Top 100 Courses in the World: GOLF’s 2020-21 ranking of the best golf courses on the planet

Mortefontaine, France Tom Simpson, 1927

Tucked away in a nearly impossible-to-find forested location 40 miles north of Paris is a low-key heathland design that is utterly charming and utterly private. A bold start that features a 475-yard par-4 and a 225-yard par-3 give way to gentler, though strategically, rich holes that were favorites of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, a frequent visitor. (Up 4)

Bernardsville, NJ A.W. Tillinghast, 1918

A club has a fundamental duty to act as a custodian to its course, and when the course is on special land, built in the Golden Age by one of the Masters, then that responsibility is especially acute. How to go about restoring a classic is a topic that will be explored in coming issues. Somerset Hills's approach has been slow and methodical, stretching back to the 1990s. Thanks to the meticulous attention to detail, Somerset has reached the point where it joins Winged Foot and San Francisco GC as exemplars of Tillinghast's enormous talent. (Up 33)

Inverness, Nova Scotia Canada Bill Coore/Ben Crenshaw, 2016

Newly minted as Canada's top-ranked course, this four-year-old Bill Coore/Ben Crenshaw design towers more than 100 feet above the Gulf of St. Lawrence, inspiring Pebble Beach-like awe. The south-end holes are akin to a traditional Scottish links. Most memorable is the trio of stunning closing holes, beginning with the 176-yard, par-3 16th, played out over the cliffs that give the course its name. (Up 7)

Te Awanga, New Zealand Tom Doak, 2004

One of the world's top 10 when it comes to views, each nine at Cape Kidnappers boasts a sequence of staggeringly dramatic holes. The course’s most famous hole is also its most feared, the 650-yard, par-5 15th which falls away on both sides of the fairway and which sports a horizon green perched precariously on a bluff overlooking the sea. Architecture buffs are likely to be just as captivated by the playing angles at the short two shot 14th with its Road Hole green complex. (No change)

Lake Bluff, IL Seth Raynor, 1921

Steep ravines affect play throughout the back nine on this short but sweet parkland design. Much of the rest of the property is flat but you are unlikely to notice that fact as the expansive greens offer such interesting targets. Ironic for an architect who built template holes but the best hole on Raynor’s design may well be the thoroughly original risk-reward 520-yard par-5 15th, which doglegs around a ravine. (Up 12)

La Perouse, Australia Alister MacKenzie, 1928/Eric Apperly, 1947

The layout's signature hole is the 195-yard, par-3 6th, which demands a stout carry over an inlet of Cape Banks — but it wasn't Alister MacKenzie's handiwork. Eric Apperly added this hole in 1937. (Down 3)

Garden City, NY Devereux Emmet, 1899/Walter Travis, 1906

This men’s-only Long Island layout dates to 1899. Devereux Emmet and Walter Travis most influenced the design, which today plays nearly as firm and as fast as any British links, much as it did in the old days, with tall fescue and sea breezes constant companions. Laurie Auchterlonie won the 1902 U.S. Open here with record scores, owing to the debut of the longer, more durable Haskell ball. (Up 9)

Portmarnock, Ireland W.C. Pickerman/George Ross/Mungo park, 1894/George Coburn, 1896

Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer and Ian Woosnam are among those who won Irish Opens at this low-profile but character-filled Dublin-area links. Arnold Palmer once tabbed the 15th as one of golf's best par-3s. Deep pot bunkers and low dunes that offer little protection from the wind make Portmarnock Ireland's sternest, yet fairest, championship test. (Up 1)

Tulsa, OK Perry Maxwell, 1936

The course was once shrouded in trees, which inhibited a proper appreciation of its wonderful landforms and creeks. Now golfers debate which is better: Maxwell’s greens or how Maxwell laid the holes across the rolling topography. Add the two together and you have one of America's best parkland designs. (Up 20)

South San Francisco, CA A.V Macan, 1926/Alister MacKenzie, 1928/Kyle Phillips, 2007

Firm playing surfaces elevate any design but add in a great design and wind and you have the makings of a world top-50 course. The difficult decision to shut the course in 2007 and rebuild it from several feet underground with 5,000 truckloads of sand hauled in has proven to be a runaway success. (Up 23)