18 Best Golf Destinations in North America

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Most of the decisions on a North American golf trip come down to the calendar. The Pacific coast plays best from late spring through early fall, the desert Southwest takes over once the overseed grows in, Florida and the Carolinas carry late fall through early spring and the long shoulder months, and the Great Lakes and Canadian courses open for a short summer window. Mexico’s Pacific coast runs on its own dry-weather calendar, from late fall into spring.

This guide covers the 18 destinations we think are worth building a trip around, grouped by region. Every region also links to our deeper guide when we have one.

North America’s golf regions at a glance

Region	Best months	Signature golf	Main airport
Oregon	June–October	Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes, Crosswater	North Bend (OTH), Redmond (RDM)
California	Year-round	Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill, Torrey Pines South	Monterey (MRY), San Diego (SAN)
Arizona	November–April	TPC Scottsdale Stadium, Troon North, We-Ko-Pa	Phoenix (PHX), Tucson (TUS)
Florida	October–April	Streamsong, TPC Sawgrass Stadium	Tampa (TPA), Orlando (MCO), Jacksonville (JAX)
The Carolinas	March–May, September–November	Pinehurst No. 2, Kiawah Ocean Course, Harbour Town	Raleigh-Durham (RDU), Charleston (CHS)
Alabama	March–May, September–November	Ross Bridge, Grand National	Birmingham (BHM), Huntsville (HSV), Mobile (MOB)
Wisconsin and Michigan	June–September	Whistling Straits, Sand Valley, Arcadia Bluffs	Milwaukee (MKE), Traverse City (TVC)
Canada	June–September	Cabot Cliffs, Banff Springs, Predator Ridge	Halifax (YHZ), Calgary (YYC), Kelowna (YLW)
Mexico’s Pacific coast	November–April	Punta Mita, Vidanta, Quivira, Cabo del Sol	Puerto Vallarta (PVR), Los Cabos (SJD)

Oregon

Oregon gives you two very different golf trips a few hours apart. The coast is firm, windswept links golf on sand dunes. Central Oregon, on the dry side of the Cascades, is high-desert resort golf among ponderosa pines with far more sunshine.

1. Bandon Dunes

Bandon Dunes is the continent’s best-known walking-only links resort, built on the dunes above the Pacific in southern Oregon. Its 18-hole courses (Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes, Bandon Trails, Old Macdonald and Sheep Ranch) share the property with the short courses Bandon Preserve and Shorty’s. Every course is walking only, and caddies are available.

June through September is the warmest, driest stretch and the most expensive; green fees step down through the spring and fall shoulder months and bottom out in winter. Resort guests pay less than day visitors, and a same-day replay is discounted. Each course also closes for a few days of aerification in spring and again in fall, on dates the resort publishes in its FAQ, so check them before locking a shoulder-month itinerary.

Southwest Oregon Regional Airport in North Bend (OTH) is about 35 minutes from the gates. Eugene is about two and a half hours by car, Medford about three and Portland about four and a half. All lodging is on property, from rooms at The Inn and The Lodge to the four-bedroom Grove Cottages for groups. The original Bandon Dunes course is the right opener. It is the most straightforward introduction to the wind and the firm turf, and everything that follows makes more sense after it. Bandon’s green-fee page lays out the month-by-month pricing.

2. Sunriver and Central Oregon

Sunriver Resort, near Bend, runs four courses: Crosswater, Meadows, Woodlands and Caldera Links. Its stay-and-play packages build in the resort courses, with Crosswater as the premium round, and Gray’s Trail, an 18-hole putting course behind The Lodge, fills the evenings. Crosswater is the round most trips are planned around. Summer and early fall bring the high-desert sunshine. Redmond (RDM) is the region’s commercial airport. Our Central Oregon fall golf guide covers the wider Bend course list, and Sunriver’s golf page handles tee times and packages.

California

California has the continent’s best-known public course at Pebble Beach and its most famous municipal 36 at Torrey Pines. The Monterey Peninsula and San Diego are a day’s drive apart and play differently: Monterey’s cypress, cliffs and coastal fog against San Diego’s mild, dependable sun.

3. Pebble Beach and the Monterey Peninsula

Pebble Beach Golf Links is a regular U.S. Open venue. Its greens are among the smallest on the PGA TOUR, and the ocean comes into play at the fourth and stays for the next seven holes. Spyglass Hill opens with five holes through the dunes before turning into the Del Monte Forest for the rest of the round; Robert Trent Jones Sr. called the fourth his favorite par 4. Del Monte Golf Course, which opened in 1897, is the oldest course in continuous operation west of the Mississippi and plays short on small, sloping greens. Check which of the resort’s courses are open when you book, since renovations rotate through the property. Play Spyglass the day before Pebble if you can. It is the stiffer test, and it sharpens the iron play that Pebble’s small greens demand.

Pebble sells tee times alongside stay-and-play packages at the resort’s hotels, and booking the room and the round together is the most dependable way to plan around a specific day. Late summer and fall bring the clearest weather on the peninsula. Pebble Beach Golf Links’ booking page handles tee times and packages; our Pebble Beach review and Spyglass Hill review cover the courses in more depth.

Up the coast in Santa Cruz, Pasatiempo is Alister MacKenzie’s design from 1929, and the house he lived in still borders the sixth fairway. It is a semi-private club that sets aside tee times each day for public play, and its greens have been restored to their original MacKenzie contours. Pasatiempo’s site handles public bookings. Monterey Regional (MRY) is the closest airport to the peninsula.

4. Torrey Pines and San Diego

Torrey Pines is the City of San Diego’s 36-hole facility on the La Jolla cliffs, with the South Course and the North Course side by side. The South, the U.S. Open course, is the round people travel for, and the North makes the cheaper second day. City residents pay far less than visitors, and weekend tee times cost more than weekdays. Non-residents book online through the city’s system, which releases tee times each evening and adds a per-player booking fee for advance reservations. The Lodge at Torrey Pines sells golf packages with priority tee times for its guests, which is the simplest way to get on at a busy time. San Diego plays year-round. San Diego International (SAN) is the gateway. Our San Diego winter golf guide covers the rest of the county’s public courses, and the city’s Torrey Pines fee page lists fees and booking rules.

Arizona

Arizona golf runs on the overseed calendar: courses close in the fall to seed winter grass, then play green and firm from November through April. The Phoenix and Scottsdale area holds the deepest concentration of public and resort golf in the Southwest, and Tucson, to the south, adds a quieter set of mountain-backed courses.

5. Scottsdale and Tucson

The timing detail that matters most here is overseeding. Most desert courses close in turn for several weeks between mid-September and early November while the winter grass is seeded and grown in, and the Arizona Golf Association publishes each course’s closure window every year. Demand, and green fees with it, peak from January through March, and November and April are usually easier to book. The AGA overseed schedule lists every course.

TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course, home of the WM Phoenix Open and its famous crowds, is the headline public round, and the Champions Course is the second 18 on the same property. TPC Scottsdale books both. Our Scottsdale winter golf guide covers Troon North, We-Ko-Pa and the rest of the Valley, and golf resorts in Arizona covers the stay-and-play campuses.

In Tucson, Omni Tucson National’s Catalina and Sonoran courses, Ventana Canyon and The Golf Club at Dove Mountain anchor the resort scene. Dove Mountain’s three nines (Saguaro, Tortolita and Wild Burro) typically finish their overseed late, so early November is the safer start for a Tucson trip. Our Tucson winter golf guide covers the courses and when they fill up, and the Arizona winter golf road trip strings Phoenix and Tucson into a single week. Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX) serves the Valley and Tucson International (TUS) serves the south.

Florida

Florida’s best golf trips aren’t on the beach. The state’s two standouts are an inland resort built on sand in central Florida and the tournament course that hosts THE PLAYERS.

6. Streamsong

Streamsong is the only place with original designs by Coore and Crenshaw (Red), Tom Doak (Blue) and Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner (Black) on one property, and David McLay Kidd’s Bone Valley has since joined them. The Chain, a Coore and Crenshaw short course, is walking only. Green fees are highest from mid-January through April and lowest in late spring and summer, resort guests pay less than day visitors, and carts cost extra. Red and Blue, the two originals, make the natural first day. Tampa (TPA) and Orlando (MCO) are both about 90 minutes away. Streamsong’s pricing table shows how pricing moves through the year.

7. TPC Sawgrass and Ponte Vedra Beach

THE PLAYERS Stadium Course is the permanent home of THE PLAYERS Championship, and its par-3 17th is the most famous island green in golf. The Dye’s Valley Course is the second 18. TPC Sawgrass is a short drive from Jacksonville International (JAX). Its stay-and-play packages pair a round on each course with nights at the Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa. Late fall through spring brings the best conditions. Playing Dye’s Valley first is a sensible warm-up for the main event. TPC Sawgrass handles tee times and packages, and our TPC Sawgrass review walks through the course.

The Carolinas

The Carolinas offer the widest range of golf trips on the East Coast, from the Sandhills of North Carolina to the Grand Strand and the Lowcountry islands. Spring and fall are prime time, and the Strand plays year-round.

8. Pinehurst

Pinehurst Resort runs a long list of numbered 18-hole courses, the Thistle Dhu putting course and The Cradle, a short course. Donald Ross’s No. 2 is the U.S. Open’s first anchor site, and Gil Hanse’s No. 4 is the natural second round. Tee times go first to members and overnight resort guests, and No. 2 and several other courses are open only to them, so the room booking comes first. Caddies and forecaddies are available. Raleigh-Durham (RDU) and Greensboro (GSO) are both about 75 minutes away, Fayetteville about an hour and Charlotte about two. No. 2 closes for short maintenance windows, so check the resort’s schedule if it is the point of the trip. Pinehurst’s golf page has the packages.

9. Myrtle Beach

The Grand Strand is the volume play of American golf travel. Myrtle Beach Golf, the area’s official golf partner, books dozens of courses from Pawleys Island to Brunswick County in North Carolina and bundles them with lodging, and package pricing tracks the spring and fall peaks, so the shoulder months are where the value is. The south end, sold as the Hammock Coast, holds the strongest pairing. Caledonia Golf & Fish Club in Pawleys Island is a short par 70 routed around old live oaks, finishing over water at the foot of the clubhouse, and True Blue is its usual partner on the same trail. Myrtle Beach International (MYR) is the airport. Our Myrtle Beach fall golf guide covers stay-and-play options, and Myrtle Beach Golf books the packages.

10. Kiawah Island and Hilton Head

The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort has ten holes hugging the Atlantic and the other eight running parallel to them, which the resort calls the most seaside holes in the Northern Hemisphere. Pete and Alice Dye designed the par 72. With no prevailing wind, Dye effectively built two courses in one, for an easterly and a westerly breeze, and the resort says a hole can play up to eight clubs differently from one round to the next. Allow about an hour from Charleston International (CHS) to Kiawah and another 20 minutes to the Ocean Course; the resort names spring and fall as its most popular times. The Sanctuary, the resort’s oceanfront hotel, is the premium stay, with villas, private homes and Ocean Course cottages as the alternatives. The Ocean Course page handles tee times.

Down the coast on Hilton Head Island, Harbour Town Golf Links at The Sea Pines Resort is the Pete Dye course, with Jack Nicklaus consulting, that hosts the RBC Heritage. It is a par 71 that puts a premium on finesse and shot-making over strength. Sea Pines books tee times and stay-and-play.

Alabama

Alabama’s case rests on one public network of Robert Trent Jones Sr. courses, spread across the state and priced well below the resort destinations above. Multi-day Trail packages are where that value shows up most clearly.

11. Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail

The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail is a statewide network of public courses, from Huntsville and Muscle Shoals down to Mobile Bay, with Marriott and Renaissance resort hotels at several of the stops. It works best when you pick one corridor rather than trying to see the whole state. Ross Bridge and Oxmoor Valley sit about two miles apart near Birmingham. Grand National in Opelika and Capitol Hill in Prattville form a second pair, and Magnolia Grove and Lakewood Club cover the Gulf. Spring and fall are the sweet spots, and the multi-day packages bundle a round a day with cart and range balls, with Ross Bridge priced as the premium stop. The Trail’s packages page has the current list. Birmingham (BHM), Huntsville (HSV) and Mobile (MOB) line up with the three corridors.

Wisconsin and Michigan

Wisconsin and northern Michigan hold some of the best summer golf in North America. Wisconsin’s Lake Michigan shoreline and central sand country carry the headline courses, and northern Michigan pairs Lake Michigan bluffs with forest golf. June through September is the window.

12. Kohler, Erin Hills and Sand Valley

The Straits Course at Whistling Straits runs along two miles of Lake Michigan coastline and is walking only. Pete Dye designed both the Straits and the Irish courses, and between them they have hosted major championships and a Ryder Cup. Blackwolf Run, inland in the Sheboygan River valley, adds Dye’s River course, which follows five miles of valley and bluff, the Meadow Valleys course and The Baths, a 10-hole par-3 course with a putting course. Save the Straits for the clearest forecast day of the trip, because the lake is the point. Whistling Straits is about 72 miles from Milwaukee’s General Mitchell airport (MKE). Destination Kohler books both, and our Whistling Straits review and Blackwolf Run review cover them in detail.

Erin Hills, designed by Michael Hurdzan, Dana Fry and Ron Whitten on glacial ground, has hosted a U.S. Open and a U.S. Women’s Open, and its holes range from 140 yards to 620. It runs a full caddie program, and it sits about 50 minutes from MKE and 80 minutes from Kohler. Erin Hills books directly.

In the middle of the state, Sand Valley sits on 12,000 acres of dunes in the Central Sands and plays firm and links-like. Its courses include Sand Valley and the Sandbox short course (both Coore and Crenshaw), Mammoth Dunes (David McLay Kidd), The Lido and Sedge Valley (both Tom Doak) and Commons (Jim Craig). Start with the original Sand Valley course; the rest of the property is easier to read once you have played it. Central Wisconsin Airport (CWA) is about an hour away, Madison (MSN) about an hour and 40 minutes and Milwaukee about two hours and 40. Sand Valley books stays and tee times.

13. Northern Michigan

Arcadia Bluffs sits above Lake Michigan with three courses: the Bluffs Course, which plays like a seaside links above the lake; the South Course, a tribute to golden-age design; and The Dozen, a 12-hole course of six par 3s and six par 4s. Rooms are on property at The Lodge, the Bluffs Lodge and the cottages; see Arcadia Bluffs for packages. Inland, Forest Dunes in the Huron National Forest pairs Tom Weiskopf’s course with Tom Doak’s The Loop, a reversible design played in opposite directions, plus Bootlegger, a 10-hole short course. The rooms are a few yards from the first tees of both big courses. Traverse City (TVC) is the closest commercial airport to Arcadia. For a city trip in the same state, our Detroit golf guide covers the public courses around the metro.

Canada

Canada’s top public golf splits into three trips: links golf on Cape Breton Island, Stanley Thompson’s mountain courses in the Rockies, and the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia. All three play from late spring into October, with June through September the dependable window. Our Canada golf destinations guide goes deeper on the whole country.

14. Cabot Cape Breton

Cabot Cape Breton, on Nova Scotia’s west coast at Inverness, pairs Cabot Links and Cabot Cliffs with The Nest, an 11-hole par-3 course on the highest point of the Cliffs property. Cabot Links runs between the Atlantic and the town of Inverness, and the Cliffs crosses dunes and clifftops. Both play on firm, sandy turf shaped by the sea wind. Lodging is all on site, from Lodge rooms to golf villas, cottages and multi-bedroom homes, and resort guests pay less than day visitors, who can book only a couple of weeks ahead. Midsummer is the priciest stretch, with lower prices at either end of the golf calendar. Halifax (YHZ) is the main international gateway for Nova Scotia. Cabot’s pricing page lays out how pricing moves through the year.

15. Banff and Jasper

The two Fairmont mountain resorts in the Canadian Rockies each have a Stanley Thompson course. Fairmont Banff Springs pairs its Stanley Thompson 18 with the Tunnel Mountain nine, and the course plays from May into October. Calgary International (YYC) is about 80 miles (130 km) east of the hotel. The resort’s golf page handles tee times, and pricing varies by date.

Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge has played Stanley Thompson’s course since 1925, inside Jasper National Park. Edmonton International (YEG) is 242 miles (389 km) east, about four hours by car, and Calgary is about five hours away via the Icefields Parkway, which makes a Calgary-in, Edmonton-out loop through both lodges a practical way to play them. The Jasper golf page has tee times.

16. Okanagan and coastal British Columbia

Predator Ridge is the Okanagan’s anchor, with two 18-hole courses: Les Furber’s Predator Course, set among rolling hills and long grasses, and Doug Carrick’s Ridge Course, with views of Okanagan Lake. Fall aeration typically takes the courses in and out of play from late September, so June through early September is the window. The resort sells stay-and-play packages with on-site lodging. Kelowna International (YLW) is the nearest airport. Predator Ridge books tee times and packages. On the coast, our reviews of Bear Mountain on Vancouver Island and Nicklaus North in Whistler cover the other side of the province.

Mexico’s Pacific coast

Mexico’s Pacific coast is the late-fall-to-spring trip for golf beside the ocean, with November through April the dry, dependable window. The two hubs are Banderas Bay, on the Nayarit and Jalisco coast around Puerto Vallarta, and Los Cabos at the tip of Baja California.

17. Riviera Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta

Punta Mita is a 1,500-acre resort community on a peninsula surrounded on three sides by the Pacific, with two Jack Nicklaus Signature courses, the Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita and The St. Regis Punta Mita. The golf sits inside a private club, so confirm tee-time access with your hotel when you book. Down the bay at Nuevo Nayarit, Vidanta runs the Nayar Course, a par 70 rimmed with lakes and bunkers, and Greg Norman’s Vidanta Vallarta Course, paspalum wall to wall. A cart bridge over the Ameca River leads to the Norman course, and the 10-hole par-3 Lakes Course is lit for night play. Puerto Vallarta’s airport (PVR) serves both. Our Riviera Nayarit winter golf guide and Puerto Vallarta course guide cover the full list, and Vidanta Golf and Punta Mita handle bookings.

18. Los Cabos

Los Cabos packs ocean and desert golf into the corridor between San José del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas. Quivira is a Jack Nicklaus Signature course that opens on the beach and climbs to the cliffs, and it is open only to owners and guests of the Pueblo Bonito resorts, so the hotel booking is the tee-time booking. Its green fees run highest from fall through spring, when the weather is best, and lowest in summer, and they include carts, the range and food and drink on the course. At Cabo del Sol, Tom Weiskopf’s Cabo del Sol Course is open to resort guests and visitors and has ocean views from every hole, while Nicklaus’s Cove Club course is reserved for members and their guests. Los Cabos International (SJD) is about a 20-mile drive from Quivira. Quivira and Cabo del Sol handle tee times.

More city golf trips

Not every trip needs a resort. Our city guides cover public golf within easy reach of a major airport: Pittsburgh, Detroit, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Denver and Memphis. For shortlists by time of year, see our winter golf destinations and fall golf trips.

Planning the trip

Most of these destinations reward the same order of operations: settle the month, lock the lodging that controls tee-time access, then fill in the rounds. Resort guests get priority or exclusive access at Pinehurst, Quivira and several others, so the room often decides the golf, and stay-and-play packages usually beat booking rounds one at a time. If you are still choosing between two or three of these, start with the golf vacation planner. Our golf trip packing list and guide to traveling with golf clubs cover the rest.