The 5 best golf courses in Maryland (2022/2023)

As part of GOLF’s course rating process for 2022-23, our fleet of 100-plus expert panelists identified the best golf courses in Maryland. Browse the links below to check out all of our course rankings, or scroll down to see the best courses in Maryland.

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

SYMBOL GUIDE
1 = Top 100 Course in the U.S.
P = Public/Resort Course
V = Top 100 Value Course in the U.S.
M = Top 30 Municipal Course in the U.S.

Ed. note: Some courses were omitted from our rankings because they did not receive enough votes.

The best golf courses in Maryland (2022/2023)

1. Congressional — Blue (Bethesda) [1]

Great things were always intended for this course, given its location just outside our nation’s capital. But after 100 years of existence, too many architects had had a hand in its evolution, and this Devereux Emmet design lost its Golden Age ethos. What to do? The club pivoted to Andrew Green and gave him carte blanche to wholly reimagine the course and unify it under one hand. Green delivered with the revamped design now looking like it has been there for more than a century. The alternating asks are excellent and every aspect of your game is tested. Take the stretch of 7 thru 9: the uphill par-3 7th requires a carry over the course’s deepest greenside bunker; the 8th is a teaser of a short par-4 with par amply defended at the angled green; and the 9th is a 600-plus yard rollercoaster that follows the heaving land back to the majestic clubhouse. Pete Wendt is one of the country’s finest greenkeepers and his layering of native grasses across the rollicking landscape lends the course a sumptuous texture that had long been absent. With trees removed and the wind blowing through, the days of a soft course — like the one Rory McIlroy encountered when he won the 2011 U.S. Open here — are a distant memory at the “new old” Congressional.

2. Baltimore — East/Five Farms (Baltimore)

Five Farms lays on a great piece of rolling land. Tillinghast used the land well with a routing that takes advantage of the many natural green sites resulting in varied, interesting and challenging greens which are the crown jewels of the course. Five Farms also features arguably two of Tillinghast’s best par-5s, the barn hole 6th and the great hazard 14th. The course restoration expanded the greens and fairways, allowing for more hole locations resulting in more angles and options across the course. If you score an invite, drop everything and go.

3. Burning Tree (Bethesda)

4. Caves Valley (Owings Mills)

5. Chevy Chase (Chevy Chase)

How we rank our courses

For GOLF’s course rankings lists, each panelist is provided a list of hundreds of courses and “buckets,” or groupings. If they believe the course to be among the best in its category (World, U.S. Value, etc.), they check the corresponding box to place it in a specific bucket. Panelists are also free to write in courses they felt should have been included on the ballot. Points were assigned to each bucket; to arrive at an average score for each course, we divide its aggregate score by the number of votes. From those point tallies, the courses are then ranked accordingly.

The key to the process is the experience and expertise of our panel. Hailing from 15 nations and all the worldwide golf meccas, each of our 115 handpicked panelists has a keen eye for architecture, both regionally and globally. Many of our panelists have played more than 1,000 courses in 20-plus countries.

Because we don’t prescribe a set method to assess courses as other ranks do, no one opinion carries the day — our rank is a democracy. Some panelists believe that enjoyment is the ultimate goal, and thus prioritize design attributes such as width and playing angles, while frowning on upon having to constantly hunt for balls in thick rough. Other panelists value challenge and the demands of hitting every club in the bag. Still others consider a course’s surroundings and overall environment of paramount importance, thereby emphasizing the setting and naturalness of the course. In the end, allowing raters to freely express their tastes is what produces the desired eclecticism in our Top 100 lists.

Panelist integrity is vital. Voters with any ties or associations to eligible courses must flag such conflicts. Panelists also know not to let the quality of their play influence their ballot — same for a luxe experience or clubhouse. While opulence may make for a more a memorable outing, it’s not what GOLF’s course lists are about. Our focus is on design and architecture. We study the course, not the trappings around it.

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