Top 100 Value Courses in the U.S.: The best courses you can play for $150 or less
By GOLF's Raters & Ran Morrissett | August 10, 2021
For nearly four decades, GOLF’s esteemed course rankings have guided golfers where to play, which explains their immense and enduring popularity. Yet, in the United States, access to many top-rated courses is problematic for a majority of golfers, as is cost — a concern readers have raised with us. Please know: We’ve heard you! In June, we debuted our inaugural ranking of America’s best municipal courses, and now, two months later, we’re happy to present another bargain-minded list: the Top 100 Value Courses in the U.S., all which you can play for $150 or less, in many cases much less.
Think of this ranking as a celebration of the budget-friendly courses that you could play several times — maybe more — every year. Sure, big-ticket bucket-list courses are fun to dream about or play once or twice in your life, but courses you can visit regularly help define the quality of your golf life. It’s hard to overstate their importance.
What constitutes “budget-friendly,” of course, is in the eye — or wallet — of the beholder, which led to fierce debate among our raters and GOLF staffers about where to draw the line for this list. The Top 100 Courses You Can Play for $100 or Less has a nice ring to it, but after some teeth gnashing, we collectively decided to cast a slightly wider net and draw the line at $150 — with a caveat: For a course to make the list, $150 would be the absolute most you would pay to play it in peak season.
Every course featured is worth your dollars, as they offer inspiring architecture at a reasonable rate. We’re hopeful that you’ll feel impelled to support these courses by visiting often. When the experience is more valuable than the expense, you are playing somewhere special — and that’s what this ranking is all about.
#12. Links course at RTJ Grand National
A nitpicker might point out that “links” is a misnomer, and they’d be right. It’s the wrong term for a course that features sylvan fairways and carries over marshes to soft, receptive greens. But never mind the monikers. The conditioning is pure, the vistas are sublime and the course, the strongest layout on the Robert Trent Jones Trail, is a delightful, varied test. If you time the visit right, you can follow up your round with another top-notch form of outdoor entertainment: the Auburn football stadium is nearby.
#56. Lake course at RTJ Grand National
With twelve holes hugging the shore of Lake Saugahatchee, the Lake course is one of the most scenic courses you can find. The quartet of par threes is as good as any in the nation.