What State Has The Best Golf?

[aguybadatgolf]

42 minutes ago, Tom the Golf Nut said:

Cherry Hills?

Good catch thank you! That’s what I meant, was typing too fast. 

[OdinSnipes414]

I’ll be golfing in South Dakota this summer and let everyone know

[Tom the Golf Nut]

10 minutes ago, aguybadatgolf said:

Good catch thank you! That’s what I meant, was typing too fast. 

I thought so.

I get around!

[Preeway]

7 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

As someone who has never golfed in the states I want your opinions and arguments as to what state you feel has the best golf and why!

What criteria are we using? Length of season, public courses vs. private, weather and affordability all come to mind. I would definitely put OR up there with year round availability and lots of high quality public courses. Also a big fan of WI and MI but the limited season has to be factored in. I would think NC and SC would have to be contenders with a year round season and lots of public golf access. 

[GolfSpy_KFT]

Not to continue to prop up my home state or anything buuuuuuut check out who landed at #1

 https://www.golfdigest.com/courses/guides/best-states-for-public-golf-100-greatest-public-courses

[tdroma98]

Living in Central Florida, there are a lot of great courses. Resort courses such as the Disney Courses, Waldorf, Ritz Carlton, Bay Hill to name a few, are great! I've played in some nice courses in some US Senior Open Qualifiers, Ocala area with some great courses! Adena & Golden Ocala & the PGA courses in Palm Beach area, oh my! Florida has great courses.  

I really enjoy the golf courses in Las Vegas.  A buddy of mine & I would go (with our wives) to Vegas annually, while the wives would be gambling & we'd go and play golf.  Vegas has some very nice courses, great conditions, and great scenery.  Bears Best, in Vegas, is one of my favorites.  Had a client who ran a golf academy out of Las Vegas National, in the 90's, that was a fun course.  The Vegas home used in Goodfella's was on Las Vegas National. The desert courses were challenging, different & fun!  With the Vegas thinner air, the ball goes, and inflates the ego. LOL. 

Haven't played any courses in North or South Carolina.  As  @Tom the Golf Nut stated South Carolina is the Mecca of golf. One day will make my way up there and back to California.  California has great courses as well!   

[Preeway]

34 minutes ago, GolfSpy_KFT said:

Not to continue to prop up my home state or anything buuuuuuut check out who landed at #1

 https://www.golfdigest.com/courses/guides/best-states-for-public-golf-100-greatest-public-courses

Glad to see Oregon at #4

[Bossfan]

There are some great options in the Chicagoland area. I live in the western suburbs and within an hour of me their are so many great courses and most of them won’t cost you an arm and a leg especially if you can play during the week like I usually do.

[mynerds]

4 hours ago, Bossfan said:

There are some great options in the Chicagoland area. I live in the western suburbs and within an hour of me their are so many great courses and most of them won’t cost you an arm and a leg especially if you can play during the week like I usually do.

Second this! Arrowhead is tough to beat in my mind for value at a public course. St Andrews is also a go-to, as is Prairie Landing (which sits at the end of an executive airport for you aviation nerds).

Also, Geneva National just north of us in Wisconsin just renovated their group cottages. Add this to your future midwest group outing plans!

[buckpillar]

Pennsylvania has some great courses to satisfy every level of golfer, from hosting Several PGA tour events, US Opens, PGA Championships etc. you cant beat it. 

I also like quite a few courses in Ohio, one I found to be a no brainer Huge Value -- Chapel Hill GC in Mount Vernon, Ohio if you decide to get the ALL INCLUSIVE the following perks is UNBEATABLE which I havent found any other course willing to match or beat it.   https://www.chapelhillgolfcourse.com/the-all-inclusive/ 

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST & WHAT DOES IT INCLUDE?
$63 Weekdays (Monday-Friday)
$70 Saturday/Sunday and Holidays

INCLUDES:
– Unlimited Golf And Cart (additional rounds based on availability)
– Unlimited Use Of The Driving Range
– A Food/Beverage punch card that gives you 6 beverages of choice, 3 snacks of choice, and 3 sandwiches of choice!

[StrokerAce]

...it's probably not MA, I can tell you that.
I've played in: OR/CA/AZ/TX/GA/NC/ID/NH/MA/RI/CT/NJ/FL

I would love to play in Wisconsin, Michigan, Colorado, Alabama (RTJ trail)

All these places seem like they have amazing courses for a fair price that aren't overcrowded.

[OdinSnipes414]

'We're not surprised': Wisconsin ranked No. 1 with 10 golf courses on Golf Digest's list of America's Top 100 Public Courses

By GARY D'AMATO

 

Feb 22, 2024

Can’t post a link but it’s a good read on Wisconsin.golf

[Bobbers]

On 2/21/2024 at 10:05 AM, GolfSpy_KFT said:

The UP is a spot my buddies and I will be headed to in either 2025 or 2026! 

A group of friends head up to the Island Resort and Casino in Harris, MI, in the UP early every July.  We play Sweetgrass at the resort the first afternoon, head over to Iron Mountain to play Timberstone the second day, head up to Marquette to play Greywalls the third day, cap it off with another round at Sweetgrass the final morning and are home for dinner.  The nicest part?  Four rounds of golf, three nights in the hotel and the total cost is around $525 per player based on double occupancy.  It's almost like they're paying us to golf...

As to golf in Wisconsin?  Season is generally April to early December.  Several courses have been open this week due to a very mild stretch of weather; it's been in the 50's for a high for several days.

Herb Kohler has given us Blackwolf Run, the Irish Course, Whistling Straights, etc.  We have Erin Hills.  Mid-state we have Sand Valley.  Like anywhere else there are a lot of "hidden gems" as well.  Mascoutin, Old Hickory, Lawsonia, the Bull, Hawks View, Morningstar, the list goes on.  The Greater Milwaukee Open used to be played at Brown Deer, a public course in the Milwaukee area.

For $50 one can buy a discount coupon book from Midwest Golfing magazine.  Includes several free rounds or "pay for cart only".  For another $50 the "Wisconsin Golf Classic" offers you a choice of 10 courses from participating venues that offer "2 for 1" or a free round if you pay for a cart, etc.  In short Wisconsin has a LOT of golfers, a LOT of great courses, and remains a very affordable destination where you can play your brains out, enjoy a choice of great beers, good food, and friendly folks.  No, I don't work for the tourism department in either Wisconsin or the UP of Michigan...

 

 

 

 

[Headhammer]

Arizona

California

Georgia

South Carolina

[Shapotomous]

If you are picking a place to live it is the myrtle beach area of South and North  Carolina for me.  Over 100 courses & mostly affordable with year round play. 

Besides that you get @Tom the Golf Nut and @BIG STU as neighbors!  Tom has a fridge & couch by his garage simulator to crash on and Stu has a stash of vintage blades to try out...what more do you need!!   .  You guys need to be careful what you include in the pics you post!  . The only downside is the tourist heavy tee sheets certain times of the year and moochers wanting to crash on the couch in your garage or use your old club stash as a rental substitute!! 

If its a vacation trip then most anywhere has a enough good courses to make a trip memorable.  It just depends on the time of year and the expected weather in that area. 

Edited February 24 by Shapotomous

[GolfSpy_KFT]

1 hour ago, Bobbers said:

A group of friends head up to the Island Resort and Casino in Harris, MI, in the UP early every July.  We play Sweetgrass at the resort the first afternoon, head over to Iron Mountain to play Timberstone the second day, head up to Marquette to play Greywalls the third day, cap it off with another round at Sweetgrass the final morning and are home for dinner.  The nicest part?  Four rounds of golf, three nights in the hotel and the total cost is around $525 per player based on double occupancy.  It's almost like they're paying us to golf...

As to golf in Wisconsin?  Season is generally April to early December.  Several courses have been open this week due to a very mild stretch of weather; it's been in the 50's for a high for several days.

Herb Kohler has given us Blackwolf Run, the Irish Course, Whistling Straights, etc.  We have Erin Hills.  Mid-state we have Sand Valley.  Like anywhere else there are a lot of "hidden gems" as well.  Mascoutin, Old Hickory, Lawsonia, the Bull, Hawks View, Morningstar, the list goes on.  The Greater Milwaukee Open used to be played at Brown Deer, a public course in the Milwaukee area.

For $50 one can buy a discount coupon book from Midwest Golfing magazine.  Includes several free rounds or "pay for cart only".  For another $50 the "Wisconsin Golf Classic" offers you a choice of 10 courses from participating venues that offer "2 for 1" or a free round if you pay for a cart, etc.  In short Wisconsin has a LOT of golfers, a LOT of great courses, and remains a very affordable destination where you can play your brains out, enjoy a choice of great beers, good food, and friendly folks.  No, I don't work for the tourism department in either Wisconsin or the UP of Michigan...

 

 

 

 

That was essentially the loop I was looking at setting up for the UP trip when we make it

And yes, Central Wisconsin is loaded with great courses even if you exclude SV. Lawsonia and The Bull regularly land in Golf Digest’s Top 100, so I don’t quite classify them as hidden gems, however Old Hickory and Mascoutin definitely fall in there for those who aren’t in the Tri-state area. 

I also somehow forgot to mention Geneva National in my earlier post, which is another great stay and play location. 

Love the Brown Deer reference, and the greater MKE area has some awesome courses. Lac La Belle is very high up on my list to try and play this or next summer. Would also love to play Blue Mound, but don’t know any members there lol. 

[Rob Person]

Just to revisit this, yesterday I had a 4 group from Wyoming at the tee box. While giving the course breakdown, it came up that they have played all of the RTJ Alabama trail courses (and even a few in between) over a 3 week period. They said it was a bucket list challenge their group put together.  They planned it for months last year. They each got trail cards, and said it was the best value ever. We were the last course on the stop.  They even earned enough trail points that the last 3 courses were free to play! I asked them their favorite course so far, and they all agreed Ross Bridge,  The Grand National, and Capitol Hill were by far the best.

I'm hoping that I can make enough time to play all the RTJ courses here as well.  Just thought it was a cool story .

We are definitely not lacking on public courses here! Alabama has over 215 statewide! I have easily 10 inside an hours drive, (not including the 20 minutes drive over to Georgia or Florida)

RTJ Trail Alabama has 11 different sites, with 26 individual courses.

[Dead Solid Bogey]

20 minutes ago, Rob Person said:

Just to revisit this, yesterday I had a 4 group from Wyoming at the tee box. While giving the course breakdown, it came up that they have played all of the RTJ Alabama trail courses (and even a few in between) over a 3 week period. They said it was a bucket list challenge their group put together.  They planned it for months last year. They each got trail cards, and said it was the best value ever. We were the last course on the stop.  They even earned enough trail points that the last 3 courses were free to play! I asked them their favorite course so far, and they all agreed Ross Bridge,  The Grand National, and Capitol Hill were by far the best.

I'm hoping that I can make enough time to play all the RTJ courses here as well.  Just thought it was a cool story .

We are definitely not lacking on public courses here! Alabama has over 215 statewide! I have easily 10 inside an hours drive, (not including the 20 minutes drive over to Georgia or Florida)

RTJ Trail Alabama has 11 different sites, with 26 individual courses.

I have no doubt that you would  enjoy and be intrigued by the vast majority of courses on the trail  It has been a few years ( pre-Covid ) but, we also enjoyed our tour of the RTJ courses. Ross Ridge was our favorite…. We were not as thorough as the wandering Wyoming bunch, we only managed to play 4 of the courses on our trip. 
  

[Joe_T]

I've played golf in every state but Alaska.  If access to private clubs isn't a problem I'd go with California or New York.  Monterey and Long Island would also be the places I would want to live if money wasn't an issue.

 

Living in my reality NC is where I plan to retire (spending a good amount of time in the UK/Ireland)

[Dead Solid Bogey]

41 minutes ago, Joe_T said:

I've played golf in every state but Alaska.  If access to private clubs isn't a problem I'd go with California or New York.  Monterey and Long Island would also be the places I would want to live if money wasn't an issue.

 

Living in my reality NC is where I plan to retire (spending a good amount of time in the UK/Ireland)

Alaska was the first state that I ever played golf in… Interesting about Long Island, not a locale that I would readily attribute to golf. 

[Joe_T]

22 minutes ago, Dead Solid Bogey said:

Alaska was the first state that I ever played golf in… Interesting about Long Island, not a locale that I would readily attribute to golf. 

Even on the public side there is some good golf with Bethpage and Montauk.  On the private side there is a wealth (you'll need wealth to play them) of great golf (Shinnecock, NGLA, Maidstone, Friar's Head, Sebonack, Garden City...).

[Dead Solid Bogey]

9 minutes ago, Joe_T said:

Even on the public side there is some good golf with Bethpage and Montauk.  On the private side there is a wealth (you'll need wealth to play them) of great golf (Shinnecock, NGLA, Maidstone, Friar's Head, Sebonack, Garden City...).

Heard of some of those golf courses, just never connected them to Long Island.. I maybe in need of a remedial geography course…