La Purisima Golf Course

California has nearly 800 golf courses ranging from coastal cliffs above the Pacific to desert floors below sea level. The state’s public golf is anchored by courses that appear on every national ranking - Pebble Beach, Torrey Pines, Spyglass Hill - but the depth extends well beyond those headliners. Municipal courses, resort layouts, and daily-fee tracks across the state offer quality that rivals private clubs at a fraction of the cost. The GolfPass 2026 Golfers’ Choice rankings analyzed nearly 26,000 reviews of California courses to compile their annual list. Golf Digest and GOLF Magazine also rank multiple California courses in their national top 100 public lists. The Monterey Peninsula The stretch of coastline around Monterey and Pebble Beach contains the highest concentration of top-ranked public golf in the country. Pebble Beach Golf Links is the course most golfers name when asked about bucket-list rounds. The 18-hole par-72 layout runs along the rocky Pacific coastline, with the par-3 7th and par-5 18th among the most photographed holes in golf. Green fees run $675–$725 for the current season according to the Pebble Beach resort website. It has hosted six U.S. Opens, most recently in 2019, and is scheduled for the 2027 event....