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Best New Courses of 2025: Thousands of ratings from our experts determined the latest winners

By Derek Duncan
January 13, 2026
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Halfway through a decade of post-Covid golf prosperity, the verdict on 2025 is in: Golf design in the United States is strong and getting stronger. 

Judging by the courses that opened this year, developers and architects continue to seek out pieces of land with strong aura, knowing that the innate character of the site is more important than convenience of location. Salvaging also remains a viable path as underperforming and defunct properties are being repurposed with fresh designs set atop the old bones. There’s also an uptick in residential developments, a segment of the industry that all but died in 2008. More investment is being made in affordable and municipal public golf, and on the other end of the spectrum, elite, historic private clubs keep spending tens of millions of dollars to upgrade their turf, infrastructure and architecture, often as part of a return to some originalist version of their courses. 

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America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses

To conduct our annual awards for Best New Private and Public, Best Renovation and Best Transformation, Golf Digest’s course-ranking panelists visited 47 candidates across the U.S. As good as this year was, the state of golf for 2026 is shaping up to be even busier. 

Additional write-ups and photos on every candidate can be found on each of the additional pieces of content. Plus, explore each course review page and leave reviews on the courses you've played to have your ratings featured on our pages.

BEST NEW PRIVATE COURSE

Awarded to the best newly developed courses or rebranded new designs using parts of existing courses.

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An imaginative short game is needed to play off the tight surrounds at The Fall Line.

Brian Oar

WINNER
THE FALL LINE (EAST)

Mauk, Ga.
6,610 yards, par 70
Architects: Geoff Ogilvy, Mike Cocking & Ashley Mead (OCM)

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The Fall Line is golf's next great exclusive club—and our experts got a first look

Brian Oar captured exclusive drone footage of The Fall Line (East) for Golf Digest. You can find one of the drone shots below—and read a complete review of the Best New Private winner here.

The Fall Line Golf Club: East
Brian Oar
false Private
The Fall Line Golf Club: East
Mauk, GA
4.8
8 Panelists
The Fall Line property in central Georgia sits amid a sandy transition zone that spans from Columbus to Augusta. The club’s vast, 5,000-acre site—as rural as it gets in the Southeast—provided near limitless opportunities for the Australian firm of Ogilvy, Cocking & Mead (with Mike Cocking as lead architect), inspiring the concept of two complementary courses, one designed with British heathland accents and one with Melbourne sand belt influences. Opened first, the heathland-inspired East Course ventures through sparse forests of scrub pine with broad, inviting fairways that cascade across long inclines of land. A detour from holes 11 through 15 take play into a highland meadow that provides outward views of the surrounding central Georgia ridges and valleys before the routing ducks back into the pines. As with its ancestral inspiration, playing the ball along the ground on the zippy Zeon zoysia fairways is half the fun as balls can careen onto the wild greens from a variety of angles, and the six par 3s each present unique looks and challenges. The routing is also enigmatic, with no repeating pars until the 12th and 13th holes (both par 4s), keeping the shot options fresh hole to hole.
Explore our full review

SECOND PLACE
BROOMSEDGE GOLF CLUB

Rembert, S.C.
7,501 yards, par 70
Architects: Mike Koprowski, Kyle Franz

false Private
Broomsedge Golf Club
Rembert, SC
4.5
10 Panelists
Broomsedge is the baby of Koprowski, a 41-year-old first-time club developer who has moonlighted the previous several years as a shaper with co-designer Franz. Living in Pinehurst, Koprowski saw central South Carolina as a potential soft spot in the expanding market of southeastern boutique private clubs and founded Broomsedge after locating this sand-based site 45 minutes east of Columbia. The land, divided into two distinct sections, is animated, cut by hollows and gullies. The designers filled the footprint with an impressive playbook of diverse and rustic holes of considerable breadth and movement, Koprowski’s more reserved touch balancing Franz’s penchant for boldness. The results are harmonic, with instant standouts that include the split-level par-4 second modeled after Eastward Ho!’s sixth (where Franz was working at the time) and the uphill, drivable par-4 15th with O.B. tight along the right.
Explore our full review

THIRD PLACE
DARMOR CLUB

Columbus, Texas
7,241 yards, par 72
Architects: Doug Wright, Hal Sutton

false Private
Darmor Club
Columbus, TX
4.5
13 Panelists
Located west of Houston across Highway 71 from last year’s Best New Private Course winner, The Covey at Big Easy Ranch, Darmor is an intriguing mashup of things that don’t seem to go well together but do, including a rough and tumble chunk of south-central Texas outlands, a design based on the template holes of Seth Raynor including an Alps, Long and Biarritz, and a former PGA Tour player-designer as one of the architects. But Darmor gets it right with plenty of width and some inventive takes on non-Raynor holes like Royal Dornoch’s “Foxy” par 4 and the par-3 “Dell” hole at Lahinch, and the wind and firm soils to make it a design that plays differently each day.
Explore our full review

HONORABLE MENTION

Loraloma Club, Spicewood, Texas, Architect: David McLay Kidd
Mapleton G.C., Sioux Falls, S.D., Scott Hoffman
Richland at Reynolds Lake Oconee, Greensboro, Ga., Tom Fazio
Soleta G.C., Myakka City, Fla., Nick Price
Windsong Farm (North) G.C., Maple Plain, Minn., John Fought

MORE: The 13 most fun golf courses in the U.S., according to our expert

BEST NEW PUBLIC COURSE

Awarded to the best newly developed public courses or rebranded new designs using parts of existing courses.

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David McLay Kidd’s second course at Gamble Sands features as much as 70 feet of elevation change.

Jeff Marsh

WINNER
SCARECROW AT GAMBLE SANDS

Brewster, Wash.
6,921 yards, par 71
Architect: David McLay Kidd

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How David McLay Kidd doubled down on fun with new Scarecrow course at Gamble Sands—giving him another Best New winner
false Public
Gamble Sands (Scarecrow)
Brewster, WA
4.3
8 Panelists
The second course at Gamble Sands, called Scarecrow as a tribute to the figures warding off scavengers from the resort’s apple orchards, was designed to be a little more frightening than the original Sands Course that opened in 2014. The first course is rife with thrilling diagonal drives across ravines and sand caverns, but the greens and fairways play mostly on a level grade, albeit one with alluring views across central Washington State’s vast Columbia River Valley. Scarecrow’s holes slalom up and down over significant elevation changes of up to 70 feet. Two-thirds of the layout was routed across flat agricultural pivot circles so those elevations were created by David McLay Kidd’s crews imagining what an authentic broken landscape might have once looked like. The all-fescue course plays with considerable speed and the greens and surrounds show aggressive contouring, and the best way to achieve a good score is to be proficient at controlling the ball along the ground.
Explore our full review

SECOND PLACE
THE KEEP AT MCLEMORE

Rising Fawn, Ga.
7,700 yards, par 72
Architects: Bill Bergin, Rees Jones

false Public
The Keep at McLemore
Rising Fawn, GA
4.5
11 Panelists
The Keep’s scenic vantage point, peering over a flank of Lookout Mountain in northwest Georgia from over 300 feet above the valley below, is almost unmatched for an inland course. Five holes flow along the cliff edge with the rest routed through the open interior providing views that stretch 10 to 20 miles into the distance. Friendly for resort play, the big fairways tumble toward ample greens that alternate between gentle, almost flat surfaces like the first and 12th and more accentuated surfaces that demand short-game acumen. The par 5s are the strength of the design, but the best single hole might be the par-4 ninth playing into an elevated skyline green set against the vast horizon.
Explore our full review

THIRD PLACE
ROOST AT CABOT CITRUS FARMS

Brooksville, Fla.
7,610 yards, par 72
Architects: Kyle Franz, Ran Morrissett, Mike Nuzzo and Rod Whitman

false Public
The Roost at Cabot Citrus Farms
Brooksville, FL
4.2
19 Panelists
The second course to open at the old World Woods property an hour north of Tampa is a sublime counterpoint to Cabot's more volatile first course, Karoo, the ego to that design’s id. All the golf at Cabot Citrus Farms is big and expressionistic, but The Roost also possesses an elegant coherence, partly derived from its tranquil setting amid moss-draped oaks, a surprise given that four designers had input. Whitman, architect of Cabot Links in Nova Scotia, shaped the greens, and his artistic sweeps and dips and fades at holes like the par-5 third and par-4 15th carry the day, pushing right against the edge of extremity without stepping over.
Explore our full review

HONORABLE MENTION

Aileron G.C., Lake Suzy, Fla., Kipp Schulties
Bella Ridge G.C., Johnstown, Colo., Art Schaupeter
Corica Park G. Cse. (North), Alameda, Calif., Robert Trent Jones II
Old Fort G.C., Murfreesboro, Tenn., Nathan Crace
The Third at Watersound (Fla.) Club, Mark & Davis Love III

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America's 100 Greatest Public Courses

BEST TRANSFORMATION

Awarded to previously existing courses that undergo a major remodel beyond mere renovations that can include new holes, a new routing and a new architectural identity. If you blinked, you wouldn’t recognize it.

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Tom Doak returned to his first-ever design with a chance to revitalize it.

Andrew Jowett

WINNER
HIGH POINTE GOLF CLUB

Williamsburg, Mich.
6,960 yards, par 71
Architect: Tom Doak

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Inside Tom Doak's transformation at his first-ever design, High Pointe
false Private
High Pointe Golf Club
Williamsburg, MI
4.5
11 Panelists

High Pointe qualifies as golf’s feel-good story of the year. This was the first course Tom Doak built beginning in 1986 as a 26-year-old getting his big break. Located outside of Traverse City, Mich., it was and remains the only course at which he personally shaped all 18 greens. In 2008, the daily-fee course closed and a large section of the property, primarily the first nine holes, were sold to become a hops farm with the remaining parts left to nature.

Though sitting fallow and inert, there was enough remaining of High Pointe’s ghostly form to continually tantalize Doak, who still lives in Traverse City. Then, several years ago, Florida-based businessman and entrepreneur Rod Trump became interested in reviving the design after hearing Doak on a podcast express his desire to someday bring it back. The hop-farm land was not available, but Trump was able to eventually secure what remained of the course along with 160 acres to the east of the old routing and asked Doak to round out an updated version of High Pointe. 
 

Explore our complete review here—including bonus photography and ratings from our expert panelists.

Explore our full review

SECOND PLACE
THE INTERNATIONAL (PINES)

Bolton, Mass.
7,082 yards, par 71
Architects: Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw

false Private
The International (Pines)
Bolton, MA
4.5
12 Panelists
The Pines Course at this complex west of Boston was a novelty when it opened in the late 1950s because it measured over 8,000 yards, the longest course in the country. As part of their reconstruction in 2024 under new ownership, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw whittled over 1,000 yards off the scorecard and completely rerouted the design. What’s novel about the Pines now is a set of intensely contoured greens, some of the most severe in the Coore/Crenshaw portfolio, a few of them borderline outrageous. The 12th hole, by contrast, is refined. The wide dogleg pivots right through pines and drives that don’t hug the inside line will scamper left off a hogsback out of position. The hole feels as British (London, that is) as anything you’ll find in New England with the fairway sliding smoothly into a low green rippled at the edges and set in a heathland-like clearing of short grass, a lone fescue-covered hummock providing a light touch of strategic intrigue. Like a good links, the hole can be played in different ways and is unlikely to inflict serious damage to the score, but a four here requires strong driving and short game finesse. Bold and brash can be fun, but the confidence to be calm and speak softly is sometimes a golf hole’s most appealing quality.
Explore our full review

THIRD PLACE
VAQUERO CLUB

Westlake, Texas
7,390 yards, par 71
Architect: Andrew Green

false Private
Vaquero Club
Westlake, TX
4
7 Panelists
Vaquero is an upscale, Discovery Land Co. development north of Ft. Worth that opened in 2001 with a Tom Fazio-designed layout. Andrew Green remodeled the property in 2023, retouching every element by converting long sandy buffers into native areas, greatly reducing the overall acreage of sand, reversing the direction of two holes, redesigning the green complexes and removing the par-3 17th and replacing it with a new short 16th hole. The standout piece, however, is the revamped short par-4 13th full of centerline bunkers, creating a myriad of fascinating driving options.
Explore our full review

HONORABLE MENTION

Buffalo Dunes G. Cse., Garden City, Kan., Todd Clark & Zach Varty
Karsten G.C., Stillwater, Okla., Andrew Green
The Killearn Club (Camellia), Tallahassee, Fla., Chris Wilczynski
Lakeside C.C., Houston, Jay Blasi
The Pearl at Kalauao, Aiea, Hawaii, David Dale & Kevin Ramsey
Poppy Ridge G. Cse., Livermore, Calif., Jay Blasi
Sharon Heights G. & C.C., Menlo Park, Calif., Todd Eckenrode
Urbana (Ill.) C.C., Drew Rogers
Vineyards C.C. (North), Naples, Fla., Kipp Schulties
Waynesville (N.C.) Inn & G.C., Bobby Weed
Waldorf Astoria G.C., Orlando, Rees Jones

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BEST RENOVATION

Awarded to courses that achieve the most significant improvement through the renovation of the architectural features and infrastructure, including work based on historical precedent.

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Andrew Green combined Golden Age and Victorian-era themes at Chevy Chase.

Laurence Lambrecht

WINNER
CHEVY CHASE (Md.) CLUB

7,205 yards, par 71
Architect: Andrew Green

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The award for Best Renovation of the Year has never been tighter. These were the best of 2025
false Private
Chevy Chase Club
Chevy Chase, MD
4.2
11 Panelists
The original nine holes laid out at Chevy Chase Club outside Washington D.C. by Willie Davis in 1896 were expanded to 18 two years later, most likely by club professional Willie Tucker. Donald Ross, quite early in his career, remodeled those holes in 1910. This course existed until 1921 when British architect C.H. Alison, longtime partner of Harry Colt, redesigned the course once again, with the construction overseen by another esteemed architect, William Flynn, and his partner, Howard Toomey. Robert Trent Jones made alterations in 1947, and Arthur Hills executed another full renovation in 1997. When Andrew Green was hired to restore the course, the question was: to what iteration? Ultimately Green and the club focused on the Alison presentation of Chevy Chase using early 1930s aerial photography as the touchstone for reconstruction. But the team was also intrigued by elements from other eras, including linear mounding and raised grassy berms from the turn of the century identifiable from other photographs. The $18-million revamped design opened in 2025 with Alison-inspired bunkers, larger and more contoured greens, wider playing spaces and a new par 3, the 15th, created as an homage to the no-longer-in-existence par-3 10th that was sacrificed in the 1990s to make room for tennis facilities. Chevy Chase stands out as one of the middle Atlantic’s best iterations of early 1920s architecture.
Explore our full review

SECOND PLACE
BALTUSROL GOLF CLUB

Springfield, N.J.
7,000 yards, par 72
Architects: Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner

false Private
Baltusrol Golf Club: Upper
Springfield, NJ
4.6
27 Panelists
It’s believed that when A.W. Tillinghast began constructing the Upper and Lower Courses at Baltusrol in 1919 (replacing Baltusrol’s existing 18 holes), it was the first contiguous 36 holes built at the same time in America. Because of the Lower’s tremendous major championship record, most consider the slightly shorter Upper to be a secondary course at the club. But between the two, it was the Upper, not the Lower, that hosted the first U.S. Open (and third in the club’s history) in 1936, won by Tony Manero. The Lower didn’t get its first Open until 1954, won by Ed Furgol. Baltusrol Mountain, just 200 feet high, looms above the right flank of the Upper, complicating drives and putts with a landscape that tilts more than appears to the eye. Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner restored the Tillinghast architecture to the Lower Course in 2020 with the ancillary goal of enhancing its tournament bite. Their job at the club’s Upper course, reopened in summer 2025, was simpler: Bring back the Tillinghast. This included significant tree removal, major green expansions (including the addition of a lost alternate green at the par-4 14th), bunker restoration/relocation and new sub-surface air systems. Both the Upper and Lower have long been known for strong opening and finishing sequences, but the Upper’s beautifully revived middle holes, moving across the more interesting terrain, now make the case for the courses being on equal architectural footing, if not in championship mettle.
Explore our full review

THIRD PLACE
EASTWARD HO!

Chatham, Mass.
6,711 yards, par 72
Architect: Kyle Franz

false Private
Eastward Ho!
Chatham, MA
4.7
25 Panelists
This is Herbert Fowler's most engaging 18-hole design. Routed on an isthmus in the Atlantic on Cape Cod, with each nine looping out and back along the ocean’s edge, the course’s rugged topography was splendidly used to pose challenges in stance, lie and depth perception. It’s golf’s equivalent of a spine-tingling, neck-twisting roller coaster ride along a waterfront. If you come upon a flat lie at Eastward Ho!, it’s likely a tee box, a fact that can put some golfers off who lack a sense of humor and appreciation for links golf. Keith Foster’s renovation in the early 2000s made giant strides in uncovering the spectacular landscape through serious tree removal, and in 2024 Kyle Franz took Eastward Ho! over the finish line by opening up the remaining sightlines, expanding fairways so the ball runs as much laterally as propels forward, reclaimed over 28,000 square feet of green surface, and introduced open sandscapes that hide cart paths and alleviate the search for balls in the fescue roughs. The most striking change is the expansion of the front of the green at the par-3 fourth hole to create a staggering Biarritz putting surface, one of the most majestic in the world.
Explore our full review

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HONORABLE MENTION

Addison Reserve C.C., Delray Beach, Fla., Rees Jones & Steve Weisser
Black Diamond Ranch (Ranch), Lecanto, Fla., Tripp Davis
Callawassie Island (S.C.), in house
Colonial C.C., Fort Worth, Gil Hanse & Jim Wagner
Dunedin (Fla.) G.C., Kris Spence
Evanston G.C., Skokie, Ill., Tyler Rae
The Gasparilla Inn & C., Boca Grande, Fla., Tripp Davis
Lakewood C.C., Westlake, Ohio, Keith Foster
Minneapolis G.C., Jeff Mingay
Pasatiempo G.C., Santa Cruz, Calif., Jim Urbina
PGA West (Stadium), La Quinta, Calif., Tim Liddy
Philadelphia C.C. (Spring Mill), Jim Nagle
Quarry Oaks G.C., Ashland, Neb., John LaFoy
Wedgewood G. & C.C., Powell, Ohio, Bruce Charlton

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