As the best players in the world prepare to begin another season, golf fans prepare to live vicariously through their heroes competing at courses around the U.S.
To help turn your TV daydream into a reality, Golfweek has compiled 10 courses from the PGA Tour schedule that anyone can play – if their pockets are deep enough.
All the courses on this list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort or by staying at an affiliated hotel. If there’s a will, there’s a tee time. Golfweek’s Best offers many lists of course rankings, with the list of top public-access courses in each state among the most popular. Each of the courses below is public-access, although greens fees at several of them go above $500 per player.
The hundreds of members of the Golfweek’s Best ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those averaged overall ratings are presented for each course below.
Nine months after his first Korn Ferry Tour win, Chad Ramey now has a win on the PGA Tour.
The tiny Mississippi town of Fulton, population about 4,000, has now produced two professional golf champions.
Chad Ramey joins the LPGA’s Ally Ewing with a trip into the winner’s circle at the highest level of their professions.
In just his 16th start on the PGA Tour, Ramey had a Sunday to remember with six birdies over his last 15 holes, including four in a row on his back nine, to storm the finish line and claim the 2022 Corales Puntacana Championship.
Fulton is situated in the northwest corner of the state and is home to Fulton Country Club, a 5,700-yard course run by Ramey’s dad, Stanley. The course has no practice range, so growing up Ramey and Ewing designed their own makeshift range across fairways. They aimed at trees and shagged their own balls, trying to stay out of the way of paying customers.
“During football and huntin’ season, it kind of clears out,” said Ramey, who, like Ewing, went to Mississippi State. Ramey once shot a 27 on the course, closing with an ace on the last hole.
Sunday, Ramey shot a 67 to finish at 17 under and win by a shot over Alex Smalley and Ben Martin. Jhonattan Vegas and Cameron Percy finished tied for fourth, two back.
Ramey, 29, is the eighth first-time winner this season. He’s the first rookie to win on Tour since Garrick Higgo claimed the 2021 Palmetto Championship at Congaree.
Ramey tracked down Ben Martin, who led after each of the first three rounds. Martin opened the week with back-to-back 66s but posted back-to-back 70s over the weekend, opening the door for Ramey.
Alex Smalley briefly grabbed the clubhouse lead Sunday. He followed his second-round 65 with a third-round 73 and closed his week with another 65, but it wasn’t enough to keep up with Ramey.
“I always had the self-belief that I could get it done,” Ramey said after his fourth top-20 finish of the season. “I proved that today.”
Ramey started the week ranked 203rd in the Official World Golf Ranking. His first professional win came nine months ago at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Live and Work in Maine Open, with his dad serving as his caddie. His last win before that was nine years ago when he was a junior on the Mississippi State golf team. He earned $666,000 for his win Sunday.
Martin, 34, was angling for his first win on Tour in eight years. He is playing out of the past champion category thanks to his victory at the 2014 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.
Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols contributed to this report.
Ben Martin leads by two heading into the final round of the PGA Tour’s opposite-field event in The Dominican Republic.
Ben Martin hasn’t won a PGA Tour title in nearly eight years. Could the dry spell be nearly over?
Martin shot 2-under 70 at Corales Golf Club in The Dominican Republic and holds a two-stroke lead over rookie Chad Ramey heading into the final round of the Corales Puntacana Championship.
Martin, 34, is playing out of the past champion category these days for his lone victory at the 2014 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. It was good enough to get him in the field at this week’s opposite-field event for those Tour members that didn’t qualify for the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. Ranked 565th in the world, Martin, who made only one start in 2019 with a back injury and has struggled to regain his previous form ever since, carded five birdies and three bogeys during Saturday’s round. He noted it had been a long time since he’d played in the final group and he felt the nerves early.
“I need to look at my Whoop and see what my heart rate was on the first hole, I bet it was up there a little bit, but I think after that I kind of settled in and played nice(ly),” he said. “Felt fine the rest of the round.”
Ben Martin of the United States lines up a putt on the 17th green during the third round of the Corales Puntacana Championship at the Corales Golf Course on March 26, 2022, in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Ramey, 29, has recorded three top-20 finishes in his rookie campaign, including a T-5 at the Puerto Rico Open earlier this month, another opposite-field event. He also got a taste of weekend pressure after opening 63-65 and contending in Las Vegas before a closing 72.
Ramey is well positioned to make a run at being the latest first-time winner on the PGA Tour. After three birdies on the front side of his third round, Ramey made three bogeys on the inward nine, including a dropped shot at 18, but continued his domination of the par 5s with a birdie at 12 and an eagle at the par-5 14th, holing his third from 146 yards.
“It was just a perfect wedge,” he said. “Couldn’t have asked for a better shot, landed two short I believe and hopped on in.”
It added up to 3-under 69 and a spot alongside Martin in the final group on Sunday. Asked to describe the game plan for Sunday, Ramey said he wasn’t going to change a thing.
“Obviously I’m doing something right, so I’m just going to stick to my game plan and just see what happens,” he said.
Venezuela’s Jhonnatan Vegas made the biggest move on Moving Day, posting 7-under 65, and now sits three strokes back, alone in third place. The bogey-free round for Vegas, who last won in 2018, included an eagle at the par-5 seventh.
“I had a really perfect number, just tried to hit a perfect fade into a right-to-left wind and I just cut it absolutely perfect(ly),” Vegas said.
Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela plays his shot from the third tee during the third round of the Corales Puntacana Championship at the Corales Golf Course on March 26, 2022, in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. (Photo by Marianna Massey/Getty Images)
For Martin, everything this week has felt pretty close to perfect. Playing here for the third time, he brought his wife and two daughters along – neither of whom were born the last time he won – and his mother came down to lend a hand.
“They were supposed to fly home tomorrow, but they already changed their flight to Monday,” Martin said. “After my first round Ann Pearce, my little girl, she ran out on 18. I was like, well, it’s only round one, you’re supposed to do that in the fourth round, but maybe that was some sort of foreshadowing.”
Added Martin: “This is really the reason I think I enjoy playing professional golf, like being around the lead on the weekend with a chance to win, you have a little nerves, but I think that’s why we all like to test ourselves and see where we are, so it will be a fun day tomorrow.”
Joel Dahmen, who hasn’t won a professional event in nearly seven years, is tied with Rafael Campos at 10 under in the Dominican Republic.
Joel Dahmen hasn’t won a professional event since claiming two titles on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada nearly seven years ago. Positive vibes from his wife might help him breakthrough on the PGA Tour this week.
After 54 holes in the Dominican Republic, Dahmen is in position to win for the first time on golf’s big stage. His third-round 68 included four birdies on his back nine, getting him to 10 under. Rafael Campos would later birdie the 18th hole to tie him for the lead and those two will take a one-shot advantage into Sunday’s final round.
Dahmen credits his wife, Lona, describing how she’s long been a big part of his team.
“We’ve been together for nine years now, married for two, so she’s seen it all,” he said on Saturday. “She worked two jobs to pay rent when I was on the mini-tours, had no money. So she’s been through it all. She’s been really positive through all this.”
This being the six missed cuts in seven outings in 2021.
“Sounds like I’m just like on golf suicide watch, right? I just had a rough seven, eight weeks. It’s not that bad, but the way I play, super consistent, make a lot of cuts, you know, it seemed like it was pretty bad. So it’s never as bad as you think it is, it’s never as good as you think it is, but Lona’s been great for me. She still gives me a hug and a kiss and tells me to go kick butt, so it’s been good.”
Dahmen has only posted three bogeys and one double through three rounds at the windy Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship. He also credited his Saturday playing partner, Graeme McDowell, for providing some inspiration.
“Playing with Graeme today, he got off to kind of a good start and I was kind of behind the 8-ball. He kind of kicked my butt after the three-putt on 8,” he said. “I started being a little more aggressive with my putts just got to get them to the hole and they might actually go in, and they did thankfully on the back.”
Typically, Dahmen hasn’t played this event, but he felt like missing out on this week’s World Golf Championships event stirred something.
“Normally I take this week off, but I was kind of inspired — I felt like I kind of should have been in that Match Play this year and not being there inspired me to come here and play well,” he said.
As for Campos, he’s only had two bogeys all week and has shot three rounds in the 60s so far, including a second straight 69 on Saturday.
Campos is also seeking his first Tour win. He has one win on the Korn Ferry Tour, the 2019 Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club.
Danny Willett and Michael Gligic are tied for second, one shot back. Emiliano Grillo and Thomas Pieters are tied for fifth, two back. Defending champion Hudson Swafford is in a six-way tie for seventh at 7 under.
The Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, also held last September, is the first PGA Tour event to be staged twice in the same season in 70 years.
A win does not mean a trip to Augusta National for the Masters but a victory would gain the winner this week entry into the 2021 PGA Championship, the 2022 Sentry Tournament of Champions and the 2022 Players Championship.
Justin Suh, Fabrizio Zanotti and Rafael Campos all share the 36-hole lead in the Dominican Republic.
Justin Suh, Fabrizio Zanotti and Rafael Campos all share the 36-hole lead at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in the Dominican Republic.
Zanotti shot a 68 while Suh and Campos each fired 69s. All three are 7 under, one shot ahead of the field.
Suh, seeking his first PGA Tour win, knows there’s plenty of work still to do.
“We still have two more rounds, we still have the weekend and it’s not going to be easy just because the wind I think is going to keep coming in,” he said.
Suh finished tied for 14th last September in this event, his second-best finish on Tour.
“I’m excited for the opportunities ahead. We’ve got a good game plan going on, I’m hitting it great, I’ve just got to keep it going.”
“I really do feel like I’m at home. This is my second home actually,” he said. “My family has had a house here for 20 years and anytime I come out here, play, whenever I’m in vacation mode, I actually come here to the Dominican Republic and stay here.”
Tyler Duncan and Joel Dahmen are tied for fourth, a shot back.
First-round leader Stephan Jaeger shot a 73, one day after he opened with a 66. He is among six golfers tied for sixth. Michael Gligic is in that group as well after he shot a 66, the low round of the day. Graeme McDowell is also in that group at 5 under.
Stephan Jaeger aced the second hole and closed his round with birdies on Nos. 4, 6 and 7 to post a 6-under 66 in the Dominican Republic.
On Thursday, the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship became the first PGA Tour event to be staged twice in the same season in 70 years.
It was just 179 days ago that Hudson Swafford hoisted the trophy in the Dominican Republic as tournament champion.
The Corales was supposed to be played in March of 2020 but the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the event just two weeks before it was to be played. Instead, it was pushed back to September.
On the first day of the Tour’s return, Stephan Jaeger parlayed a hole-in-one on his 11th hole to take the first-round lead. Jaeger aced the par-3 second hole and then closed out his round with birdies on Nos. 4, 6 and 7 to post a 6-under 66. He will start Friday’s round with a one-shot lead over Joel Dahmen and Andrew Yun.
“Obviously 1’s don’t really add up too quickly, so that was a good start of the back nine,” he said.
Jaeger admits it’s been a while since he made an ace.
“I haven’t had a hole-in-one probably since college, it’s been a long time, especially in a tournament. I think my last tournament hole-in-one was, I think, junior year in college. So I’m not going to age myself, but it’s been a while, for sure.”
Dahmen has missed the cut in six of his last seven events. The one cut he made in that stretch ended in a T-60 finish at Pebble Beach.
“Been a long time,” he said after his first round 67 that included no bogeys. “Been getting my butt kicked out here since the start of the year, so it feels good to play well. Still have a long ways to go.”
Dahmen also attributed his lackluster play to some equipment issues.
“My clubs were maybe bent incorrectly so we got that fixed,” he said. “I played four weeks basically with maybe clubs that weren’t fit properly. That sucks, obviously. And just the last couple weeks had them kind of fixed and the ball’s been flying correctly again.”
Nate Lashley, Adam Schenk, Justin Suh, Sam Ryder, Rafael Campos and Mark Anderson all shot 68s and are tied for fourth.
Ultimately, Hudson Swafford came out on top at Corales but he made it interesting down to the wire
Hudson Swafford looked like he might run away with his second PGA Tour title when he made the turn Sunday at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship. The script flipped on the 33-year-old, however, when he made double-bogey at the Corales Club’s par-4 13th.
That opened to the door to his chasers. A group ahead, Canadian Mackenzie Hughes made birdie on No. 14 for a two-shot swing that left him right on Swafford’s heels and then, after he parred No. 15 and Swafford bogeyed, tied with him.
Ultimately, Swafford came out on top but he made it interesting down to the wire – leaving his birdie putt up a steep slope several feet short. He made the par to finish alone at 18 under.
Swafford seemingly couldn’t get anything else to go his way coming down the stretch in the Dominican Republic. He had gone 28 holes without a bogey before he botched the 13th.
He only made one more, at No. 17, coming into the clubhouse. That putt couldn’t have come at a better time, though. It gave him control heading to the final hole.
Tyler McCumber, who started the day six shots back, had added his name to the leading group when he holed a long putt for birdie on the final hole for a closing 66 to also become a threat. He ended up in solo second as Hughes ultimately finished alone in third after a bogey at No. 18.
The past two editions of the Puntacana event have been considerably more predictable. The 54-hole leader won each time. Adam Long, this year’s 54-hole leader, finished fifth after a closing 74.
It’s been more than a year since Nate Lashley’s posted a 65 in PGA Tour play. Until Saturday.
To understand why an overdue 65 is exactly the shot in the arm Nate Lashley needed during the third round of the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, simply scan his recent results.
For example, just three weeks ago Lashley finished fifth … in the Platte Valley Pro-Am. No disrespect to Scottsbluff, Nebraska, but not exactly the world’s grandest stage.
In fact, it’s been more than a year since Lashley went this low in a PGA Tour event. He had rounds of 64 and 65 during the now-defunct Military Tribute at The Greenbrier back in early September 2019.
But this week in Punta Cana the schedule offered up a familiar golf course — one on which Lashley has enjoyed success. He won a Korn Ferry Tour event at Corales in 2017, his first victory on that tour after winning three PGA Tour Latinoamérica titles in 2016.
Again, Lashley found the Dominican breezes to his liking on Saturday, using an incredible stretch of six birdies in eight holes to move to 12 under and within a few shots of the leaders through three rounds.
“I feel like it’s a good second-shot golf course and I think that’s a good strength of my game. When I’m hitting my irons well, I feel like on a course like this I’m going to have a chance to finish well. I like that you hit some fairways and then if you have a chance to hit some irons in close. I like that.”
Lashley, who has the 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic title on his resume, had made just two of his last dozen cuts heading into the Dominican Republic, but he was resourceful in climbing the leaderboard on Saturday. Even when the University of Arizona product was off-target he found a way to get back into position, converting on all five scramble opportunities.
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“Yeah, I mean scrambling’s always key. When you can get up and down
and save those pars or save the birdies when you’re up around par 5s, that’s huge,” he said. “That’s where you turn in a 7-under round or that can go to a 3- or 4-under round, that’s a big difference when you get up and down five out of five times. So that’s when you have some great scores, and hopefully, I can continue that tomorrow.
“I’ve been hitting it well. The first three rounds, I hit it pretty well and
the first couple rounds, played good. Second round just, you know, one of those days where you play pretty well, but you only shoot 1 under. Could have been three 3 or 4 under pretty easy. That’s the way golf is. I’m playing well, I feel better, body feels better physically. So, you know, just come out tomorrow and try to continue what I’m doing and see what happens.”
Kelly Kraft ended his first round at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in style on Thursday.
Kelly Kraft ended his first round at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in style on Thursday.
Closing his day on the par-3 ninth hole at Corales Golf Club in the Dominican Republic, Kraft made a hole-in-one on the 204-yard hole.
The PGA Tour reports that he used an 8 iron and his ball had eyes for the hole all the way.
In fact, Kraft finished eagle-par-eagle to shoot a 68. That puts him T-17 with a slew of golfers and he’s just three off the lead heading into Friday’s second round.
Kraft has one Korn Ferry Tour win, which came five years ago. He’s seeking his first PGA Tour win.
