Jacob Sjöman
When golfers travel, they tend to seek out target-rich environments, the dense clusters of places like the London Heathlands, the Melbourne Sandbelt or the Hamptons on Long Island where they can play as many great courses as possible in the shortest amount of time. Golfers visiting Scotland, for instance, typically attempt to gobble up chunks of A-list venues concentrated in regions up and down the east coast, where they can get to four of the top 10 layouts in our new World’s 100 Greatest Courses ranking and 14 of the top 100. But that sprint ranges from Muirfield (ranked third) and North Berwick (11th) in East Lothian all the way north to the Highlands and Royal Dornoch (fourth), more than eight hours apart by road. In the name of consumption, they speed past other stars like Gullane (94th), Panmure (No. 99), Elie, Fraserburgh or, God forbid, Cruden Bay (No. 26) and Brora.
NEW: Our latest ranking of the Best Courses in Scotland
Likewise, a trip to Melbourne will include rounds at Royal Melbourne’s West and East courses (ranked sixth and 33rd, respectively), Kingston Heath (ninth), Victoria (28th) and Metropolitan (59th). But how many will visit other equally profound Sandbelt designs like Peninsula Kingswood (69th) or Huntingdale? And if they stop on King Island to check off Cape Wickham (13th), will they venture just 45 minutes south to Ocean Dunes (100th), another stunning but lesser-known seaside design?
There are advantages to taking golf travel slow. Lingering for an extra day or two to play “secondary” courses in a flush golf market can deepen understanding of the local culture and history while turning up profound surprises. While it’s nice to be able to say you played Tara Iti in New Zealand (seventh) or Ireland’s Old Head (72nd), it’s the off-package forays to quirky courses with strange customs that produce the strongest memories and best stories.
NEW: The 25 best courses in Ireland, ranked
Most of the 16 courses that debut on our new world ranking illustrate the joys of traveling off the beaten path or at least seeking places devoid of bus caravans. Some, like West Sussex (97th) and St. George’s Hill (53rd) in the London heathlands, are as aesthetically vivid and architecturally bulletproof as Sunningdale’s Old and New courses (ranked 12th and 36th, respectively), Swinley Forest (29th) or Walton Heath (81st) if not as well known. Others like Point Hardy at Cabot Saint Lucia (23rd) or Carne in northwest Ireland (63rd) are remote points of light that demand dedicated but existentially worthwhile efforts to see.
No one will be faulted for focusing an overseas trip around Royal County Down, our No. 1 course for the sixth consecutive ranking, or taking an entire day to ensure a tee time at the Old Course at St. Andrews (ranked second). These and every entry on the World’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses ranking deliver outstanding, sometimes transcendent golf. But our favorite rounds are often those that come with the least expectations played on the strength of faith alone. And that can make all the difference.
Below is Golf Digest’s new ranking of the World’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses for 2026-2027.
Dive deeper into Golf Digest’s Course Reviews by navigating to each course page, which features reviews from our course-ranking panelists, exclusive photography—and leave your own comments to give your feedback on the courses you’ve played.
(Golf Digest will be releasing our new country-by-country rankings over the next few months.)
NEW: The best courses in Northern Ireland, ranked
Review the golf courses you’ve played on GolfDigest.com, where you can find expanded comments from our Golf Digest course-ranking panelists and exclusive photography.