: 3
Missouri: 3
Mississippi: 3
North Dakota: 3
Utah: 3
Washington: 3