The greatest resort courses are the ones a traveling golfer crosses oceans to play, where the round is the reason for the trip and the stay is built around the golf. From the clifftops of Pebble Beach to the dunes of Bandon, Cabot and Tasmania, here are the eight resort courses we rate highest in the world, ranked, with our verdict on each and how to get on.
Photograph: Pebble Beach Golf Links, via Google.
A resort course is a different thing from a great private club. It has to be open to the traveling golfer, good enough to anchor a trip, and set somewhere worth flying to. The best of them combine all three: a layout that ranks with the finest courses anywhere, a setting that takes your breath the first time you see it, and a resort that makes the whole pilgrimage easy, from the room to the caddie to the second and third rounds. That is a rare combination, and only a handful of places in the world pull it off at the very top level.
We weighed design quality, setting, conditioning and the strength of the wider resort, and we leaned toward courses that reward the long journey with golf you will remember for life. This is a deliberately tight eight, the names we would send a golfer to first, drawn from the coasts of America, Canada, the Dominican Republic, New Zealand and Australia. Every fact here, from designers to host championships, was checked at the time of writing. The order is our editors' view, and if you want any of these built into a costed bucket list trip with the right stay and tee times, that is exactly what our concierge does.
Reviewed June 2026 by the GolfForKings editorial desk. Course facts verified at publication. How we research and review.
The most famous resort course on earth, and the standard everything else is measured against. Pebble Beach runs along the cliffs of Carmel Bay on the Monterey Peninsula, with a closing stretch from the par 3 seventh to the oceanfront eighteenth that may be the most photographed golf in the world. It has hosted multiple U.S. Opens and remains a public, pay to play course at the heart of a resort. Expensive, busy and worth every cent at least once in a golfing life.
The course that confirmed Bandon Dunes as the great American links resort. Tom Doak's Pacific Dunes runs along the Oregon coast on huge, natural dunes, a wild, walking only links that is routinely rated the best modern course in the country and frequently the best at a resort that also holds Bandon Dunes, Old Macdonald and Bandon Trails. No carts, no houses, no shortcuts, just firm turf, ocean wind and four world class courses inside one fence. The purest golf trip in North America.
The headline course at Cabot Cape Breton and one of the most spectacular builds of the modern era. Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw routed Cabot Cliffs along the cliffs above the Gulf of St. Lawrence, with a run of holes on the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth that hang over the ocean. Paired with the links of Cabot Links next door, it gives Canada a two course resort that sits comfortably in the world top 100, in a remote, beautiful corner of Nova Scotia worth the journey.
The strategic masterpiece of the American sandhills and the cornerstone of the country's greatest golf resort. Donald Ross's No. 2, restored to its sandy, natural character by Coore and Crenshaw, is defined by its crowned, turtleback greens that repel anything less than a precise approach. A multiple U.S. Open venue and a permanent anchor site for the championship, it sits within a resort of nine courses, the deepest single site golf trip in the United States.
Golf on the edge of the world. Tom Doak built Cape Kidnappers on fingers of farmland that run out to cliffs falling more than a hundred meters to the sea on New Zealand's North Island, a setting so dramatic it barely seems real. The lodge above it is one of the finest in golf, and a pairing with Kauri Cliffs further north makes for a bucket list New Zealand trip. Remote, costly and utterly singular, it rewards the long flight like few courses can.
The course that put Australian links golf on the world map. Tom Doak and Mike Clayton laid Barnbougle Dunes through tumbling coastal dunes on the remote north coast of Tasmania, a fast, firm, fun links that plays differently with every shift of the wind. Paired with its sister course Lost Farm, it gives Tasmania a two course dunes resort rated among the best in the world, in a wild, far flung setting that has become a pilgrimage for links lovers.
Proof that Florida can do rugged, walkable golf. Streamsong rose from a reclaimed phosphate mine whose huge sand tailings settled into genuine dunes, and the Red course by Coore and Crenshaw uses them to brilliant effect, all width, angles and bold greens. With the Blue by Tom Doak and the Black by Gil Hanse alongside, Streamsong is a three course destination resort within easy reach of Tampa and Orlando, a links style escape in the most unlikely of states.
The Caribbean's greatest course and the original tropical resort masterpiece. Pete Dye carved Teeth of the Dog out of coral rock on the southern coast of the Dominican Republic in 1971, with seven holes hard on the sea and a name drawn from the jagged reef that lines them. It anchors Casa de Campo, a sprawling resort that also holds Dye Fore and The Links, and remains the bar for ocean resort golf in the Americas, a warm weather bucket list round all year round.
Designers, host championships and openings verified June 2026 from the courses and recognized rankings. Pebble Beach has hosted multiple U.S. Opens; Pacific Dunes, Cape Kidnappers and Barnbougle Dunes are Tom Doak designs; Cabot Cliffs and Streamsong Red are by Coore and Crenshaw; Teeth of the Dog is a 1971 Pete Dye design. Always confirm access and fees directly before booking. Check tee time availability.
These are bucket list rounds, and the access rules reward planning. Almost all of them sell their best tee times and rates to resort guests, so the route in is to stay on site, and the marquee names book out months ahead in peak season. Caddies and walking are part of the culture at the links resorts, carts more common in the tropics. Below is an indicative guide to peak season resort guest green fees, useful for budgeting a trip, though rates move with season, guest status and package.
| Course | Where | Indicative green fee |
|---|---|---|
| Pebble Beach | California, USA | Around $700 |
| Pacific Dunes | Oregon, USA | $300 to $400 (resort guest) |
| Cabot Cliffs | Nova Scotia, Canada | From around CA$400 |
| Pinehurst No. 2 | North Carolina, USA | $500 plus (resort guest) |
| Teeth of the Dog | Dominican Republic | $300 to $400 (resort guest) |
Indicative 2026 peak season resort guest fees; figures change by season, guest status and package and several courses are best accessed as part of a stay. Always confirm current rates and tee time availability directly before booking.
Pebble Beach and the Monterey Peninsula, the dunes of Bandon, a Cabot or Cape Kidnappers pilgrimage, or a tour that strings several together. Tell us which courses are on your list and roughly when, and one concierge arranges the stay, the tee times and the order of play, and costs it to the head, with no obligation.
Pebble Beach Golf Links on California's Monterey Peninsula is the most celebrated resort course in the world, a clifftop public layout that has hosted multiple U.S. Opens and routinely tops resort and public course rankings. Its closest rivals are the dune courses of Bandon Dunes in Oregon, led by Pacific Dunes, and Cabot Cliffs in Nova Scotia.
Bandon Dunes in Oregon and Pinehurst in North Carolina have the deepest sets of highly ranked courses, with Bandon's Pacific Dunes, Bandon Dunes, Old Macdonald and Bandon Trails and Pinehurst's No. 2 and No. 4 all rated among the best public golf anywhere. Cabot, Streamsong, Sand Valley and Barnbougle each hold multiple world top 100 courses too.
Yes, all of these are resort or public courses open to visitors, though most ask you to stay at the resort to secure the best tee times and rates, and the marquee names book out months ahead in peak season. A concierge can arrange the stay, the tee times and the order of play.
Indicative 2026 peak season green fees for resort guests run from around 200 dollars at the value end to roughly 700 dollars at Pebble Beach, with Bandon Dunes, Pinehurst and Cabot in the hundreds per round. Rates vary by season, guest status and package. Always confirm directly before booking.
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Researched and written by the GolfForKings editorial desk. Course designers, host championships and details verified June 2026; indicative green fees for the 2026 season. Last reviewed June 2026.