Best golf courses in Pennsylvania for 2024-25

As portion of GOLF’s rigorous ratings process for our recently released Top 100 Courses successful the U.S. and Top 100 Courses You Can Play rankings, our fleet of 100-plus master panelists identified the champion play courses successful each state.

You tin cheque retired the links beneath to browse each of our people rankings, aliases scroll down to spot the champion courses successful Pennsylvania. And if you’re looking to create your ain travel successful the future, you’d beryllium wise to fto GOLF’s caller Course Finder instrumentality assistance you. Here, you tin toggle each of our lists — Top 100 public, champion munis, champion short courses, champion par-3s and much — aliases select by value to create the cleanable itinerary for your adjacent trip.

GOLF’s different people rankings: Top 100 Courses successful the World | Top 100 Courses successful the U.S. | Top 100 Courses You Can Play | Top 100 Value Courses successful the U.S. | America’s Best Municipal Courses | The 100 Best Short Courses successful the World

Check retired our all-new recreation podcast Destination GOLF. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: APPLE | SPOTIFY | IHEART | AMAZON

The champion play courses successful Pennsylvania (2024/2025)

SYMBOL GUIDE
# = Top 100 Course successful the U.S.
Y = Top 100 You Can Play successful the U.S.
V = Top 100 Value Course successful the U.S.
P = Public/Resort

Ed. note: Some courses were omitted from our rankings because they did not person capable votes.

1. Oakmont (Oakmont) [#]

No people thrives much connected looking mean. Indeed, the beauty of Oakmont is really it doesn’t doll itself up, and yet to a purist, the position from the crest of the elevation connected 15 is arsenic breathtaking arsenic immoderate successful the country. The barren scenery possesses fewer trees and nary water, conscionable drainage ditches that traverse the land. Daunting carries aren’t the issue, either, and the greens are huge, truthful what’s the large deal? The mobility is answered astatine the 1st, pinch a greenish that follows the earthy contours and slopes distant from the player. The nine prides itself connected the gait and firmness of its world-renowned putting surfaces, truthful fto the beating commence! For a people known for its difficulty, what gets mislaid successful the shuffle is the brilliance of its quartet of short par-4s, astatine 2, 11, 14 and 17.

2. Merion – East (Ardmore) [#] 

What makes Merion truthful unique is its singular variety. Some par-4s are short; others are monsters pinch the delta being arsenic overmuch arsenic 200 yards. One par-3 is tiny, astatine 115 yards; the others measurement 236, 246 and 256. The celebrated par-4 11th, wherever Bobby Jones clinched the 1930 Grand Slam, is slashed by a creek, while the par-4 16th demands a changeable complete an abandoned chromatic quarry. In short, Merion has everything, including sub-air and irrigation systems that lend much power complete the firmness and velocity of the playing surfaces. The precocious expanded greens person created a plethora of caller spread locations astir the greens’ perimeters, and the player’s chess lucifer pinch the clever creation is much aggravated than ever.

3. Fox Chapel (Pittsburgh) [#]

This Tom Marzolf restoration was a strict return to Raynor’s 1925 vision, immoderate of which had been mislaid based connected proposal that the nine received from A.W. Tillinghast successful the 1930s. Raynor fans are near pinch plentifulness to relish, including the Lion’s Mouth bunker brought backmost astatine 9, the Double Plateau greenish reinstated astatine 13, and the celebrated Bottle spread bunkering strategy returned astatine 16. All the attack areas were sand-capped, pinch the resulting firmer surfaces allowing for short-game creativity. Additionally, short writer now surrounds the greenish pads, ensuring that options abound for betterment shots. Panelist Barry Doyle has suggested that Fox Chapel mightiness now beryllium location to Raynor’s champion group of greens.

4. Aronimink (Newton Square) [#]

Donald Ross ever thought Aronimink would beryllium his masterpiece. Over the years, a who’s who of awesome architects mildly tweaked this suburban Philly classic, and while the people ne'er mislaid its greatness, bits of Ross’s brilliant were slow chipped away. Almost 20 years of diligent restoration — astir precocious led by Gil Hanse — person brought Ross’ original imagination backmost to life. Today, the celebrated Tudor clubhouse overlooks a people pinch larger greens and much treacherous bunkers that is erstwhile again the “supreme test” Ross intended.

5. Philadelphia Cricket – Wissahickon (Flourtown) [#]

Keith Foster’s 2013 restoration, which features some awesome assortment and spaciousness, brought each of A.W. Tillinghast’s creation sparkle back. Some greens are unfastened crossed the beforehand and request for a moving changeable while others are perched and heavy defended. The creation reflects Tillinghast’s brilliant for divers greenish settings. His celebrated trademark, the Great Hazard (a mammoth cardinal bunker that bisects the fairway), is peculiarly good done astatine PCC’s 7th hole. The people besides is location to 1 of the East Coast’s champion finishers, a tough, risk-reward par-4 pinch a creek that comes into play if you don’t hug the near broadside of the fairway disconnected the tee. 

6. Lancaster (Lancaster) 

7. CC of Scranton (Clarks Summit) 

8. Rolling Green (Springfield) 

9. Huntington Valley (Huntington Valley) 

10. Manufacturers (Fort Washington) 

11. Saucon Valley – Old (Bethlehem) 

12. Sunnehanna (Johnstown) 

13. Laurel Valley (Ligonier) 

14. Allegheny (Sewickley) 

15. Saucon Valley – Weyhill (Bethlehem) 

16. Leigh (Allentown) 

17. Gulph Mills (King of Prussia) 

18. Longue Vue (Verona) 

19. Stonewall – Old (Elverson) 

20. Philadelphia CC – Spring Mill (Gladwyne) 

21. Llanerch (Havertown)  

22. Applebrook (Malvern) 

23. Saucon Valley – Grace (Bethlehem) 

24. Pittsburgh Field Club (Pittsburgh) 

25. LuLu (Glenside) 

How we rank our courses

For our recently released Top 100 U.S. and Top 100 You Can Play lists — a process that helped america create 50 best-in-state rankings — each panelist was provided a ballot that consisted of 609 courses. Beside the database of courses were 11 “buckets,” aliases groupings. If our panelists considered a people to beryllium among the apical 3 successful the U.S., they ticked that first column. If they believed the people to beryllium among Nos. 4-10, they checked that column, followed by 11-25, 26-50, and truthful connected retired to 250+ and moreover a file for “remove.” Panelists were besides free to constitute successful courses that they felt should person been included connected the ballot.

Points were assigned to each bucket; to get astatine an mean people for each course, we disagreement its aggregate people by the number of votes. From those constituent tallies, the courses are past classed accordingly. It is an intentionally elemental and straightforward process. Why? Because it historically has produced results that are wide lauded. Like the crippled itself, there’s nary request to unnecessarily complicate things aliases effort to hole thing that already useful truthful well.

The cardinal to the process is the acquisition and expertise of our panel. Hailing from 15 nations and each the worldwide play meccas, each of our 127 handpicked panelists has a keen oculus for architecture, some regionally and globally. Many of our panelists person played much than 1,000 courses successful 20-plus countries, immoderate complete 2,000. Their handicaps scope from +5 to 15.

Because the quality of people standing is truthful intensely subjective, nary 1 sentiment carries the day. The only way, then, to build meaningful statement is to incorporated this diverseness of panelists and experiences into 1 ranking.