The Best Golf Courses in Rhodes
Let us save you a search: Rhodes has exactly one golf course. Donald Harradine laid out 18 holes beside the beach at Afandou in 1973, and half a century on it remains the island's only full course, a long par 73 that golfers either embrace for its honesty or skip for its conditioning. So this is the shortest ranking we publish, and one of the most candid. We tell you precisely what Afandou is, whether it deserves space in your luggage, and where Greek golf gets serious once the island has given you its one round.
Photograph: Afandou Golf Course, by Matjaz Podborsek, via Google
How we chose
This list was researched and written by the GolfForKings editorial desk, and the designer, opening year and current state of play were checked in June 2026. Our rule for a ranking is simple: an entry must be a full length course you can actually play. Rhodes has driving nets, hotel pitch and putt greens and a healthy supply of mini golf along the resort strips, and none of it qualifies. That leaves Afandou Golf Course, alone, which is why this page carries one ranked entry rather than eight padded ones. We would rather publish an honest short list than invent a long one, and we say plainly below when Rhodes works as a golf trip and when it does not.
Access, at least, is refreshingly simple. Afandou is a public, pay and play course with rental sets available, no membership required and no introductions to engineer, a rarity in a country where the best golf clusters around a handful of resorts. Published fees have historically been modest by European standards, but pricing on the island has moved around in recent seasons, so treat any number you find online as indicative and always confirm directly with the club before booking. The season is year round; spring and autumn are glorious, while July and August ask for a dawn tee time and a respectful supply of water.
The ranking, in full
Afandou Golf Course
The only course on Rhodes, and a genuine period piece. Donald Harradine, the prolific British architect who built courses across postwar Europe from his Swiss base, routed 18 flat, walkable holes between the road and the beach at Afandou Bay, roughly halfway down the east coast between Rhodes town and Lindos. The bones are honest Harradine: a long par 73, straightforward strategy, sea air on every hole. The caveat is conditioning, which has always tracked the island's water supply; visitors in 2025 reported fairways and greens in better shape than the course's rough reputation suggests, but come expecting rustic charm rather than resort gloss, and a welcome from the staff that most polished clubs would envy. Our verdict: not worth a flight on its own, absolutely worth a morning if you are already here.
Access: public, rental clubs available; fees are modest but confirm with the club. Check tee times.
Designer, opening year and course details verified June 2026 by the GolfForKings editorial desk from club and golf guide sources. Green fees on Rhodes are not consistently published and have varied in recent seasons; always confirm rates and availability directly with the club before booking.
Where the golf gets serious nearby
Nobody should pretend Rhodes is a golf destination, so here is what the golfers who love the island actually do. The closest real step up is the best golf in Greece itself: The Crete Golf Club at Hersonissos, a dramatic desert style course designed by Bob Hunt and opened in 2003 in the hills above the north coast of Crete, is the strongest course in the Greek islands and an easy pairing with a Dodecanese holiday in summer, when island connections run. On the mainland, Costa Navarino in Messinia has grown into Greece's one true multi course golf resort, led by the Bernhard Langer designed Dunes Course that opened in 2010 and joined by layouts like the Bay Course; our Greece destination guide maps the whole picture.
Look at a map, though, and two non Greek answers sit even closer. Belek, on the Turkish coast across the water, holds one of the densest collections of championship resort golf in Europe, covered in our ranking of the best courses in Belek and Antalya. And Cyprus, a short hop southeast, offers a compact circuit of modern courses built for traveling golfers; start with our Cyprus destination guide and the best courses in Cyprus. The honest framing is this: Rhodes is a beach, history and family island where one pleasant round slots into the middle of the week. If golf is the point of the trip, fly to Crete, Costa Navarino, Belek or Cyprus and let Rhodes be the holiday it actually is.
Plan a Greek islands golf trip
Tell us roughly when and who is traveling. One concierge books your Afandou round, weighs Rhodes against Crete, Costa Navarino and Cyprus for the golf that matters, pairs it all with the right hotels and ferries, and prices the trip honestly. We reply within one working day, with no obligation.
Building the trip
Treat the golf as seasoning rather than the meal. A week on Rhodes splits naturally between the old town, the east coast beaches and a day at Lindos, and Afandou sits conveniently in the middle of all of it, 20 minutes from Rhodes town, so a single morning round costs the holiday nothing. Golfers who want more should think in pairings: our Greece golf holidays page covers how Crete and Costa Navarino combine with island time, our Cyprus golf holidays page does the same for the island next door, and our ranking of the best golf islands in the world puts the whole Mediterranean in context. When you are ready, plan my trip puts the whole thing in one brief.
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Tee time releases, access changes and the booking windows worth moving on first. Every other week.
Researched and written by the GolfForKings editorial desk. Course, designer and access details verified June 2026. Last reviewed: June 2026. See how we rank.