Welcome to the Golfweek’s Best 2026 ranking of the top par-3, short and non-traditional public-access golf courses in the United States. Golfweek’s Best introduced a ranking of these layouts in 2023 to acknowledge a recent and rapid rise in short courses. In 2024, we broke the category into two lists: public-access courses and private layouts. This ranking for the public-access layouts can include resorts, municipal courses and daily-fee operations.
Basically, they all fit the bill of not being a traditional-length, traditional-par course. And just like the best short courses, we threw out some of our rules used for rating traditional courses and asked our raters to submit one overall score for each course based on how much they enjoyed the design
and the environment. Those individual ratings were then combined to form one average rating. Each course had to receive a minimum of 10 votes.
For this list, we included each course’s average rating on a points scale of 1 to 10. We also included each course's 2025 ranking if applicable, its location, the designers, the year it opened, the number of holes, the total length and the par. An asterisk indicates a course that is new or returning to the list.
1. Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (Bandon Preserve)
2025 ranking: 1
Average rating: 8.11
Location: Bandon, OR
Designer(s): Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw
Year opened: 2012
Details: 13 holes, 1,609 yards, par 39
2. Golden Gate Park
2025 ranking: 2
Average rating: 7.57
Location: San Francisco, CA
Designer(s): Jay Blasi
Year opened: 2024
Details: 9 holes, 1,177 yards, par 27
3. Sand Valley (The Sandbox)
2025 ranking: 4
Average rating: 7.42
Location: Nekoosa, WI
Designer(s): Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw
Year opened: 2018
Details: 17 holes, 1,652 yards, par 51
4. Big Cedar Lodge (Top of the Rock)
2025 ranking: 3
Average rating: 7.41
Location: Ridgedale, MO
Designer(s): Jack Nicklaus
Year opened: 1996
Details: 9 holes, 1,420 yards, par 27
5. Gamble Sands (Quicksands)
2025 ranking: 5
Average rating: 7.33
Location: Brewster, WA
Designer(s): David McLay Kidd
Year opened: 2020
Details: 14 holes, 1,610 yards, par 42
6. Pinehurst Resort (The Cradle)
2025 ranking: T6
Average rating: 7.14
Location: Pinehurst, NC
Designer(s): Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner
Year opened: 2017
Details: 9 holes, 789 yards, par 27
7. Big Cedar Lodge (Mountain Top)
2025 ranking: T6
Average rating: 7.12
Location: Ridgedale, MO
Designer(s): Gary Player
Year opened: 2017
Details: 13 holes, 1,912 yards, par 39
8. Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail (Grand National Short)
2025 ranking: 8
Average rating: 7.05
Location: Opelika, AL
Designer(s): Robert Trent Jones Sr., Roger Rulewich
Year opened: 1992
Details: 18 holes, 3,126 yards, par 54
9. Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (Shorty's)
2025 ranking: 11
Average rating: 7.03
Location: Bandon, OR
Designer(s): Dave Axland, Rod Whitman, Keith Cutten
Year opened: 2024
Details: 19 holes, 1,997 yards, par 57
10. Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail (Magnolia Grove Short)
2025 ranking: T9
Average rating: 6.98
Location: Mobile, AL
Designer(s): Robert Trent Jones Sr., Roger Rulewich
Year opened: 1992
Details: 18 holes, 3,140 yards, par 54
11. Kohler Blackwolf Run (The Baths)
2025 ranking: T9
Average rating: 6.97
Location: Kohler, WI
Designer(s): Chris Lutzke
Year opened: 2021
Details: 10 holes, 1,362 yards, par 30
12. Palm Beach Par 3
2025 ranking: 12
Average rating: 6.92
Location: Palm Beach, FL
Designer(s): Dick Wilson, Joe Lee, Raymond Floyd
Year opened: 1961
Details: 18 holes, 2,572 yards, par 54
13. Streamsong (The Chain)
2025 ranking: T15
Average rating: 6.85
Location: Bowling Green, FL
Designer(s): Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw
Year opened: 2024
Details: 19 holes, 2,916 yards, no set par
14. Boar's Head (The Nest)
2025 ranking: T15
Average rating: 6.83
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Designer(s): Davis Love III
Year opened: 2020
Details: 6 Hole, 667 yards, par 18
15. Prairie Club (Horse)
2025 ranking: 13
Average rating: 6.82
Location: Valentine, NE
Designer(s): Gil Hanse, Geoff Shackelford
Year opened: 2010
Details: 10 holes, 1,125 yards, par 30
16. Big Cedar (Cliffhanger)
2025 ranking: 14
Average rating: 6.73
Location: Hollister, MO
Designer(s): Johnny Morris, John Paul Morris
Year opened: 2025
Details: 18 holes, 1,910 yards, par 54
17. The Park (The Lit 9)
2025 ranking: 17
Average rating: 6.69
Location: West Palm Beach, FL
Designer(s): Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner
Year opened: 2023
Details: 9 holes, 679 yards, par 27
18. PGA National (The Staple)
2025 ranking: 18
Average rating: 6.67
Location: Palm Beach Gardens, FL
Designer(s): Andy Staples
Year opened: 2021
Details: 9 holes, 802 yards, par 27
19. Audobon Park
2025 ranking: 20
Average rating: 6.56
Location: New Orleans, LA
Designer(s): Dennis Griffiths
Year opened: 2002
Details: 18 holes, 4,220 yards, par 62
20. Omni Amelia Island Club (Little Sandy)
2025 ranking: 19
Average rating: 6.55
Location: Amelia Island, FL
Designer(s): Beau Welling
Year opened: 2022
Details: 10 holes, 931 yards, par 30
21. The Evans at Canal Shores
2025 ranking: 22
Average rating: 6.52
Location: Evanston, IL
Designer(s): Tom Bendelow, Todd Quitno
Year opened: 1922
Details: 19 holes, 3,452 yards, par 60
22. Forest Dunes (Bootlegger)
2025 ranking: 21
Average rating: 6.51
Location: Roscommon, MI
Designer(s): Keith Rhebb, Riley Johns
Year opened: 2020
Details: 10 holes, 1,135 yards, par 30
23. Mountain Shadows (Short)
2025 ranking: 23
Average rating: 6.36
Location: paradise Valley, AZ
Designer(s): Forrest Richardson, Jack Snyder
Year opened: 1961
Details: 18 holes, 2,310 yards, par 54
24. Cabot Citrus Farms (The Squeeze)*
Average rating: 6.31
Location: Brooksville, FL
Designer(s): Mike Nuzzo
Year opened: 2024
Details: 10 holes, 2,957 yards, par 38
25. Pebble Beach Golf Resorts (The Hay)*
Average rating: 6.29
Location: Pebble Beach, CA
Designer(s): Tiger Woods
Year opened: 2021
Details: 9 holes, 670 yards, par 27
Jason Lusk is Golfweek's travel and golf course architecture editor, as well as the print magazine's creative director. He has written for and designed Golfweek for more than two decades.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: The top 25 public-access par-3 and short golf courses in the U.S.
