Top 10 “White” Courses in Golf

The color white—which generally means a lack of hue (whereas black is often seen as a lack of color)—conjures up images of purity and perfection to some, a blank slate and innocence to others. Golfers encounter white nearly as often as green. Tees are predominantly white, as are the golf balls placed atop them, and the tee markers used by many male golfers in any given round are white. Yet only a handful of golf courses and facilities feature the word “white” in their names.

Here are the top 10 “White” courses in golf.

10. White Beeches—Haworth, N.J.

A Met Area mainstay for more than a century, White Beeches is a 1918 Walter Travis design that opened formally in 1920. Founders named the course for the beech trees that dotted the acreage in the early days. At least five architects have made revisions over the years, but the layout remains mostly true to its Travis origins. New back Black tees have added approximately 230 yards to the listed Blue tees of 6,556 yards. Even with that shortish distance and flattish terrain, it challenges today’s best with dense tree cover, a healthy smattering of ponds, and a set of quick, old-school greens with subtle contouring. Its quirky par 37–35—72 features only three par threes, one of them the closing hole—a 210-yard, slightly downhill shot over a pond to a multi-tiered green protected by four bunkers. The 340-yard par-four 4th which twists through an avenue of oaks and the bunkerless 460-yard par-four 14th that climbs to a significantly elevated green are standouts.

9. White Eagle—Naperville, Ill.

Arnold Palmer, together with design partner Ed Seay, crafted White Eagle in 1989. Located in suburban Chicago, 33 miles west of downtown, this private 27-hole course consists of the Red nine (holes 1–9), the White (10–18), and the Blue (19–27). The Red/White course record from the back tees, at 7,211 yards, belongs to a then 20-year-old Tiger Woods, who posted a 67 in July 1995. His only bogey came on the par-three 16th (No. 7 on the White), a bruising par three of 220 yards with water short and right of the green. Speaking of Tiger-like ferocious competitors, Dottie Mochrie (now Pepper) won the first of three LPGA Tour events contested here in 1992. Then, as now, players will encounter a Florida-like layout on land that was once flat prairie, complete with lakes splashed everywhere, houses proliferating, and bunkers on the shallow side, with straightforward, Augusta-like edgings.

8. White Manor—Malvern, Pa.

Located in the golf-rich suburbs west of Philadelphia, the private White Manor Country Club opened at its current location in 1963 with a design from the acclaimed father-son duo of William and David Gordon. The LPGA played here from 1981–86, where winners included legends Sandra Post, JoAnne Carner, Beth Daniel, Patty Sheehan, Alice Miller, and Juli Inkster. In 2003, Bobby Weed completely revamped the old layout, resulting in today’s 7,055-yard spread. A classic bookend design, where 1 and 10 are downhill par fours, and 9 and 18 are sibling par fours that climb uphill, the course that Weed created is modern in its shot demands with a slew of water and sand hazards in play, resulting in a big boy back tee slope of 148 and rating of 74.6. Its mix of strategic and penal holes, with good variety on the greens and from one hole to the next, makes this an underrated gem in the region.

7. White Horse—Kingston, Wash.

Situated on high ground between the Olympic and Cascade mountains, this inspired Cynthia Dye McGarey design opened in 2007 to raves, both for beauty and difficulty, but economic woes over the next few years caused its conditioning to plummet. The Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort assumed ownership and retained architect John Harbottle to soften some of the more penal aspects, while still respecting the integrity of the original design. Harbottle eliminated 68 of White Horse’s 145 bunkers, yanked out trees, and cut back the fescues from bunker edges. Today’s layout remains a beautiful brute, at 7,093 yards from the Green (back) tees while sloped 141 and rated 74.7, but with its wooded location just north of Seattle and handsome views of the Puget Sound, it remains a regional favorite.

6. White Clay Creek—Wilmington, Del.

One of the most challenging courses in Delaware, this 2005 public creation from Arthur Hills and Steve Forrest stretches 7,007 yards, during a journey that takes in ponds, streams, wetlands, and the namesake creek at every turn, leading to a hefty slope of 140 and a course rating of 75.0. Forced carries are on tap all day, both off the tee and into the raised, subtly contoured greens. On the more difficult front nine, standouts include the rugged 491-yard par-four 6th and the 343-yard par-four 9th, a drive-and-pitch hole with its putting surface raised well above the fairway. Located within the fabled 87-year-old thoroughbred horse racing venue, Delaware Park, White Clay Creek also offers golfers a nearby casino/hotel. Still, the safest bet of all is that you’ll lose at least one golf ball over 18 holes at White Clay Creek.

5. White Columns—Milton, Ga.

When this 1995 Tom Fazio design debuted in the northeast suburbs of Atlanta, it made every top 100 public course list. It remained a mainstay until 2003, when the club went fully private. Since then, White Columns has maintained a lower profile, but two decades later, it remains a must-play. Dramatic elevation changes among pines and hardwoods yield beauty and variety. Several forced carries over water, wetlands, and steep-faced bunkers provide visual drama and challenge, and while the flattish, quick greens will allow a skilled putter to hole a putt or two, they’re sufficiently large that frequent three-putting is also in play on the 7,050-yard layout.

4. Dismal River (White)—Mullen, Neb.

Jack Nicklaus carved out the original course at private Dismal River in 2006, a layout that became known as the White when Tom Doak debuted his Red course in 2013. Located just 14 miles from Sand Hills Golf Club in the windswept dunes of western Nebraska, Nicklaus’s layout polarized reviewers from the beginning, especially with its wildly undulating greens. Jack returned a few years later to soften and reconfigure 10 greens and repositioned two others. Today, the 7,353-yard par-72 course still beguiles and bewilders, with Nicklaus’s version of minimalism resulting in a fistful of semi-blind shots to heaving fairways and greens semi-hidden by dunes. Yet, the terrain also provides many compelling holes that blend seamlessly into the terrain, with the quartet of par fives—Nos. 4, 9, 12, and 18—a highlight.

3. The Greenbrier (The Old White)—White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.

Following a sensitive 2007 restoration by Lester George, this 110-year-old C.B. Macdonald/Seth Raynor effort has charmed the old admirers and wowed the new ones. The PGA Tour played the 7,246-yard par-70 resort layout from 2010–19, and the course was rebranded as the TPC Old White. Winners during that stretch included Xander Schauffele, Angel Cabrera, and Joaquin Niemann. No longer a TPC facility, the course hosted LIV Golf in 2023 and 2024, when Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka triumphed, respectively. Amid rolling, tree-studded terrain in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains, players on every tour delight in the classic accents, such as the Redan par-three 8th, Punchbowl par-four 9th, and Eden par-three 15th.

2. The Dye Course at White Oak—Yulee, Fla.

Modern golf’s most mystery-shrouded top 100 course is regarded as Pete Dye’s final design effort, although he wasn’t around to see it open. Located in farthest northeast Florida, 24 miles north of Jacksonville and approximately 10 miles south of the Georgia state line, The Dye Course at White Oak was designed by Dye between 2014 and 2017 for business titan Mark Walter. It was named for its proximity to White Oak Conservation, a nonprofit animal sanctuary that Walter had previously acquired. When Dye fell ill in 2017, his longtime friend and course builder Allan MacCurrach of MacCurrach Golf completed the build to Dye’s intentions. The course, resembling Dye’s less over-shaped early masterworks such as Harbour Town and nearby Omni Amelia Island Resort, opened in 2022.

1. White Bear Yacht Club—White Bear Lake, Minn.

In his 2016 version of The Confidential Guide to Golf Courses, architect-author Tom Doak wrote, “Our favorite course in the Twin Cities, White Bear Yacht Club is one of the last hidden gems in America—a great course that hardly anyone ever mentions. Likely part of the reason for its anonymity is that from the big par-four first hole to the blind tee shot on the 18th, it is a walk on the wild side, with fairway undulations that would require a small craft advisory, and greens that would make Perry Maxwell blush.” The remarkably varied greens and lay-of-the-land routing inhabit a front nine that debuted in 1912 and a back nine that dates to 1915; incredibly, neither scholars nor the club have reached a consensus as to whether it was William Watson or Donald Ross who was responsible for the designs. No matter who did the work a century ago, Jim Urbina has ably assisted the club over the past two decades in restoring green complexes and clearing away trees to reveal the sensational contouring throughout the layout.

What “White” golf courses would you add to this list?