If you could drum up your dream list of courses to play, what would they be? Here is our five.
The No Laying Up podcast recently released an episode titled “Courses To Play in 2025,” in which the hosts discussed a bevy of places they hope to play. At the end of the episode, the group listed the top 5 courses on their bucket list, a fun exercise every golfer should partake in. Some included venerable major championship sites, while others were scenic, private havens that only a lucky few get to play. Many also reside within the world’s Top 100 courses, an understandable approach for making a bucket list of places where you want to play. That said, some did not, but to each their own. Every golfer has their own taste, feelings, and desires. Regardless, we will do the same exercise here.
Wanting to play Augusta National is obvious and should be on everyone’s bucket list, so No Laying Up did not include it among their rankings. I decided to take the same approach here.
Without further ado, here are the five courses within the United States that I have not yet played but hope to someday:
5. Winged Foot
The West Course at Winged Foot holds a special place in my heart. During the pandemic, I was on-site at the 2020 U.S. Open, working as a production assistant for one of the television networks. To say that this major championship was eerie is an understatement. No fans, vendors, merchandise tents, or corporate hospitality were allowed, leaving me to peruse an empty golf course myself.
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But it’s a gorgeous one, a course that, ever since then, I have dreamed of playing. The A.W. Tillinghast design has long been regarded as one of golf’s greatest tests, with undulating greens and punishing rough. The bunkering and routing are also magnificent, especially since Gil Hanse refined it in 2018. My favorite stretch is probably the final four holes on the front nine, starting with the short par-4 6th and ending with the par-5 9th that makes its way back to the club’s historic clubhouse.
Throw in all of its history, hosting six U.S. Opens and a PGA Championship, and how could you not want to play Winged Foot?
4. National Golf Links of America
Perhaps no place in the world has a better stretch of golf than the Hamptons on Eastern Long Island. Shinnecock Hills, Sebonack, Friar’s Head, Maidstone, Southampton, and Montauk Downs are all incredible places, and I would love to play any of those on any given day.
But of all the courses out that way, if I could choose one, it would be National Golf Links of America. This C.B. McDonald classic overlooks Peconic Bay on Long Island’s North Shore, sits next door to Shinnecock Hills, and routinely ranks among America’s best. Whenever Shinnecock Hills hosts the U.S. Open, which it will do again in 2026, golf fans and viewers from home can spot the famous windmill between the 2nd and 16th holes at ‘The National.’ The windmill guides you as you make your way across this incredible piece of land.
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The views of the water are allegedly spectacular, the course routing even more so. Most of The National’s holes take after many famous ones in the United Kingdom, with the par-5 17th resembling the ‘Road Hole’ on The Old Course at St. Andrews.
3. Merion
Nothing in golf is like Merion’s East Course, whether it be its illustrious history, wicker baskets, or challenging routing. No wonder why Jack Nicklaus famously said that Merion, “acre for acre, maybe the best test of golf in the world.”
The course also has its quirks. This par-70 features only two par-5s, which come over the first four holes. Par-3s from the championship tees measure as long as 256 yards and as short as 115.
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Yet, it sits on one of the more spectacular pieces of property in the Northeast. It’s not tree-lined, except for its outer perimeter — yes, out-of-bounds comes into play often. Even then, you can see across the entire course and admire the beauty of the bunkering while also expressing trepidation.
Pound for pound, Merion is one of the best, and ever since Justin Rose won the 2013 U.S. Open there, it’s always been on my bucket list.
2. Pine Valley
Need I say more? Pine Valley routinely ranks as the country’s top course and is a place where every golfer should dream of playing.
It’s a masterpiece with no bad holes, designed by some of the game’s greatest designers. Led by Philadelphia businessman George Arthur Crump, renowned architects A.W. Tillinghast, Hugh Wilson, George C. Thomas Jr., Walter Travis, and H.S. Colt all helped conceive it, making it into one of the most beautiful albeit challenging courses in the world.
The course meanders through the Pine Barrens of South Jersey, as every hole could be the signature. It offers some intimidating characteristics, such as forced carries and deep bunkers, both of which can ruin a round rather quickly. The nicknames associated with these hazards are great, too, such as the ‘Hell’s Half Acre’ sand traps on the par-5 7th hole or ‘The Devil’s Asshole,’ a deep pot bunker that sits in front of the 10th green. The greens run every which way, a hazard in and of itself. But playing this course, as difficult as it may seem with its 155-slope rating, would be a dream come true.
1. Seminole Golf Club
Let me start by saying that I have had the great honor of playing many Donald Ross designs, the most prominent of which is Oak Hill East. But I have never had the opportunity to play a Ross course in Florida, and there is no better one than Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach.
Situated on a rectangular parcel of land, Seminole has no two holes that go in the same direction, a testament to Ross’ wizardry as one of golf’s finest architects. The course also sits adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean, which you rarely find anywhere in Florida. Because of that, the wind that barrels off the sea is the course’s primary defense, much like the links courses in the British Isles.
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Since Ross laid the foundation in 1929, Dick Wilson made some renovations to it in 1963. Wilson also designed The Blue Monster at Doral, among other Florida courses such as Bay Hill and PGA National. He also inspired Jerry Rich’s vision at Rich Harvest Farms in Illinois.
The course will reportedly undergo another restoration by Gil Hanse in the coming months, which makes me want to play this course even more. Everything Hanse touches turns into gold, as he is among the best architects in the game right now.
Hopefully, my invite to Seminole — or to any one of these illustrious clubs — will come someday.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.
