Pacific Dunes at at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon (Courtesy of Bandon Dunes)

Location: Bandon, Oregon

Noteworthy: Bandon Dunes has helped redefine golf travel in a little over two decades since the resort was founded. With famed architects such as Tom Doak, Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw and David McLay Kidd having built five layouts on towering cliffs above the Pacific Ocean, this has become a bucket list destination for any player who hasn’t had the chance to go and a favored repeat destination for players who have been fortunate enough to play all five layouts. The resort is also home to the Preserve, a stunning 13-hole par-3 course perched above the ocean alongside a ravine, as well as several other golf-focused amenities. Owner Mike Keiser also has plans for even more golf in the area.

Old MacDonald at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon (Courtesy of Bandon Dunes)

The courses:

• No. 2 Pacific Dunes, 8.75
• No. 4 Old Macdonald, 8.34
• No. 6 Bandon Dunes, 8.13
• No. 8 Sheep Ranch, 8.03
• No. 10 Bandon Trails, 7.88

Ranked course average: 8.13

An aerial view of the 18th hole at the Pebble Beach Golf Links in California.(Harry How/Getty Images)

Location: Pebble Beach, California

Noteworthy: The famed Pebble Beach Golf Links needs no introduction to golf fans, as it has been host to six U.S. Opens since 1972 and has continuously been featured on television as a PGA Tour course since long before that. The most scenic holes overlook the Pacific Ocean, with the par-3 seventh and the par-5 18^th in particular providing two of the most calendar-worthy holes in the world. With two other courses inside the top 100 resort courses in the U.S., Pebble Beach has more than earned its status as one of the top golf resorts in the world. Pebble Beach is also home to the newly renovated The Hay par-3 course designed by Tiger Woods.

Spyglass Hills at Pebble Beach in California (Courtesy of Pebble Beach Resorts)

The courses:

• No. 1 Pebble Beach Golf Links, 8.80
• No. 13 Spyglass Hill, 7.58
• T73 Links at Spanish Bay, 6.55

Ranked course average: 7.64

Streamsong Black (Courtesy of Streamsong Resort/Laurence Lambrecht)

Location: Bowling Green, Florida

Noteworthy: In less than a decade since its opening, Streamsong has become the only resort in the Sunshine State to feature three resort courses in the top 200, not to mention having all of them inside the top 25. The original Red (Coore and Crenshaw) and Blue (Doak) courses were joined by the Black (Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner) in 2017. Built inland about an hour southeast of Tampa or 90 minutes southwest of Orlando, the courses are on a former mining site and feature miles of exposed sand and dunes in a way not familiar to other Florida courses. New greens surfaces on the Red and Blue are a must-see, offering some of the best putting conditions in Florida.

Streamsong Red (Courtesy of Streamsong/Laurence Lambrecht)

The courses:

• No. 15 Red, 7.51
• No. 18 Black, 7.42
• T21 Blue, 7.31

Ranked course average: 7.41

Whistling Straits’ Straits Course in Wisconsin (Courtesy of Destination Kohler)

Location: Mosel and Kohler, Wisconsin

Noteworthy: With four courses designed by Pete Dye, Destination Kohler near Sheboygan has become one of the top golf destinations in the Midwest. The resort features two golf clubs about 15 minutes apart: Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run. Whistling Straits’ Straits Course, perched on the shore of Lake Michigan, has been home to three PGA Championships since it opened in 1998 and will host the 2021 Ryder Cup in September.

Closer to the main resort campus in a factory town founded by the Kohler family, a composite course using holes from both courses at Blackwolf Run has hosted the U.S. Women’s Open twice.

The resort is also home to the new Baths of Blackwolf Run, a par-3 course that promises a fun game for players of any skill level.

The Meadow Valleys Course at Blackwolf Run in Wisconsin (Courtesy of Destination Kohler)

The courses:

• No. 5 Whistling Straits Straits, 8.15
• No. 32 Blackwolf Run River, 6.96
• No. 46 Whistling Straits Irish, 6.75
• T107 Blackwolf Run Meadow Valleys, 6.23

Ranked course average: 7.02

Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina (Courtesy of Pinehurst)

Location: Pinehurst, North Carolina

Noteworthy: A rankings list of the Pinehurst courses always gets tricky, as we talk about No. 2 being No. 3 or No. 8 being No. 83. Forget all that nomenclature and know that Pinehurst has been dubbed the Home of American Golf for good reason. Course No. 2 was designed by legendary architect Donald Ross, who left his fingerprints all over the Sandhills regions in the years in which he lived there. No. 2 has been the site of three U.S. Opens, and the USGA – which plans to open a second headquarters at the resort – plans to hold five more men’s national championships at the course in the coming decades. Course No. 4 was renovated in recent years by Hanse and design partner Jim Wagner, leading it to leapfrog the resort’s other offerings in the resort rankings. Hanse also built the Cradle, a particularly short and popular par-3 course near the main Pinehurst clubhouse.

Pinehurst No. 4 in North Carolina (Courtesy of Pinehurst)

The courses:

• No. 3 Pinehurst No. 2, 8.40
• No. 28 Pinehurst No. 4, 7.01
• No. 83 Pinehurst No. 8, 6.48
• No. 141 Pinehurst No. 7, 6.04

Ranked course average: 6.98

Ozarks National at Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri (Courtesy of Big Cedar Lodge)

Location: Hollister, Missouri

Noteworthy: Built in the Ozark Mountains, Big Cedar features three courses by top designers: the team of Coore and Crenshaw, Tom Fazio and Woods. Coore and Crenshaw’s Ozarks National ranks the highest, carved atop the highest elevation with holes hugging the mountain ridges. Payne’s Valley, which opened in 2020 and was Woods’ first resort layout in the U.S., didn’t make it into the 2021 Golfweek’s Best rankings because it was too new and hadn’t received enough votes, is a lock to make the 2022 rankings. The resort is also home to two incredibly scenic par-3 course, Top of the Rock and Mountain Top. The resort was developed by Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris, and many of the considerable offering of amenities and lodgings feature rustic flares on the shores of Table Rock Lake. And there’s one can’t-miss at the resort: Morris designed a bonus 19th hole at Payne’s Valley, a short par 3 at the base of incredible cliffs that has become a social media darling.

Payne’s Valley at Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri (Courtesy of Evan Schiller)

The courses:

• No. 33 Ozarks National, 6.94
• T63 Buffalo Ridge, 6.58
• *Payne’s Valley (not ranked yet)

Ranked course average: 6.76

Harbour Town Golf Links at Sea Pines Resort in South Carolina (Courtesy of Sea Pines Resort)

Location: Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

Noteworthy: The famed Pete Dye-designed Harbour Town Golf Links has hosted the PGA Tour since 1969, with backdrops of the lighthouse behind the 18^th green a staple of Tour coverage. The huge and luxurious Sea Pines Resort offers many non-golf amenities, but for golfers the best option is trying to thread shots around overhanging tree limbs on the opening 15 holes at Harbour Town before reaching the closing holes alongside Calibogue Sound.

Atlantic Dunes at Sea Pines (Courtesy of Sea Pines)

The courses:

• No. 21 Harbour Town GL, 7.31
• No. 120 Atlantic Dunes, 6.16
• No. 126 Heron Point, 6.13

Ranked course average: 6.54

PGA West’s Stadium Course (Courtesy of La Quinta Resort/Rob Perry)

Location: La Quinta, California

Noteworthy: Located in the California desert near Palm Springs, La Quinta Resort and Club offers five resort courses in all, three of which make the top 200. The Stadium Course at the resort’s PGA West is the most famous, once offering Pete Dye-designed challenges so extreme that PGA Tour pros demanded the course be removed from the schedule – it took nearly 30 years for this Stadium Course to return to the rota for the American Express event. The posh resort built the first golf course in the Coachella Valley in 1926 and has remained a draw for Hollywood A-listers.

The Mountain Course at La Quinta in California (Courtesy of La Quinta Resort)

The courses:

• No. 80 PGA West Stadium Course, 6.51
• T136 PGA West Nicklaus Tournament Course, 6.07
• No. 143 La Quinta Resort & Club Mountain Course, 6.03

Ranked course average: 6.21

Reynolds Lake Oconee’s Great Waters course (Courtesy of Reynolds Lake Oconee/Evan Schiller)

Location: Greensboro, Georgia

Noteworthy: The expansive resort rolls alongside the shoreline of Lake Oconee, offering a great mix of high-end residences and resort amenities. The top course here is Great Waters, which original designer Jack Nicklaus renovated in 2019. The layout offers several fantastic holes alongside the water, including eight of the back nine holes – it’s rare for a course to be given so much shoreline land instead of it being sold for real estate, and it makes the course special. There are six courses in all at the resort, a stout four of which make the top 200 resort list.

Reynolds Lake Oconee’s Oconee Course (Courtesy of Reynolds Lake Oconee)

The courses:

• T66 Great Waters, 6.57
• T103 Oconee, 6.27
• T183 National, 5.88
• T196 The Preserve, 5.85

Ranked course average: 6.14

Barefoot Resort and Golf’s Dye Course in North Myrtle Beach, S.C. (Courtesy of Barefoot)

Location: North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Noteworthy: Barefoot has four courses in all, with three of them making the top 200 of the resorts list and each named for the designer who built it: Pete Dye, Davis Love III and Tom Fazio (Greg Norman built the fourth course at the resort). Altogether, they offer a great variety of holes and aesthetics in a Lowcountry setting of one of the most popular golf cities in the country.

Barefoot Resort and Golf’s Love Course in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. (Courtesy of Barefoot)

The courses:

• T154 Dye Course, 5.98
• T169 Love Course, 5.93
• T196 Fazio Course, 5.85

Ranked course average: 5.92