The toughest course in the Savannah-Hinesville-Statesboro, GA combined area is The Landings Club Deer Creek Course, at slope 143 — ahead of The Ford Field River Club at slope 142 and The Landings Club Palmetto Course at slope 139.
All 21 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.
Savannah-Hinesville-Statesboro, GA 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
— all 21 courses with a USGA slope rating for its men’s tees
| # | Course | Toughest test |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Landings Club Deer Creek Course | slope 143 |
| 2 | The Ford Field River Club | slope 142 |
| 3 | The Landings Club Palmetto Course | slope 139 |
| 3 | The Landings Golf Club Trestle Bluff | slope 139 |
| 5 | The Club at Savannah Harbor | slope 138 |
| 6 | The Landings Club Terrapin Point Course | slope 137 |
| 7 | The Landings Club Magnolia Course | slope 135 |
| 7 | The Landings Club Marshwood Course | slope 135 |
| 7 | The Landings Club Oakridge Course | slope 135 |
| 10 | Georgia Southern University Golf Course | slope 134 |
| 10 | Southbridge Savannah Golf Club | slope 134 |
| 12 | Championship Course at Crosswinds Golf Club | slope 133 |
| 12 | Forest Heights Country Club | slope 133 |
| 12 | Lost Plantation Golf Club | slope 133 |
| 15 | Golf Club of South Georgia | slope 129 |
| 16 | Black Creek Golf Club | slope 128 |
| 16 | Kilgores Roundabout Plantation Golf Course | slope 128 |
| 18 | The Savannah Golf Club | slope 127 |
| 19 | Bacon Park Golf Course | slope 121 |
| 20 | La Vida Country Club | slope 119 |
| 21 | Mary Calder Golf Club | slope 109 |
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
— all 20 courses with a USGA course rating for its men’s tees
| # | Course | Hardest from the tips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Ford Field River Club | rating 75.9 |
| 2 | The Landings Club Deer Creek Course | rating 75.1 |
| 3 | The Club at Savannah Harbor | rating 74.8 |
| 4 | Southbridge Savannah Golf Club | rating 74.1 |
| 4 | The Landings Club Magnolia Course | rating 74.1 |
| 6 | The Landings Club Palmetto Course | rating 73.8 |
| 7 | Forest Heights Country Club | rating 73.4 |
| 8 | The Landings Golf Club Trestle Bluff | rating 73.3 |
| 9 | Georgia Southern University Golf Course | rating 73.2 |
| 9 | The Landings Club Marshwood Course | rating 73.2 |
| 11 | The Landings Club Terrapin Point Course | rating 73.1 |
| 12 | The Landings Club Oakridge Course | rating 72.7 |
| 13 | Kilgores Roundabout Plantation Golf Course | rating 72.6 |
| 14 | Golf Club of South Georgia | rating 72.5 |
| 15 | Championship Course at Crosswinds Golf Club | rating 72.2 |
| 16 | Lost Plantation Golf Club | rating 72.0 |
| 17 | Bacon Park Golf Course | rating 71.0 |
| 18 | The Savannah Golf Club | rating 70.6 |
| 19 | Black Creek Golf Club | rating 70.4 |
| 20 | Mary Calder Golf Club | rating 64.2 |
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 29 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 29 courses with two or more tee sets of different lengths
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
— all 22 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 29 courses with a coordinate we could sample
| # | Course | Highest above sea level |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgia Southern University Golf Course | 204 ft |
| 1 | Golf Club of South Georgia | 204 ft |
| 3 | Forest Heights Country Club | 200 ft |
| 4 | Evans Heights Golf Club | 181 ft |
| 5 | Pine Forest Country Club | 101 ft |
| 6 | Taylors Creek Golf Course | 76 ft |
| 7 | Black Creek Golf Club | 61 ft |
| 8 | Kilgores Roundabout Plantation Golf Course | 60 ft |
| 8 | Lost Plantation Golf Club | 60 ft |
| 10 | Cherokee Rose Country Club | 45 ft |
| 11 | The Club at Savannah Quarters | 27 ft |
| 12 | Hunter Golf Club | 23 ft |
| 12 | Savannah Country Club | 23 ft |
| 14 | The Savannah Golf Club | 22 ft |
| 15 | Championship Course at Crosswinds Golf Club | 21 ft |
| 16 | La Vida Country Club | 18 ft |
| 16 | Mary Calder Golf Club | 18 ft |
| 16 | Southbridge Savannah Golf Club | 18 ft |
| 19 | The Landings Club Palmetto Course | 15 ft |
| 20 | The Club at Savannah Harbor | 14 ft |
| 20 | The Ford Field River Club | 14 ft |
| 20 | The Landings Club Magnolia Course | 14 ft |
| 20 | The Landings Club Marshwood Course | 14 ft |
| 20 | The Landings Club Terrapin Point Course | 14 ft |
| 20 | The Landings Golf Club Trestle Bluff | 14 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.