Whistling Straits

The United States has more than 14,000 golf courses open to the public, spread across deserts, coastlines, mountains, prairies, and everything in between. Choosing just one standout public course per state is a difficult exercise, but it forces a useful question: if you had a single round to play in each state, where would you go? The 50 courses below are all accessible without a private membership. Some are resort courses with green fees north of $200, while others are municipal gems where a round costs less than dinner. All of them reward the trip. Northeast The northeastern states pack a lot of golf history and terrain variety into a small geographic footprint. Coastal links, mountain resort courses, and classic parkland layouts built by Donald Ross and A.W. Tillinghast are all within a few hours’ drive of each other. Connecticut: Keney Park Golf Course – This 1927 Jack Ross design in Hartford has been called one of the best municipal courses in New England. The layout runs through mature hardwoods with firm, undulating greens that reward careful approach play. Green fees stay affordable, making it a genuine public treasure. Delaware: Baywood Greens – An 18-hole championship course in Long Neck...

Golf courses are not all built the same way. The terrain, climate, ownership model, and intended audience of a course shape everything about how it plays, how long a round takes, and how much it costs. Understanding the major types of golf courses helps you pick the right one for your skill level, schedule, and budget. Links courses The original form of golf was played on linksland, the sandy, wind-swept coastal ground between the sea and inland farms in Scotland. True links courses share a set of defining features: firm, fast-running turf; very few trees; deep pot bunkers with steep sod-wall faces; and constant exposure to ocean wind. The terrain is usually rolling and uneven, with natural dunes shaping the holes rather than heavy earthmoving. In the United States, genuine links-style courses are rare because the right combination of coastal land and sandy soil is hard to find. The most celebrated example is Bandon Dunes Golf Resort on the Oregon coast, where multiple courses including the Sheep Ranch sit on rugged bluffs above the Pacific. On the East Coast, Kiawah Island Golf Resort Ocean Course in South Carolina plays along the Atlantic with wide-open sight lines and relentless wind. Whistling...