The iconic par-3 7th hole at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
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As part of GOLF’s rigorous ratings process for our newly released Top 100 Courses in the U.S. and Top 100 Courses You Can Play rankings, our fleet of 100-plus expert panelists identified the best golf courses in every state.
You can check out the links below to browse all of our course rankings, or scroll down to see the best courses in California. And if you’re looking to create your own trip in the future, you’d be wise to let GOLF’s new Course Finder tool assist you. Here, you can toggle all of our lists — Top 100 public, best munis, best short courses, best par-3s and more — or filter by price to create the perfect itinerary for your next trip.
GOLF’s other course rankings: Top 100 Courses in the World | Top 100 Courses in the U.S. | Top 100 Courses You Can Play | Top 100 Value Courses in the U.S. | America’s Best Municipal Courses | The 100 Best Short Courses in the World
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SYMBOL GUIDE
# = Top 100 Course in the U.S.
Y = Top 100 You Can Play in the U.S.
V = Top 100 Value Course in the U.S.
P = Public/Resort
Ed. note: Some courses were omitted from our rankings because they did not receive enough votes.
1. Cypress Point (Pebble Beach) [#]
It’s almost inconceivable that land this stunning was made available for golf. For the lucky few who get to play here, they enjoy one of the game’s most inspiring walks as Alister MacKenzie’s design effortlessly transports the player around the diverse property. The iconic par-3 16th, which extends into the churning Pacific, is the game’s most dramatic and photographed hole, but there are endless other highlights, from the forested portion to heaving dunes to its famed jagged coastline. MacKenzie extracted the best from the land in part by breaking the “rules” and having back-to-back par-5s on the front and back-to-back par-3s on the back. The drivable 1/2-par 9th is another standout with its angled, sloped green invulnerable to rash tactics.
2. Pebble Beach (Pebble Beach) [#, Y, P]
The first great American public oceanside course, Pebble benefits from an ingenious routing that brings the player to the ocean’s edge, then onto much higher ground, before returning to the cliffs for the climactic final two holes. Even today, with gobs of world class courses having been built in the past 100 years, no more thrilling, spectacular stretch exists than holes 4 through 10. Additionally, does any walk compare with that final stroll up the iconic par-5 18th as it curves left around Carmel Bay?! Hard for a course this well known to exceed first-time expectations — but it does.
3. Los Angeles – North (Los Angeles) [#]
Gil Hanse and team restored George Thomas’s classic to perfection in 2010. Bunkers were reshaped and relocated, fairways widened and a natural barranca was brought back into play as a strategic hazard. As Hanse says of what is arguably America’s premier urban design, “The course enjoys a perfect sense of place and balance.” LACC hosted the 2017 Walker Cup and the 2023 U.S. Open won by Wyndham Clark. Early in U.S. Open week, a false narrative emerged that the fairways were too wide, but by the end of the event, the facts bore out that driving to particular sides and spots within the fairways was critical for success. LACC”s superlative collection of one-shot holes proved quite a test as well, even with ball in hand and a perfect lie/stance.
USGA
4. Riviera (Pacific Palisades) [#]
The value that an architect provides is highlighted here in technicolor. Built in a narrow canyon, there was no reason to hold high hopes for this course. Yet what emerged, courtesy of George Thomas and Billy Bell, is one of the game’s strategic design marvels. Together, the designers took bunker configuration and angled greens to new heights in the 1920s. As proof of their magical skills, look no further than Riv’s 311-yard, par-4 10th. Thanks to the inspired positioning of the bunkers and the angled green, options abound on how to card a big number on this tiny hole. Thomas’s famous quote — “strategy is the soul of the game” — manifests itself at Riv.
5. San Francisco (San Francisco) [#]
A.W. Tillinghast built his most artistic collection of bunkers at this low-key Bay Area hideaway that avoids publicity as steadfastly as its neighbor the Olympic Club embraces it. Known as the Duel Hole, the drop-shot par-3 7th may be the course’s most famous hole, but its par-4s, including the 2nd, 3rd, 10th and 12th, are the real headliners.
6. California Golf Club of San Francisco (South San Francisco) [#]
For most of its 80-year history, the Cal Club, as locals call it, served up a tight though well-regarded course, enhanced by its association with Ken Venturi. Following a 2008 Kyle Phillips re-do that was part restoration and part redesign, many feel this private course is equal to any in California north of Cypress Point. Situated on the side of a hill, Cal Club is guaranteed to catch any wind that is about. Add in fescue fairways and the site’s broad slopes and you have a course whose asks change daily. Take note of the stretch from 9-11 and how each of these two-shotters falls across the land in a different manner: the 9th plays up and over a hill, the 10th fairway slopes right to left off the tee and then left to right closer to the green and the 12th fairway glides through its own lovely valley. Overall, the mix of short grass, sprawling bunkers and cypress trees provide constant photo opportunities. When you discover the design plays as good as it looks, you have something special.
7. Valley Club of Montecito (Montecito) [#]
Designed by Alister MacKenzie with Robert Hunter overlooking construction, The Valley Club oozes charm. The holes don’t bully the player and length isn’t the issue but approaching these greens from the optimal side of the fairway is paramount, given the firmness of the playing surfaces that club routinely achieves. Look no further for proof than the first two greens and how they are angled to reward play from the riskier, left side of the fairway. The only thing missing is yardage markers, but only because the club doesn’t believe in them. Refreshing to find a place where the game is played by feel, not analytics.
8. Olympic – Lake (Daly City) [#]
It’s always a delight to find a course that rewards the lost art of shaping shots. The 4th hole, for instance, features a reverse-camber fairway: the hole swings right to left but the fairway tilts left to right, mandating a draw from the tee. The next hole, a dogleg right, calls for a fade. Recent clearing has helped to highlight the stunning nature of the cypress trees that line this hillside overlooking Lake Merced. Its famous 5-5-short 4 closing stretch produced another climactic finish at the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open. Kudos to William Watson, who might well be the least appreciated important architect from the Golden Age.
9. Pasatiempo (Santa Cruz) [#, Y, P]
Some nitpickers like to point out that parts of the course are pinched by homes. But one of those houses, along the par-5 6th, belonged to Alister Mackenzie, who chose to spend his final years on what he once described as his finest course. Unlike Cypress Point, about an hour down the coast, Pasatiempo sits just inland, but its high points offer views of the Pacific and the entire property is a sight to behold, with giant paw-print bunkers and rumpled fairways that give way to ample, undulating greens. Throughout a round here, it’s not hard to see the influence that Pasatiempo had on Mackenzie’s later work at Augusta National — nowhere more so than on the par-4 10th, a brawny two-shotter with the same dramatic sweep of what you see on TV every April. These and other fine Mackenzian features are now sharper than ever as the course emerges from a restoration and reopens to the public this fall.
Patrick Koenig
10. Bel-Air (Los Angeles) [#]
A George C. Thomas classic that winds through the canyons overlooking Los Angeles. Great architects had tinkered with Bel-Air over the years, but Tom Doak’s recent restoration took out the modern gimmicks and more than 30 bunkers, bringing Bel-Air back much closer to its original design. What hasn’t changed: the clubby atmosphere on the patio, that stunning walk over golf’s most famous suspension bridge and a back nine showcasing what Ken Venturi called some of the best long par-3s in the world.
11. Monterey Peninsula – Shore (Pebble Beach) [#]
Once a ho-hum layout that languished in the shadow of its famous 17-Mile Drive neighbors, the Shore Course started drawing notice in 2004 after the iconoclastic architect Mike Strantz built 12 new holes and overhauled six others. Strantz said his goal was to make players “dance among the cypress.” But his routing, which opens and ends amid the pines, also takes advantage of a vast expanse of coastline, with fairways fringed by wispy native grasses, and dramatic rock outcrops framing several greens and tees. In 2010, five years after Strantz’s passing, his work gained even greater recognition when the Shore Course joined the rota of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
12. Ladera (Thermal) [#]
Tucked away in the lower Coachella Valley, this private club nestles up against the Santa Rosa Mountains and provides one of the game’s most peaceful settings. Given that Jim Wagner and Gil Hanse manipulated every inch of this desert site, they were free to configure the fairways as best they saw fit. Several tee shots now require appealing diagonal carries over the likes of barrancas, low-lying vegetation and well-placed bunkers on the inside of doglegs. Standout holes include the 210-yard par-3 12th that features a Biarritz type swale at the rear of the green, and the drivable par-4 15th that plays to an elevated, angled green. The best of the bunch might be the 18th, with its massive bunker on the left working in perfect unison with a sister bunker front right. This is strategic golf at a high level.
13. Monterey Peninsula – Dunes (Pebble Beach) [#]
Everything old is new again. Working with the original Raynor routing, wunderkinds Tim Jackson and David Kahn brought to fore the rugged features of a forest-meets-sea landscape on a reborn course that boasts majestic dunes, expansive sandy wastes and greens of wildly varied size and contour. Formerly straight fairways now sashay gracefully with the coastal terrain, and the par-3s, long a strength, have grown remarkably great. They include the hard-along-the-water 14th, which plays over the waves and is such a striking sight, tourists often stop to spectate from an overlook on 17-Mile Drive.
14. Spyglass Hill (Pebble Beach) [Y, P]
The toughest of the three sites in Pebble’s celebrity pro-am rota, this imposing design plays like two courses in one. After plunging toward the ocean on its opening par 5, the routing romps through coastal dunes, a charming and challenging stretch highlighted by the crafty par-4 4th, with its slender, angled hourglass-shaped green that runs away from the player. Two holes later, it’s back into the trees, where a different sort of test awaits in pine-framed tee shots, dog-legged fairways and pond-guarded greens. Emblematic of the challenge is the par-4 16th, a 476-yard right-bending beast that, year after year, ranks among the hardest holes on Tour.
15. Meadow Club (Fairfax)
16. Lakeside (Burbank)
17. Stone Eagle (Palm Desert)
18. Wilshire (Los Angeles)
19. The Quarry at La Quinta (La Quinta)
20. Lake Merced (Daly City)
21. Hillcrest (Los Angeles)
22. Torrey Pines – South (La Jolla) [Y, P]
Looking for an unrelenting test? Try this beautiful beast. The two-time U.S. Open venue (2008 and 2021) is polarizing for some architecture aficionados who feel the routing does not take full advantage of the coastal setting. But it certainly does on the 4th hole, a long par-4 that hugs an oceanside bluff. Enjoy the walk, stay out of the rough — which is especially juicy right before and after the annual PGA Tour event each January — and play the appropriate tees on a layout that stretches to a meaty 7,802 yards. Oh, and good luck.
USGA
23. Rustic Canyon (Moorpark) [Y, V, P]
Tucked away in Moorpark, a northwest suburb of Los Angeles, Rustic Canyon retains an under-the-radar vibe. Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner and Geoff Shackelford infused a minimalist theme here to the max, with an emphasis on angles and the ground game — elements more commonly found on the designers’ inspiration: the links courses of Great Britain and Ireland. Recognized as one of the best values for public golf in the region (and possibly the country), the aptly-named course kicks off with a vertical barranca dividing the first fairway short of the green, a strong hint at the experience to follow.
24. Madison Club (La Quinta)
25. PGA West – Dye Stadium (La Quinta) [Y, P]
Pete Dye put his singular imprint on desert golf at PGA West, and while it’s not quite the Southwest’s version of TPC Sawgrass, it comes close. Witness the island-green par-3 17th, which Lee Trevino famously aced at the 1987 Skins game. Former Dye associate Tim Liddy returned in the summer of 2024 to reclaim hole locations by restoring greens to their original sizes; he also rebuilt bunkers in his mentor’s inimitable style. This test will leave you both flummoxed and fascinated, just as Dye would have wanted it.
26. The Preserve (Carmel-By-The-Sea)
27. Diablo (Diablo)
28. San Diego CC (Chula Vista)
29. Los Angeles – South (Los Angeles)
30. Rancho Santa Fe (Rancho Santa Fe)
31. TPC Harding Park (San Francisco) [Y, P]
Even if you can’t drive the green on the par-4 16th, like Collin Morikawa famously did during the final round of the 2020 PGA Championship, Harding Park remains a must-play. The course, which rubs shoulders with some elite private neighbors (The Olympic Club, Lake Merced, San Francisco Golf Club), was reborn in the early 2000s with an extensive renovation. Massive Cypress trees line the fairways, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a more difficult closing stretch in the Bay Area than 13 through 18 here. Go too far left on the closing hole or your ball will disappear into Lake Merced. Fees: Varied green fees, with on-demand tee-time pricing.
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32. Sherwood (Lake Sherwood)
33. Mayacama (Santa Rosa)
34. Martis Camp Club (Truckee)
35. PGA West – Mountain (La Quinta) [Y, P]
Elevated above the valley floor, the Mountain course is one of the more scenic places to play in La Quinta. Seven holes run parallel to the Santa Rosa Mountains. Among them are the short par-4 14th that plays over a riverbed on the approach, the par-5 15th tucked around a jutting slice of the mountain and the par-3 16th, one of Pete Dye’s forgotten island greens. As with most courses that bear the Dye name, there are generous applications of railroad ties and water hazards, with long angular bunkers reminiscent of TPC Sawgrass’ dictating strategy into the greens. Try to play early in the morning or late in the afternoon to see the prismatic colors reflect off the valley and surrounding vistas.
36. CordeValle (San Martin) [Y, P]
Located in the sleepy town of San Martin just a short drive from Silicon Valley, CordeValle is one of Robert Trent Jones Jr.’s best designs. The 260-acre property is one of the only in the area without real estate, keeping the tucked-away valley in the shadow of the Santa Cruz Mountains a pure expression of Northern California golf. A recent bunker renovation has given the course better contrast with the natural creeks that act as hazards. A highlight of the round is the textbook example of a Redan hole at the par-3 12th, where the tightly mown green surrounds feed strategically placed shots onto the putting surface. A former PGA Tour site, CordeValle also played host to the 2016 U.S. Women’s Open.
