13 of the best holes our writers played this year

Great holes don’t just check a bunch of architectural boxes. Of course, strategy, risk/reward and beauty are all important, but more than anything else, great golf holes produce great memories. These are the holes you remember long after a round … or a season.

That’s why when we asked our own staffers to identify their favorite holes they played in 2025, the responses were less a thesis on architecture merits and more so a recollection of a feeling—of fulfilling a lifelong dream, of striking that perfect shot, of sharing a memory with friends.

These were our favorite holes that we played this year.

Pebble Beach Golf Links
Seventh hole

I don’t think I’m old, and my contact prescription isn’t that strong, but as my ball was in the air on Pebble Beach’s dropdown seventh, I truly didn’t know if the ball was flying over the green into the water or wouldn’t even reach the surface. My nervous finger-snapping is proof. The real reason for my anxiety? (Brag incoming...) Earlier this year, I played Augusta National, and after taking dead-aim to the sucker pin on the par-3 12th, I dunked it into Rae’s Creek. (Got up-and-down from the drop area, take that, Spieth.) Surely that miss can be forgiven, but to also hit it in the water on Pebble’s seventh in the same year? You’re ungrateful, and you suck. But at the same time, this wedge shot at Pebble was on the perfect line, just right of the flag with some draw spin. I don’t want to make any bold statements, but if this shot landed one yard past pin-high, it was in. All that for nothing, as it pitched short and spun back. Two-putt par. In all seriousness, what makes the seventh such a great hole—beyond the views—are the possibilities. Anyone who can make contact can knock it close, and those few seconds of anxiously watching your ball fly somehow justify the green fee. —Drew Powell, associate editor

RELATED: Once you’ve played Augusta National, you'll never watch the Masters the same

Mount Kineo Golf Course, Rockwood, Maine
Fourth hole

Nobody goes to this part of Maine to play golf. But up along the western “antler” of Moosehead Lake, so far away from everything that the night sky shimmers like diamonds as if you were viewing it from the moon, lies a tiny island that used to be home to a grand resort that goes back to the 1880s. The resort is long since gone, but some throwback lakeside homes, a few hiking trails and the original golf course remain, simple and majestic like the 1,800-foot volcanic mountain that looms over the island and most spectacularly the spit of land that makes up the nine-hole layout. The only way to lug your clubs to Mount Kineo Golf Course is to hop the 10-minute ride on the Kineo Shuttle pontoon boat (pay the $15 in cash to the captain, who also might make you a decent hot dog in the pro shop, but stick around for the stories and the red velvet Whoopie pies made by the superintendent’s wife). But get here and you will find that sort of surprise only golf can throw your way. Here, the game is tricky and blind, but bouncy and fun, with greens small enough to be cut by pinking shears. The rugged gray rock slope of the mountain lingers in your backswing all day, but when you come face to face with it at the par-3 fourth hole, you are at once made to feel small and grand at the same time. I didn’t even want to make a swing. Like my companion, finding Mount Kineo is like coming across a friend you didn’t know you had but seem to have known all your life. Golf is like that, throwing us the unexpected miracle every once in a while. If we’re lucky, we realize it when it’s happening. —Mike Stachura, senior editor, equipment

Cypress Point, Pebble Beach
16th hole

As a kid, I had a framed photo in my bedroom of a golf hole captioned with a motivational saying about excellence. I can’t remember who gave it to me, but it hung on the wall for the longest time, even before I actually played golf. The words were, well, motivational, but the image is what stuck with me: There was a seaside green seemingly miles from a tee box (how the hell do you reach it?!?) and ocean water so vivid you could hear it crashing against the rocks. It was beautiful, and I'd think of that image any time I thought about golf. Once I got into the game, I learned the hole was the par-3 16th at Cypress Point, probably the most beautiful hole in the world. And this summer, the iconic course hosted the Walker Cup, and I not only got to see the hole in person for the first time, but I played the course ahead of the event. I had played it in my mind’s eye millions of times, but when I stood on the tee looking at the green, one thing popped in my head: How the hell do I reach it?!? I bailed left, chipped on and lipped out an eight-footer for the most satisfying bogey of my life. Excellence, indeed. —Ryan Herrington, managing editor

Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx, N.Y.
10th hole

My favorite hole I played this year is actually my least favorite hole on a golf course I play a lot! Van Cortlandt Park Golf Course is one of the few courses in New York that I can get to on the train, which means it has become my “home” course in the city. That brings me to my least favorite hole on the course, the par-5 10th. Long, straight, with OB down both sides of the fairway. It’s located at the lowest point on the property, which means it is ALWAYS cart path only. This summer, as we were waiting for the group in front of us to clear, I turned to my playing partner and said, “I hate this hole. My ball is always far from the cart path, and I feel like I end up making double most of the time.” I proceeded to hit my best drive of the day down the right center of the fairway. My second shot was 220 from the flag, and I hit the greatest 7-wood of my life. Somehow, I drained a downhill, 10-foot slider and carded my first-ever eagle. Three perfect shots. Needless to say, No. 10 at Vanny no longer holds the title of my least favorite hole. —Luke Hooten, social-media coordinator

RELATED: My 5 favorite public golf courses around New York City (and some advice for playing them)

Rodeo Dunes, Roggen, Colo.
Fourth hole

Instantly, walking off the fourth green of Rodeo Dunes a few months ago during preview play, my thought was: “I can’t wait to play that again.” A split fairway—with the left portion elevated by a good 25 feet above the right is a little bit of Royal Dornoch’s eighth hole—with a little more forgiveness. Your uphill approach must navigate a tiny volcanic-looking chocolate drop sitting in the middle of the green that Bill Coore discovered when building Rodeo Dunes. There’s few more fun things in golf than to watch your ball chase along the ground and utilize contours to end up in a good, or not so good, spot. It’s a strategy most American golfers aren’t used to. Places like Rodeo Dunes that are open to the public (or will be in 2027 after the new destination opens for founders first in ‘26) give traveling golfers a taste of the good life. —Stephen Hennessey, managing editor

Covesea Links, Duffus, Moray
Sixth hole

Having turned 40 this year, I find myself judging my seasons not by my score but by the number of new golf courses I get to play and see. I got to play 28 new courses in 2025 and the hole I've daydreamed about the most is the sixth hole at Covesea Links. The term "hidden gem" should be reserved for courses like this. The nine-hole course is in the highlands of Scotland about an hour east of Inverness, built around an inlet of the coastline and hidden from the eyes of everyone that doesn't know its charm. It's basically a homemade golf course, quite literally built by a local couple, Angela and Andy (who live on the course). My green fee that afternoon was £10. Standing on the sixth tee, you stand high above the course, with a view of every other hole and miles of coastline that blend into the horizon as you lose track or where you are or what might be going on in the rest of the world. What waits on your return to concentration on the 230-yard, par three is a huge, punchbowl green. It sits 50 feet below where you'll tee up your ball and nestles naturally between two prominent dunes. The hole and the course are raw, humble, and built for fun. I can't wait to return. —Jamie Kennedy, director of digital content

Royal New Kent, Providence Forge, Va.
13th hole

Photo: Courtesy of GolfCrusade.com

There's one hole I can't stop thinking about, and it's #13 at Royal New Kent, the Mike Strantz design just outside Richmond. Like most Strantz courses, almost every hole on the property is some variety of crazy. You either love Strantz’s designs for its oddball vision, or you hate the quirks. I love it—give me the funhouse mirrors, the optical illusions, the blind shots and the absurd elevation changes. It's all magical to me. But no. 13 at RNK is an exception to all this. It's the plainest hole I've ever seen on a Strantz course, bar none. It's a short par 4 surrounded by houses with a very wide fairway and a slightly raised but very forgiving green. I made an easy par, but felt odd in the process—when you emerge from the surreal into the hyper-normal, the hyper-normal takes on a surreal quality. Bear in mind that just before reaching the 13th, you play a downhill par 3 with a green shaped like the number eight that you can find on YouTube with descriptions like "the most insane par-3 ever??", and after leaving 13 you drive through tunnels underneath a road and emerge onto a classic risk-reward Strantz hole where you have to hit through two mini-mountains to a semi-blind green.

So why is it the plain-jane 13th I can't stop thinking about? It's the jarring normalcy. Strantz was such a mind-bender, such a beguiling architect, that nothing on his courses ever feels unintentional. Over time, I began to suspect that this "boring" hole, stuck in the middle of his usual acid trip adventures, was there on purpose. That he was messing with us, or at least winking at us, by placing a vanilla wafer in the middle of the kaleidoscopic buffet. Unfortunately, he's not alive to confirm or deny this, but I choose to believe. In my head, Strantz is the only designer who could send me into a mental spiral with the most unremarkable hole he ever designed. If you're listening, Mike, I think it's a hell of a great joke. —Shane Ryan, contributing editor

Great Waters at Lake Oconee, Greensboro, Ga.
Ninth hole

Architecture nerds, look away. One of my favorite holes I played this year was at a ... GULP ... Jack Nicklaus design. The 370-yard par-4 ninth at Great Waters at Lake Oconee calls for less than driver, but if you catch the speed slot your 200-yard hybrid or 3-wood can funnel all the way down to the water’s edge and leave you with a wedge in. I of course hit a pop fly 3-wood and had around 150 left, then dumped one in the drink. But my ensuing pocketed “7” didn’t kill my enjoyment of the hole itself. The approach shot is one of the more serene settings I’ve experienced, helped by the fact that it seemed like I and Golf Digest’s Max Adler were the only two people on the course the Monday morning after the Masters. —Christopher Powers, staff writer

The Old Course, St Andrews, Scotland
18th hole

Yes, picking one of the most famous holes in the world as my favorite played in 2025 is woefully predictable, but here I offer at least some backstory. This fall, my oldest son spent a semester abroad at the University of St. Andrews, and like any concerned parent, I needed to make the trip over to ensure he had refined his knockdown was keeping up with his studies. As most golfers know, the Old Course is immersed in the middle of the city, so if you hit, say, a weak cut off the 18th tee in early evening, there’s a decent chance your next shot might be subject to judgment from some golf-savvy townsfolk on the way to dinner. And so there I was on the right side of the massive 18th fairway, uncomfortably close to the road, where a gentleman had just parked his car and who now watched as I pulled my next shot long and left onto the adjacent first tee.

Then he asked what club I hit.

“It was 6-iron,” I said.

“That’s a lot of club,” he chuckled, which wasn’t wrong, but it was also cold and damp, and I stand by my decision.

If he’s reading this, I still made par. —Sam Weinman, digital editorial director

The Loop (Red Course)
First hole

The first at The Loop's Red course also doubles as #18 on The Loop’s Black Course at Forest Dunes. Yep, that’s right. Until you stand near the first tee box—well, either of the first teeing areas, marked only by small flags stuck in the ground—at this reversible course, you can’t quite understand how it works. But it does. No. 1 on the Red, which is the route used on even-numbered days, is a short par 4 with a generous landing area off the tee before an uphill approach shot. On odd-numbered days, you tee off from near the green and hit back down into the valley toward a green near where you teed off the day before. Both fun holes. And both play completely different despite basically using the same terrain. And you will find yourself saying that throughout your round at this innovative Tom Doak layout. I’m usually not a big golf architect nerd, but this place is truly memorable (not even mentioning the original Forest Dunes course designed by Tom Weiskopf). You can expect to grip it and rip it at The Loop with its wide fairways, but just be prepared to use the ground with approach shots on its firm-and-fast turf. One of the most unique golf experiences I’ve ever had. --Alex Myers, senior writer

Royal County Down, Newcastle, Northern Ireland
Fourth hole

My choice comes out of setting, circumstance and one shot. On the Sunday ahead of the Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, I had the good fortune and pleasure of joining three Golf Digest colleagues at Royal County Down, #1 in Golf Digest’s World’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses.

Which brings us to County Down’s par-3 fourth hole. The first three holes move along the cliffs away from the clubhouse, and then a 180-degree turn presents the elevated and incredible view in the distance of the Slieve Donard hotel, shimmering Irish Sea, waterside town of Newcastle and the massive Mourne Mountains. On a sunny day like we were blessed with, guaranteed, there is no visual in golf like it.

The par-3 fourth has an elevated tee, requiring a shot over heavy, flowering gorse to a convex green guarded by nine bunkers. For the round, I’d chosen to play one tee in front of my long-hitting (and much younger) mates, and while they had 200 yards to fly, I teed up at 160. That’s a 5-iron for me (no apologies), and with the best swing I could muster, my ball tracked the flag the entire way. Yes, there was the thrilling, though fleeting thought, An ace on the world’s greatest course?’ No such luck, as the ball hit six feet past the stick and stopped quickly.

The kudos from my friends gave me the warm feeling only found in golf camaraderie. Of course, that lasted a few seconds before the next thought: At County Down, after that shot, I have to make birdie. You can guess how that worked out. A nervy, meat-handed miss. Quiet groans. No matter. A shot and a hole I will never forget. —Tod Leonard, senior editor

Arcola Country Club, Paramus, N.J.
Fourth hole

One of the few boxes I had yet to check off in my New Jersey golf life was Arcola Country Club, which I had always heard was perhaps the most underrated layouts in the Garden State. I was able to confirm that this past June, playing it in peak condition. The 405-yard par-4 fourth stood out, an uphill beast that features an infinity green with views of the NYC skyline. Tough to top. —CP

Reunion Resort (Watson), Kissimmee, Fla.
Ninth hole

In a matter of days, I had two extremely memorable moments on this hole while down in Kissimmee for the beloved Golf Digest Hot List. 1. In a nine-hole scramble match-up between two Golf Digest-ers (shoutout Luke Hooten) and two Golf Galaxy employees, I sank a putt on No. 9 to keep things all square. We were running against daylight, and we could barely see the golf balls, but I was able to drop it in. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it. 2. Once again, with the darkness quickly approaching, our foursome (and the threesome behind us) joined forces for the once-in-a-lifetime sevensome, ending on this hole. It was bedlam … and I loved it. —Greg Gottfried, web producer