Every year in the dead of winter, golf fans in cold climates are treated to a dose of warmth and sunshine, courtesy of the PGA Tour. From the Plantation Course at Kapalua to Pebble Beach, Torrey Pines, TPC Scottsdale and beyond, the circuit’s West Coast swing is a roving stage for the world’s best players that doubles as a snapshot of a year-round, golf-rich region with a remarkable diversity of designs.
Name your favorite setting for the game — seaside dunes, high deserts, mountains, forests, prairies. The American West offers it all. Many of the venues in the region are fixtures on GOLF’s ranking of Top 100 Courses in the U.S. But even that roster falls short of covering the full range of options.
So, how did this magnificent list of American West courses come together? To produce more detailed local portraits of golf across the country, GOLF created rankings within our rankings by carving the U.S. into four regions and identifying the top 50 courses in each, based on votes cast by our raters in 2024.
We first conducted this regional ranking in 2020, and we liked it so much — as did you — we decided to do it again.
Below you’ll find the top-50 rankings for the West region. To browse the list, keep scrolling.
MORE TOP 50 REGIONAL LISTS: Southeast | Heartland | Northeast
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The top 50 golf courses in the West (2024-25)
1. Cypress Point, Pebble Beach, Calif.
2. Pebble Beach, Pebble Beach, Calif.
3. Los Angeles — North, Los Angeles, Calif.
4. Riviera, Pacific Palisades, Calif.
5. Pacific Dunes, Bandon, Ore.
6. San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif.
7. California Golf Club of San Francisco, South San Francisco, Calif.
8. Ballyneal, Holyoke, Colo.
9. Rock Creek Cattle Company, Deer Lodge, Mont.
10. Bandon Trails, Bandon, Ore.
11. Bandon Dunes, Bandon, Ore.
12. Valley Club of Montecito, Montecito, Calif.
13. The Olympic Club — Lake, San Francisco, Calif.
14. Pasatiempo, Santa Cruz, Calif.
15. Bel-Air, Los Angeles, Calif.
16. Monterey Peninsula — Shore, Pebble Beach, Calif.
17. Gozzer Ranch, Harrison, Idaho
18. Old Macdonald, Bandon, Ore.
19. Shadow Creek, Las Vegas, Nev.
20. Nanea, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
21. Ladera, Thermal, Calif.
22. Monterey Peninsula — Dunes, Pebble Beach, Calif.
23. Cherry Hills, Cherry Hills Village, Colo.
24. Gamble Sands, Brewster, Wash.
25. Scottsdale National — The Other Course, Scottsdale, Ariz.
26. Colorado Golf Club, Parker, Colo.
27. Spyglass Hill, Pebble Beach, Calif.
28. Sheep Ranch, Bandon, Ore.
29. Chambers Bay, University Place, Wash.
30. Kapalua — Plantation, Lahaina, Hawaii
31. Forest Highlands — Canyon, Flagstaff, Ariz.
32. Meadow Club, Fairfax, Calif.
33. Lakeside, Burbank, Calif.
34. The Estancia Club, Scottsdale, Ariz.
35. Desert Forest, Carefree, Ariz.
36. Castle Pines, Castle Rock, Colo.
37. Stone Eagle, Palm Desert, Calif.
38. Wilshire, Los Angeles, Calif.
39. The Quarry at La Quinta, La Quinta, Calif.
40. Lake Merced, Daly City, Calif.
41. Clear Creek Tahoe, Carson City, Nev.
42. Hillcrest, Los Angeles, Calif.
43. Torrey Pines — South, La Jolla, Calif.
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