The longest 27-hole-or-larger facility in the country is Dye Course at Pga Golf Club (FL), at 7,221 yards — ahead of Pine at Mccormick Ranch Golf Club (AZ) at 7,187 yards and Santa Ana Country Club (CA) at 7,065 yards.
All 40 27-hole-or-larger facilities with a published scorecard are ranked below, along with 5 more lists: toughest test, hardest from the tips, widest tee spread, oldest, highest above sea level.
Facilities whose record covers 27 holes or more — usually three or four nines played in combination. Their published figures describe the facility rather than one routing, so they are compared only with each other.
Each list counts only the courses that publish that figure, so the totals differ between them. Slope and course rating measure difficulty, not quality. How this is worked out.
How many holes
The hole count each facility publishes on its own record. A facility's figures describe the whole site rather than one routing, which is why these are ranked only against each other.
| Holes | 27-hole-or-larger facilities | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27 holes | 40 | 95.2% | |
| 30 holes | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 36 holes | 1 | 2.4% |
Who runs them
The same 42 27-hole-or-larger facilities by the access type each record publishes — never guessed from a name or a fee. Courses that publish no type keep their own row.
| Access type | 27-hole-or-larger facilities | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public | 18 | 42.9% | |
| Private | 16 | 38.1% | |
| Semi-private | 5 | 11.9% | |
| Access not stated | 3 | 7.1% |
Longest
— the top 25 of 40 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.
Toughest test
— the top 25 of 26 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
— all 19 courses with a USGA course rating for its men’s tees
| # | Course | State | Hardest from the tips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dye Course at Pga Golf Club | FL | rating 75.7 |
| 2 | Blue Red at Valley Brook Country Club | PA | rating 75.0 |
| 3 | Gold Blue at Valley Brook Country Club | PA | rating 74.6 |
| 3 | Red Gold at Valley Brook Country Club | PA | rating 74.6 |
| 5 | Pine at Mccormick Ranch Golf Club | AZ | rating 74.3 |
| 6 | Lakewood Country Club | OH | rating 74.1 |
| 6 | Santa Ana Country Club | CA | rating 74.1 |
| 8 | Eagle Hill Golf Athletic Club | AR | rating 73.8 |
| 9 | Hillcrest Country Club | CA | rating 73.4 |
| 10 | Monarch Dunes Golf Club The Old Course | CA | rating 73.3 |
| 11 | Blue White at Sugar Mill Country Club | FL | rating 73.2 |
| 11 | Ryder Course at Pga Golf Club | FL | rating 73.2 |
| 13 | Red Blue at Sugar Mill Country Club | FL | rating 73.0 |
| 14 | The Quechee Club Highland Course | VT | rating 72.6 |
| 15 | Olde Page at Page Belcher Golf Course | OK | rating 72.5 |
| 16 | Menlo Country Club | CA | rating 70.8 |
| 17 | Highland Country Club | KY | rating 70.4 |
| 18 | Lester Park Golf Course | MN | rating 68.4 |
| 19 | Hurstbourne Country Club | KY | rating 30.5 |
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.
Widest tee spread
— the top 25 of 39 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
— the top 25 of 40 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 42 courses with a coordinate we could sample
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.
When they opened
Opening year by decade, where the record carries one — 40 of the 42 in this cut. 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.
| Decade opened | 27-hole-or-larger facilities | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1890s | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 1900s | 0 | 0.0% | |
| 1910s | 3 | 7.5% | |
| 1920s | 5 | 12.5% | |
| 1930s | 0 | 0.0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0.0% | |
| 1950s | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 1960s | 5 | 12.5% | |
| 1970s | 5 | 12.5% | |
| 1980s | 4 | 10.0% | |
| 1990s | 8 | 20.0% | |
| 2000s | 7 | 17.5% | |
| 2010s | 0 | 0.0% | |
| 2020s | 1 | 2.5% |
Where they are
The 12 states with the most, of 19 that have at least one. Each links to that state's own page, where its courses are ranked against the rest of the state rather than against this cut.
| State | 27-hole-or-larger facilities | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 7 | 16.7% | |
| Florida | 6 | 14.3% | |
| Pennsylvania | 4 | 9.5% | |
| Colorado | 3 | 7.1% | |
| Arkansas | 2 | 4.8% | |
| Connecticut | 2 | 4.8% | |
| Indiana | 2 | 4.8% | |
| Kentucky | 2 | 4.8% | |
| Michigan | 2 | 4.8% | |
| North Carolina | 2 | 4.8% | |
| Washington | 2 | 4.8% | |
| Arizona | 1 | 2.4% |
7 more states have at least one and are not shown here. Every one of them is in the course search.