Course: Sea Island Resort (Seaside)
Location: St. Simons, Ga.
Event: The McGladrey Classic
This Tom Fazio design (from an Alison/Colt original) is a links-like layout along the Intracoastal Waterway punctuated by distinctive dunes and arresting views.
Course: Kapalua Resort (Plantation)
Location: Maui, Hawaii
Event: Hyundai Tournament of Champions
This majestic Coore/Crenshaw design, with its jaw-dropping views of the deep blue Pacific and neighbor islands, is a spectacular roller-coaster ride over lush, steeply pitched terrain.
Course: Torrey Pines (South)
Location: La Jolla, Calif.
Event: Farmers Insurance Open
Routed on sloping headlands indented by deep ravines and punctuated by rare Torrey pines, this beloved muni outside San Diego has hosted the PGA Tour since 1968.
Course: TPC Scottsdale (Stadium)
Location: Scottsdale, Ariz.
Event: Waste Management Phoenix Open
With new greens, tees, and bunkers added last fall, architect Tom Weiskopf’s major overhaul made the course not just better for tour players but average players, as well.
Course: Pebble Beach Golf Links
Location: Pebble Beach, Calif.
Event: AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am
Considering its storied history and magical locale, Pebble is probably the ultimate bucket-list course for every golfer. Need we say more?
Course: Spyglass Hill Golf Course
Location: Pebble Beach, Calif.
Event: AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am
Its first few holes playing through Cypress Point-like dunescape, Spyglass is a rugged Robert Trent Jones design that demands long straight drives and unerring approach shots.
Course: Trump National Doral (Blue Monster)
Location: Miami, Fla.
Event: WGC-Cadillac Championship
Recently overhauled by Gil Hanse, this ball-stealing behemoth has more teeth than ever, its greens hard by lakes and forced carries over water from tees that are way back.
Course: TPC San Antonio (AT&T Oaks)
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Event: Valspar Championship
Reflecting its home state, this rolling Greg Norman design (with an assist from Sergio Garcia) is known for its size: big fairways, big greens, big bunkers, and big trouble.
Course: Bay Hill Club & Lodge
Location: Orlando, Fla.
Event: Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard
Like Arnie in his prime, Bay Hill, Arnold Palmer’s long-time winter home, is a big-hitter’s ballpark that appeals to swashbuckling, go-for-broke players.
Course: Harbour Town Golf Links
Location: Hilton Head Island, S.C.
Event: RBC Heritage
Seeing the course on TV every year doesn’t make navigating Pete Dye’s twisty corridors and mossy, overhanging limbs to the small greens any easier, but it’s a lot of fun trying.
Course: TPC Harding Park
Location: San Francisco, Calif.
Event: WGC-Cadillac Match Play
Named after avid golfer and former President Warren G Harding, this storied course was a frequent PGA Tour stop in the 1960s and is once again following a major renovation in 2002-03.
Course: TPC Sawgrass (Players Stadium)
Location: Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
Event: THE PLAYERS Championship
Next to Augusta and Pebble, this is the course golfers want to play more than any other because of its familiarity—not to mention the chance to take on the infamous island-green 17th.
Course: The Greenbrier Resort (The Old White TPC)
Location: White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.
Event: The Greenbrier Classic
The showcase course at this historic resort remains the only public-access layout designed by C.B. Macdonald, the father of American golf architecture, who was famous for template holes based on Scotland’s best.
Course: Chambers Bay
Location: University Place, Wash.
Event: U.S. Open
Built on a former gravel and sand mine overlooking Puget Sound, this open, firm and fast design by Robert Trent Jones II encourages the ground game and almost looks as if it could host the British Open.
Course: Whistling Straits (Straits)
Location: Sheboygan, Wis.
Event: PGA Championship
This walkers-only layout perched above Lake Michigan may be Pete Dye’s greatest engineering feat: He turned a military firing range and landfill into an Irish-style links with 80-foot dunes.
