Our inaugural list of best par-3, short and non-traditional courses in the U.S. includes a bit of everything.
What makes a great short course? We posed that question to our huge network of course raters to establish the first Golfweek’s Best ranking of non-traditional courses in the United States.
We included par-3 courses as well as short courses that might have a few par 4s and even par 5s. Some are crazy, over-the-top fun meant to be played barefoot with a cold drink in hand. Others are more traditional in their design. They might be at an elite private club, or they might be a muni down the street. There might be 18 holes, or there might be only six — who cares when you’re having a blast?
Basically, they all fit the bill of not being a traditional-length, traditional-par course. And just like the best short courses, we threw out some of the rules used for rating traditional courses and asked the raters to submit one overall score for each course based on how much they enjoyed the design and the environment. Those individual ratings were then combined to form one average rating, which is listed for each course. Each course had to receive a minimum number of 10 votes, and there are several other great short courses that likely will make this list when they receive enough votes. We received nearly a thousand ballots in all for this inaugural list.
The Cradle at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina (Courtesy of Pinehurst Resort)
And as for how we decided which courses fit the bill: All of these would be shorter than 2,700 yards if they were nine holes, compared to a traditional course typically being made up of nines measuring 3,100 to 3,800 yards. Short courses, particularly the public-access variety, are the most welcoming of all golf — everyone can take their shot.
And there’s more to come. Streamsong Resort in Florida is adding a new short course this fall called The Chain, and the newly renovated Cabot Citrus Farms (formerly World Woods) in Florida also will have one named The 21 when the resort opens in December. Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon, already home to one of the best short courses in the world, is adding another. There’s no end in sight for fresh additions.
One note: Many courses have also added large putting courses, but those are not included on this list.
For this list, we included each course’s rating on a points scale of 1 to 10. We also included their locations, the designers, the year they opened, the number of holes, the total length and the par. At the end of each entry, the letter “p” indicates a private club, “d” indicates daily fee and “r” indicates a resort.
From Oregon to South Carolina, we offer the Golfweek’s Best ranking of top resort courses in the U.S.
Welcome to Golfweek’s Best 2023 list of top resort golf courses in the United States.
The hundreds of members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged to produce a final, cumulative rating. Then each course is ranked against other courses in the region.
This list focuses on the golf courses themselves, not the resorts as a whole or other amenities. Each golf course included is listed with its average rating from 1 to 10, its location, architect(s) and the year it opened.
From the coast to Washington’s mountains, the state offers some of the best golf courses in the U.S.
Washington, from the state’s inner mountains to its coast, offers some of the best golf courses in the country.
Golfweek’s Best offers many lists of course rankings, with that of top public-access courses in each state among the most popular. 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.
(m): Modern course, built in or after 1960 (c): Classic course, built before 1960
Note: If there is a number in the parenthesis with the m or c, that indicates where that course ranks among Golfweek’s Best top 200 modern or classic courses.
David McLay Kidd says there might be a touch more challenge around the greens on his new course at Gamble Sands.
Gamble Sands in Brewster, Washington, jumped onto golf’s map over the past decade with its David McLay Kidd-designed course, a wide-open 18 that ranks as the No. 1 public-access layout in the state and No. 46 among all modern courses in the U.S. Built aside a working apple and cherry farm, Gamble Sands plays firm and fast over fescue and sand to wide fairways and giant greens.
For years Kidd and the Gebbers family, who own the remote resort and adjacent orchards, have been in discussions about adding a second course. That time has arrived.
Still unnamed, a new 18-hole course is part of a full resort expansion that includes nearly doubling the first-rate Inn at Gamble Sands that is frequently reached after a short flight from Seattle to Wenatchee followed by an hour’s drive up Highway 17.
Kidd told Golfweek the project is well underway, with permits in place and the starting points of construction decided. He and his crew will break ground this fall, then it’s off to the races next year, he said, with a planned grand opening in the summer of 2025.
The new course will be built just north of the existing 18 and the resort’s par-3 course, QuickSands, another Kidd creation that opened last year. Like the original 18, the new layout will overlook the Columbia River with scenic mountain views stretching for miles.
No. 1 of the QuickSands par-3 course at Gamble Sands (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)
“It’s a sort of dramatic piece of land,” Kidd said of his plans for the second course. “There’s a little more to do than with the first course because they farmed it, so we’ve got to kind of rehab it back to the wild scrub of the high desert. But once we get all that done, I expect it to be a really good complement to the first one.”
The first course was a prime example of the Scottish designer’s new ethos, he has said, one that has evolved over the past decade.
After bursting onto the golf scene with his Bandon Dunes layout in Oregon in 1999, Kidd began building other courses with a greater emphasis on difficulty. That approach didn’t always work out, and he shifted gears to open Gamble Sands in 2014 with a focus on fun for any level of golfer on layouts across which it’s difficult to lose a ball. Sometimes-immense fairways over thrilling terrain, big greens, bouncy shots, feeder slopes, extreme playability – those became his talking points, and golfers flocked to Gamble Sands as well as his Mammoth Dunes course at Sand Valley in Wisconsin.
Kidd also recently signed on to build GrayBull in the Nebraska Sandhills, and he said that course might feature a touch more challenge than at several of his most wide-open layouts of recent years. Golfers can expect a bit of the same at the new course at Gamble Sands, he said, but he was adamant he isn’t returning his focus to resistance to scoring.
“The first course (at Gamble Sands), I think a good golfer goes out on the first one and thinks they can take on par, even though most of the time they don’t,” Kidd said. “I think on this one, we’re planning on having it put up a little more resistance just so we have a little different offering. It’s on the drawing board right now, and we’ve been talking about slightly smaller greens, maybe some more contours around putting surfaces, fairway widths are probably very similar. We’ll see how it all shakes out.”
The view from the lodge at Gamble sands, across the giant putting course to snow-capped mountains in the distance (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)
Saying the new greens might be “slightly smaller” than the original 18 at Gamble Sands means they probably will still be quite large – it’s not uncommon to face 100-foot putts on the first course. It’s all part of the fun, similar to Tom Doak and Jim Urbina’s Old Macdonald at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort – you might hit a green in regulation, but now what?
Even with initial plans in place, Kidd knows things are likely to change as the build progresses. Nothing is set in stone.
“You know, all of this stuff happens in the ground,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what I say or what we draw, all of the creativity actually happens when you’re there, in the ground with your crew. Your ideas spark from one person to another, and things start to form in front of your eyes and take on a life of their own.”
And there’s more on the drawing board: The lodge at Gamble Sands, which features large and luxurious rooms overlooking the Columbia River Valley and a giant putting course, will be expanded from a current 37 rooms to 73. The resort also plans to add a new restaurant.
“All of us here at Gamble Sands are truly excited for the next step in the evolution of the golf resort,” Tory Wulf, project manager at Gamble Sands, said a release announcing the news. “Our team has worked hard to enhance the experience on and off the golf course since opening in 2014. The second full-length rendition by David McLay Kidd and his team will be fun to watch take shape and I’m sure even ‘funner’ to play.”
The hundreds of members of our course-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 overall ratings are averaged to produce these rankings. The top handful of courses in the world have an average rating of above 9, while many excellent layouts fall into the high-6 to the 8 range.
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.
Each course is listed with its average rating next to the name, the location, the year it opened and the designers. Also included with many courses are links to recent stories about that layout.
KEY: (m) modern, built in 1960 or after; (c) classic, built before 1960. Also included with many courses are links to recent stories about that layout.
Golf architect David McLay Kidd to build Quicksands par-3 course at Gamble Sands in Washington with limited opening set for this fall.
David McLay Kidd has been hired to build a 14-hole short course at Gamble Sands in Brewster, Washington. The par-3 Quicksands course is expected to open for limited preview rounds this fall.
Quicksands will be laid out on 25 acres of dunes to the east of the Gamble Sands clubhouse. Holes will stretch from 60 to 160 yards, with hole names including Plinko, Crater, Donut and Boomerang. Those names should provide some clue as to the fun challenges awaiting players.
“We expect a lot of whooping and hollering throughout the course, giving it a strong social vibe,” Brady Hatfield, general manager of Gamble Sands, said in a news release. “Plus, Quicksands will not be an overly stern test of one’s golf game. With limited forced carries and tons of turf, golfers will have lots of shot options.”
The Quicksands short course at Gamble Sands will feature 14 par-3 holes stretching from 60 to 160 yards. (illustration courtesy of Gamble Sands)
The past decade has seen a growing trend in top golf destinations offering popular short courses that sport features sometimes too extreme for most fullsize courses. Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon and Pinehurst in North Carolina are among those to capitalize with their respective Preserve and Cradle short courses. With just a few clubs in the bag, players can walk the courses easily, often firing balls into greens with dramatic slopes and interior contours.
“Historically short courses were often afterthoughts, squeezed into useless corners for non-golfers to go try their hand,” McLay Kidd said in the news release. “Today, short courses have become a serious addition to world-class golf resorts. The best land is sought, the best talent is brought to bear, expectations are high and we don’t plan to disappoint.”
