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Most Fun Golf Course in America


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Public: Highlands Links - Ingonish, Nova Scotia 
If you can look past the park style maintenance of the place, and appreciate the architecture, and natural surroundings, its hard to beat this place! About 2 hours up the road from Cabot Links. 

 

Private: Palmetto Golf Club - Aiken, South Carolina
This place is straight old world charm. Hard to have a better day on the course. Not overly long, and lots of interesting ways to play the course. Great time of year to see it is during Masters week. Believe you can still book a tee time. 

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On 7/27/2021 at 10:32 AM, vallygolf said:

Streamsong black was a fun experinece.  Not a popular take, but I have a blast playing that course.  Tobacco road would be high on that list as well, but it just seems more quirky than fun.  

Tobacco Rd is quirky and is not a course to go to have a fun and enjoyable round.  It's different visually and the reason so many people like it so much.  But it is not a course one would play everyday.  Mid Pines is a different animal.  A brilliant course and even it's designer Donald Ross thought as much.  He cited it as one of his best works out of the thousand courses he designed.  A course where you can take your wife/kids to play and still be challenged.  That can't be done with Tobacco Rd.

 

My vote goes for the US Naval Academy in Annapolis.  The most enjoyable course I have ever played.  Mid Pines right behind it.  

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1 hour ago, razor_1 said:

Tobacco Rd is quirky and is not a course to go to have a fun and enjoyable round.  It's different visually and the reason so many people like it so much.  But it is not a course one would play everyday.  Mid Pines is a different animal.  A brilliant course and even it's designer Donald Ross thought as much.  He cited it as one of his best works out of the thousand courses he designed.  A course where you can take your wife/kids to play and still be challenged.  That can't be done with Tobacco Rd.

 

My vote goes for the US Naval Academy in Annapolis.  The most enjoyable course I have ever played.  Mid Pines right behind it.  

You can't really come in here and tell the majority of the commenters on this thread that their pick (tobacco rd) is not fun. That is fine that you don't think it is. But saying that fun can't be had there when there are many people saying it is the most fun course they have ever played obviously doesn't make a ton of sense. 

Edited by mci711
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Everyone has a different definition of fun. The most fun I had on a golf course was the one I had my 1st & only ace, and on the same course, my first sub-80 round (different days).

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I guess Tobacco Road isn't as fun if you are a hack like some of these other posters.  It is visually intimidating, but the course is wide open.  There are only 2 holes where knowing a site line is helpful, otherwise the best part is how creative you can get with your shots.  You can take what is in front of you or you can hit over the trouble or over a corner.  Tons of options.  Also, playing it more than once or with someone else is not needed.  I have only played it once and with people who had never played there before and the 30 second spiel from the starter gives you all you need to know.  the rest of the story is up to you.

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For me and my game, I think of a "fun" golf course as a golf course with a lot of width off the tee and one that looks harder than it is or presents something wholly different than most other golf courses. I never have fun when I can't keep my driver in play and as someone who has a 45 yd dispersion with my driver (and I imagine a number of other WRXers do as well) it is not fun to play a course that requires both a long tee shot and to have it squeezed into a 40 yd landing area between hazards. A fun course, again for me, ultimately lets you get away with a few loose shots and presents OPTIONS on each hole. By options, I mean not a course that is target golf or extremely penal that says "HIT IT HERE OR ELSE" on every hole. Tobacco Road was mostly this as I think it plays easier than it looks (not saying it is easy but definitely scoreable if you know where you are going) and just some incredibly creative designs throughout.

 

I think golf is hard enough even at a basic municipal golf course so extremely penal golf courses with tight driving corridors, penal rough or other hazards is not fun for me because I have to grind my a** off to score and, unfortunately, I am not yet woke enough to have fun while shooting a score over 85. I like to "test" myself a few times a year at the tight, penal courses in and around my city and I usually walk away not eager to come back to them. Based on that, I will offer a few that I haven't seen:

 

Sweetens Cove - no rough on the golf course, wide open on most tee shots with the lone exception being the cape hole (#6). The greens are absolutely insane but the course is fairly short so that is the defense. This violates my "can't have fun when shooting a high score" rule because the green on #7 is comically difficult when it is firm and fast. The vibe is great, pace of play is great and each hole is absolutely stunning. Conditions are typically excellent except right after heavy rainfall.

 

Farmlinks at Pursell Farms - again, wide open course that is in great shape and plays a bit easier than it looks. Doesn't have a whole lot of "options" holes but still was a fun round and a place I cannot wait to go back to. Some cool elevation changes and a wide variety of design in the course. Also just a great setting in the woods and fairly remote/secluded. I didn't have my best stuff out there but still broke 80 fairly easily. 

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On 7/31/2021 at 9:54 AM, oxytiger said:

Tobacco Road is only fun if you've played it before or with others who've been there. I invite all my friends there but saying "try to hit it there" hole after hole aint fun.

True Blue is enjoyable without explanation.

I had a blast the first time I played Tobacco Road . I was a single and the first one out in the morning. I think there were only two holes where I had to drive up to make certain what the hole was "asking me to do". I had a yardage book which was helpful. Loved the course from the first time I played it

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On 7/30/2021 at 5:12 AM, MongoSmash said:

Sheep Ranch

Rustic Canyon

 

Agreed on both. 

 

Sheep Ranch is like a grown up version of mini golf. This is both a positive and negative, but if you embrace it the course is a ton of fun (knock down 100 yard 9 iron anyone?)

 

Rustic Canyon is a gem. I've been playing there more often and I love it. Lots of long par 4s, solid pars 5s, playable par 3s and short pars 4s. Makes for an interesting round and you're never bored. 

 

 

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2 hours ago, klebs01 said:

I haven’t played Tobacco Road yet but it looks great. 
 

I’m surprised no one has mentioned the loop yet. It’s a great course (or is it two) with a bit of room off the tee and a lot of complexity in the greens. I could enjoy it every day for the rest of my life. 

I liked the Loop a lot, both ways. It makes my "thought provoking" and "interesting" lists, but it's not at the top of my fun list because the greens were so difficult to hold and get recoveries close. It's not a lot of fun to have so many decent shots bound off greens and a lot of three putts. 

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11 minutes ago, sabram said:

I liked the Loop a lot, both ways. It makes my "thought provoking" and "interesting" lists, but it's not at the top of my fun list because the greens were so difficult to hold and get recoveries close. It's not a lot of fun to have so many decent shots bound off greens and a lot of three putts. 


that’s actually what made it fun to me. It gets really boring when greens are soft and any shot in the air will stop. I would much rather have a course where it takes a properly struck shot or one that uses the ground to stay on the green or get it close. 

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I've only played TR once and scored amazingly well (for me).  I don't agree that you need to play it multiple times to "get it."  It can become target golf to an extent, or it did for me because I was playing with my wife and was using the yardage book to just hit it to places in the fairways.  The visual intimidation is what makes it fun.  It looks so much harder than it really is.

 

I can see where if you do not have the discipline to hit it to the safer places the native areas could eat your lunch.  I played very boring, safe golf and sort of regret that I did now as there are a bunch of more tempting lines I could have taken here and there that may not have scored better but would have made for a better story.

 

I thought the little scar bunker was one of the neatest features I had ever seen on a "built" course. 

TR Scar Bunker.jpg

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On 7/31/2021 at 7:53 PM, jjr said:

I'm a huge Mackenzie Fan so I'm going with one of his courses. I've played many of his courses (no Augusta or Crystal Downs yet)

Valley Club of Montecito and at this point if I had to chose one course for the rest of my life this would be it. Playing it for 3 days next month too, I can't wait!

Lucky!!  Isn't everyone a huge Mackenzie fan?  Never heard anyone say anything negative about the man.  I've heard Montecito Links are great, but alas I can't get on there, Augusta, or Cypress :).  I bet I would think it is very fun too!!  All I've been able to play is Pasatiempo and Northwoods (Low key really really fun Mackenzie)

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I played poorly during my single visit to Tobacco Road and to this day it is one of my least-enjoyable golf experiences.  The build up was so huge and the entire group I played with viewed it as clown golf.  Walking off we agreed that it was one of the most visually stunning courses we've been on, but probably would've had a better time just riding around the course, rather than have good shots get rejected all day.   I much preferred Tot Hill Farm.

 

The most fun course that I've ever played is Greywalls in Michigan.  The remoteness/routing/visuals made it an experience that I'm still searching to replicate.

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On 7/26/2021 at 2:04 PM, sabram said:

After giving it a little thought, these are the courses I've played that are the most fun. I don't know if I can choose just one, but out of 800 courses played, I limited it to 20 U.S. and 20 outside the U.S. I think what they all have in common is great greens with lots of movement, routings that keep your interest with a lot of variety, they don't beat you up, you don't spend a lot of time looking for golf balls, they don't have a lot of (or in some cases, any) water in play and almost all are walkable. Some of the English heaths might not be on the list if the heather is too close to the fairways, but I am a short straight hitter off the tee so the heather doesn't bother me most of the time.

 

Private

Sleepy Hollow NY

Whipoorwill NY

Garden City NY

Ballyneal CO

Kingsley MI

Merion East PA

Cuscowilla GA

Forsgate Banks NJ

 

Public Access

Yale CT

Tobacco Road NC

Greenbrier Old White WVA

Southern Dunes FL

Ak Chin Southern Dunes AZ

Sand Hollow UT

Paiute Snow NV

True Blue SC

Old Macdonald OR

 

Outside the U.S.

Sunningdale Old & New (Eng

Walton Heath Old & New (Eng)

Berkshire Red and Blue (Eng)

Woking (Eng)

New Zealand (Eng)

St Georges Hill (Eng)

Addington (Eng)

 

North Berwick (Scotland)

Western Gailes (Scotland)

The Old Course (Scotland)

Prestwick (Scotland)

Dunbar (Scotland)

 

Cruit Island (IRE)

Narin & Portnoo (IRE)

County Sligo/Rosses Point (IRE)

Portsalon (IRE)

Corballis (IRE)

Carne/Belmullet (IRE)

 

Teeth of the Dog (DR)

 

Cabot Cliffs (CAN)

Cabot Links (CAN)

 

 

 

 

 

Can you elaborate on Sand Hollow, UT?  I like alot of the courses on your list but have never heard of that one.  Cheers!

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