The past several years have seen an uptick in course openings around the U.S., but which of those courses are the best? We turned to Golfweek’s Best ranking of the top Modern courses to find out.
Five recently opened courses earned spots among that list’s top 100 layouts for 2024. Two are private, with three being either resort or municipal layouts – great news for traveling golfers looking to sample best-in-class courses.
Each year we publish many lists, with the selection of top Modern courses among the premium of those lists. The hundreds of members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce these rankings. The top handful of courses in the world have an average rating of above 9, while many excellent layouts fall into the high-6 to 8 range.
For a course to be included on our premium modern list, it must be played by at least 25 raters. That means it can take several years for a new layout to garner enough votes to earn a spot on the list, which is why the two private courses among the five newcomers to this year’s ranking were built in 2021 but didn’t appear until 2024. There are several new courses already accepting play that haven’t appeared on the Modern list yet but that are strong contenders for inclusion after they reach the 25-vote threshold.
With all that said, check out the top five courses to appear in the 2024 Modern rankings. The number next to the title indicates where the course ranks on the Modern courses list.
Average rating: 7.19
Where: Ivins, Utah
Designers: Tom Weiskopf, Phil Smith
Year opened: 2023
Type: Resort, daily-fee
Other rankings: No. 1 public-access course in Utah, No. 26 resort course in U.S.
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Average rating: 7.23
Where: West Palm Beach, Fla.
Designers: Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner
Year opened: 2023
Type: Municipal
Other rankings: No. 5 public-access course in Florida
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Average rating: 7.26
Where: Yulee, Fla.
Designer: Pete Dye
Year opened: 2021
Type: Private
Other rankings: No. 6 private course in Florida
Average rating: 7.63
Where: Nekoosa, Wis.
Designers: Charles Blair Macdonald, Tom Doak, Brian Schneider
Year opened: 2023
Type: Resort, daily-fee
Other rankings: No. 2 public-access course in Wisconsin, No. 13 resort course in U.S.
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Average rating: 7.92
Where: Valentine, Neb.
Designers: Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner
Year opened: 2021
Type: Private
Other rankings: No. 2 private club in Nebraska
