For every great course that made GOLF’s 2020-21 ranking of the Top 100 Courses in the U.S., dozens of more must-plays were left on the outside looking in — including at least a handful in your home state. That Top 100 list, expertly crafted by our 97 course raters and GOLF architecture editor Ran Morrissett, was our latest and most in-depth look at the 100 best courses in America, but it doesn’t stop there.
Piggy-backing off our Top 100 Courses in the U.S. ranking, we asked our expert panel to dig even deeper and identify the best courses in all 50 states. Take Texas, for example. It had just one course on our Top 100 Courses in the U.S. list, but what if you wanted to tackle the best of the best in the Lone State State? Now you can, as we’ve expanded Texas’ best-in-state ranking to include 15 courses.
Gear up for your next round
Mind you, this was no small task. Our raters submitted their extensive ballots to create GOLF’s Top 100 Courses in the U.S. ranking, and our panel took those courses on the outside looking in to compile our 50 best-in-state rankings. Some states have as many as 30 courses ranked, while others, if courses didn’t receive enough votes, have a minimum of five. Most fall somewhere in between, with 10 or 15 courses rated.
New this year, we asked our raters to spotlight one course in each state you might not be as familiar with. We also called on our friends at the National Golf Foundation to give us reliable data on which states have the most courses (Florida!), each state’s number of golfers per capita (congrats, Minnesota!) and average public greens fees — so you know exactly how your state stacks up.
Without further adieu, check out our individual state rankings below. For more information on how we rate courses, click here, or to meet the men and women behind our expert course raters panel, click here.
The best golf courses in every state
Northeast region: Connecticut | Maine | Massachusetts | New Hampshire | New Jersey | New York | Pennsylvania | Rhode Island | Vermont
Midwest region: Illinois | Indiana | Iowa | Kansas | Michigan | Minnesota | Missouri | Nebraska | North Dakota | Ohio | South Dakota | Wisconsin
South region: Alabama | Arkansas | Delaware | Florida | Georgia | Kentucky | Louisiana | Maryland | Mississippi | North Carolina | Oklahoma | South Carolina | Tennessee | Texas | Virginia | West Virginia
West region: Alaska | Arizona | California | Colorado | Hawaii | Idaho | Montana | Nevada | New Mexico | Oregon | Utah | Washington | Wyoming
