Tag: Streamsong

Hurricane Ian has wreaked havoc on numerous Florida, South Carolina courses

Flooding and downed trees closed many top-rated golf courses in Florida.

As Hurricane Ian rampaged north along Florida’s Atlantic Coast, officials and first responders in the state were focused on providing relief and rescue for the thousands of people most in need. As various local and state agencies assess possible loss of life, golf is of course a low priority for those affected by the storm that approached Category 5 strength as it roared ashore.

It’s still worth a look to see how courses in Florida might have been impacted as well as what might be in store for the second projected landfall in South Carolina as what is now a tropical storm continues north. Golf is a huge industry in both locations, with thousands of employees and hundreds of courses likely already affected – or soon to be – by the devastating storm.

As of Thursday morning, it proved impossible to obtain status updates for the courses closest to landfall near Fort Myers, Florida. Communications have been compromised, and many residents of Southwest Florida are still without power and could be for days or weeks. Golf course operators and superintendents were in the field or attempting to reach their courses to evaluate damage, reports of which will roll in slowly.

There are dozens of golf courses, public and private, around the Fort Myers area, parts of which are reported to have received winds in excess of 140 mph along with massive storm surges of coastal water and flooding. All that area’s courses likely received damage of some sort, some of it possibly disastrous. Based on past experiences with hurricanes in Florida, it’s likely most of them have trees down, with some courses losing hundreds or possibly thousands of trees. Past hurricanes of lesser strength have proved capable of rendering tree-lined fairways into jumbled messes of snapped conifers and oak trees.

Courses also might be underwater, especially those close to the Gulf of Mexico, the Intracoastal Waterway and inland bays, rivers, creeks and other waterways. In Southwest Florida, that list includes almost every course. Standing water has been reported on courses as far north as The Golden Bear Club at Keene’s Pointe just west of Orlando not far from Disney World, and damage also likely includes washed-out bunkers at many courses – in past storms, it wasn’t uncommon to see bunkers inundated or stripped completely of sand.

It could be weeks or months before some of the worst-hit courses are able to reopen. Grass can continue to grow so long as fresh water receded fairly rapidly, but the general cleanup efforts can be extensive.

Golfweek’s Best maintains a list of top courses across the state, both public-access and private. Many of the courses on these lists likely experienced some damage, with several courses in particular a cause for increased concern.

Nearest Fort Myers and landfall, the public-access Gasparilla Inn & Club in Boca Grande sits just a few miles from the initial landfall site. Likewise, the private Coral Creek Club in Placida was directly in the track of the storm. Both courses sit near saltwater, with Gasparilla Inn & Club on a barrier island. Emails and calls to that facility were understandably unanswered as relief officials and first responders continue to focus on other more pressing matters. Gasparilla Inn & Club ranks as No. 27 on Golfweek’s Best list of public-access courses in Florida, while Coral Creek Club is No. 14 on Golfweek’s Best list of private courses.

Moving east from landfall, Hurricane Ian will have impacted many other courses on Golfweek’s Best lists as it rolled across Central Florida toward an exit near Titusville, Merritt Island and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center about 50 miles east of Orlando. Top-ranked private courses likely to have felt the effects of the storm include Calusa Pines (No. 2 private in Florida) in Naples; Mountain Lake (No. 3) in Lake Wales; Naples National (No. 7) in Naples; Concession (tied for No. 10) in Bradenton; and the aforementioned Coral Creek Club, among possibly others.

The list is even longer for top-ranked public-access courses along the storm’s path likely to have felt impacts large or small. That includes the three courses at Streamsong (ranked No. 2 Red, No. 3 Black and No. 4 Blue) in Bowling Green; Bay Hill Club & Lodge (No. 5) in Orlando; the two courses at Hammock Beach (No. 11 Ocean and No. 12 Conservatory) in Palm Coast; Hammock Bay (No. 17) in Naples; the two courses at Orange County National (No. 20 Panther Lake and No. 24 Crooked Cat) in Winter Garden; Southern Dunes (No. 26) in Haines City; and Reunion Resort (No. 30 Watson Course) in Kissimmee, among possibly others.

Several of these and many others have reported closures of various duration on their websites and social media. Streamsong, one of the most popular golf resorts in Florida, is an example of how even inland courses not directly on the center track of the giant storm were affected to some degree. The resort hosted play through Tuesday morning as crews prepped the courses, but it announced on its website that all three courses will be closed through Sunday. That comes at a destination featuring wide-open layouts with relatively few trees in play to have blown down – the hurricane’s massive rainfall and the effects of storm surge can cause closures even miles from the coasts.

“The thing we were most concerned about was our location near the Peace River and possible storm surge, and would we have flooding?” said Craig Falanga, Streamsong’s director of sales and marketing. “But we were really fortunate, and the damage is minimal, just cosmetic really. … We plan to have it all cleaned up and reopen Monday.”

Streansong Resort
Streamsong, home to three top courses including the Blue (pictured), received light damage in Hurricane Ian but was lucky to avoid intense flooding and will reopen Monday. (Courtesy of Streamsong Resort/Laurence Lambrecht)

Anyone with plans to travel and play golf anywhere in Southwest or Central Florida in the coming days and weeks should check with the courses before embarking.

As the storm moves north, it possibly will affect TPC Sawgrass and its two ranked courses (No. 1 public-access Players Stadium and No. 18 Dye’s Valley), as well as the private Pablo Creek (No. 17) in Jacksonville. Those are just the ranked layouts in a region full of dozens of compelling courses.

The storm moved into the Atlantic Ocean late Thursday morning and made a second landfall mid-day Friday in South Carolina. The projected cone includes courses from Hilton Head and its dozens of layouts north through Charleston – a region that includes Kiawah Island Golf Resort and its highly rated Ocean Course – all the way to Myrtle Beach.

In fact, numerous courses in that area reported considerable flooding.

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Golfweek’s Best 2022: Top public and private courses in Florida

Where to play golf of any kind in Florida? Check out these Golfweek’s Best course rankings.

The No. 1 public-access course in Florida isn’t really a surprise, seeing how it has been broadcast worldwide into living rooms during each year’s Players Championship for decades. The Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass ranks as one of legendary designer Pete Dye’s top five masterpieces, perplexing PGA Tour pros since it opened in 1980, and it ties for No. 15 on Golfweek’s Best list of all modern courses in the U.S.

And it isn’t the only course on the Ponte Vedra property to rank among Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play in Florida. Next door to the Players Stadium Course is Dye’s Valley, which clocks in at No. 18 among the Sunshine State’s best public layouts. Dye’s Valley doesn’t have the scale or fame of its neighbor, but it does have plenty of the features, challenges and visual tricks that made its designer and namesake famous.

TPC Sawgrass
Dye’s Valley at TPC Sawgrass in Florida (Courtesy of TPC Sawgrass)

Looking for even more highly ranked public-access courses all at one property? In Florida, that would be Streamsong, home to Nos. 2, 3 and 4 on Golfweek’s Best list of public-access layouts. The popular resort in Bowling Green, about an hour’s drive east of Tampa or 90 minutes southwest of Orlando, features courses by Tom Doak, Gil Hanse and the team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw.

Coore and Crenshaw’s Red Course tops the rankings for Streamsong’s courses, coming in at No. 2 among the state’s public-access layouts and tying for No. 37 among all modern courses in the U.S. Hanse’s Black Courses isn’t far behind, ranking No. 3 in the state and tying for 50th among modern courses. Doak’s Blue Course is right there, too, ranking No. 4 in the state and No. 53 among modern courses.

Streamsong Resort
Streamsong’s Red Course (Courtesy of Streamsong/Laurence Lambrecht)

How do you choose which layout at Streamsong to play? Take our advice: Play all three, then get back to us on your favorite. Every player to visit has plenty of opinions on which course they prefer and why, and none of them are really wrong. Combined, the three layouts make Streamsong one of only a handful of resorts in the U.S. to offer so many highly ranked courses, and the resort also has started construction of a new short course, the Chain, by Coore and Crenshaw that promises even more golf.

No. 5 in the state is no stranger to PGA Tour fans either, as Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando is home each year to the Arnold Palmer Invitational. A statue of Palmer still stands guard near the first and 10th tees, reminding players of the decades in which the King lived at the resort while leaving his fingerprints on every aspect of the operation.

Florida is also home to a staggering array of private courses, many of which serve as winter retreats for well-heeled clientele and residents who chase the warmth south each year. Topping the list of private courses in the state is Seminole, a Donald Ross design in Juno Beach that is No. 12 on Golfweek’s Best list of classic courses in the U.S. and one of the most exclusive clubs in the U.S.

Can’t get a tee time at Seminole? Get in line – almost all of us are waiting on that call. In the meantime, check out the rest of the best public-access and private clubs in Florida below.

Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play 2022: Top 100 U.S. public-access courses ranked

Where are the best places you can play golf in the U.S.? Our rankings of the best 100 public courses for 2022 will be your guide.

Welcome to the Golfweek’s Best 2022 list of the Top 100 Best Courses You Can Play in the U.S.

Each year we publish many lists, with this selection of public-access layouts among the premium offerings. Also extremely popular and significant are the lists for Top 200 Classic Courses, Top 200 Modern Courses, the Best Courses You Can Play State by State and Best Private Courses State by State.

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.

* Indicates new to or returning to this list.

Watch: Streamsong surprisingly different than anything else in Florida

Red, Blue or Black? When it comes to Streamsong in Florida, why choose?

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BOWLING GREEN, Fla. – What’s my favorite course at Streamsong? Red, Blue or Black?

Golfers at the popular resort, which turns 10 this year, are constantly reviewing that very question about the three courses that all rank among the top 20 resort courses in the United States. My stock answer: The next one. And I’ll defend that simplified response on the basis that I’ll gladly take a day at any of the three courses built by Gil Hanse, Tom Doak or the team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw.

There are noticeable differences between the layouts, but they are so tightly packed in the Golfweek’s Best rankings as to inevitably invite debate – that’s a big part of the fun. Ask me which you should play, and I’ll tell you to sample all three and get back to me.

Until you get that chance to visit the first time, or whether you’re a Streamsong veteran wanting to return, check out this video for a taste of golf that is different than anything else in the Sunshine State.

Golf architecture: The ‘Great Hazard’ undergoes a renaissance, with modern designers rethinking, restoring classical cross bunkers

Modern designers are restoring and often rethinking Great Hazards, those giant cross bunkers with oversized impact on strategy.

One of early American golf architecture’s most dramatic design features is being reinvigorated for the modern game. 

Inner-circle Hall of Fame architect A.W. Tillinghast pioneered the “Great Hazard,” a massive expanse of wasteland usually set in the middle of a par 5. He often coupled this with a smaller but still gnarly bunker complex at the front of the green. In combination, this system demands a series of great shots, whether the player is going for the green in two, three or even four strokes. 

The smallest imprecision off the tee forces the player to recalculate the odds all along the way. Four shots, including a punch-out and back-to-back layups, may be required to hopscotch up to the green. The overconfident player who mismanages the percentages could be in for a huge number. 

But over the past century, players and equipment have evolved to the point that many of the original Great Hazards no longer threaten the tactical headlocks their creator intended. Longer hitters simply blast over the wasteland to set up an approach with a lofted club over the greenside bunker complex. 

That’s why architect Gil Hanse, who has restored about a half-dozen Tillinghast designs in New York and New Jersey, made major changes to No. 17 on Baltusrol Golf Club’s Lower Course. Hanse moved the network of fairway-interrupting bunkers and tall-grass islands downrange some 40 yards,  with the leftmost portion potentially gobbling drives and the rightmost path offering the most aggressive line to the green. Either way, it’s a big carry out of or over the hazard. 

“When you have big hazards, they ask big questions,” Hanse said. “They ask you to make big decisions. In this day and age, accomplished golfers were able to drive it into the (Great Hazard). That’s why the shift occurred. If you get out of position, now the positioning of the hazard is you have to hit a monumentally good shot to get over.” 

Indeed, be anywhere but perfect and you’re blocked out and hitting sideways, setting up a third shot with a long iron or wood, uphill to a raised, multi-tiered green with intimidating bunkers in front and left. Throw in three bunkers that protect the second layup area, and it makes a hole the pros might not often birdie when the PGA Championship returns to Baltusrol in 2029. 

Hanse said the original hazard at Baltusrol had become smaller over time. He used Tillinghast’s plans and photos from the early years to reestablish the scale and dimensions of the original work, but he moved it to the new, more strategically demanding position. 

The Great Hazard on. No. 17 on Baltusrol’s Lower Course (Courtesy of Baltusrol/Evan Schiller)

“Moving the Great Hazard exemplified Gil Hanse’s statement of a ‘sympathetic restoration,’ ” said Baltusrol club president Matt Wirths, who worked closely with Hanse on the exacting details of the project. “It restored a signature design element of a Tillinghast course, but in a way that recognizes the changes that have taken place since the original hole was built.” 

And it’s not just Baltusrol. Great Hazard holes are being rediscovered, reinvented and stiffened at courses around the country. 

Streamsong to add new 18-hole short course by Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw

The short course will be built near Streamsong’s lodge and feature holes stretching from 70 to 300 yards.

BOWLING GREEN, Fla. – Streamsong, already home to three highly ranked courses built by some of the biggest names in modern golf architecture, plans to add a fourth course that will open in late 2023 or 2024.

The design duo of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw have signed on to construct their second course at the resort, this one an 18-hole, non-traditional layout for which the early routing shows holes ranging from 70 to nearly 300 yards. The yet-to-be-named short course will be built on lumpy, bumpy, and sandy land just east of the resort’s main lodge, easily within walking distance of guest rooms.

Streamsong – which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year – also will add another putting course near the new course and lodge. It is projected to be larger than the resort’s popular Gauntlet putting course at the Black Course’s clubhouse. Food and beverage components will be constructed alongside the new short course and putting course with a dedicated clubhouse.

All combined, the new amenities should make for a perfectly relaxed way to spend an afternoon after playing one of the resort’s traditional 18s. The Red Course by Coore and Crenshaw ranks No. 2 on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list of public-access layouts in Florida and is tied for No. 37 on Golfweek’s Best rankings of all modern courses built since 1960 in the United States. Streamsong’s Black Course by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner is No. 3 among Florida’s public-access layouts and ties for No. 44 among all modern U.S. courses, and the resort’s Blue Course by Tom Doak ranks No. 4 in Florida and ties for No. 55 among modern courses in the U.S.

Streamsong Resort
Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw also designed Streamsong’s Red Course. (Courtesy of Streamsong/Laurence Lambrecht)

Coore recently visited the site with course shaper and architect Keith Rhebb, who frequently works for the Coore/Crenshaw team, and they set out initial stakes on the land that cuts across a scrubby, roughly 100-acre site with several lakes in play.

Because it’s a non-traditional course, it’s entirely possible to introduce exciting features that might not work on a traditional course. Think imaginative greens, big run-offs, and other opportunities to show off creative design that might not work as well on a traditional, full-size course.

It’s a similar concept to the new par-3 courses that have become incredibly popular at many top destinations, only longer in spots. Streamsong already is home to a par-3 course, the seven-hole Roundabout near the Black Course’s clubhouse.

And because the new course won’t stretch to a traditional total length, it will be possible to play it with fewer than 14 clubs – players can leave their drivers in their rooms, if they so choose, and tackle it with just a handful of irons, wedges, and a putter.

Coore and Crenshaw often include devilish short par 3s on their traditional courses, including the 147-yard eighth hole on the Red at Streamsong. These holes typically feature extreme putting surfaces and surrounds that can frustrate even good players who have only a short iron or wedge into the green, making them among the most interesting holes on the course despite their diminutive length. Their experience building such holes, as well as par-3 courses such as the much-heralded Preserve at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon, should help make for a very interesting 18 holes at Streamsong’s new short course.

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Which golf course is best at Streamsong in Florida: Red, Blue or Black?

Streamsong celebrates its 10th anniversary with three highly ranked courses in Florida, but how do you choose the best of the lot?

The question comes all the time from players who have frequented top golf resorts in the U.S. and want to verify their opinions, as well as from golfers who have never played a certain top destination but dream of a trip. 

“Which course at the resort is your favorite?” 

Normally there’s a simple response, based on the evaluation of Golfweek’s Best Resort Courses list. 

Going to Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina? There are several courses available, but you must experience the Ocean Course. Destination Kohler in Wisconsin? Sure, Blackwolf Run offers two strong layouts, but Whistling Straits is the clear favorite among the resort’s four full-size tracks. Pinehurst in North Carolina? As much admiration as the recently renovated No. 4 has received among an impressive roster that includes four of the top 200 resort courses in the U.S., Donald Ross’s No. 2 is a classic masterpiece and repeat U.S. Open site that clearly shines brightest among the resort’s offerings in the rankings. Pebble Beach Golf Links is part of a larger California resort that stuns, but the classic seaside track is a can’t-miss for golfers. 

But the answer to which is best isn’t always so cut-and-dried. 

Which is your favorite of the five 18-hole courses at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon? There’s plenty of debate around the fireplace outside McKee’s Pub, and all five courses rank in the top 11 on the 2022 Golfweek’s Best Resort Courses list. There really isn’t a wrong answer when all the options are that strong. 

How about the best of the two current courses at Sand Valley in Wisconsin? The resort is operated by Michael and Chris Keiser, sons of Bandon Dunes founder Mike Keiser, and as at Bandon Dunes the Golfweek’s Best list doesn’t necessarily establish a definitive winner between the eponymous Sand Valley layout and the resort’s Mammoth Dunes, both top-15 resort courses. Grab an Adirondack chair behind the clubhouse and let the “Which is better?” discussions begin. 

Streamsong Red and Blue are intertwined. (Courtesy of Streamsong)

It’s the same story at Streamsong in Bowling Green, Florida, home to three courses ranked inside the top 20 on the 2022 Golfweek’s Best Resort Courses List. Red? Blue? Black? “If you had to play just one,” I am frequently asked, “which would it be?”

My stock answer: The next one. And I’ll defend that simplified response on the basis that I’ll gladly take a day at any of the three courses built by Gil Hanse, Tom Doak or the team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. There are noticeable differences between the layouts, but they are so tightly packed in the Golfweek’s Best rankings as to inevitably invite debate – that’s a big part of the fun. Ask me which you should play, and I’ll tell you to sample all three and get back to me. 

Bandon Dunes, Sand Valley and Streamsong combine to include 10 of the top 20 resort courses in the country. Apologies in advance for my dalliance into cliché, but asking to choose the best layout at any of them is like being asked which of your kids is your favorite. Only in this case, golfers often are more than willing to loudly announce their personal preferences. 

Me? Not so much. Returning to Streamsong as a case study, there’s nuance to be considered. And the skill of the golfer. Putting prowess. The wind on any given day. Dozens of considerations, many of which change in time and with repeat rounds. Feel free to pick a favorite, but don’t be surprised to change your mind on another visit. 

The Lodge at Streamsong in Florida (Courtesy of Streamsong)

Streamsong celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, inviting reinspection of its leap into the course rankings. Much has changed since the two original courses, the Red and the Blue, opened in 2012 on a former phosphate mining site that offered plenty of sand and a raw, rollicking landscape unlike anything else in Florida. A luxurious 228-room hotel and spa opened in 2014, auxiliary sports such as shooting and bass fishing were introduced, and most importantly the Black course came online in 2017. 

The resort and courses continue to evolve, recently with the introduction of new putting surfaces on the Red and Blue and with new restaurant themes and names that include the rebranding of the Black course’s Bone Valley Tavern into a seafood restaurant – the staff might suggest the salt and pepper fritto misto, and you can’t go wrong with the lobster mac and cheese. 

Despite the changes, the focus remains on the golf, perhaps more sharply than ever. 

The three layouts share many similarities: strikingly open vistas and easy walks with few trees in play, mostly firm and bouncy turf, beautiful bunkers that appear as simple sand scrapes and great mixes of memorable holes routed in natural fashions upon what in actuality are completely unnatural sites left over from mining operations. A common refrain is that Streamsong, full of jagged dunes and rugged boundaries in middle-of-nowhere inner Florida, feels like playing golf on the surface of the moon – in the case of these three courses, that is a compliment.

But there are differences. 

Golfweek’s Best 2022: Top 200 Resort Golf Courses in the U.S.

The top 200 resort courses in the U.S. stretch from Pebble Beach and Bandon Dunes to Whistling Straits and Pinehurst.

Welcome to Golfweek’s Best 2022 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.

Other Golfweek’s Best lists include:

Want to play golf at a top U.S. resort? Many courses are packed, so start planning early.

Resorts are seeing incredible demand from players ready to hit the road.

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Want a September or October tee time at one of the top golf resorts in the U.S.? Maybe take a foursome to Pebble Beach, Bandon Dunes or any of a handful of bucket-list destinations? You had better book now.

And that’s for 2022.

At many resorts, you can forget about scoring multiple, prime tee times in the fall of 2021. You might be able to get out as a single, and you might even have luck finding a midweek slot for a foursome. Hoping to book a big buddies trip for multiple weekend days anytime over the next three months? Best of luck to you, and plan to cast a wide net.

Many industry observers and managers report that demand for tee times hasn’t been this high in more than a decade, since before the market crash of 2008. With an increasing number of Americans returning to recreational travel after COVID-19 restrictions have eased or ceased, many top golf resorts are packed.

Rounds of golf played in the U.S. surged in the second half of 2020 as golf was seen as a relatively safe activity during COVID-19 lockdowns, and that growth extended into the early months of 2021. June was considered to be a great test of sustained growth, as June 2020 saw a 13.9-percent increase in year-over-year rounds played nationwide versus June 2019, according to the National Golf Foundation and market-research company Golf Datatech. Could that kind of interest in golf be maintained into 2021? The answer is yes, as June 2021 saw a slight increase of 0.4 percent over June 2020. It appears, at least for now, that increased interest in golf might be a new normal.

It follows a tough year for many resorts, some of which were forced to shutter their courses early in the pandemic. When play resumed, many potential guests were understandably hesitant to travel. But now, just more than a year after they fully reopened and with players champing at the bit to play highly rated courses, many of these resorts are booming.

Spyglass Hill at Pebble Beach in California (Courtesy of Pebble Beach Resorts)

“Golf already had a tailwind because of COVID, and then you had people cooped up for the better part of a year, and now people are looking to get out, explore, play golf, take vacations,” said Aaron Flink, the executive vice president and chief strategy officer at Pebble Beach Resorts in California, home to Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill Golf Course and the Links at Spanish Bay. “It’s been nice to see that rebound, nice to see people on property again, and nice to see our hotels and golf courses full.”

Pebble Beach is running on its website a warning about limited availability and long wait times for booking calls. The resort’s main three courses are each inside the top 100 on Golfweek’s Best list of top resort courses in the country, including No. 1 Pebble Beach Golf Links. Flink said that famous course – host of six previous U.S. Opens – never has a real lack of players on its tee sheet. But even with that in consideration, the course – which Flink said typically hosts more than 60,000 rounds a year – is having its busiest season since the 2008 recession. The resort is also home to a newly renovated short course, the Hay, which features a design by Tiger Woods.

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“We keep telling people, if you want to come to Pebble, get your trip booked now,” Flink said. “If you want to be here in the summer or fall, now is the time to start your planning for ’22.”

The resort operates 495 guest rooms in its three hotels – The Lodge at Pebble Beach, The Inn at Spanish Bay and Casa Palmero – enough to accommodate all the players at its three main courses. But availability in one of those rooms with an accompanying weekend tee time is extremely limited, based on the resort’s online booking calendar.

One open spot is around the winter holidays. There are rooms available the last two weeks of 2021 and first two weeks of 2022, and Flink said the resort’s location on the Pacific Ocean provides reasonable and consistent winter weather. The period from December 22 to January 5 might be the best option to play Pebble Beach for months.

Calling it a “post-COVID gold rush,” Flink said all the demand for rounds at the resort’s three main 18s includes an increased percentage of first-time guests. And it’s almost entirely domestic travelers filling the tee sheets – in a normal year Pebble Beach might have 10 percent or slightly more of its guests from other countries, Flink said, but now the resort is drawing almost entirely U.S.-based players. If international recreational travel picks up, demand at Pebble Beach is likely to spike even higher.

Bandon Dunes Sheep Ranch
The new Sheep Ranch at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon (Courtesy of Bandon Dunes)

It’s a similar story up the Pacific coast at another top golf destination, Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon. Like Pebble Beach, Bandon Dunes has on its website a warning about extremely high call volumes from people looking to books golf vacations. Bandon Dunes is home to five of the top 10 courses on Golfweek’s best list of top resort layouts in the U.S.

“We’re experiencing record-breaking occupancy rates and golf rounds throughout 2021, even with the addition of 24 new guest rooms that we opened on August 1,” said Don Crowe, general manager of Bandon Dunes. “This demand continues into 2022 based on early booking trends and high call volume in our reservations department. For larger groups with multiple night stays, we recommend that groups start the booking process at least a year in advance.”

The same is happening around the country at top resorts. For a Midwest example, Destination Kohler in Wisconsin – host of this month’s Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits and home to four top-ranked courses in all – is running a website warning about unprecedented call volume and advising guests to use its new online booking system.

Streamsong Red in Florida (Courtesy of Streamsong/Laurence Lambrecht)

The same is true in the Southeast. Craig Falanga, the director of sales and marketing at Streamsong Resort in Florida, said that destination’s three courses already are experiencing strong demand for April of 2022, following month after month of record amounts of play. Streamsong is home to three courses – the Red, Blue and Black – that all rank inside the top 25 on Golfweek’s Best resort courses list.

“I would definitely agree with you that people need to book earlier than they might normally as buddy golf trips seem to be more popular than ever,” Falanga said in an email.

The message is clear: If you want to take a group of players to a top golf destination with great accommodations in 2022, you need to plan now.

Golfweek’s Best 2021: Best public golf courses you can play, state by state

Ranking the top public golf courses you can play in every state, as judged by Golfweek’s nationwide group of experts.

Not a member somewhere? Not a problem.

With this list of Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play, we present the best public-access courses in each state, as judged by our nationwide network of raters.

The 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 together to produce a final rating for each course. Each course is then ranked against other courses in its state to produce the final rankings.

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.

KEY: (m) modern, built in 1960 or after; (c) classic, built before 1960. (For courses with a number preceding the (m) or (c), that is where the course ranks on Golfweek’s Best lists for top 200 modern and classic courses in the U.S.). * indicates new or returning to the rankings.

(Pictured atop this story is Sweetens Cove in Tennessee.)