Welcome to the Golfweek’s Best 2022 list of the Top 200 Modern Courses built in or after 1960 in the United States.
Each year we publish many lists, with this Top 200 Modern Courses list among the premium offerings. Also extremely popular and significant are the lists for Top 200 Classic Courses, the Best Courses You Can Play State by State and Best Private Courses State by State.
The hundreds of members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce these rankings. The top handful of courses in the world have an average rating of above 9, while many excellent layouts fall into the high-6 to the 8 range.
To ensure these lists are up-to-date, Golfweek’s Best in recent years has altered how the individual ratings are compiled into the rankings. Only ratings from rounds played in the past 10 years are included in the compilations. This helps ensure that any course in the rankings still measures up.
Courses also must have a minimum of 25 votes to qualify for the Top 200 Modern or the Top 200 Classic. Other Golfweek’s Best lists, such as Best Courses You Can Play or Best Private, do not require as many votes. This makes it possible that a course can show up on other lists but not on the premium Top 200 lists.
Each course is listed with its average rating next to the name, the location, the year it opened and the designers. The list also notes in parenthesis next to the name of each course where that course ranked in 2021. Also included with many courses are links to recent stories about that layout.
After the designers are several designations that note what type of facility it is:
p: privated: daily feer: resort courset: tour courseu: universitym: municipalre: real estatec: casino
* Indicates new to or returning to this list.
Editor’s note: The 2022 Golfweek’s Best Classic Courses list for the top 200 layouts built before 1960 in the U.S. will be posted Wednesday, May 25. The Best Courses You Can Play lists and the Best Private Courses lists will follow over the next two weeks.
1. Sand Hills (1) 9.15
Mullen, Neb.; 1995; Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw; p
2. Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (Pacific Dunes) (2) 8.61
Bandon, Ore.; 2001; Tom Doak; r, d
Bucket List: 10 U.S. destinations offer three or more top-ranked courses
3. Friar’s Head (3) 8.56
Baiting Hollow, N.Y.; 2003; Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw; p
4. Ballyneal (4) 8.37
Holyoke, Colo.; 2006; Tom Doak; p
5. Ohoopee Match Club (7) 8.28
Cobbtown, Ga.; 2018; Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner; p
Beauty of match play on display at Gil Hanse’s Ohoopee
6. Sebonack (6) 8.17
Southampton, N.Y.; 2006; Tom Doak, Jack Nicklaus; p
T7. Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (Old Macdonald) (5) 8.15
Bandon, Ore.; 2010; Tom Doak, Jim Urbina; r, d
T7. Wade Hampton Club (11) 8.15
Cashiers, N.C.; 1987; Tom Fazio; re, p
9. Kohler Whistling Straits (Straits) (8) 8.13
Mosel, Wis.; 1997; Pete Dye; r, d, t
Whistling Straits twists and turns to test Tour pros
10. Shadow Creek (10) 8.10
North Las Vegas, Nev. 1990; Tom Fazio; r, d, c
11. Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (Bandon Dunes) (9) 8.07
Bandon, Ore.; 1999; David McLay Kidd; r, d
12. Muirfield Village (12) 8.03
Dublin, Ohio; 1974; Jack Nicklaus; p, t
13. Kiawah Island Golf Resort (Ocean) (14) 7.96
Kiawah Island, S.C.; 1991; Pete Dye; r, d, t
Jeff Stone takes Kiawah’s Ocean Course from resort play to a major
14. Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (Bandon Trails) (15) 7.95
Bandon, Ore.; 2005; Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw; r, d
T15. TPC Sawgrass (Players Stadium) (T21) 7.82
Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.; 1980; Pete Dye; r, d, t
What’s the scariest tee shot at TPC Sawgrass?