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

Wyoming’s top golf courses offer the opportunity to elevate your golf game.

If you’re looking to elevate your golf game, Wyoming – with its thin air and mountainous terrain – might be just the spot.

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.

Also popular are the Golfweek’s Best rankings of top private courses in each state, and that list for Wyoming’s private offerings is likewise included below.

(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. 

* New to or returning to list

Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play 2020: Wyoming

Teton Pines is No. 1 on the list of Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play 2020: Wyoming.

Want to hit some of the longest drives of your life? Wyoming might be just the spot you’ve been looking for.

Golf balls fly farther at elevation, and the Cowboy State has plenty of that. Popular ski destination Jackson Hole sits about 6,200 feet above sea level, which should mean a drive that would travel about 250 yards in Florida will go about 268 yards there, based on calculations by Titleist that say a ball at that altitude should travel more than 7 percent farther. Got a 300-yard drive in you at sea level? Then you can expect that puppy to travel more than 321 yards near Jackson Hole.

And the Arnold Palmer-designed Teton Pines Country Club in far western Wyoming might be the perfect spot to try for one of those long drives. Located in Wilson, not far from Jackson Hole, Teton Pines is above 6,200 feet and is the No. 1 public-access course in Wyoming on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list for 2020.

Rochelle Ranch
Rochelle Ranch Golf Course in Rawlins, Wyoming.PHoto buy Rochelle Ranch

Golfweek ranks courses by compiling the average ratings – on a points basis of 1 to 10 – of its more than 750 raters to create several industry-leading lists of courses, including the popular Best Courses You Can Play list for courses that allow non-member tee times. These generally are defined as courses accessible to resort guests or regular daily-fee players. Teton Pines, which has a membership, allows limited public access, making it eligible for the Best Courses You Can Play list.

And Teton Pines isn’t alone on the Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list in Wyoming to offer a bit of thin air to boost a tee shot. No. 2 Rochelle Ranch Golf Course in Rawlins sits about 6,600 feet above sea level, No. 3 Bell Nob Golf Course in Gillette is at about 4,800 feet, No. 4 Jackson Hole Golf and Tennis Club is above 6,300 feet and No. 5 Three Crowns Golf Club in Casper is above 5,100 feet.

Golfweek also ranks private courses in each state, utilizing the same network of raters. Shooting Star in Teton Village is No. 1 on that list in Wyoming, followed by Golf Club at Devils Tower in Hulett, Snake River Sporting Club in Jackson, the Powder Horn in Sheridan and Three Creek Ranch in Jackson.

Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play 2020 in Wyoming

  1. Teton Pines, Wilson (m)
  2. Rochelle Ranch, Rawlins (m)*
  1. Bell Nob, Gillette (m)
  2. Jackson Hole Golf & Tennis Club, Jackson (m)
  3. Three Crowns, Casper (m)

(m): modern; (c): classic

Teton Pines Country Club
Tjhe Arnold Palmer-designed Teton Pines Country Club in Wilson, Wyoming.

Golfweek’s Best Private Courses 2020 in Wyoming

  1. Shooting Star, Teton Village (No. 47 m)
  2. GC at Devils Tower, Hulett (m)
  3. Snake River Sporting Club, Jackson (m)
  4. The Powder Horn, Sheridan (m)
  5. Three Creek Ranch, Jackson (m) 

* New or returning to the list; c: Classic, built before 1960. m: Modern, built in 1960 or after

Golfweek’s Best 2020

How we rate them

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. Then each course is ranked against other courses in its state, or nationally, to produce the final rankings.