Rhode Island is minuscule when compared to most of the US at only 30 miles wide and 40 miles long although it's densely populated and highly industrialized with a population of just over 1 million. It's somewhat notable for golf in that the first U.S. Open was held at the Newport CC won by Horace Rawlins in 1895. Outside the Providence area, most of Rhode Island is woodland with the coastal lowlands in the south and east to the rolling topography in the north and west.

The best public golf courses in this guide in Rhode Island range from Newport National in the tony, bayside resort of Newport to the Donald Ross classic, Triggs Memorial, Meadowbrook, and Exeter, and finally Montaup in the shadow of the Mount Hope Bay Bridge in Portsmouth.