The best golf courses in Virginia

As part of GOLF’s rigorous assessment process for our newcomers Top 100 courses in the USA AND The best 100 courses you can play ranking, our fleet of 100-plus expert panelists identified the best golf courses in each state.

You can check out the links below to browse all of our course rankings, or scroll down to see the best courses in Virginia. And if you’re looking to create your future ride, you’d be wise to let the new GOLF Course finder the tool helps you. Here, you can edit all of our lists—top 100 publics, best munis, best short courses, best par-3s, and more—or filter by price to create your own itinerary. perfect for your next trip.

Ranking of other GOLF courses: Top 100 courses in the world | Top 100 courses in the USA | The best 100 courses you can play | The 100 most valuable courses in the USA | America’s Best Municipal Courses | The 100 best short courses in the world

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Best Golf Courses in Virginia (2024/2025)

SYMBOL GUIDE
# = Top 100 courses in the USA
Y = Top 100 you can play in USA
V = The 100 most valuable courses in the USA
P = Public/Resort

Ed. Note: Some subjects were removed from our ranking because they did not receive enough votes.

1. Omni Homestead – Cascades (Hot Springs) (Y, P)

A William Flynn masterpiece in the heart of Virginia’s Allegheny Mountains, Cascades features rolling terrain and strategic bunkering. Legend has it that AW Tillinghast and Seth Raynor moved on to the challenging site before the then little-known Flynn accepted the design job. He had to dynamite through limestone to find some of the freeways, but in 12 months he carved one of America’s best mountain trails. Young Sam Snead improved his game here and once said that if he could only play one course, Cascades would be it. Its remote location makes it a difficult road to reach, but for fans of Slammin’ Sammy and Golden Age architecture, it’s a must-see.

2. Robert Trent Jones GC (Gainesville)

3. Kinloch (Manakin Sabot)

4. Farmington CC (Charlottesville)

5. Olde Farm (Bristol)

6. Virginia CC – James River (Richmond)

7. The Foundry (Powhatan)

8. Primland (Meadows of Dan) (Y,P)

When oil billionaire Didier Primat bought 12,000 acres in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, he could never have imagined the course that would be built here. British architect Donald Steele and associate Martin Ebert laid out 18 brilliant holes with the help of ingenuity and dynamite, shaping the hilly terrain to their creative will. Among the most memorable holes is the par-5 opener, with Dan Peaks serving as a backdrop. Deep ravines follow the edge of the property and rock outcroppings bring intrigue to the design. The open-faced greens welcome more than just an aerial game.

9. Ballyhack (Roanoke)

10. Keswick Hall – Full Cry (Keswick) (Y,P)

The course’s architectural identity has changed three times since its inception in 1949, with an original design by Fred Findlay and a redesign by Arnold Palmer in the early 1990s. In 2014, another firm with a heralded pedigree would place fingerprint on property: Pete and Alice Dye. The course features classic Dye elements, including railroad ties and penal bunkering, but you wouldn’t characterize it as “Dye-abolical.” The generous greens with short grass openings encourage all manner of shots, and the fairways are also welcoming. Full Cry is an engaging and engaging change from the usual month of Dyes, a course that makes handicappers feel comfortable while holding the interest of top players.

11. Golden Horseshoe – Gold (Williamsburg) (P)

12. The Club at Creighton Farms (Aldie)

13. Birdwood (Charlottesville) (P)

14. Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech (Radford) (P)

15. Loneliness – Saturday (Saturday)

How we rank our courses

For our newly released US Top 100 and Top 100 Playable lists—a process that helped us create the top 50 rankings in the country—each panelist was given a ballot consisting of 609 courses. . Alongside the list of courses were 11 “buckets” or groupings. If our panelists deemed a course to be among the top three in the US, they marked the first column. If they believed the rate was between numbers 4-10, they checked that column, followed by 11-25, 26-50 and so on up to 250+ and even a column for “remove”. Panelists were also free to write in courses they felt should have been included on the ballot.

Points were assigned to each bucket; to arrive at an average score for each course, we divide its total score by the number of votes. From these point totals, courses are then ranked accordingly. It’s an intentionally simple and straightforward process. Why? Because it has historically produced results that are widely praised. Like the game itself, there’s no need to overcomplicate things or try to fix something that already works so well.

The key to the process is the experience and expertise of our panel. Hailing from 15 nations and all the golfing meccas around the world, each of our 127 hand-picked panelists has a keen eye for architecture, both regionally and globally. Many of our panelists have played more than 1000 courses in over 20 countries, some over 2000. Their handicaps range from +5 to +15.

Because the nature of course evaluation is so intensely subjective, no opinion counts. The only way, then, to build meaningful consensus is to incorporate this diversity of panelists and experiences into a ranking.

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