One of the most popular lists we create here at GOLF.com is our biennial Top 100 Courses You Can Play ranking, and the reason is obvious — the best public golf courses are on everyone’s bucket list. Sure, you might dream of playing Cypress Point, too, but Pebble Beach is a tee time any Average Joe can actually book.
Our most recent ranking of the 100 best public courses in America included 29 different states — with prices ranging from the affordable (George Wright, $62) to the lavish (Shadow Creek, $1,250) — but there’s still something for everyone. And while some (looking at you, Firestone) stand alone hours away from another Top 100 public sibling, many are clustered or just a short drive away, meaning any smart buddies’ trip planner can create the ultimate itinerary to knock out several in just a few days.
Better yet, we did the hard work for you. With the help of GOLF.com’s Course Finder tool, we created eight different road trips to consider for your next golfy getaway. All of them consist solely of Top 100 Courses You Can Play, although there are likely to be other public gems or Top 100 privates nearby too (just in case, ya know, you want to call and ask).
And if you’re looking to create your own trip, you’d be wise to play around with Course Finder. 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 one epic adventure.
But for starters, check out these eight recommended trips below.
Top 100 road trips for your next buddies’ trip adventure
BANDON DUNES
Oh, how original? Yeah, we know. But you’d be a fool not to consider Bandon Dunes, where you can knock out five Top 100 public courses — including our No. 3-ranked course, Pacific Dunes — and never have to leave the property. All five of Bandon’s courses are in the top 24 of our ranking. The only driving you’d have to do is from the North Bend or Portland airports, but those drives are quite scenic anyway.
THE FLORIDA SWING
You can fly into either Tampa or Orlando. If it’s former you can knock out the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook, and if it’s the latter you can tee it up at Bay Hill. Nearby is Cabot Citrus Farms and a trio of Top 100 public courses at Streamsong. That’s six courses and all are within a two-hour drive of each other.
THE SANDHILLS
You can basically hit a wedge to and from seven different Top 100 courses in the heart of Pinehurst, N.C. There’s Pinehurst No. 2, No. 4, No. 8 and No. 10, plus Pine Needles, Mid Pines and Southern Pines just a couple of miles east. Less than an hour away also sits Tobacco Road and Top 100 newcomer Tot Hill Farm in Asheboro, N.C.
WISCONSIN’S BEST
Only true golf sickos would knock out all nine of these courses in one trip — and you’d need to have some pretty deep pockets to do so — but the offerings of elite public golf in Wisconsin are tough to beat, and that’s not even considering some of the courses that didn’t make our Top 100 public list. There’s four must-plays at Sand Valley — including the newly opened Lido and Sedge Valley — and east of there sits Lawsonia Links, Blackwolf Run, Whistling Straits and Erin Hills. And just 50 miles north of Sand Valley is SentryWorld, which is still only two hours away from Erin Hills, meaning you can get to any of these with a pretty quick drive.
MONTEREY PENINSULA GEMS
It’s a bucket-list bonanza on the show-stopping Monterey Peninsula, where you can play top-ranked Pebble Beach Golf Links and No. 23 Spyglass Hill in back-to-back days. Oh, and they are a mile apart, so you’ll have plenty of time to hang, dine or explore. An hour’s drive from there is the Alister MacKenzie-designed Pasatiempo (No. 11 on our list) and just an hour east of there is CordeValle, another Top 100 spot.
NEBRASKA TRIANGLE
Its scenery might not rival 17-Mile Drive in Monterey, but there are three dynamite courses that form a neat little triangle in the Nebraska Plains. Start with the newly opened Landmand outside of Sioux City, Iowa, before heading four hours west to either The Prairie Club (Dunes) or Wild Horse. Prairie Club is about 160 miles straight north of Wild Horse. All three are worth the mileage.
SO CAL’S FINEST
Down in Southern California, there’s Torrey Pines’ South course in La Jolla, and 25 minutes north up Interstate 5 is the newly renovated North course at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad. There’s more out east if you are willing. Ram Hill is a two-hour drive away, and that can be your pit stop en route to the desert, where you’ll find two Top 100 public courses at PGA West (Pete Dye Stadium and Mountain) in La Quinta. Oh, and while you are there, tee it up virtually anywhere else. That area is rich with great golf.
NORTHERN MICHIGAN
It’s really a shame to have to split the superb public golf scene of Michigan into two quadrants, but that’s what we are going to do here. Up north in Roscommon you have two Top 100s at Forest Dunes (The Loop and Weiskopf) and two hours west of there you have two more at Arcadia Bluffs (South and Bluffs). Finally, way up north of there (two more hours) is Belvedere, a Willy Watson design in Charlevoix.
