North Carolina has lots of golfing opportunities, offering players of all levels a chance to step onto a top-level course. The state has some of the best golf courses in the country.
For instance, Pinehurst Resort’s famed No. 2 course has been the host of key championships, amateur competitions, tour events, and bucket-list destinations for many golfers from different parts of the world.
But that is not the only top golf course in North Carolina. So, which are the other best golf courses in North Carolina?
Well, it will depend on who you ask. But there are quite a few, and many golfers rate them highly.
This is what informed our selection of the best golf courses in North Carolina.
So, please read through the whole guide, as it will help you find a hidden gem when you visit North Carolina to test your skills.
Without further ado, let’s look at the top golf courses in North Carolina.
List of the Best Golf Courses in North Carolina
- Pinehurst No. 2
- Wade Hampton Golf Club
- Old Town Club
- Diamond Creek
- Mountaintop Golf and Lake Club
- Eagle Point Golf Club
- Quail Hollow Club
- Grandfather Golf & Country Club
- Pinehurst No. 4
- Charlotte Country Club
- Bryan Park (Championships Course)
- Tobacco Road Golf Club
- Roaring Gap Club
- Forest Creek Golf Club: North Course
- Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club
- Linville Golf Club
- Southern Pines Golf Club
- Elk River Club
- Dormie Club
- Linville Ridge
- Mid Pines Inn and Golf Club
- Raleigh Country Club: Raleigh
- Old Chatham Golf Club, Durham
- Cape Fear Country Club, Wilmington
- Sedgefield Country Club
- The Country Club of North Carolina: Dogwood
- Old North State Club
- MacGregor Downs Country Club, Cary
- Pinehurst No. 8
- Champion Hills Club
Detailed Review of The Best Golf Courses in North Carolina
1. Pinehurst No. 2
- Location: Pinehurst
- Length: 7,548-yard
- Par: 70
- Designer(s): Donald Ross
- Year Established: 1907
- Championship(s): the 2014 Men’s and Women’s U.S. Opens; the 2019 U.S. Amateur Championship; the 2024 U.S. Open; the 2029, 2035, 2041, and 2047 U.S. Opens
Pinehurst No. 2 is not only the best golf course in North Carolina but one of the best nationwide. It has refused to relinquish this top spot since the 1990s.
This Donald Ross masterpiece offers a challenge to players of all levels and is often the host of major competitions.
2. Wade Hampton Golf Club
- Location: Cashiers
- Length: 7,302 yards
- Par: 72
- Designer(s): Tom Fazio
- Year Established: 1987
- Championship(s): the 2013 USGA Senior Amateur Championship
The Tom Fazio Classic is the best golf course in North Carolina because of its incorporated landscape, making it an exercise in restraint.
Wade Hampton’s fairways flow through a natural valley between flanking mountain peaks.
3. Old Town Club
- Location: Winston-Salem
- Length: 7,038 yards
- Par: 71
- Designer(s): Perry Maxwell, Ben Creshow, and Bill Coore
- Year Established: 1939
- Championship(s): the Southern Conference Championships in 1942, 1947, 1949, 1950, and 1952; six ACC Championships from 1954
The Old Town Club is surprisingly unique in many ways. It is probably the only surviving double-green from architect Perry Maxwell. Recently, Ben Creshow and Bill Coore were hired to improve the bunkers.
4. Diamond Creek
- Location: Banner Elk
- Length: 7,175 yards
- Par: 70
- Designer(s): Tom Fazio
- Year Established: 2003
- Championship(s): the Palmetto Championship in June 2021
This golf course is a testament to how a well-placed cascading water feature can do wonders for a course.
Tom Fazio positioned the green adjacent to the base of a sheer granite quarry wall, just below a small waterfall.
5. Mountaintop Golf and Lake Club
- Location: Cashiers
- Length: 7,127 yards
- Par: 70
- Designer(s): Tom Fazio
- Year Established: 2006
- Championship(s): The 2025 Ryder Cup; the 70th KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in 2024
This golf course is routed through natural valleys to avoid the need for dynamite.
Unlike nearby Wade Hampton, Tom Fazio blasted the mountaintop from solid rock and forged some holes through the slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains, making it the best golf course in North Carolina.
6. Eagle Point Golf Club
- Location: Wilmington
- Length: 7,099 yards
- Par: 72
- Designer(s): Tom Fazio
- Year Established: 2000
- Championship(s): the 2017 Wells Fargo Championship; the 2022 EP Men’s Club Tournament Champions; the Williams Cup in 2023
This is yet another beautifully designed course from Tom Fazio.
It is a beautifully rolling, pine-lined course with immaculate greens and gorgeously shaped bunkers.
7. Quail Hollow Club
- Location: Charlotte
- Length: 7,635 yards
- Par: 72
- Designer(s): George Cobb
- Year Established: 1960
- Championship(s): the PGA Championship in 2017; the 2022 Presidents Cup; the Kemper Open from 1969 to 1979; the PGA Tour’s Wells Fargo Championship since 2003
Quail Hollow is among the few golf courses that continue to get national attention, probably due to the fact that its front nine was improved just before it hosted the 2017 PGA Championship.
8. Grandfather Golf & Country Club
- Location: Linville
- Length: 7,021 yards
- Par: 72
- Designer(s): Ellis Maples
- Year Established: 1964
- Championship(s): Four Carolinas Women’s Amateur titles from 1948–58; the 2022 Foundation Four-Ball
Grandfather Golf & Country Club is the late Elliss Maples’ masterpiece. The course features roughs of rocks amid ever-present hemlocks.
It is also the best golf course in North Carolina due to its sweeping greens guarded by bold bunkers.
9. Pinehurst No. 4
- Location: Pinehurst
- Length: 7,227 yards
- Par: 72
- Designer(s): Donald Ross and Gil Hanse
- Year Established: 1919
- Championship(s): the 2019 U.S. Amateur Championship; the PGA Championships in 2008; the US Amateur Championship in 2007
Pinehurst No. 4 is a worthy companion of No. 2, so don’t confuse it with being a tribute to it.
Gil Hansen redesigned the course in 2018 to revert to the original landscape, giving it an impression of classic Carolina Sandhills golf.
10. Charlotte Country Club
- Location: Charlotte
- Length: 7,335 yards
- Par: 71
- Designer(s): Donald Ross and Ron Prichard
- Year Established: 1910
- Championship(s): the 1972 U.S. Men’s Amateur, 2000 U.S. Senior Men’s Amateur, 2010 U.S. Women’s Amateur, and the 2018 USGA U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship
Donald Ross expanded Charlotte’s original nine holes while adding grass greens and tinkering with them to make it the best golf course in North Carolina.
Later, Robert Trent Jones rearranged and redesigned the holes to create a practice range.
11. Bryan Park (Championships Course)
- Location: Bryan Park
- Length: 7,255 yards
- Par: 72
- Designer(s): Rees Jones
- Year Established: 1990
- Championship(s): the 2010 US Public Links Championship
This highly regarded public golf course is one of Rees Jones’ masterpieces of design, with lots of humps, hollows, and bunkers to make it a challenge for players.
12. Tobacco Road Golf Club
- Location: Sanford
- Length: 6,557 yards
- Par: 71
- Designer(s): Mike Strantz
- Year Established: 1998
- Championship(s): the 2019 PGA Championship; the 1962 and 2001 NCAA Men’s Golf Championships
This golf club is situated on a secret star property with Strantzian trademarks.
Tobacco Road took all the ideas that Strantz had been developing up until 1999 and blended them all into one place.
13. Roaring Gap Club
- Location: Roaring Gap
- Length: 6,455 yards.
- Par: 72
- Designer(s): Donald Ross and Kris Spence
- Year Established: 1926
- Championship(s): the 54th North Carolina Junior Boys’ Championship in 2021; the NC Junior Boys’ Championship in 2014
In 1926, the president of Pinehurst Resort, Leonard Tufts, and other key business leaders founded Roaring Gap Club as a premium gateway in the mountains for summer golf. They envisioned that the course would be an alternative when the Sandhills region became too hot.
14. Forest Creek Golf Club: North Course
- Location: Pinehurst
- Length: 7,139 yards
- Par: 72
- Designer(s): Tom Fazio
- Year Established: 2005
- Championship(s): the 2022 U.S. Kids Golf World Championship
Forest Creek is an ultra-private golf course in Pinehurst.
As the name suggests, the course forms part of a rolling pine forest, with most greens amenable and tee shots playing downhill to low, running shots.
It is also the best golf course in North Carolina due to its organic layout.
15. Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club
- Location: Southern Pines
- Length: 7,015 yards
- Par: 71
- Designer(s): Donald Ross
- Year Established: 1996
- Championship(s): the women’s US Open Championships in 1996, 2001, 2007, and 2022
Pine Needles is one of those special courses you would be interested in playing every day.
It is another Donald Ross classic that is a favorite of female golfers.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Pinehurst is one of the few golf courses in the country to have hosted major championships.
It is the top golf course in North Carolina that has hosted the most PGA championships.
North Carolina is a golf-heavy state with over 500 golf courses.
Specifically, the state has 167 private courses, 350 public courses, and 43 municipal golf courses.
The No. 2 is popular for its turtleback greens.
Surprisingly, these famed putting surfaces were not there until 1935.
They only transitioned to grass in 1936. Before then, its greens were a blend of sand and oil.
Closing Remarks
North Carolina is a respectable golf destination in the US. It is among the top 10 states in terms of golfiness.
Therefore, you would expect some of the best golf courses to play.
Pinehurst is not only the best golf course in North Carolina but is also a popular spot, having hosted several important golf events.
Other top golf courses you may want to play at are Wade Hampton Golf Club, Old Town Club, and Quail Hollow Club.
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