If you want to visit one city to check off as many of GOLF’s Top 100 Courses in the World as you can, there’s one clear destination.
New York City has a whopping 11 Top 100 World golf courses within 100 miles (ie. a reasonable golf day-trip distance), more than double any other city worldwide. The next closest were the U.K.’s London and Edinburgh, which both feature five Top 100 courses within 100 miles.
But a trip to the Big Apple could make a perfect jumping-off point with six of those courses within 30 miles, including major championship hosts like Winged Foot’s West course and Bethpage Black, one of the most accessible World Top 100 courses.
Further out on Long Island’s east end, you get the Hamptons staples and perennial top-10ers Shinnecock and National Golf Links of America as well as Friar’s Head and Maidstone.
If you live in New York City, you’re spoiled with great golf, even if it is harder to get to with the city’s famous traffic.
But nonetheless, if you’re hoping to check off a large chunk of Top 100 courses, there’s no better place to start than New York!
Keep reading below for all of GOLF’s Top 100 World Courses within 100 miles of New York City.
No. 5: Shinnecock Hills (83 miles)
Venue for five U.S. Opens since 1986, most recently in 2018 — this is William Flynn’s design masterpiece. Apart from being handed a magnificently spacious parcel of land upon which to work, Flynn was given something else nearly as valuable: time. Work started in 1928 and the course didn’t open until 1931. True, the Great Depression began during construction but the grace with which the holes flow across the property is a tribute to the hands-on, slow-build process.
No. 6: National Golf Links of America (82 miles)
NGLA, or “National,” as it’s known, brought Seth Raynor and C.B. Macdonald together for the first time and what they created epitomizes strategic design. Some of its template holes, including the Alps 3rd, the Redan 4th, the Short 6th and the Leven 17th, are arguably superior to their namesake holes in the United Kingdom that Macdonald copied. Legendary golf writer Bernard Darwin summed it up nicely when he opined, “The National Links is a truly great course; even as I write I feel my allegiance to Westward Ho!, to Hoylake, to St. Andrews tottering to its fall.”
No. 23: Friar’s Head (69 miles)
Tree-dotted dunes, open meadows and bluff-top views of Long Island Sound highlight the experience at this 2003 Bill Coore-Ben Crenshaw design. Even more impressive is how seamlessly the golfer is transported between these different environments. The sandy stretches — including from 7-10 and 13-18 — are mesmerizing, but holes like the maddening 5th with its rippling ground contours and the classic dogleg 6th that tempts you to hug the corner off the tee are design standouts in their own right. Constant refinements, no matter how minor, have Friar’s Head as dialed-in as any course in the country.
No. 33: Winged Foot – West (21 miles)
Hale Irwin survived the 1974 “Massacre at Winged Foot” U.S. Open to win at seven over par. Geoff Ogilvy didn’t fare much better in 2006, when his five over total took home the trophy. Mark Brooks, 1996 PGA champion, summed up this Golden Age A.W. Tillinghast design this way: “There are probably six hard holes, six really hard holes and six impossible holes.” Frighteningly contoured, pear-shaped greens, cavernous bunkers and a procession of rugged par-4s define the trouble. On a “difficulty” scale of 1 to 10, Jack Nicklaus once rated the West course a 12. That said, Gil Hanse’s astonishing green expansion has brought back an exciting element of creativity with which few parkland courses can contend.
No. 49: Maidstone (97 miles)
Maidstone’s glorious edge-of-the-Atlantic location is once again fully evident, thanks to a recent restoration by Coore & Crenshaw. Maintaining coastal dunes is an art form: expose too much sand and it blows away; cover it up and you lose a sense of place. Maidstone has struck the perfect balance. Adding to the pleasure of its romantic location is an exceptional set of Willie and John Park greens, many of which feature dramatic false fronts. Maidstone is a dream course to play regularly, in part because its asks change daily with the weather.
No. 51: Somerset Hills (31 miles)
Thanks to a 25-year-long restoration effort with meticulous attention to detail, Somerset Hills has reached the point where some trumpet it as A.W. Tillinghast’s finest design for regular play. Its two nines are diverse — the first is on more open land while the second jumps into the woods where Tillinghast incorporated natural water features to perfection. Tillinghast’s time in Scotland manifests itself at such holes as the Redan 2nd and the par-5 9th with its attractive cross hazard. A die-hard New Yorker remarked, “It’s enough to make one want to live in New Jersey.”
No. 52: Garden City (20 miles)
Devereux Emmet and Walter Travis share credit for this old-school design that plays across Hempstead Plain on Long Island. The water is 10 miles both north and south, so sea breezes are a frequent companion. Laurie Auchterlonie won the 1902 U.S. Open here with record scores, owing to the debut of the longer, more durable Haskell ball. Garden City’s tilted greens, like the 10th and 15th, are lay-of-the-land architecture at its highest form. To understand what it means to “get the most from the land,” study the small parcel around the clubhouse that contains the 1st, 2nd and 18th holes, each stellar in its own right.
No. 56: Bethpage – Black (29 miles)
The Black intimidates golfers with a sign at the 1st tee that recommends the course “only for highly skilled golfers.” Among them? Tiger Woods, who won the 2002 “People’s Open,” as that U.S. Open came to be known. Woods was the only golfer to break par for 72 holes, owing to rugged, uphill par-4s, massive bunkers and the wrist-fracturing rough found on this Rees Jones-restored A.W. Tillinghast layout. The Black enjoys one of the great routings, highlighted by the masterful way Tillinghast placed the fairways and greens from the 2nd hole in a valley all the way through the dogleg left 9th. The par-5 4th and its iconic cross-bunkering is a world-beater.
No. 70: Baltusrol – Lower (17 miles)
Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner’s 2020 restoration showcases Tillinghast’s immense talent for innovative bunker patterns and fascinating greens. Central hazards once again abound here, most famously at the 2nd and 17th holes where large bunker complexes bisect the fairways. Just as impressive is the diagonal bunker scheme that slashes into the 5th fairway, making it one of the best 400-yarders in the country. Though the middle of the property is tame topographically, that’s precisely where Tillinghast created some of the best greens. Take the time to study both green pads of the par 3s on the second nine as each is a master class in creating something from nothing.
No. 77: Sleepy Hollow (29 miles)
This Westchester County course has always enjoyed a spectacular component to it, courtesy of breathtaking views of the Hudson River, particularly at the 15th and 16th holes. What its holes lacked was playing interest from 50 yards and in. That changed in 2016 when Gil Hanse embarked on a two-year project to imbue the greens with a C.B. Macdonald flair that, well, even Macdonald would appreciate.
No. 91: Winged Foot – East (21 miles)
Neither as long nor as tough as its illustrious West sibling, the East enjoys its own devoted fanbase for its variety and the encouraging manner in which ground game options are now presented. Great attention has been paid to the mow lines, with short, tight fairway grass on the high side of the entrance to all the greens. More than a few Winged Foot devotees consider the 13th and 17th the best par-3s on the property, a seemingly outlandish claim until you play them. Spend time putting on greens like the 1st and 11th and you will wonder what A.W. Tillinghast understood about green construction that eludes most other architects.
