Which major city has the most top 100 courses within 100 miles?

If you want to visit a city to check out as much as possible The 100 best GOLF courses in the world as you can, has a clear destination.

New York City has 11,100 of the world’s best golf courses within 100 miles (ie, a reasonable day’s golf driving distance), more than twice as many as any other city worldwide. The closest were London, Great Britain and Edinburghboth of which feature five best 100 courses within 100 miles.

But a trip to the Big Apple can make a perfect jumping-off point with six of those courses within 30 miles, including major championship hosts like West leg with wings course and Black Bethpage, one of the most accessible courses in the Top 100 in the world.

Further to the east end of Long Island, you get Hamptons staples and perennial top-10s Shinnecock AND The National Golf Links of America as well as Head of the Friar AND Maidstone.

If you live in New York City, you’re spoiled for choice with great golf, even if it’s harder to get to with the city’s notorious traffic.

But still, if you’re hoping to check out a large portion of the top 100 courses, there’s no better place to start than New York!

Continue reading below for all of the world’s top 100 golf courses within 100 miles of New York City.

No. 5: Shinnecock Hills (83 miles)

The venue for five US Opens since 1986, most recently in 2018 – this is William Flynn’s design masterpiece. In addition to being handed a huge parcel of land to work on, Flynn was given something else almost as valuable: time. Work began in 1928 and the course did not open until 1931. True, the Great Depression began during construction, but the grace with which the holes flow through the property is a tribute to the practical and slow construction process.

No. 6: National Golf Links of America (82 miles)

NGLA, or “National” as it is known, brought Seth Raynor and CB Macdonald together for the first time and what they created embodies strategic design. Some of his template holes, including Alpet 3, Redan 4, Short 6 and Leven 17, are clearly superior to their UK namesake holes that Macdonald copied. Legendary golf writer Bernard Darwin summed it up nicely when he said: “The National Links is a truly magnificent course; even as I write I feel my allegiance to Westward Ho!, to Hoylake, to St. Andrews teetering to its demise.”

No. 23: Friar’s Head (69 miles)

Tree-dotted dunes, open meadows and bluff-top views of Long Island Sound highlight the experience at this 2003 Bill Coore-Ben Crenshaw design. Even more impressive is how seamlessly the golfer is transported between these different environments. The sandy stretches – including from 7-10 and 13-18 – are fascinating, but holes like the crazy 5th with its undulating contours of the land and the classic 6th club that tempts you to hug the corner from the fairways are special features of the design. Continued refinements, however small, have Friar’s Head as dialed in as any course in the country.

Hale Irwin survived the “Massacre at Winged Foot” at the 1974 US Open to win by seven over par. Geoff Ogilvy wasn’t much better in 2006, when five over his total took the trophy. Mark Brooks, 1996 PGA Champion, summed up this Golden Age AW Tillinghast design this way: “There are probably six tough holes, six really tough holes and six impossible holes.” Frighteningly contoured, pear-shaped greens, cavernous bunkers and a broken par-4 fairway define the trouble. On a scale of “difficulty” from 1 to 10, Jack Nicklaus once rated the West course a 12. That said, Gil Hanse’s stunning green expansion has brought back an exciting element of creativity that few park courses can match.

No. 49: Maidstone (97 miles)

Maidstone’s glorious location on the edge of the Atlantic is once again in full view, thanks to a recent restoration by Coore & Crenshaw. Coastal dune conservation is an art form: expose too much sand and it blows; cover it up and lose your sense of place. Maidstone has struck the perfect balance. Adding to the delight of its romantic location is an extraordinary array of Willie and John Park greens, many of which feature dramatic false fronts. Maidstone is a dream course to play regularly, partly because its requirements change daily with the weather.

No. 51: Somerset Hills (31 miles)

Thanks to a 25-year restoration effort with meticulous attention to detail, Somerset Hills has reached the point where some trumpet it as AW Tillinghast’s finest design for regular play. Her two nines are different – the first is on more open ground, while the second jumps into the forest where Tillinghast perfectly incorporated the natural features of the water. Tillinghast’s time in Scotland manifests itself on holes such as the Redan 2 and the par-5 9th with its appealing crossover hazard. A brave New Yorker said, “It’s enough to make one want to live in New Jersey.”

No. 52: Garden City (20 miles)

Devereux Emmet and Walter Travis share credit for this old school design that plays out across Long Island’s Hempstead Plain. The water is 10 miles both north and south, so sea breezes are a frequent companion. Laurie Auchterlonie won the US Open in 1902 here with record scores, due to the debut of the longest and most consistent Haskell ball. Garden City’s sloping greens like the 10th and 15th are simple architecture at its highest. To understand what it means to “make the most of the land,” study the small plot around the clubhouse that contains the 1st, 2nd, and 18th holes, each a star in its own right.

No. 56: Bethpage – Black (29 miles)

Black scares off players with a sign on the first tip recommending the course “for very skilled players only”. Among them? Tiger Woods, who won the People’s Open in 2002, as the US Open became known. Woods was the only golfer to break par for 72 holes, thanks to the rugged, uphill par-4s, massive bunkers and wrist-breaking rough found on this Rees Jones-restored AW Tillinghast layout. Black enjoys one of the great fairways, highlighted by the masterful way Tillinghast laid out the fairways and greens from the second hole in a valley to the left 9th. The par-5 4th and its iconic cross-bunker is a world beater.

No. 70: Baltusrol – Down (17 miles)

Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner’s 2020 restoration showcases Tillinghast’s extraordinary talent for innovative bunker designs and captivating greens. Center hazards once again abound here, most famously on the 2nd and 17th holes where large bunker complexes bisect the fairways. Equally impressive is the diagonal bunker layout that runs down the 5th fairway, making it one of the best 400 yarders in the country. Although the middle of the property is topographically tamed, it is here that Tillinghast created some of the best greens. Take the time to study both front 3 green cushions on the second nine as each is a master class in making something out of nothing.

No. 77: Sleepy Hollow (29 miles)

This Westchester County course has always enjoyed a spectacular component to it, courtesy of stunning views of the Hudson River, especially on the 15th and 16th holes. What his holes lacked was the interest of the game from 50 yards and up. That changed in 2016 when Gil Hanse embarked on a two-year project to imbue the greens with a CB Macdonald flair that, well, even Macdonald would appreciate.

Neither as tall nor as rugged as its illustrious western sister, the East enjoys its own devoted fan base for its variety and the encouraging way in which land-based gaming options are now presented. Great attention has been paid to the mowing lines, with short, narrow grass on the high side of the approach to all greens. More than a few Winged Foot devotees consider the 13th and 17th par-3s the best on the property, a seemingly outlandish claim until you play them. Spend time on greens like 1 and 11 and you’ll wonder what AW Tillinghast understood about green building that eludes most other architects.

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