· 12 min read · bucket list, courses
The Ultimate US Golf Bucket List: 25 Public Courses to Play Before You Die
Twenty-five public-access American golf courses every golfer should collect — major hosts, cliffside links and desert classics — with their Golfy rarity tier.
A bucket list is only useful if you can actually book the courses on it. So this list has one rule: every course is open to the public — a municipal, a daily-fee, a resort you can stay at, or a semi-private club with public tee times. No Augusta, no Cypress Point, no "know a member."
Each entry shows its Golfy rarity tier, which is a decent proxy for how hard the course is to collect: Legendary courses are major championship hosts, Epic ones have PGA Tour or major history, and Rare ones are destination tracks worth the trip. Tap any course to see its page, nearby courses and the XP you'd earn for checking in.
Pebble Beach, CA · Public resort Legendary99
The most famous public course on earth. Six U.S. Opens, the 7th and 18th holes hanging over Carmel Bay, and a green fee that everyone complains about and pays anyway.
Pinehurst, NC · Public resort Legendary99
Donald Ross's masterpiece and the anchor site of the U.S. Open. The turtleback greens will humble you; the village will make you want to move there.
Sheboygan, WI · Public resort Legendary99
Three PGA Championships and the 2021 Ryder Cup on a man-made links along Lake Michigan. Caddies required, wind included.
Farmingdale, NY · Public (municipal) Legendary97
A state park muni that hosted two U.S. Opens and a PGA. The warning sign on the first tee is real. So is the line to get a tee time.
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL · Public resort Epic93
Home of The Players. You will hit a ball in the water on 17. You will tell people about it for years.
La Jolla, CA · Public (municipal) Epic93
A San Diego muni on the cliffs above the Pacific that hosted the 2008 and 2021 U.S. Opens. Residents pay a fraction of what you will.
Kiawah Island — The Ocean Course
Kiawah Island, SC · Public resort Epic93
Pete Dye's brute on the Atlantic: the 1991 Ryder Cup 'War by the Shore' and two PGA Championships. More seaside holes than any course in the northern hemisphere.
University Place, WA · Public (municipal) Epic93
A county-owned links carved from a gravel pit on Puget Sound, and the 2015 U.S. Open host. Walking only, fescue everywhere.
Scottsdale, AZ · Public resort Epic93
The loudest hole in golf, the 16th, minus the 20,000 fans. Desert target golf in February sunshine.
Erin, WI · Public Epic92
The 2017 U.S. Open site: wide, walking-only, and enormous. Play it with the Whistling Straits trip.
Hilton Head Island, SC · Public resort Epic92
Pete Dye and Jack Nicklaus's tight, tree-lined classic, finishing at the candy-striped lighthouse. Home of the RBC Heritage since 1969.
Pebble Beach, CA · Public resort Epic92
Pebble's tougher sibling: five holes in the dunes, thirteen in the forest. Many locals prefer it.
Lemont, IL · Public Epic91
Chicago's championship public course, host of the Western Open and BMW Championship for decades.
Colorado Springs, CO · Resort Epic90
Ross and Trent Jones at 6,200 feet, with U.S. Women's Open and U.S. Senior Open history and a hotel that's a destination on its own.
Orlando, FL · Resort (lodge guests) Epic90
Arnold Palmer's home. Stay at the lodge and you can play the Arnold Palmer Invitational course the week before or after the pros.
Bandon, OR · Public resort Rare84
The course that started America's greatest golf resort. True links on the Oregon coast; walking only, and you'll want to play all six.
Mesquite, NV · Public Rare84
The most photographed public course in the desert — fairways poured between red-rock canyons an hour from Las Vegas.
Bowling Green, FL · Public resort Rare83
Gil Hanse's wild, sandy layout on reclaimed phosphate mines. The Red and Blue next door are on plenty of top-100 lists too.
North Las Vegas, NV · Resort (MGM guests) Rare83
Tom Fazio built a forest in the desert for Steve Wynn. Stay at an MGM property, pay the fee, and you get a caddie, a limo and total silence.
Arcadia, MI · Public Rare82
Northern Michigan's answer to Bandon: bluffs 200 feet above Lake Michigan and sunsets that stop play.
Kohala Coast, HI · Public resort Rare82
Robert Trent Jones Sr. on black lava. The par-3 3rd across the Pacific is the shot you fly to Hawaii for.
Santa Cruz, CA · Semi-private Rare81
Alister MacKenzie lived on the 6th fairway and called it his masterpiece. Public tee times exist; book early.
Nekoosa, WI · Public resort Rare81
Coore & Crenshaw in the central Wisconsin sand barrens, plus Mammoth Dunes and the Lido. Bandon's Midwestern cousin.
Brewster, WA · Public resort Rare81
David McLay Kidd's wide, joyful course above the Columbia River. The most fun you'll have shooting your handicap.
Sanford, NC · Public Rare79
Mike Strantz's fever dream in the Sandhills: blind shots, towering dunes and a scorecard you'll argue about. Pair it with Pinehurst.
Honourable mentions
Blackwolf Run (Kohler, WI), Half Moon Bay Ocean Course (CA), Forest Dunes (MI) and Bandon Trails (OR) all missed the cut by a coin flip. Browse the state directory for the rarest courses near you.
How to plan it
- Cluster by trip. Pebble + Spyglass + Pasatiempo is one week. Whistling Straits + Erin Hills + Sand Valley + Blackwolf Run is another. Pinehurst + Tobacco Road is a long weekend.
- Book resorts a year out. Bandon, Pinehurst and Whistling Straits release tee times to resort guests first.
- Munis reward patience. Bethpage, Torrey Pines and Chambers Bay all have resident-priority booking windows; the rest of us call the moment the window opens.
- Track it. Twenty-five courses across a decade is a lot to remember. Check in as you go and the list keeps itself. Golfy's curated lists do exactly this.
Collect the bucket list
The 25 courses above are worth a combined 12,000+ XP in Golfy. Download the app and start with the one you've already played.
