The Best Golf Courses in Sao Paulo
Brazilian golf was born here. British railway men founded the Sao Paulo Golf Club in 1901, Stanley Thompson reworked its Santo Amaro course in the 1930s, and a century of quiet club golf has spread from the city's reservoirs out to the weekend country around Itu and Braganca Paulista. Almost all of it is private, and we tell you plainly what a visitor can and cannot arrange. Here are the nine courses that matter, ranked, with our verdict and a realistic route onto each.
Photograph: São Paulo Golf Club, via Google
How we chose
This list was researched, debated and written by the GolfForKings editorial desk, and every designer, founding year and yardage on it was checked in June 2026. We weighed design pedigree first, then conditioning, championship standing and the pleasure of the day, and we kept the list to courses within practical reach of the city: the historic clubs inside the metropolis, the championship belt in the western suburbs at Cotia and Osasco, and the gated weekend country an hour or so out at Itu, Itupeva and Braganca Paulista, where much of the best modern work in Brazil has been built.
Access is the honest part. Sao Paulo is club golf, not resort golf: nearly every course here is a private members club where play runs through a member, a reciprocal arrangement with your home club, a partner hotel or a specialist operator, and most publish no walk in green fee, so we will not invent one. The two realistic self serve options are Guarapiranga Golf and Country Club, which receives visiting golfers with a handicap card on weekdays, and the federation's public Honda FPG Center by Congonhas airport. Fees that do exist move with the Brazilian real, so always confirm directly before booking. Golf runs year round; the drier months from April to September are the most reliable, while summer brings afternoon storms.
The nine best, ranked
Sao Paulo Golf Club
The cradle of Brazilian golf and still its most storied address. Founded in 1901 by the city's British railway and merchant community, whose first clubhouse hill is still called Morro dos Ingleses, the club settled on its Santo Amaro property and had its course reworked in the 1930s by the great Canadian architect Stanley Thompson, working with club professional Jose Maria Gonzalez, who converted the old sand greens to grass. The result is intimate, tree lined parkland inside the city limits that has received Arnold Palmer, Sam Snead and Padraig Harrington and hosted national championships. Our verdict: the one round in Sao Paulo worth real effort. Private; guests play with members or through partner hotel arrangements, so start early.
Access: by introduction or partner hotel. Ask our concierge.
Sao Fernando Golf Club
The championship test. Luther Koontz, the American who shaped much of South America's golden age golf, designed the original nine at Sao Fernando in 1958, and a second nine completed the course in 1969 in the wooded hills near Cotia on the city's western edge. At 7,031 yards, par 71, with ten lakes threaded through doglegs in both directions, it is widely held among the strongest and best conditioned courses in Brazil and a regular stage for the country's biggest tournaments. Our verdict: the purest examination on this list, the round to find out whether your game travels. Strictly private, with play by introduction through a member or a well briefed operator.
Access: by introduction. Ask our concierge.
Fazenda da Grama Country and Golf Club
The best modern course within reach of the city. Brian Costello of the JMP Golf Design Group built Fazenda da Grama in 2006 across rolling farm country at Itupeva, about an hour northwest, and at 7,147 yards, par 71, with four par 5 holes on the card, it is contemporary championship golf of genuine international standard, regularly placed near the top of Brazilian course rankings. The setting is a manicured residential estate, which is both the charm and the catch: the golf belongs to the community. Our verdict: if one modern course justifies leaving the city, this is it. Access runs through a resident, a member or an operator with standing, arranged before you fly.
Access: through a member or operator. Ask our concierge.
Quinta da Baroneza Golfe Clube
The weekend estate course of Sao Paulo money, and a seriously good one. Dan Blankenship, the American architect behind much of Brazil's best modern golf, drew 18 holes of par 72 across the old baroness's farmland at Braganca Paulista, working open, links inspired contours into a property of more than 800,000 square meters inside one of the most exclusive gated communities in the state. The turf is broad and firm, the bunkering bold, and the country quiet in a way the city never is. Our verdict: the most beautiful drive to golf on this list and the closest Brazil comes to estate golf in the grand manner. Strictly residents and their guests; an introduction is essential.
Access: residents and guests only. Ask our concierge.
Terras de Sao Jose Golfe Clube
The water course. Founded in 1977 at Itu, an hour west of the city, Terras de Sao Jose was laid out by Emilio Serra and the Brazilian champion Ricardo Rossi, and water defines the round: seven holes demand a committed carry, the renovated fourteenth plays to an island green, and the eighteenth threads between two ponds. Golf Digest has twice voted it among the ten best courses in Brazil, and the mature, easy walking parkland inside this pioneering country condominium makes a persuasive case for the ranking. Our verdict: the most fun day of golf in the interior, provided your ball flight cooperates. Private to the community; play comes through a resident, a member or an operator introduction.
Access: through a member or operator. Ask our concierge.
Guarapiranga Golf and Country Club
The visitor's course. Guarapiranga is the one full size course near the city that receives traveling golfers on something like normal terms: visitors with a valid handicap card or certificate can arrange play from Tuesday to Friday, and on Saturdays guests play with members. The course itself earns the trip, 6,591 yards of par 71 in green hill country south of the city, opening with a brute of a 605 yard par 5 third over cross bunkers and turning on the all water par 3 thirteenth. There is a pool, a restaurant and, this being Sao Paulo, a helipad. Our verdict: book it first and build the rest of the golf around it. Fees are not published; confirm rates and tee times directly with the club.
Access: visitors Tuesday to Friday with handicap card. Check tee times.
PL Golf Club
The big one. Founded by the Japanese Brazilian community of the Perfect Liberty movement and opened in 1975 at Aruja, northeast of the city, PL is one of the largest golf properties in the state: 27 holes in three loops named Glory, Lily and Pansy, played in rotating 18 hole combinations. Glory runs over flatter ground while Lily and Pansy climb and tumble through proper hill country, so the pairings give genuinely different days, and the scale of the place means the tee sheet breathes more easily than at the city clubs. Our verdict: the best volume of golf in greater Sao Paulo and a fascinating piece of the city's Japanese heritage. Private; play is by introduction or accompanied guest invitation.
Access: by introduction. Ask our concierge.
Clube de Campo de Sao Paulo
The secret garden. Founded in 1937, with the course in play today dating from 1958, Clube de Campo de Sao Paulo routes its fairways through more than 270 acres of Atlantic rainforest on the edge of the Guarapiranga reservoir, and the views across the water are the best on this list. The golf is sneaky rather than long, a little over 6,200 yards of narrow, tree walled corridors to small greens where the driver stays in the bag and precision scores. Jose Maria Gonzalez, the godfather of Brazilian course design, was among the hands that shaped it. Our verdict: the most atmospheric walk in Sao Paulo golf. A private members club; come as a member's guest or through a reciprocal arrangement.
Access: by introduction or reciprocal. Ask our concierge.
Honda FPG Center
The open door. Run by the Paulista golf federation in the Jabaquara district beside the runways of Congonhas airport, the Honda FPG Center is the city's genuinely public golf: a nine hole pitch and putt course, a two tier driving range, a putting green and short game area, and floodlights that keep it all running after dark, with a bar and restaurant attached. Nobody flies to Brazil for it, and that is not the point: it is where you loosen up after the overnight flight, keep the swing alive between club introductions, or hand a beginner their first scorecard. Our verdict: the easiest golf in Sao Paulo and the cheapest, with no membership required. Fees are modest and change with inflation; confirm with the center.
Access: public; turn up or call ahead. Check tee times.
Designers, founding years and yardages verified June 2026 by the GolfForKings editorial desk from club, federation and course directory sources. Most of these are private members clubs that publish no visitor green fee, and prices in Brazil move with the real; always confirm access and rates directly before booking.
Plan a Sao Paulo golf trip
Tell us roughly when and who is traveling. One concierge works the introductions to the private clubs, books Guarapiranga and the public golf around them, pairs it all with the right hotel and the city's absurdly good restaurants, and prices the trip honestly, including whether Rio or Iguassu deserves a second leg. We reply within one working day, with no obligation.
Building the trip
Give the city four or five nights and base yourself once: the historic clubs and Guarapiranga sit in the southern districts within 40 minutes of the Jardins hotels, the western suburbs are half an hour beyond, and the estate courses at Itu, Itupeva and Braganca Paulista are an hour out, weekend country best played midweek when the residents are back at work. The drier season from April to September is the smart window, with mild days and far fewer storm interruptions. The wider country rewards ambition, with Rio de Janeiro's storied Gavea and the resort coasts of Bahia covered in our ranking of the best golf courses in Brazil and our Brazil destination guide. Pair the trip with a hop south using our list of the best golf courses in Buenos Aires and the best courses in Argentina, with the groundwork in our Argentina and Chile guides, or weigh Sao Paulo against its rivals in the best city break golf destinations. When you are ready, plan my trip puts the whole thing in one brief.
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Researched and written by the GolfForKings editorial desk. Courses, designers and access verified June 2026. Last reviewed June 2026. See how we rank.