Augusta National Golf Club steals much of the spotlight in Georgia, ranking No. 3 in the United States among Golfweek’s Best Classic Courses and annually hosting the Masters. But there’s a lot more to the Peach State’s golf scene than elite private clubs and that treasured drive down Magnolia Lane.
And eight of the 15 best public-access courses in the state are divided between just two resorts, making it easy to sample a wide range of solid tracks.
Golfweek ranks courses by compiling the average ratings – on a points basis of 1 to 10 – of its more than 750 raters to create several industry-leading lists of courses. That includes the popular Best Courses You Can Play list for courses that allow non-member tee times. These generally are defined as layouts accessible to resort guests or regular daily-fee players.
Topping that Best Courses You Can Play list in Georgia is Sea Island’s Seaside Course, which originally was laid out by famed designers Harry S. Colt and Charles Alison in 1929 and that was redesigned by Tom Fazio in 1999. Playing along the Atlantic Coast tight to St. Simons Sound, the Seaside also ranks No. 84 in the United States among all of Golfweek’s Best Modern Courses built in or after 1960, and it is No. 25 among all U.S. resort courses.
Sea Island’s Plantation Course at No. 11 and Retreat Course at No. 14 also rank highly in Georgia.
Great Waters at Reynolds Lake Oconee (Courtesy of Reynolds Lake Oconee/Evan Schiller)
Reynolds Lake Oconee, in the center of the state about a 90-minute drive east of Atlanta, has the next two top courses in Georgia on the Best Courses You Can Play list. In fact, five of the top 10 courses in the state are at Reynolds Lake Oconee.
Reynolds Lake Oconee’s Great Waters, built by Jack Nicklaus in 1992 and renovated by the Golden Bear in 2019, is No. 2 in Georgia on the public-access list, followed by the community’s Oconee course by Rees Jones at No. 3. Reynolds Lake Oconee’s National course by Fazio ranks No. 7 in the state, with the Landing by Bob Cupp at No. 9 and the Preserve by Cupp (with consultants Fuzzy Zoeller and Hubert Green) at No. 10.
The Harbor Club in Greensboro is No. 3 in Georgia on the Best Courses You Can Play list, followed by University of Georgia Golf Club in fifth.
The Oconee at Reynolds Lake Oconee (Courtesy of Reynolds Lake Oconee/Brian G. Oar)
Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play in Georgia
1. Sea Island (Seaside)
St. Simons Island (No. 84 m)
2. Reynolds Lake Oconee (Great Waters)
Oconee (m)
3. Reynolds Lake Oconee (Oconee)
Oconee (m)
4. Harbor Club
Greensboro (m)
5. University of Georgia GC
Athens (m)
6. Achasta
Dahlonega (m)
7. Reynolds Lake Oconee (National)
Greensboro (m)
8. Bear’s Best Atlanta
Suwanee (m)
9. Reynolds Lake Oconee (Landing)
Greensboro (m)
10. *Reynolds Lake Oconee (The Preserve)
Oconee (m)
11. Sea Island (Plantation)
St. Simons Island (c)
12. *Hampton Club
St. Simons Island (m)
13. *Brasstown Valley
Young Harris (m)
14. Sea Island (Retreat)
St. Simons Island (m)
15. The Club at Savannah Harbor
Savannah (m)
Golfweek’s Best Private Courses in Georgia
1. Augusta National
Augusta (No. 3 c)
2. *Ohoopee Match Club
Cobbtown (No. 8 m)
3. Peachtree
Atlanta (No. 21 c)
4. Augusta CC
Augusta (No. 68 c)
5. East Lake
Atlanta (No. 88 c)
6. Cuscowilla on Lake Oconee
Eatonton (No. 99 m)
7. Ocean Forest
Sea Island (m)
8. *Cherokee Town & CC
Atlanta (c)
9. Atlanta Athletic Club (Highlands)
Johns Creek (m)
10. Frederica
St. Simons Island (m)
*New to the list in 2020
(m): modern; (c): classic
Golfweek’s Best Top 30 Campus Courses
The rankings below reflect where these courses fall among the top 30 Campus Courses in the United States.
18. University of Georgia GC, 6.02
Athens, Ga.; Robert Trent Jones Sr., Davis Love III, 1968
Golfweek’s Best 2020
- Top 100 Best Courses You Can Play
- Best Courses You Can Play, state by state
- Top 200 Modern Courses
- Top 200 Classic Courses
- Best Private Courses, state by state
- Top 50 Casino Courses
- Top 30 Campus Courses
How we rate them
The members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged together to produce a final rating for each course. Then each course is ranked against other courses in its state, or nationally, to produce the final rankings.