Whether you fancy yourself as the next Tiger Woods or just enjoy being in “the zone”, with over 38,000 golf courses across the world, it's tough to decide which one to visit.
With this in mind, we have researched the ultimate golfing bucket list. We have compiled a list of golf courses around the world and ranked them on their popularity, utilising TikTok and Instagram data, Google searches, and visitor reviews. We have pinpointed the best golf courses by country, unplugging the top reviewed golf courses along with the most searched and Insta-famous courses.
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The Top Golfing Hotspots In The US And Canada
Augusta National in the US and Banff Springs Golf Club in Canada, are the top-scoring golf courses
Augusta National, Georgia, United States
Bucket list score: 8.82/10
Augusta National Golf Club ranks first place, with a bucket list score of 8.82 out of 10. Founded in the 1930s, this scenic, private club hosts the annual Masters Tournament each April. As one of the most exclusive golf courses in the world, playing at Augusta National is not easy, and the only way to play for free is if you qualify for The Masters. You could also become a member, but even if you are wealthy enough, there is an exclusive invitation-only membership with billionaire members like Bill Gates, so there are no guarantees you’d be able to join.
However, Augusta National is nonetheless the top-scoring golf course in the US and Canada. With an annual search volume of almost 683,000 and a Google review score of 4.7 out of 5, it ranks among the top-rated golf courses. Augusta is also the most popular golf course in this category on social media, with 9,934 hashtagged posts on Instagram and 4,735 TikTok-tagged posts.
Merion Golf Club: East, Pennsylvania, United States
Bucket list score: 6.98/10
Merion Golf Club (East) swiped second place, scoring 6.98 out of 10. Merion has been dubbed one of the greatest golf courses worldwide and is rated between 6 and 11 in the world by various rating agencies. To date, Merion Golf Club has hosted 19 United States Golf Association championships, the most of any site, including five U.S. Opens. This course boasts 106,100 Google searches and a review score of 4.7. It also has a strong social media presence, recording 2,121 Instagram posts and 317 TikTok tags.
If you want to play a round at Merion, you will need to find a member to host you. If not, you can keep an eye on Merion charity auctions, where members often auction off chances to play with them.
Fairmont Banff Springs Golf Course, Alberta, Canada
Bucket list score: 6.97/10
Fairmont Banff Springs Golf Course placed third, closely after Merion East, with a score of 6.97 out of 10. Banff Springs in Alberta, Canada, hosts a driving range and a pair of 18-hole golf courses with pine forests which are backed by mountain scenery. The 4th hole (Devil’s Cauldron) is one of the world’s most scenic par 3s. Although the course is open to public play, the membership is restricted to residents of the Bow Valley and is limited to 200 adults.
Secluded and luxurious, the Fairmont Banff Springs Golf Club sits at the hotel of the same name, set in the heart of the Canadian Rockies. There was a record number of searches for Banff Springs, the highest volume in the category, with 720,000 searches in the last 12 months. There were also 2,375 Instagram-tagged posts at the course and 668 TikTok tags.
The Best Golfing Hotspots In The World
Pebble Beach Golf Links is the top-rated golf course in the world!
Pebble Beach Golf Links, California, United States
Bucket list score: 8.75/10
Pebble Beach Golf Links is a public course on the West Coast of the United States, located in Pebble Beach, California. Scoring first place in the global category, Pebble Beach Golf Links has been unanimously chosen as the no.1 public golf course in the country. It hosted its sixth U.S. Open in 2019, more than any other course over the last 50 years. There were 262,000 annual searches over the last 12 months and 827 TikTok tags. Pebble Beach also recorded the highest number of posts on Instagram (12,574 mentions).
Augusta National, Georgia, United States
Bucket list score: 8.33/10
Augusta National, the top-scoring golf course in the US and Canada category, also triumphed in our global ranking, swiping second place with 8.33 out of 10. Augusta National recorded more searches, over 682,000, but its visitor reviews were a point behind Pebble Beach (4.7 out of 5). Augusta also recorded slightly fewer Instagram hashtags than Pebble Beach, with 9,937 posts. However, the course recorded more TikTok mentions (4,735 tagged posts).
Royal Dornoch Golf Club - Championship, Dornoch, Scotland
Bucket list score: 6.53/10
Royal Dornoch Golf Club in Dornoch, Sutherland, Scotland, placed third for the best golf courses in the world, scoring 6.53 out of 10. The Championship Course is a links course located on the Dornoch Forth and is one of the two 18-hole courses at the club. Royal Dornoch is one of the finest championship courses in Scotland, and many golfers aspire to play these natural links at some point. Royal Dornoch has a near-perfect score on Google (4.8 out of 5) and a high annual search volume of over 145,500 searches.
The Top Golfing Hotspots In The UK And Ireland
Sunningdale’s New and Old Courses in Southport, England, and Royal Dornoch Golf Club Championship course are the top-rated golf courses in the UK.
Sunningdale Golf Club - New and Old
Bucket list score: 8.24/10
Sunningdale Golf Club in Sunningdale, Berkshire, England, ranks as the joint-best golf course in England, scoring 8.24 out of 10. It is arguably the best inland course in the whole of Europe, thanks to its 36-hole experience. Unlike many other private golf courses, the Old (1901) and New (1923) sit side-by-side, and the club welcomes visitors and green fees on most days of the year. Sunningdale Golf Club recorded a 4.8-star Google review score and 101,000 annual searches, as well as 3,583 combined social media posts (Instagram tags and TikTok tag mentions).
Royal Dornoch Golf Club - Championship
Bucket list score: 8.24/10
Sharing the top spot as the joint-best golf course in the UK and Ireland is Scotland’s Royal Dornoch, with a score of 8.24 out of 10. Royal Dornoch has a near-perfect score on Google (4.8 out of 5) and a high annual search volume of over 145,500 searches. As well as being one of the most historic courses in the world, Royal Dornoch’s championship course is widely regarded as one of the best outside of the US. Although it’s never hosted a modern professional tournament, the par 70 course has often hosted British amateur tournaments, with the 2022 Men’s Senior Amateur Championship being the most recent.
Royal Birkdale Golf Club, Southport, Merseyside, UK
Bucket list score: 8.07/10
Situated on the golden links of the North West coast in Southport, the Royal Birkdale Golf Club is one of the finest courses in England, scoring 8.07 out of 10. The club has held The Open Championship ten times, with its last Amateur Championship in 2020. Since then, visitors to the course have received full membership for their day of visit and have access to all facilities. The Royal Birkdale golf course recorded the highest number of searches (109,700 searches in the last 12 months) and was the top-rated course in the UK (5 out of 5 Google reviews score).
Methodology
To collect the top US and Canada-based golf courses, the top 10 courses in the United States were taken from the Top 100 US Golf Courses. The top 10 in Canada was taken from the Top 100 Canada Golf Courses.
The top 20 was also taken from the World Top 100 Golf Courses for the global section.
The top 10 in England and Ireland were taken from the Top 100 England Golf Courses and the Top 100 Ireland Golf Courses.
For each golf course, the number of Instagram tags was taken using the hashtag [COURSE NAME] "golf club". The number of TikTok tag mentions was also taken for each course using the golf club name. The number of TikTok tags and Instagram posts was combined in the UK section. This data is correct as of 30/04/2024.
The Google review score out of 5 was taken for each golf club.
Google Keyword Planner was used to find the number of annual searches worldwide for each golf club between April 2023 and March 2024. This data is accurate as of 29/04/24.
To create the final bucket list score, we used the PERCENTRANK formula to create a score out of ten.
