An island concentrates everything a golf trip wants: coastline on every side, a sense of escape, and courses that run to the water's edge because there is nowhere else for them to go. Here are the ten golf islands we rate most highly, ranked, with our verdict and the courses to build a trip around.
Photograph: Cabot Cape Breton, Cabot Cape Breton, via Google
The best golf islands share a quality the mainland struggles to match: golf and the sea are inseparable. On Cape Breton and King Island, modern links run along clifftops with ocean in view on every hole. On Hilton Head and Kiawah, the American resort island reached its peak. And from Bermuda to Mauritius to Jeju, golf is part of a wider luxury escape where the round is only half the appeal.
We ranked these on the strength and depth of their golf, the setting and the ease of building a trip, and we noted access plainly, because the courses here are overwhelmingly resort or daily fee layouts you can book. Every fact here, from designers and opening years to tournament history, was checked at the time of writing. Green fees move with the season and are best treated as indicative. The verdicts are ours, and our concierge will turn any of these islands into a costed trip.
The modern links pilgrimage. On the Gulf of St Lawrence, Cabot grew from Rod Whitman's Cabot Links into a destination resort with Cabot Cliffs, the Coore and Crenshaw masterpiece whose clifftop par 3 16th is one of the most photographed holes on earth. Walking, ocean everywhere, and among the finest new golf anywhere. Open to resort guests.
A windswept speck in the Bass Strait that holds two of the world's great new links. Cape Wickham, by Mike DeVries and Darius Oliver, wraps around a lighthouse with ocean views from every hole, and Ocean Dunes answers across the water. Remote, raw and unforgettable, it pairs with Tasmania's Barnbougle. Open to visitors.
The American resort island that defined the genre. Pete Dye, with a young Jack Nicklaus, built Harbour Town in 1969 among the live oaks and marsh of Sea Pines, its red and white lighthouse 18th a tour fixture as host of the RBC Heritage. Dozens of courses, miles of beach and an easy, gracious pace. Open to resort guests.
Ten miles of barrier island south of Charleston, anchored by Pete and Alice Dye's Ocean Course, a brutal seaside test that has hosted a Ryder Cup and two PGA Championships. Cassique, Osprey Point and three more courses round out one of the finest single island golf menus in America. Open to resort guests at a premium.
The most complete golf island in Hawaii. The Plantation Course at Kapalua, by Coore and Crenshaw, opens the PGA Tour season each January with its vast, downhill, downwind 18th, and Wailea's three courses spread along the sunnier south shore. Volcanic backdrops, whales offshore and resort polish throughout. Open to resort guests.
A coral island where the golf clings to clifftops above impossibly blue water. Port Royal's clifftop par 3 16th has hosted the PGA Tour, while Charles Blair Macdonald's 1921 Mid Ocean remains one of the great older designs in the hemisphere. Compact, mild and reachable, with a string of seaside courses. Open to visitors.
The Indian Ocean's luxury golf island. Constance Belle Mare Plage, Heritage Le Chateau, Ernie Els's course at Four Seasons Anahita and Bernhard Langer's island layout at Ile aux Cerfs combine championship golf with some of the finest beach resorts on the planet. Warm year round, with golf and lagoon in equal measure. Open to resort guests.
Korea's volcanic golf island, where high end clubs sit on the wooded slopes of Mount Halla. The Club at Nine Bridges has hosted the PGA Tour's CJ Cup, and Pinx and other private clubs offer cool, immaculate, atmospheric golf amid lava stone and pine. A polished, distinctive escape. Mostly private, with member or package access.
The Mediterranean's most glamorous golf island. Robert Trent Jones Sr carved Pevero into the granite and macchia of the Costa Smeralda in 1972, threading holes between two bays, and Is Molas in the south adds championship pedigree. Pair the golf with the yacht harbors and beaches of Porto Cervo. Open to visitors, with resort hotels.
The Andaman's golf island, where former tin mines became dramatic courses. Blue Canyon's Canyon Course, won by Tiger Woods, and the bold Red Mountain anchor a cluster paired with Phuket's beach resorts and spas. Warm, lush and easy to combine with the rest of Thailand. Open to visitors.
Designers, opening years and tournament history verified June 2026. The courses on these islands are overwhelmingly resort or daily fee layouts open to visitors, with Jeju's clubs more often private. Green fees move with the season and are indicative only. Always confirm tee times and access directly before booking.
Tell us which island, or which ocean, calls to you and roughly when. One concierge costs the whole trip to the head, golf, flights and the right resort, and replies within one working day, with no obligation.
For the strength of its golf and setting, Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia is our pick, home to Cabot Links and the Coore and Crenshaw masterpiece Cabot Cliffs. Australia's King Island, with Cape Wickham and Ocean Dunes, and the American resort islands of Hilton Head and Kiawah lead a deep field of seaside golf.
Almost all of them, yes. The golf on Cape Breton, King Island, Hilton Head, Kiawah, Maui, Bermuda, Mauritius, Sardinia and Phuket is resort or daily fee and open to visitors, though premium islands command premium green fees. Jeju's leading clubs are more often private. Always confirm tee times and fees directly before booking.
Island tee time windows, new course openings and the seaside trips our concierge is quietly building. Every other week.