The toughest course in the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC combined area is Musgrove Mill Golf Club, at slope 153 — ahead of Chanticleer at Greenville Country Club at slope 150 and The Cliffs at Glassy Golf Course at slope 148.
All 30 courses in the area with a USGA slope rating for its men’s tees are ranked below, along with 5 more lists: hardest from the tips, longest, widest tee spread, oldest, highest above sea level.
Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC is a combined statistical area as the U.S. Office of Management and Budget delineates it — the boundary is theirs, not ours. Each list counts only the courses in the area that publish that figure, so the totals differ between them. Slope and course rating measure difficulty, not quality — nothing here ranks how good a course is.
Toughest test
— the top 25 of 30 courses with a USGA slope rating for its men’s tees
The highest USGA slope rating published for any of the men’s tee sets. Slope rates difficulty for a bogey golfer relative to a scratch golfer — a rated figure issued by the golf association, not an opinion about the course. Men’s ratings only, because a tee is rated separately for men and for women and the two scales do not compare; a course rated only for women is not in the running rather than converted.
Hardest from the tips
— the top 25 of 28 courses with a USGA course rating for its men’s tees
The highest USGA course rating published for any of the men’s tee sets — the score a scratch golfer is expected to shoot. Men’s ratings only, for the same reason as slope: the men’s and women’s ratings of one tee are different measurements. It measures difficulty and nothing else; it is not a quality score and never orders these pages by how good a course is.
Longest
— the top 25 of 56 courses with a published scorecard
The longest tee set the course publishes, in yards from the tips. Compared against every course that publishes a scorecard — length is a measurement, not a verdict on the golf.
Widest tee spread
— the top 25 of 55 courses with two or more tee sets of different lengths
| # | Course | Widest tee spread |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Reserve at Lake Keowee | 4,648 yds between tees |
| 2 | Keowee Springs Golf Course | 2,600 yds between tees |
| 3 | Greenwood Country Club | 2,581 yds between tees |
| 4 | The Creek Golf Club | 2,458 yds between tees |
| 5 | Holly Tree Country Club | 2,288 yds between tees |
| 6 | The Walker Course at Clemson University | 2,244 yds between tees |
| 7 | The Carolina Country Club | 2,220 yds between tees |
| 8 | Windsor at Walhalla | 2,217 yds between tees |
| 9 | Furman University Golf Course | 2,038 yds between tees |
| 10 | Maple Willow at Hunters Creek Plantation | 2,022 yds between tees |
| 11 | Willow Creek Golf Club | 2,008 yds between tees |
| 12 | Woodfin Ridge Golf Club | 2,002 yds between tees |
| 13 | Green Valley Country Club | 2,001 yds between tees |
| 14 | The Preserve at Verdae Golf Club | 1,999 yds between tees |
| 15 | Cliffs Valley Golf Course | 1,997 yds between tees |
| 16 | The Cliffs at Keowee Falls Golf Course | 1,989 yds between tees |
| 17 | The Cliffs at Glassy Golf Course | 1,956 yds between tees |
| 18 | Willow Oak at Hunters Creek Plantation | 1,869 yds between tees |
| 19 | The Golf Club at Star Fort | 1,829 yds between tees |
| 20 | River Falls Plantation | 1,822 yds between tees |
| 21 | Linkside at Pebble Creek Country Club | 1,820 yds between tees |
| 22 | Thornblade | 1,798 yds between tees |
| 23 | Cherokee National Golf & Recreation Club | 1,792 yds between tees |
| 24 | Olde Eight Golf Club | 1,756 yds between tees |
| 25 | Smithfields Country Club | 1,727 yds between tees |
Yards between the longest and shortest published tee sets — how far the course moves to fit a different player. Courses publishing a single tee set are not in the running, because one set is an unmeasured spread rather than a narrow one.
Oldest
— the top 25 of 34 courses with an opening year
The year the course opened, as published. Ranked oldest first. An opening year is not a design credit and not a renovation date — a course that opened in 1921 and was rebuilt in 1998 still opened in 1921.
Highest above sea level
— the top 25 of 58 courses with a coordinate we could sample
| # | Course | Highest above sea level |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Cliffs at Glassy Golf Course | 2,498 ft |
| 2 | Cliffs Valley Golf Course | 1,143 ft |
| 3 | Middle Back at Rolling Green Golf Club | 1,097 ft |
| 4 | Windsor at Walhalla | 1,077 ft |
| 5 | Paris Mountain Country Club | 1,061 ft |
| 6 | 3 S Greenville | 1,039 ft |
| 7 | Green Valley Country Club | 1,037 ft |
| 8 | Links O'Tryon | 1,026 ft |
| 9 | Mountainview Par 3 Gramling Course | 998 ft |
| 10 | Furman University Golf Course | 995 ft |
| 11 | Keowee Key Golf Country Club | 977 ft |
| 12 | The Reserve at Lake Keowee | 953 ft |
| 13 | Linkside at Pebble Creek Country Club | 936 ft |
| 14 | The Preserve at Verdae Golf Club | 934 ft |
| 15 | Riverside at Greenville Country Club | 929 ft |
| 16 | Thornblade | 917 ft |
| 17 | Bonnie Brae Golf Course | 911 ft |
| 18 | The Cliffs at Keowee Falls Golf Course | 909 ft |
| 19 | Southern Oaks | 906 ft |
| 20 | Oconee Country Club | 904 ft |
| 21 | Chanticleer at Greenville Country Club | 900 ft |
| 22 | Smithfields Country Club | 899 ft |
| 23 | Lakeview Golf Club | 877 ft |
| 24 | Saluda Valley Golf Course | 872 ft |
| 25 | Keowee Springs Golf Course | 871 ft |
Height above sea level at the course’s own published coordinate, sampled from the USGS 3DEP elevation model. THIS IS A FIGURE WE DERIVED, not one the course publishes — anybody can re-query the same public dataset at the same coordinate and get the same number, but no scorecard states it. Because every course carries a coordinate, this is the only board here whose field is nearly the whole database rather than the courses that publish a particular figure. Elevation changes how far a ball carries; it says nothing about whether a course is good.