As part of GOLF’s rigorous ratings process for our newly released Top 100 Courses in the U.S. and Top 100 Courses You Can Play rankings, our fleet of 100-plus expert panelists identified the best golf courses in every state.
You can check out the links below to browse all of our course rankings, or scroll down to see the best courses in Maine. And if you’re looking to create your own trip in the future, you’d be wise to let GOLF’s new Course Finder tool assist you. Here, you can toggle all of our lists — Top 100 public, best munis, best short courses, best par-3s and more — or filter by price to create the perfect itinerary for your next trip.
GOLF’s other course rankings: Top 100 Courses in the World | Top 100 Courses in the U.S. | Top 100 Courses You Can Play | Top 100 Value Courses in the U.S. | America’s Best Municipal Courses | The 100 Best Short Courses in the World
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The best golf courses in Maine (2024/2025)
SYMBOL GUIDE
# = Top 100 Course in the U.S.
Y = Top 100 You Can Play in the U.S.
V = Top 100 Value Course in the U.S.
P = Public/Resort
Ed. note: Some courses were omitted from our rankings because they did not receive enough votes.
1. Cape Arundel (Kennebunkport) [P, Y]
At just less than 6,000 yards, this is the shortest course to make our list; the Bush family was famous for their two-hour rounds here. If you think that means that the design must therefore have perfectly placed hazards, superb greens and excellent over all presentation, you would be correct. Arguably, the two architects most accomplished at building great contours on medium size greens were Perry Maxwell and Walter Travis. In the case of Cape Arundel, Travis built another special set of greens that rival those that he built at Hollywood, in New Jersey, for playing interest and variety.”
2. Portland CC (Falmouth)
3. Prouts Neck (Scarborough)
Wayne Stiles’ seaside masterpiece has been the subject of a sublime refurbishment effort the last 10 years. The par-3 10th is all new. The short par-4 16th feels all new. The whole place feels different — maybe because the sea or the dunes or Scarborough Marsh are visible from pretty much every hole now that so many trees are gone. The new width better shows what has always been a great set of greens.
4. Belgrade Lakes (Belgrade Lakes) [P]
5. Kebo Valley (Bar Harbor) [P, V]
How we rank our courses
For our newly released Top 100 U.S. and Top 100 You Can Play lists — a process that helped us create 50 best-in-state rankings — each panelist was provided a ballot that consisted of 609 courses. Beside the list of courses were 11 “buckets,” or groupings. If our panelists considered a course to be among the top three in the U.S., they ticked that first column. If they believed the course to be among Nos. 4-10, they checked that column, followed by 11-25, 26-50, and so on out to 250+ and even a column for “remove.” Panelists were also free to write in courses that they felt should have been included on the ballot.
