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Haig Point, an island off the South Carolina coast, private yes, but also accessible

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Haig Point is available to outside play through their “Member for the Day” program or book one of the rental homes on the island. It’s located just off Hilton Head Island on Daufuskie Island and only accessible by ferry.

The layout is over level terrain with the initial 3-4 holes of the front nine and most of the holes on the back through tree lined fairways. The balance of the holes move out along the marshland with views over the Harbor River and Calibogue Sound to Hilton Head Island and the Harbour Town Lighthouse and beyond. The pristine setting with the marshes, ocean forests, tropical vegetation combine with the elements the Calibogue Sound and the Atlantic Ocean throws at you provide all the elements for a round ensconced in nature. The green complexes vary in size and undulation, there’s 55+ sand bunkers, pot, conventional, and waste areas defending fairways and greens, and a generous amount of water features in play. There’s multiple sets of tees from 5,121 yards to 6, 735 yards, the white tees play to 6,330 yards, 73.1/131, course/slope rating, designed by Tom Fazio.

The Virginian

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The Virginian is on the northeast side of Bristol off I-81 on Old Jonesboro Road and is open to outside play to guests of the nearby Nicewonder Farms & Vineyards Resort.

The layout is on a sprawling, hilly tract of land in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains within an upscale residential community featuring massive homesites dominating the margins. The fairways are generous, but sloping and hilly, while the greens are of varied sizes with tiers and undulating surfaces, and there’s 70+ sand bunkers lining the fairways and defending the greens. There’s tees from 5,073 yards to 7,025 yards at the tips, the white tees are 6,022 yards, 69.2/127, course/slope ratings, designed by Tom Fazio.

The Virginian is two hours from either Knoxville or Roanoke off Interstate 81. It is just one of 75 of the best golf course you can play from our guide to the best golf courses in Virginia.

The Patch

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The Patch is 45 minutes west of Knoxville off I-40 at exit 356 north and just north of the I-40/I-75 split. It’s located about a mile south of the decommissioned Oak Ridge nuclear facility, now a museum among other uses. It’s in The Preserve, a 1,400 acre mixed-use development between the Cumberland Plateau and The Great Smoky Mountains on a bend of Watts Bar Lake in Oak Ridge. A convenient 1 1/2 hour golf fix if you’re traveling along either Interstate in the area.

Owing to the growing popularity of short courses and golf entertainment, it’s a combination 12 hole, par 3 golf course and driving range. It includes a learning center with indoor/outdoor hitting bays, practice chipping and putting greens, and a pro shop. It features a variety of interesting hole designs including pitched greens, rock outcroppings, mountain and Watts Barr Lake views, and #6, a rock quarry carry. There’s a variety of holes from 69 yards to 108 yards, designed by Bill Bergen, (McLemore, Chariot Run, among others)

Carlisle Barracks Golf Club

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Carlisle Barracks Golf Course is on the US Army’s Base on the east side of Carlisle off I-81 at Trindle Road and is open to outside public play.

The Barracks is the second oldest Army Base in the U.S. The U.S. Army War College is its primary use with 2,300 active duty personnel and over 1,000 civilians. It’s a convenient location for travelers as it’s basically at the intersection of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and Interstate 81 just west of Harrisburg. The golf course is on one of the main roads on the installation, and named for Jim Thorpe who attended the Carlisle Indian Industrial School here.

The layout features generous, tree lined fairways over easily walkable topography with 30 sand bunkers in play. It’s mostly straightforward with numerous slight doglegs and mid-sized, oval greens. There’s four sets of tees from 5,056 yards to 6,484 yards, 70.8/120, course slope ratings from the Blue tees, designed by Col. Murphy.

The Park, West Palm

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West Palm Beach Golf Park

The historic, West Palm Beach Golf Club was established in 1947 and designed by Dick Wilson, a Toomey/Flynn disciple, (known for Bay Hill, Doral, Cog Hill among others). It was renovated in 2009 by Mark McCumber but fell into disrepair and neglect over the years finally closing in 2018. It was a PGA Tour stop in the 1950s hosting the West Palm Beach Open Invitational.

The City of West Palm Beach accepted a proposal by Seth Waugh, the CEO of the PGA of America, to raise outside capital to build a world class, community oriented, public access golf course. They raised a total of $55 Million and employed Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner to develop an 18 hole championship layout, 9 hole, lighted short course, and a massive putting course on the 180 acre tract of land. The Park West Palm is located on the southeast corner of the I-95/Forest Hill interchange, convenient to virtually all of southeastern Florida. The golf course has been constructed on sand based soils with 30 feet of elevation change providing for an environment bordered by sandy scrub vegetation, oak trees, and sable palmettos reminiscent of the Streaming property-except that it’s not out in the middle of nowhere.

There’s no water in play, but it’s dominated by sand, rippling fairways, generous, undulating green complexes and tucked into a mature residential/industrial neighborhood. There’s also a lighted 9-hole par three course; an 18-hole putting course, a two-acre kids only golf area; and a lighted two-sided driving range featuring Top Tracer technology. The current pricing favors residents of the City of West Palm Beach with $70 greens fees while outsiders will pay around $130 depending on their “dynamic pricing” model. It may end up being one of the best golf courses in Florida you can play according to our guide.

New course added to our Chicago suburbs guide, but only available to public play on weekends

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With over 50 of the best golf courses in our guide that you can play as rated by the national golf periodicals in the Chicagoland area, we missed one. Although it’s part of a 36 hole private club, public play is permitted on the weekends on their Creek layout.

The Morris CC is off I-80 at the Morris exit 60 miles west of Chicago on the north side of the Illinois River with its Nettle Creek track open to public play on the weekends only.

The Creek course has a wide open, prairie/links feel to it as it moves over slightly rolling topography. There’s patches of tall prairie grasses throughout bordering the landing zones, six ponds, 35 sand traps, and generous, undulating and contoured green complexes. There’s tees from 5,059 yards to 6,562 yards off the back tees, the white tees play to 6,129 yards, 68.8/118, course/slope ratings, designed by Buzz Didier.

Best Spring Training Golf Courses, Bradenton, Florida’s Pittsburgh Pirates

Florida’s MLB’s Grapefruit League now boasts 15 teams playing in twelve different cities dispersed throughout the state from Interstate 4 South. The season runs from February 24 to March 31, and during this time we’ll profile the best public golf courses in the areas convenient to the stadiums.

First off, the Pittsburgh Pirates play at Lecom Park just south of downtown Bradenton and the Manatee River on 17th Avenue. It’s an ancient stadium built in 1923 and is the third oldest stadium currently used by MLB after Fenway and Wrigley. It’s a classic design as well, old Florida Spanish Mission white stucco exterior with covered bleachers-at least over the reserved seating.

There’s 60+ golf courses in the surrounding Bradenton/Sarasota area with a mix of private, municipals, or public daily fees. To save you time in finding the better courses to play, we list just eight of the best public golf courses you can play in the area which range from resort offerings to upscale semi-privates. Next year, we hope to be able to include the newly renovated Bobby Jones Municipal Golf Course where Richard Mandrell is tackling a presumably faithful restoration of a Donald Ross original design.

New courses we’re playing in 2023

Raindance National Golf Course is located just southeast of Fort Collins in Windsor off I-25 at Crossroads to the east sited with 180 degree views of the Front Range.

The layout, opened in 2022, is on a large, 300 acre tract of land with over 250 feet of elevation change from the top of the ridge to the Cache la Poudre River bottom. It’s routed along broad fescue fairway corridors bordered by arroyos generally devoid of trees but with with massive green complexes. It’s pricey when compared to most other public access tracks in the area and is part of a master planned community with a planned 2,500 homes. It’s possibly the second longest golf course in the world yardage-wise, but mitigated by the 5,000 feet above sea level. There’s six sets of tees from 4,919 yards to 8,463 yards off the Tour tees, the White tees are 6,273 yards, 68.6/126, course/slope ratings, designed by Fred Funk/Harrison Minchew, a former Arnold Palmer Golf Design architect. There’s also a 65,000 square foot putting green and short games area, the G.O.A.T. Ranch.

New golf courses for 2023 we’ll be visiting this year

Another Nebraska golf course, new in 2022 is garnering widespread and appropriate attention. Problem is, it’s located on the far northeastern corner of Nebraska, a good 6 hours from Mullen in the Sandhills. Landmand Golf Course is 20 miles southwest of Sioux City on the north side of Homer, NE surrounded by rolling farmland. It’s situated on 550-acre tract of silty soil in the Loess Hills 200 feet above Homer providing views over thousands of acres of farms and on to the Missouri River.

The layout is characterized by broad, 80 yard wide and undulating fairways through towering dunes. It boasts massive green complexes, and gigantic, blowout and pot bunkers while it traverses over 150 feet of elevation change. It features a Punchbowl green on steroids and a sand bunker named “The Milk Carton”-we’ll leave that to the imagination. There’s five sets of tees at Landmand from 5,420 yards to 7,200 yards, the middle tees play to 6,440 yards, 71.3/130, course/slope ratings, designed by Rob Collins and Tad King (Sweetens Cove, Inness), their first original 18 hole layout.

The best public golf courses in Saratoga Springs

The Saratoga race season starts this year on July 14 and runs for seven weeks ending September 5. Horse racing and golf go perfectly together in this Upstate region in the lower Adirondack foothills. Consequentially, finding the best public golf courses in Saratoga Springs is essential to making the most out of your visit.

First off, Saratoga National might be the feature golf attraction in the area. It’s on the north side of Lake Lonely and if you only have time for one game, this is it. Saratoga Spa Golf Course is a full 18 hole layout and a 9-hole executive course in the state park just south of town.

The Saratoga Lake Golf Course on the south side of Saratoga Lake is a challenging layout where every hole seemingly plays uphill!

McGregor Links was designed by Devereaux Emmet who apprenticed under C.B. Macdonald and designed over 150 courses in the early 1900s. It’s a more reasonable alternative to the higher end courses in the area and certainly a classic. Ballston Spa is another classic on the south side of town carved through the woods with Gordon Creek slicing through the middle.

Airways Meadows is between Saratoga Springs and Glen Falls. There’s a bit of entertainment when playing Airways as there’s a general aviation airport in the middle of the course. In addition to the occasional Cessna taking off or landing there’s also a skydiving center!

Finally, there’s the Fairways of Halfmoon located southeast of Saratoga Springs on the west side of the Hudson River. It’s a bit more recent design partially routed through a residential community along broad and narrow fairways over rolling topography.

As always, should we have missed one of those best golf courses you can play in the immediate area or we have one in the guide which doesn’t belong, please let us know here. Also, we’re pleased to announce that we’ve been selected as one of the Top 100 Best Golf Blogs and Websites to follow in 2022 and are honored to be included.