Welcome to the Golfweek’s Best 2025 ranking of the top par-3, short and non-traditional public-access golf courses in the United States. To acknowledge a recent and rapid rise in short courses, Golfweek’s Best introduced a ranking of these layouts in 2023. In 2024, we broke the category into two: public-access courses and private layouts. This ranking for the public-access layouts can include resorts, municipal courses and daily-fee operations.
Bandon Preserve at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon (Courtesy of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort)
Basically, they all fit the bill of not being a traditional-length, traditional-par course. And just like the best short courses, we threw out some of the rules used for rating traditional courses and asked our raters to submit one overall score for each course based on how much they enjoyed the design and the environment. Those individual ratings were then combined to form one average rating. Each course had to receive a minimum of 10 votes.
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For this list, we included each course’s average rating on a points scale of 1 to 10. We also included each course’s 2024 ranking if applicable, its location, the designers, the year it opened, the number of holes, the total length and the par. An asterisk indicates a course that is new or returning to the list.
1. Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (Bandon Preserve)
2024 ranking: 1
Average rating: 8.11
Location: Bandon, OR
Architect(s): Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw
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Year opened: 2012
Details: 13 holes,1,609 yards, par 39
2. Golden Gate Park
2024 ranking: 6
Average rating: 7.56
Location: San Francisco, CA
Architect(s): Jay Blasi
Year opened: 2024
Details: Nine holes, 1,177 yards, par 27
3. Big Cedar Lodge (Top of the Rock)
2024 ranking: 3
Average rating: 7.52
Location: Ridgedale, MO
Architect(s): Jack Nicklaus
Year opened: 1996
Details: Nine holes, 1,420 yards, par 27
4. Sand Valley (The Sandbox)
2024 ranking: 2
Average rating: 7.46
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Location: Nekoosa, WI
Architect(s): Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw
Year opened: 2018
Details: 17 holes, 1,652 yards, par 51
5. Gamble Sands (Quicksands)
2024 ranking: 5
Average rating: 7.41
Location: Brewster, WA
Architect(s): David McLay Kidd
Year opened: 2020
Details: 14 holes, 1,610 yards, par 42
T6. Big Cedar Lodge (Mountain Top)
2024 ranking: 8
Average rating: 7.14
Location: Ridgedale, MO
Architect(s): Gary Player
Year opened: 2017
Details: 13 holes, 1,912 yards, par 39
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T6. Pinehurst Resort (The Cradle)
2024 ranking: 7
Average rating: 7.14
Location: Pinehurst, NC
Architect(s): Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner
Year opened: 2017
Details: Nine holes, 789 yards, par 27
8. Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail (Grand National Short)
2024 ranking: 9
Average rating: 7.12
Location: Opelika, AL
Architect(s): Robert Trent Jones Sr., Roger Rulewich
Year opened: 1992
Details: 18 holes, 3,126 yards, par 54
T9. Kohler Blackwolf Run (The Baths)
2024 ranking: 13
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Average rating: 6.98
Location: Kohler, WI
Architect(s): Chris Lutzke
Year opened: 2021
Details: 10 holes, 1,362 yards, par 30
T9. Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail (Magnolia Grove Short)
2024 ranking: 4
Average rating: 6.98
Location: Mobile, AL
Architect(s): Robert Trent Jones Sr., Roger Rulewich
Year opened: 1992
Details: 18 holes, 3,140 yards, par 54
11. Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (Shorty’s)
2024 ranking: 11
Average rating: 6.97
Location: Bandon, OR
Architect(s): Dave Axland, Rod Whitman, Keith Cutten
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Year opened: 2024
Details: 19 holes, 1,997 yards, par 57
12. Palm Beach Par 3
2024 ranking: 10
Average rating: 6.92
Location: Palm Beach, FL
Architect(s): Dick Wilson, Joe Lee, Raymond Floyd
Year opened: 1961
Details: 18 holes, 2,572 yards, par 54
13. Prairie Club (Horse)
2024 ranking: 12
Average rating: 6.89
Location: Valentine, NE
Architect(s): Gil Hanse, Geoff Shackelford
Year opened: 2010
Details: 10 holes, 1,125 yards, par 30
14. Big Cedar (Cliffhangers)*
Average rating: 6.86
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Location: Hollister, MO
Architect(s): Johnny Morris, John Paul Morris
Year opened: 2025
Details: 18 holes, 1,910 yards, par 54
T15. Boar’s Head (The Nest)
2024 ranking: 16
Average rating: 6.83
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Architect(s): Davis Love III
Year opened: 2020
Details: Six holes, 667 yards, par 18
T15. Streamsong (The Chain)
2024 ranking: 18
Average rating: 6.83
Location: Bowling Green, FL
Architect(s): Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw
Year opened: 2024
Details: 19 holes, 2,916 yards, no set par
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17. The Park (The Lit 9)
2024 ranking: 15
Average rating: 6.69
Location: West Palm Beach, FL
Architect(s): Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner
Year opened: 2023
Details: Nine holes, 679 yards, par 27
18. PGA National (The Staple)
2024 ranking: 17
Average rating: 6.67
Location: Palm Beach Gardens, FL
Architect(s): Andy Staples
Year opened: 2021
Details: Nine holes, 802 yards, par 27
19. Omni Amelia Island Club (Little Sandy)*
Average rating: 6.66
Location: Amelia Island, FL
Architect(s): Beau Welling
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Year opened: 2022
Details: 10 holes, 931 yards, par 30
20. Audubon Park
2024 ranking: 21
Average rating: 6.56
Location: New Orleans, LA
Architect(s): Dennis Griffiths
Year opened: 2002
Details: 18 holes, 4,220 yards, par 62
21. Forest Dunes (Bootlegger)
2024 ranking: 19
Average rating: 6.51
Location: Roscommon, MI
Architect(s): Keith Rhebb, Riley Johns
Year opened: 2020
Details: 10 holes, 1,135 yards, par 30
22. The Evans at Canal Shores*
Average rating: 6.43
Location: Evanston, IL
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Architect(s): Tom Bendelow, Todd Quitno
Year opened: 1919
Details: 19 holes, 3,362 yards, par 60
23. Mountain Shadows (Short)
2024 ranking: 22
Average rating: 6.36
Location: Paradise Valley, AZ
Architect(s): Forrest Richardson, Jack Snyder
Year opened: 1961
Details: 18 holes, 2,310 yards, par 54
24. Links at Terranea*
Average rating: 6.32
Location: Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Architect(s): Todd Eckenrode
Year opened: 2009
Details: Nine holes,1,239 yards, par 27
25. Pebble Beach Golf Resorts (The Hay)
2024 ranking: 4
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Average rating: 6.30
Location: Pebble Beach, CA
Architect(s): Tiger Woods
Year opened: 2021
Details: Nine holes, 670 yards, par 27
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Top 25 public-access short, par-3 non-traditional golf courses 2025
