The recently built Ladera Golf Club in the Coachella Valley.
CHANNING BENJAMIN
The last of GOLF Top 100 courses in the USA. ranking is out, and if you want to play them all, join the club. Literally. While some courses on the list are open to the public, most are private, some more than others. Which ones are the hardest to access? We compiled a ranking within a ranking: the 14 most exclusive clubs in our new Top 100 list.
(This is an updated version of a story that originally appeared in 2019.)
Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, GAa.
Ranking: 6
Hello friends. Please enjoy our broadcast with minimal commercial interruptions. Marvel at the blushing colors of magnolias and dogwoods as you enjoy the soothing melody of birdsong. By Sunday evening, you’ll swear you’re familiar with its every nook and cranny Alister Mackenzie’s the most famous course, which is nice, because if you don’t have it Jimmy Dunne OR Peyton Manning on speed dial, playing yourself is about as likely as another albatross on the 15th.
Chicago Golf Club, Wheaton, Ill.
Ranking: 12
If you’re the kind of golfer who insists on valet service and a warm, fuzzy welcome at bag drop, this historic club is not the place for you. One of the five founding member clubs of United States Golf Associationwhich was established in 1894, Chicago has just over 100 members. If one of them invites you for a ride in this CB Macdonald-designed beauty, you’ll be asked not to set foot on the ground until they arrive and steal your feet once they leave.
Crystal Downs Country Club, Frankfort, Mich.
Ranking: 23
When architecture buffs start learning about Alister Mackenzie’s state masterpieces, they’re sure to come to this northern Michigan treasure, which lacks the coastal glitz of Cypress Point and the institutionalized fame of Augusta National, but which is, in many ways . eyes, as good as either of them. However, talking about a course is one thing. Playing is different. While the atmosphere at Crystal Downs is not stuffy, this clubhouse policy is strict: absolutely no unaccompanied games.
Cypress Point Golf Club, Monterey, California.
Ranking: 2
“One year they had a big membership drive in Cypress,” Bob Hope once quipped of the club he belonged to. “They expelled 40 members.” What remains today is a list of about 250 that have ready access to coastal areas that could pass for a National Park.
Garden City Golf Club, Garden City, NY
Ranking: 28
What’s in a name? Home to a sublime Devereux Emmet design, this hushed club was originally known as the Garden City Men’s Club, a name that excluded more than half the human population. These days, women have limited access. The same goes for the rest of us.
Fishers Island Club, Fishers Island, NY
Ranking: 11
An island both literally and metaphorically, this Seth Raynor design sits in the Atlantic on the eastern tip of Long Island, accessible only by boat or private plane and well beyond the reach of ordinary people. The money here is so old you can carbon date it, and it doesn’t like to draw attention to itself. In 1979, when GOLF included Fishers Island in its inaugural ranking of the world’s greatest courses, a club representative sent a letter to the editor: thanks for the nod, it read. Now, please remove us from your list.
LC Lambrecht
Ladera, Thermal, California.
Rank: 87
The Coachella Valley is famous for its annual music festival, but recording industry mogul Irving Azoff had something else in mind when he commissioned Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner to build a course along the base of the Santa Rosa Mountains. Specifically, what he wanted was a private retreat for a small membership of friends, colleagues and clients, with initiation fees that are off the charts.
Nanea Golf Club, The Big Island, Hawaii
Rank: 83
Nanea is not Hawaiian for “nunya business”. But it might as well be. Founded by Charles Schwab and supermarket tycoon George Roberts, this cheaply rich club has been described as a tropical Augusta: a publicity-shy, palm-fringed oasis for the rich and their lucky friends.
Ohoopee Match Club, Cobbtown, Ga.
Ranking: 44
At this rural hideaway, designed by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner for tech entrepreneur Michael Walrath, rate means so little it’s not even listed on the scoreboard. The only thing that matters is how you outplay your opponent. Okay, it also matters if you know a member, which is hard. There are less than 100.
Old Elm, Highland Park, Ill.
Rank: 94
This club on the north side of Chicago is limited to about 200 members, all men, many of them CEOs, a good number of whom also belong to Augusta National. Get the picture? We will outline it more clearly. Along with the Chicago Golf Club, it’s about as tough a time as it gets in the Midwest.
Pine Valley Golf Club, Pine Valley, NJ
Ranking: 1
One is the loneliest number. And if you’re hoping to play the course ranked no. 1 in the US (and the world), there’s a good chance you’re feeling left out. It’s not that Pine Valley has a small membership (its ranks are relatively large compared to those of other high-prestige clubs). It is that many of those members do not live in the area and unaccompanied play is not allowed.
LC Lambrecht
Seminole Golf Club, Juno Beach, Fla.
Ranking: 17
To get a feel for life in Seminole, imagine your standard Florida gated golf community, with a spectacular clubhouse, multiple cash members, fountain ponds and cart-riding golf carts everywhere you turn. Now imagine the opposite. “If I were a young guy going on the pro tour, I’d try to make arrangements to ride Seminole,” Ben Hogan once said of this Donald Ross design. Sound advice. Then again, Hogan made a lot of things look easier than they really are.
Sand Hills Golf Club, Mullen, Neb.
Ranking: 7
Drive deep into the cornfields of Nebraska, then drive a little farther and continue until the crops and pastures give way to a rolling landscape. When you arrive on the grounds of this intensely private club, home to a Bill Coore-Ben Crenshaw stunner that Mike Keizer credits as the original great “distance” course, you’ll realize your mistake: everyone else arrived by private jet.
Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, Southhampton, NY
Ranking: 3
Founded in 1891, Shinnecock has a long history but a short list of members that includes such greats as Michael Bloomberg and Charles Schwab. Its brilliant William Flynn design has hosted five US Opens, but don’t let that fool you. Otherwise, this club is largely self-contained.
