As part of GOLF’s rigorous ratings process for our newly released Top 100 Courses in the U.S. and Top 100 Courses You Can Play rankings, our fleet of 100-plus expert panelists identified the best golf courses in every state.
You can check out the links below to browse all of our course rankings, or scroll down to see the best courses in Washington. And if you’re looking to create your own trip in the future, you’d be wise to let GOLF’s new Course Finder tool assist you. Here, you can toggle all of our lists — Top 100 public, best munis, best short courses, best par-3s and more — or filter by price to create the perfect itinerary for your next trip.
GOLF’s other course rankings: Top 100 Courses in the World | Top 100 Courses in the U.S. | Top 100 Courses You Can Play | Top 100 Value Courses in the U.S. | America’s Best Municipal Courses | The 100 Best Short Courses in the World
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The best golf courses in Washington (2024/2025)
SYMBOL GUIDE
# = Top 100 Course in the U.S.
Y = Top 100 You Can Play in the U.S.
V = Top 100 Value Course in the U.S.
P = Public/Resort
Ed. note: Some courses were omitted from our rankings because they did not receive enough votes.
1. Gamble Sands (Brewster) [#,Y,P]
After stamping his name on some penal, polarizing courses, Bandon Dunes designer McLay Kidd had what he describes as a come-to-the-mountain moment. It was time to return to his Scottish roots and the fundamentals that had worked so well at Bandon. In other words, time to put a renewed emphasis on fun. In apple-orchard country in Eastern Washington, Kidd shaped fairways as wide as landing strips while adding contours that steer borderline shots away from trouble. Greens are sizable but tame, with tightly mown runoffs where putter is often the wiser play. While the course has hosted top-flight amateur events, it is the poster-child of design for everyone. Fun, it turns out, isn’t losing your ball. It’s finding it with ease, and then sorting through the options for how to play it next.
2. Chambers Bay (University Place) [Y,P]
“Linksy” might be the most overused word in golf, but Chambers Bay is the real deal. Carved out of a former gravel mine hard by Puget Sound, the Robert Trent Jones Jr. layout offers magnificent water views from almost every hole. Train tracks and a design that welcomes bump-and-run shots add to the British Open vibe, but the sweeping Olympic Mountain vistas are pure Americana. At the 2015 U.S. Open, the dry, bumpy greens confounded the pros — Henrik Stenson griped that it was “like putting on broccoli.” But those fine fescue surfaces have since transitioned to native poa annua, so players now enjoy a much smoother putting experience…when they’re not distracted by those stunning water views.
3. Aldarra (Sammamish)
4. Sahalee – S/N (Sammamish)
5. Seattle GC (Seattle)
6. Wine Valley CC (Walla Walla) [Y,P]
Golfers are accustomed to seeing fescue blowing in the breeze by the ocean, but what about 200 miles inland between alfalfa fields and Syrah vines? Dan Hixson, the brains behind Silvies Valley Ranch and Bandon Crossings, approached his work at Wine Valley as if he were shaping linksland rather than the field of wild grass that was his canvas. Monstrous bunkers and rifts of waste areas require thoughtful play, but the fairways are wide enough and greens expansive enough to offer much variance setup from round to round. The par-5s, including the punchbowl 7th, also will make you think: hit the hard shot now … or later.
7. Tumble Creek (Cle Elum)
8. Gold Mountain – Olympic (Bremerton) [V,P]
Not much has changed since 2011 when then-17-year-old Jordan Spieth won the U.S. Junior Amateur here — because why mess with a good thing? Elevation changes produce challenging lies on wide fairways lined by 100-foot fir and cedar trees. The greens have plenty of subtle breaks, and adjacent collection areas will test your short game. The course drains well (a handy trait in the Pacific Northwest), but there is permanent water on six holes. Only one hole — the signature par-3 16th — is all carry over the hazard. The reachable par-4 closer offers a huge risk/reward opportunity, with water up the right side to the green. The Seattle ferry docks only 15 minutes from the course. Fees: vary with on-demand tee-time pricing.
9. Fircrest (Fircrest)
10. Canterwood (Gig Harbor)
How we rank our courses
For our newly released Top 100 U.S. and Top 100 You Can Play lists — a process that helped us create 50 best-in-state rankings — each panelist was provided a ballot that consisted of 609 courses. Beside the list of courses were 11 “buckets,” or groupings. If our panelists considered a course to be among the top three in the U.S., they ticked that first column. If they believed the course to be among Nos. 4-10, they checked that column, followed by 11-25, 26-50, and so on out to 250+ and even a column for “remove.” Panelists were also free to write in courses that they felt should have been included on the ballot.
Points were assigned to each bucket; to arrive at an average score for each course, we divide its aggregate score by the number of votes. From those point tallies, the courses are then ranked accordingly. It is an intentionally simple and straightforward process. Why? Because it historically has produced results that are widely lauded. Like the game itself, there’s no need to unnecessarily complicate things or try to fix something that already works so well.
The key to the process is the experience and expertise of our panel. Hailing from 15 nations and all the worldwide golf meccas, each of our 127 handpicked panelists has a keen eye for architecture, both regionally and globally. Many of our panelists have played more than 1,000 courses in 20-plus countries, some over 2,000. Their handicaps range from +5 to 15.
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