8 historic tours are made only by the top 100 public golf courses

One of the most popular lists we make here at GOLF.com is our ranking of the Top 100 Courses to Play, and the reason is obvious — the best public golf courses are on the open. everyone bucket list. Sure, you may dream of playing Cypress Point, too, but Pebble Beach is a tee time any Average Joe can book.

Our latest ranking of the 100 best public courses in America covers 29 different states — with prices ranging from affordable (George Wright, $62) to extravagant (Shadow Creek, $1,250) — but there’s still something for everyone. And while some (looking at you, Firestone) stand alone hours away from another Top 100 community sibling, many are clustered or just a short car ride away, meaning any savvy travel planner can create the ultimate plan to hit just a few for a few days.

Better yet, we’ve done the hard work for you. With the help of GOLF.com’s Course Finder tool, we’ve created eight different golf courses to consider for your next golf getaway. They all include only the Top 100 Courses You Can Play, although there may be other community gems or top 100 secrets right next to them (in case, you know, you want to call and ask).

And if you want to create your own course, you’d be wise to play with Course Finder. Here you can browse 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 tour for one epic tour.

But first, check out these eight recommended tours below.

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100 best road trips for your next friends trip

BANDON DUNES

Oh, how original? Yes, we know. But you’d be a fool not to consider Bandon Dunes, where you can tee off on the top 100 public courses — including our No. 3-ranked course, Pacific Dunes — and never leave the area. All five Bandon courses are in the top 24 of our ranking. The only drive you have to do is from the North Bend or Portland airports, but those drives are great.

FLORIDA SWING

You can fly into Tampa or Orlando. If it’s the first you can take out the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook, and if it’s the latter you can put it together at Bay Hill. Nearby are Cabot Citrus Farms and the three par 100 public courses at Streamsong. These are six courses and all within a two hour drive of each other.

THE SANDHILLS

You can hit the limit to and from seven different top 100 courses in the heart of Pinehurst, NC There is Pinehurst No. 2, No. 4, No. 8 and No. 10, and Pine Needles, Mid Pines and Southern Pines just a few miles to the east. Less than an hour back and there sits Tobacco Road and the new Top 100 Tot Hill Farm in Asheboro, NC.

WISCONSIN’S BEST

Only a true golfer can pull off all nine of these courses in one outing — and you’d need to have pretty deep pockets to do that — but Wisconsin’s top-notch public golf offerings are hard to beat, and that’s not even a guess. some of the lessons that he didn’t make our top 100 list public. There are four courses to play in Sand Valley – including the newly opened Lido and Sedge Valley – and to the east there are Lawsonia Links, Blackwolf Run, Whistling Straits and Erin Hills. And just 50 miles north of Sand Valley is SentryWorld, which is only two hours from Erin Hills, meaning you can get to either of these in a quick drive.

MONTEREY PENINSULA GEMS

A bucket list bonanza on the Monterey Peninsula, where you can play the world-class Pebble Beach Golf Links and the No. 23 Spyglass Hill on consecutive days. Oh, and they’re a mile apart, so you’ll have plenty of time to hang out, eat or explore. An hour’s drive away is Alister MacKenzie-designed Pasatiempo (No. 11 on our list) and just an hour east is CordeValle, another Top 100 destination.

NEBRASKA TRIANGLE

Its location may not rival the 17-Mile Drive in Monterey, but there are three dynamite courses that make up a neat little triangle on the Nebraska Plains. Start with the newly opened Landmand outside of Sioux City, Iowa, before heading four hours west to The Prairie Club (Dunes) or Wild Horse. The Prairie Club is about 160 miles north of Wild Horse. All three are worth a mile.

SO CAL’S FINEST

Down in Southern California, there’s the Torrey Pines South course in La Jolla, and 25 minutes up Interstate 5 is the newly renovated North course at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad. There’s more going out east if you’re willing. Ram Hill is a two-hour drive away, and that could be your pit stop on the way to the desert, where you’ll find two of the top 100 public courses in the PGA West (Pete Dye Stadium and Mountain) at La Quinta. Oh, and while you’re at it, combine almost anywhere else. That area is rich in great golf.

Northern MICHIGAN

It’s a real shame to divide Michigan’s best public golf course into two quadrants, but that’s what we’re going to do here. Up north in Roscommon you have two Top 100s at Forest Dunes (The Loop and Weiskopf) and two hours west there you have two more at Arcadia Bluffs (South Bluffs). Finally, north of there (two hours more) is the Belvedere, a design by Willy Watson in Charlevoix.