Pars and Stripes: Here are 10 of the best public golf courses in the U.S
From California's Pebble Beach to Hawaii's Mauna Kea, these are the 10 American golf courses every avid player should have on their travel bucket list.
Hole 11 – Mauna Kea Golf Course. Mauna Kea Golf Course / PNG
Buy your airline ticket, pack your golf clubs and get ready to unleash your inner Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy or Justin Rose. Here's a bucket list of some of the best public golf courses in the U.S.
1. Nevada: Wolf Creek
Located 123 kilometres north of Las Vegas at Mesquite, this is 18 holes of fantasy golf at its ultimate best. Opened in 2000, Wolf Creek's captivating desert design immediately drew rave reviews and is now firmly established as one of America's top public courses. There are precious few courses that can generate a genuine sense of awe for several holes at a stretch, and exceedingly rare is the layout that can sustain the feeling for an entire round. Wolf Creek is such a place.
Set high above the desert floor among red-rock canyons, teeming waterfalls and glistening creeks, it looks as though strips of green velvet have been laid out on a Mars-like landscape. After teeing off at the par-5 opening hole its a roller-coaster golfing adventure among sculpted hills and canyons with several elevation changes and forced carries over streams and ravines.
Developer Doug Clemetson was determined to leave the distinctive natural landscape in place, accepting that a number of non-traditional golf holes would result. On the 2nd tee box, for example, 90 granite steps lead up to the driving area, which is located some 11 storeys high. The 3rd hole plays uphill to one of the highest points on the course with 112 kilometre views, and par-3 11th's green is an island in a sea of red rock and typical of Wolf Creek's dazzling visual appeal.
Wolf Creek is Nevada's ultimate golfing experience. Andrew Marshall / PNG
2. South Carolina: Caledonia Golf & Fish Club
Voted the "Fifth Best New Public Course in America" upon opening its gates in 1994, the accolades have never stopped rolling in for Mark Strantz's first design on the Grand Strand, Myrtle Beach. It feels like a journey back in time as you head along the driveway lined with rows of centuries-old live oaks draped with Spanish moss to the Old South clubhouse. Often compared to Augusta National for its exquisite style, floral beauty, and velvety fairways and greens, Caledonia has a sleepy ambiance that embraces its Southern roots.
Built on the site of an old rice plantation and overlooking the picturesque Waccamaw River, Strantz has artfully crafted the site's streams, ponds and moss-covered oaks to create a hugely enjoyable test of golf. Amid the scenic backdrop of blooming flowers and colourful shrubs are some memorable holes such as the picturesque par-3 11th with a snaking creek to the green, the par-4 13th that doglegs around a giant oak tree and the wonderful closing hole.
The par-4 18th borders the Plantation's old rice field, and requires a precise drive that sets up a difficult second shot – a forced carry onto a green at the foot of the clubhouse, where its tradition for onlookers sitting in rocking chairs sipping their drinks, to respond appropriately and sometimes bet on the results of player's shots. After your round, pull up a rocking chair on the clubhouse porch and enjoy a cold beer, while taking in what must be one of America's most atmospheric 19th holes. caledoniagolfandfishclub.com
Caledonia Golf & Fish Club: Par-3, 11th. Brian Oar, Fairways Photography / PNG
3. Wisconsin: Whistling Straits
Billionaire bathroom supplier Herb Kohler had a dream of building a Scottish-style links sculpted along a 3.2 kilometre stretch of Lake Michigan shoreline in Wisconsin, and Pete Dye's creation in 1998 exceeded his expectations, going on to become a major championship venue. The course first hosted the fourth major of the year, the PGA Championship, in 2004 when Vijay Singh was the champion, and since then, Martin Kaymer in 2010 and most recently Jason Day in 2015 have made up the trio of golfers to lift the Wanamaker Trophy.
It's a rugged, windswept layout which is more akin to an Irish or Scottish links with undulating fairways bordered by wispy fescue grasses, contoured greens and roughly a 1000 bunkers, which must be heading for a world record. There are several standout holes including two memorable shore-hugging par-3's; hole-7 (Shipwreck) and hole-17 (Pinched Nerve) with spectacular views over Lake Michigan. Polls regularly acknowledge Whistling Straits as one of America's top 10 greatest public courses and the exciting news for golfers is that it will be home to the Ryder Cup in 2020. americanclubresort.com
Straits Course at Whistling Straits, Hole 18, Dyeabolical. Kohler Co. / PNG
4. California: Pebble Beach
"If I had only one more round to play," I would choose to play it at Pebble Beach. I've loved this course from the first time I saw it. It's possibly the best in the world," said 18-time major champion Jack Nicklaus, and there are few thrills in golf to match teeing off for the first time on Pebble Beach Golf Links, ranked number one on Golf Digest's '100 Greatest Public Courses in America List 2015/2016.'
The course oozes history and atmosphere, and since opening in 1919 it has hosted some of golf's most prestigious tournaments, including five U.S. Open Championships and the annual AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Over the years, the exquisite beauty and unique challenge of Pebble Beach has thrilled golfers and spectators alike. The course hugs the rugged coastline, providing wide-open vistas, and cliffside fairways and greens, with ocean's crashing surf as a backdrop. Some of the most spectacular holes are five to eight, which are on the promontory between Stillwater Cove and the Pacific Ocean. As you walk in the footsteps of legends, you anticipate each and every storied hole while recounting magical moments in golf history, such as the par-3 17th, where Tom Watson chipped in during the 1982 U.S.Open. Is it worth the eye-watering green fee of around $500 USD? Yes, at least once in a lifetime. pebblebeach.com
Pebble Beach Golf Links: 7th hole. Bart Keagy / PNG
5. North Carolina: Pinehurst No. 2
This star attraction of Pinehurst Resort's nine courses remains one of the world's best and most celebrated golf courses. Pinehurst No. 2 has served as the site of more single golf championships than any course in America and, in 2014, made history again, becoming the first to serve as host to the U.S. Open and U.S. Women's Open Championships in consecutive weeks.
Opened in 1907, Pinehurst No. 2 was designed by Donald Ross, who called it "the fairest test of championship golf I have ever designed." Ross was associated with the course for nearly a half-century, improving the course continually until his death in 1948.
Pinehurst No. 2 is best known for its crowned, undulating greens, which are some of the most complex and widely hailed in the world. In March 2011, the course reopened following a yearlong, $2.5 million restoration by the design firm of Coore & Crenshaw that restored the course's natural and historic character.
Over the years, its champions have included some of the greatest players in history including Walter Hagen, Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Payne Stewart. The course will host the U.S. Open once again in 2024. pinehurst.com
Pinehurst No. 2: 9th hole. Pinehurst Resort / PNG
6. Florida: TPC
Home of the Players Championship, birthplace of the TPC (Tournament Players Club) Network and backdrop to the PGA TOUR headquarters, the TPC Sawgrass golf course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, is one of the world's most famous golf courses. The Players Stadium Course sports one of the most recognizable and most challenging holes on the PGA Tour – the notorious 17th, an island green par-3 that makes or breaks many a PGA tour pro's round.
Designed by Pete and Alice Dye, the Stadium Course was built to challenge the pros like no other golf course had done before, while providing an unprecedented experience for amateurs and spectators at the same time. Small, contoured greens demand a deft touch and every hole has elements of risk and reward, drama and excitement. The course tests every facet of the game and every club in the bag. Past winners such as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson and Ricky Fowler understand and appreciate that they must have a well-rounded game to triumph over the Stadium course to become the Players Champion. tpc.com/sawgrass/
The 17th hole of THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at the TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beac. Chris Condon/PGA TOUR/WireImage.com / PNG
7. Oregon: Bandon Dunes Golf Resort
Along the wild Oregon coastline amongst massive dunes, indigenous vegetation and hearty pines is the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort – one of the best golf destinations in America. Golf was born on rugged, windswept land just like this, and its the kind of place where you half expect to see the golfing forefathers in their plus-fours with a handful of hickory clubs. This is golf with a nod to the traditions of the time-honoured game, a collection of links-style courses by the sea with all the quintessential ingredients – stunning ocean views, towering grass dunes, rippling fairways, fast undulating greens, natural bunkers and ever-present winds. The natural feeling takes you to the British Isles, but the manicured course conditions and amenities are straight out of America.
The story began in 1999 with the opening of the first course, Bandon Dunes. The course is perched on a bluff high above the Pacific Ocean and designed by Scotsman David McLay Kidd who said: "It thrills me now to watch the public playing the game as it was originally meant to be played, on the finest links land I've seen outside the British Isles." Sixteen years later, Bandon Dunes Golf Resort has developed into the " No. 1 Golf Resort in North America" according to Golf Digest with all four public 18-hole courses ranked in the top 15 within the U.S. The additions of Pacific Dunes, Bandon Trails and Old Macdonald, as well as the unique 13-hole Par-3 course, Bandon Preserve, provides the perfect destination for keen golfers. bandondunesgolf.com
8. Hawaii: Mauna Kea
"Mr. Rockefeller, if you allow me to build a golf course here, this'll be the most beautiful hole in the world." This was said in 1962 by renowned course designer Robert Trent Jones Sr., at the 3rd hole site to developer Laurance S. Rockefeller as they toured the raw, barren lava landscape that is now Mauna Kea Resort.
The course opened in 1964 to begin the legend of Hawaii as a golfer's paradise. Mauna Kea Golf Course has been ranked among Golf Digest's Top 100 since 1969 due in part to the 265-yard drive signature third hole, where surging inlet waves thunder against the rocky shoreline.
In 2007-2008, without changing the essential character of his father's design, Rees Jones Inc. re-planted the championship Course with highly efficient ultra-dwarf Tifeagle Bermuda grass on the greens and Tifway 419 hybrid Bermuda grass on the tees, fairways and roughs. State-of-the-art irrigation systems, liners in the bunkers, and advance drainage improvements keep the course in top shape and save on environmental resources.
As for play, the number of bunkers increased to 99, overall yardages have expanded by about 200 yards from the tips, and multiple tees challenge all levels of players. Mauna Kea Golf Course ushers in a new age of golf with innovative new Golf boards, a fun way to carve through a round of golf in record time and surf the earth. maunakeabeachhotel.com
Mauna Kea Beach Hotel and Golf course. Mauna Kea Golf Course / PNG
9. South Carolina: True Blue
Built on the site of True Blue Plantation, a famed 19th-century indigo and rice plantation in Pawleys Island, Myrtle Beach, this dramatic Mike Strantz layout winds its way through pristine salt marshes, wetlands and maritime forests, and features plenty of elevation change, large-scale fairways, scrub-filled natural sandy areas, lakes and undulating greens. Emphasising the natural beauty of the area, it incorporates native grasses and vegetation to maintain much of the character of the property.
Right from the superb 624-yard par-5 opener where all three shots flirt with sculpted sandy waste areas, wetlands and a twisting creek, to the trio of watery closing holes, the challenge of True Blue never lets up. Strantz's artistic use of water and numerous abstract waste bunkers with hardly a weak hole along the way, means this captivating and aesthetic design stands out amid many other Myrtle Beach offerings. From the bag-drop and well-groomed grass range, to the complimentary after-round ice cold towel and shaded verandah overlooking the 18th hole, everything about True Blue oozes quality and relaxed Southern hospitality. truebluegolf.com
True Blue:18th green & clubhouse, Brian Oar, Fairways Photograph / PNG
10. Arizona: Troon North
Troon North is the essence of the desert golf experience, with two top-notch 18-hole layouts (Monument Course and Pinnacle Course) stretching through natural ravines and foothills of the high Sonoran desert, in the shadows of Pinnacle Peak. Both immaculately groomed courses will challenge you with their lush green fairways bordered by boulders, rock formations and huge Saguaro cactus that can reach heights of 13 metres. It's the kind of environment where you half expect to see the 'Magnificent Seven' come riding over the horizon on horseback as you tee off.
There are some great holes at Troon North, and none better than the Monument Course's third, aptly named 'The Monument.' This 564-yard, par-5 is an intriguing hole with plenty of risk-reward options, that firstly requires you to dodge a giant boulder anchored in the middle of the fairway. Over the years Troon North has won a multitude of accolades and awards including Golf Magazine's "Top 100 Courses You can Play in the US" and Conde Nast Traveler's "Top 100 Golf Resorts in North America and the Caribbean." Make sure to add it to your bucket list of places to play in the USA ….troonnorthgolf.com
Troon North: Pinnacle Course. Troon North / PNG
Florida's Delray Beach has fantastic nightlife but nature still rules
Best time to go to Florida? Just before (or just after) Hurricane Season
It's a snap: 17 tips for taking the best vacation photos
The 10 best travel apps to plan your next vacation
Things to do in Northern Ireland: Visit Old Bushmills, home of Irish Whiskey
What to do and where to eat in Crete
Where to stay in luxury Cabo San Lucas
5 reasons to add Baden-Baden, Germany to your travel bucket list in 2019
48 hours in Berlin: A must-do list when visiting Germany's capital of cool
2019 travel wish list: 5 places to go this year
Empty Nester-Moon D-Day invasion: Marking the 75th anniversary in Normandy