4 Golf Travel Tips You’ll Want to Use This Year
By Jason Scott Deegan
Analyzing the data from 275,000 reviews of golf courses can feel overwhelming.
It’s a task that consumes the GolfPass team every December and January, when we compile our annual Golfers’ Choice lists. It’s a heavy lift to get everything organized, but we feel like the effort is worth it to enrich the lives of golfers everywhere.
Golfers’ Choice 2025 was revealed January 15th with the first of what will be more than 70 different lists this year. Being honored among the Top 50 Public Golf Courses in the United States is the pinnacle, although making the top 25 of any of our other subcategory lists should be celebrated accordingly. Any public facility that ranks highly for its pace of play, staff friendliness, conditions, layout or value should immediately be included in your must-play list.
Looking for trends is what makes diving into a year’s worth of golf reviews so fascinating. I’ve always contended that Golfers’ Choice is as much a buyer’s guide as it is a best-of ranking. Obviously, there are some premier courses that get left off of Golfers’ Choice because they don’t hit the minimum benchmark of 10 reviews to qualify.
The ones that do qualify, though, are there because of one reason: they over-deliver on the golf experience compared to what golfers pay. How else do you explain a $50 course ranking higher than one that costs $250? That $50 course is getting five stars from customers because their round was so enjoyable that it felt like it was worth more. The $250 course is getting five stars because all of the extras courses of that caliber offer – the amenities, high-end service, lush conditions, etc. – are worth the spend. As with everything else in life, it all comes back to money.
We picked up on several golfer sentiments that should inform your golf course selections – both near home and on trips – this year. Here are some of the most interesting nuggets of information we can glean from Golfers’ Choice 2025. Consider these some solid golf travel tips, courtesy of your fellow golfers:
Golf course green fees matter more than ever
Rates are rising everywhere. That has golfers becoming more conscious about how much they play or where they play, and often more critical after their rounds. No course ranking tool unearths more value golf courses than Golfers’ Choice. A dozen golf courses with green fees between $50 and $70 made our Top 50 list. That tells me everyday golfers regard the value proposition of the golf experience just as highly, if not higher, than other characteristics like a good layout or a big fancy clubhouse.
Golf in South Carolina’s Lowcountry made a big comeback in 2024
Three different courses from the Palmetto State’s Lowcountry region made our ‘Most Improved’ list: Rose Hill Golf Club (no. 24), Crescent Pointe (no. 20) and the Golf Club at Hilton Head Lakes (no. 8), and Long Bay Club (no. 25) is not far away. Why is that? I can only speculate that the weather was more cooperative than usual, allowing superintendents the proper mix of sunshine, rain and mild winter temperatures to dial in the best conditions possible. Or maybe intense local competition forced each facility to step up their games. Let’s hope that trend continues and these courses continue to make the upgrades needed to thrive in a competitive market.