The 30 best public golf courses you can play in South Carolina

Selecting the top golf courses in South Carolina is a college student’s dream for a final exam: a quiz with no wrong answers.

“There are so many deserving courses that ranking them is like splitting hairs,” Michael Whitaker, longtime executive director of the S.C. Golf Course Ratings panel, liked to say.

Whitaker retired a year ago and the organization has a new name — the South Carolina Golf Course Rankings Panel — with the same purpose: identifying the top courses in the state. The association ranks courses open to public play in odd-numbered years and ranks all courses in even-numbered years.

Even with a revamped operation, the 30 courses on the Best You Can Play for 2025 closely resemble the 2023 list with only two newcomers — the Legends Golf Course at Parris Island and the Plantation Course at Edisto.

“There’s such a little margin of separation of course, especially after getting past the top 15 or 20,” said Mo York, the panel’s president. “We listed 30 courses, but you could name at least 20 more that could have easily been chosen.

“That’s one of the great blessings to being a golfer in South Carolina. There’s so much great golf to choose from.”

To further illustrate his point, York emphasized that this year’s list only includes course open to public play. Private courses, which include acclaimed layouts such as Palmetto, Congaree, Country Club of Charleston, Yeamans Hall, Camden Country Club and Greenville Country Club’s Chanticleer course, will be considered in next year’s survey.

It’s no surprise that the 2025 Best You Can Play list tilts overwhelming toward the tourist meccas on the Atlantic coast and especially resorts. Only two of the 30 are located in the Midlands and another two in the Upstate. Resorts — Barefoot in North Myrtle Beach, Sea Pines on Hilton Head Island and Kiawah Island Resort — combine for 10 representatives.

Courses selected this year range from the two best known for staging professional championships, Kiawah Island Resort’s Ocean Course and Sea Pines’ Harbour Town Golf Links, to the layout the panel voted the state’s hidden gem a few years ago, Aiken Golf Club.

The dichotomy — the Ocean Course is a brute that can be stretched close to 8,000 yards and Aiken GC tops out at 5,800 yards — illustrates the different challenges golf offers.

Architects with courses on the list range from Pete Dye (Ocean Course and Harbour Town, among others), to John Inglis, a Donald Ross disciple (Aiken GC), to a group of locals who began the Plantation at Edisto before bringing in accomplished Tom Jackson to complete the Edisto Beach layout.

The rankings panel is composed of about 125 golf enthusiasts who represent a diverse range of occupations, handicaps and backgrounds. The group’s objective is to promote excellence in the state’s golf course design and operation through competitive ranking, education and public advocacy. Criteria used in judging include routing, variety, strategy, equity, memorability, aesthetics and the golfer’s experience.

Best golf courses you can play in South Carolina

(Selected by the South Carolina Golf Course Rankings Panel and listed alphabetically by region)

MIDLANDS

• Aiken Golf Club
• Orangeburg Country Club

UPSTATE

• Furman Golf University Club
• Walker Course at Clemson University

GRAND STRAND

• Barefoot Resort Dye Course
• Barefoot Resort Fazio Course
• Barefoot Resort Love Course
• Caledonia Golf & Fish Club
• Dunes Golf & Beach Club
• Grande Dunes Resort Club
• Pawleys Plantation
• Pine Lakes Country Club
• Prestwick Country Club
• Tidewater Golf Club & Plantation
• TPC of Myrtle Beach
• True Blue Plantation

GREATER CHARLESTON

• Charleston Municipal Golf Course
• Kiawah Island Resort Cougar Point Course
• Kiawah Island Resort Ocean Course
• Kiawah Island Resort Osprey Point Course
• Kiawah Island Resort Turtle Point Course
• Plantation Course at Edisto
• Wild Dunes Resort Links Course

LOWCOUNTRY

• Fripp Island Resort Ocean Point Course
• Legends Golf Course at Parris Island
• May River Golf Club at Palmetto Bluff
• Palmetto Dunes Robert Trent Jones Course
• Sea Pines Resort Atlantic Dunes Course
• Sea Pines Resort Harbour Town Golf Links
• Sea Pines Resort Heron Point Course

Chip shots

As expected, USC will be the top seed in the Charlottesville, Virginia regional in the NCAA women’s tournament May 5-7. The Gamecocks, No. 4 nationally, won the SEC championship in their last start and will be seeking their 14th trip to the national championship tournament in 18 seasons under coach Kalen Anderson. The nationals will be played May 16-21 in Carlsbad, California. ... Clemson’s Isabella Rawl and Melena Barrientos will compete as individuals in Charlottesville. ... The College of Charleston earned the seventh seed in Charlottesville and Furman, seeded 11th, will play in the Norman, Oklahoma regional. ... The Columbia Country Club of Blythewood team of Dakota Hunter, Brian Lee and Robert Dargan won the SCGA’s Trescott Championship at Carolina CC in Spartanburg. In the pro-am division, pro Stephen Hartwig joined the trio to give Columbia CC title.

This story was originally published April 25, 2025 at 8:48 AM with the headline "The 30 best public golf courses you can play in South Carolina."