Jos Sens
November 14, 2024
The recently built Ladera Golf Club in the Coachella Valley.
CHANNEL BENJAMIN
GOLF’s latest Top 100 Courses in USA. The rankings are out, and if you want to play them all, join the club. Literal. While some courses on the list are open to the public, most are private courses, some more than others. Which are the most difficult to access? We have compiled a ranking within a ranking: the 14 most exclusive clubs on our new Top 100 list.
(This is an updated version of a story originally published in 2019.)
Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, GA.
Ranking: 6
Hello, friends. Enjoy our broadcast with minimal commercial interruption. Admire the blushing colors of magnolias and dogwoods as you enjoy the soothing vibration of birdsong. By Sunday night you’ll swear you know every hill and hollow Alister Mackenzies most famous course, which is nice, because unless you 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, Illinois.
Ranking: 12
If you’re the kind of golfer who insists on valet service and a warm and fuzzy welcome at bag drop, then this historic club is not the place for you. One of the five founding membership clubs of the United States Golf AssociationFounded in 1894, Chicago has just over 100 members. Should any of them invite you for a spin on this CB Macdonald-designed beauty, you’re asked not to set foot on the property until they arrive, and to skedada as soon as they leave.
Crystal Downs Country Club, Frankfort, Michigan.
Ranking: 23
When architecture enthusiasts delve into Alister Mackenzie’s state masterpieces, they are sure to come across this Northern Michigan treasure, which lacks the coastal splendor of Cypress Point and the institutionalized prominence of Augusta National, but which, in many eyes, is as good as one of those two. However, talking about a course is one thing. Playing it is something else. Although the atmosphere at Crystal Downs is not stuffy, the club policy is strict: absolutely no playing without supervision.
Cypress Point Golf Club, Monterey, California.
Ranking: 2
“One year they had a big membership drive at Cypress,” Bob Hope once joked about the club he was a member of. “They expelled 40 members.” What remains today is a list of about 250 people who have easy 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 quiet club was originally known as the Garden City Men’s Club, a name that excludes more than half the human population. Today, women are given limited access. The same goes for the rest of us.
Fishers Island Club, Fishers Island, NY
Ranking: 11
An island in the literal and metaphorical sense, this Seth Raynor design sits in the Atlantic Ocean, just off the eastern tip of Long Island, accessible only by boat or private plane and far beyond the reach of the average population. The money here is so old you could date it, and it doesn’t like to draw attention to itself. In 1979, when GOLF included Fishers Island in its first ranking of the best courses in the world, a club representative sent a letter to the editor: Thanks for the nod, it said. Remove us from your list now.
Fishers Island Club in Fishers Island, NY
LC Lambrecht
Ladera, Thermal, California.
Ranking: 87
The Coachella Valley is known for its annual music festival, but record industry mogul Irving Azoff had something else in mind when he commissioned Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner to build a trail along the base of the Santa Rosa Mountains. What he specifically wanted was a private hideaway for a small group of friends, colleagues and clients, with initiation fees that are off the charts.
Nanea Golf Club, Big Island, Hawaii
Ranking: 83
Nanea is not Hawaiian for “nunya business.” But it might as well be that way. Founded by Charles Schwab and supermarket magnate George Roberts, this understated luxury club has been described as a tropical Augusta: a publicity-shy, palm-tree-lined oasis for the very wealthy and their lucky friends.
Ohoopee Match Club, Cobbtown, Georgia.
Ranking: 44
In this rural retreat designed by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner for tech entrepreneur Michael Walrath, par means so little that it doesn’t even appear on the scorecard. All that matters is how you do against your opponent. Okay, it also matters if you know a member, which is a guess. There are less than 100.
Old Elm, Highland Park, Illinois.
Ranking: 94
This club on the North Side of Chicago is limited to about two hundred members, all men, including many CEOs, a good number of whom also belong to Augusta National. Do you get the photo? We will outline it more clearly. Along with the Chicago Golf Club, it’s as tough a tee time as any 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 No. 1 course in the US (and the world), chances are you’ll feel left out. It’s not that Pine Valley has a small membership base (its ranks are relatively large compared to other high-prestige clubs). Many of those members do not live nearby and playing without supervision is not allowed.
The number 1 course in the world, Pine Valley.
LC Lambrecht
Seminole Golf Club, Juno Beach, Florida.
Ranking: 17
To get a sense of life in Seminole, imagine your standard, gated Florida golf community, with a flashy clubhouse, flashy members, ponds with fountains, and guys riding carts everywhere you go. Now imagine the opposite. “If I was a young man going on the pro tour, I’d try to make arrangements to get to Seminole,” Ben Hogan once said of this Donald Ross draft. Good advice. On the other hand, Hogan has made a lot of things seem easier than they really are.
Sand Hills Golf Club, Mullen, Neb.
Ranking: 7
Drive deep into the corn fields of Nebraska, then drive a little further and keep going until crops and meadows give way to a rolling dune landscape. When you arrive on the grounds of this intensely private club, home to a Bill Coore-Ben Crenshaw stunner described by Mike Keizer as the original, great ‘remote’ course, you’ll realize your mistake: everyone else arrived with a private jet.
Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, Southhampton, NY
Ranking: 3
Founded in 1891, Shinnecock has a long history but a short membership list that includes top people like Michael Bloomberg and Charles Schwab. The brilliant William Flynn design has already hosted five US Opens, but don’t let that fool you. This club is largely closed off to itself.
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Jos Sens
Golf, food and travel writer Josh Sens has been a contributor to GOLF Magazine since 2004 and now contributes across all GOLF platforms. His work has been published in The Best American Sportswriting. He is also co-author, with Sammy Hagar, of Are We Have Any Fun Yet: the Cooking and Partying Handbook.