Best golf courses: Boston / Cape Cod / R.I.

Boston / Cape Cod / R.I.: the table below provides brief details about the top golf courses in this country or region. Each golf club has been visited and/or researched by Where2Golf. Click on the course name below to discover more. The course ratings below range from 5 highest, to 2 lowest. They attempt to provide an indication of the golfing experience you might expect at the course (based on its design, condition and surroundings). Hover your cursor above the Rating Key for the rating definitions.
Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Boston
Ross, Donald

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Boston

Designer

Current layout designed by Donald Ross (1913).

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Boston
Cornish / Fazio

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Boston

Designer

Pines course: designed by Geoffrey Cornish with input from Francis Oiumet (1956); modifications by Robert Trent Jones Sr (1972). Redesigned by the firm of Coore & Crenshaw (Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw) (2021).
Oaks course: original design by Tom Fazio (2001); modifications by Tripp Davis (2021).

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Providence
Palmer, Hanse & Faxon

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Providence

Designer

Original design by Arnold Palmer (2002); redesigned by Gil Hanse in consultation with Brad Faxon (2007).

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Providence
Ross, Donald

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Providence

Designer

Original nine-hole course designed by Willie Campbell (1898), which was folded into the original 18-hole Donald Ross design (1914). In 1926 Ross returned to further improve his original design. Restoration project led by Ron Forse (2008).

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Boston
Hanse, Gil

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Boston

Designer

Gil Hanse

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Boston
Leeds & Cornish

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Boston

Designer

Original design by Herbert C. Leeds (1894); modifications by Geoff Cornish (2005) and Gil Hanse (2013).

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Boston
Campbell, Willie

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Boston

Designer

Original 6-hole course designed by three club members (1893). Extended to 9-holes (1894) and then 18-holes (1899) by the club's first professional, Scotsman William (Willie) Campbell. The course was lengthened by Alex Campbell* (1902) and later revised and renovated by Rees Jones (1988). 9-hole Primrose course designed by William S. Flynn (1927). *Willie and Alex Campbell were not related to each other, other than by the clan Campbell name.

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Newport, RI
Davis & Tillinghast

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Newport, RI

Designer

Original nine-hole layout designed by the club's first professional, William F. Davis (1894), and extended by him to 18-holes (1899). Later improvements by Albert W. Tillinghast (1924) and Ron Forse (1999). Although Donald Ross was thought to have been involved at some stage in Newport's design, this was not apparently the case.

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Boston
Ross, Donald

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Boston

Designer

Course designed by Donald Ross (1925), when club moved to its current Peabody site.

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Barnstable, MA
Fowler, Herbert

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Barnstable, MA

Designer

Original design by English course architect Herbert Fowler (1922); modifications by Keith Foster (2007).

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Boston
Ross, Donald

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Boston

Designer

Designed by Donald Ross (1917); modifications by Tom Doak (2008).
Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Providence
Flynn, Hood & Hanse

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Providence

Designer

Original design by William S. Flynn & Frederic C. Hood (1922); renovated by Gil Hanse (1998, 2012).

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Boston
Cornish & Silva

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Boston

Designer

Geoff Cornish & Brian Silva
Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Plymouth, MA
Coore & Crenshaw

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Plymouth, MA

Designer

Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw

4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Rsrt guests only
Barnstable, MA
Silva, Brian

Visitors?

Rsrt guests only

Nearest city

Barnstable, MA

Designer

Brian Silva of Cornish, Silva & Mungeam.

4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Plymouth, MA
Cornish, Silva & Mungeam

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Plymouth, MA

Designer

Geoffrey Cornish, Brian Silva & Mark Mungeam

4-PLUS: Must play course - excellent standard; worthy of 4½ stars.
Visitors welcome
Providence
Jones, Rees

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Providence

Designer

Rees Jones
4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Barnstable, MA
Cornish & Robinson

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Barnstable, MA

Designer

Geoff Cornish & William G. "Bill" Robinson (1974), with later improvements by Mark Mungeam.

4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Boston
Mungeam, Mark

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Boston

Designer

Mark A. Mungeam
4-PLUS: Must play course - excellent standard; worthy of 4½ stars.
Visitors welcome
Boston
Sanford, John

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Boston

Designer

John Sanford

4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Newport, RI
Cornish & Silva

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Newport, RI

Designer

Geoff Cornish & Brian Silva

4-PLUS: Must play course - excellent standard; worthy of 4½ stars.
Visitors welcome
Boston
Silva, Brian

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Boston

Designer

Brian Silva

4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Plymouth, MA
Silva, Brian

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Plymouth, MA

Designer

Brian Silva

3-PLUS: Good course - several memorable features; worthy of 3½ stars.
Visitors welcome
Boston
Ross, Donald

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Boston

Designer

Donald Ross's design work started in 1928, but the project was shelved due to the Wall Street Crash. Course eventually opened in 1938.

4-PLUS: Must play course - excellent standard; worthy of 4½ stars.
Visitors welcome
Plymouth, MA
Jones, Rees

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Plymouth, MA

Designer

Rees Jones

4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Barnstable, MA
Silva, Brian

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Barnstable, MA

Designer

Brian Silva of Cornish, Silva & Mungeam.

3-PLUS: Good course - several memorable features; worthy of 3½ stars.
Visitors welcome
Providence
Ross, Donald

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Providence

Designer

Donald Ross

4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Boston
Silva, Brian

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Boston

Designer

Brian Silva

4-PLUS: Must play course - excellent standard; worthy of 4½ stars.
Visitors welcome
Newport, RI
Hills, Arthur

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Newport, RI

Designer

Arthur Hills and design associate Drew Rogers.

4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Plymouth, MA
Hurdzan/Fry

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Plymouth, MA

Designer

Hurdzan/Fry Design (Dr Michael J. Hurdzan & Dana Fry).

5-star: Fabulous – courses don’t get much better than this.
Visitors welcome
Newport, RI
Cornish, Robinson & Mulligan

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Newport, RI

Designer

Front-nine designed by Geoff Cornish & William G. "Bill" Robinson (1978); back-nine designed by Patrick Mulligan (1980).

3-PLUS: Good course - several memorable features; worthy of 3½ stars.
Visitors welcome
Barnstable, MA
Small, Isaac

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Barnstable, MA

Designer

Original layout by Isaac Small (1892); redesigned by J. Henry McKinley (1913).

4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Newport, RI
Marble & Maurer

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Newport, RI

Designer

Original nine designed by Ralph P. Marble (1963); extended to 18-holes by Howard Maurer (2003).

4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Barnstable, MA
Cornish, Silva & Mungeam

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Barnstable, MA

Designer

Geoffrey Cornish, Brian Silva & Mark Mungeam

4-PLUS: Must play course - excellent standard; worthy of 4½ stars.
Visitors welcome
Plymouth, MA
Nicklaus II, Jack

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Plymouth, MA

Designer

Jack Nicklaus II

4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Barnstable, MA
Silva, Brian

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Barnstable, MA

Designer

Brian Silva of Cornish, Silva & Mungeam.

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Tournaments

Tournament of Champions: the PGA Tour’s calendar-year starts, as it has done since 1999, with this iconic event in Hawaii. The field is drawn from players who won a PGA Tour event in 2022, or were amongst the top 30 in last year’s FedEx Cup final standings (Jan 6-9).

Desert Swing: the European (DP World) Tour launches into 2023 with three events in its UAE “Desert Swing”. Up first is the Abu Dhabi Championship (Jan 19-22), followed by the Dubai Desert Classic (Jan 26-29) and the Ras Al Kaimah Championship (Feb 2-5).

Who's Who

Kathy Whitworth: the end of 2022 saw the passing of LPGA Tour legend Kathy Whitworth. Her 88 LPGA Tour victories is more than achieved by any other golfer on either the LPGA or PGA Tours. Amongst her victories were six major championship titles.

Barry Lane: the golfing world was also saddened by the passing of Barry Lane, one of the European Tour and European Senior Tours most popular players. Enjoying success on both Tours, Lane was know for his excellent ball-striking and amiable personality.

Marco Simone Golf & Country Club

Marco Simone Golf & Country Club: With a clubhouse that might befit a Roman Emperor, and a golf course to match, you can be sure of a memorable outing at Rome's most talked about golf facility.
Jim Fazio's original layout was much changed to create a modern Ryder Cup course ... now one of the Eternal City's (and Italy's) most revered.

Costa Cruise & Golf

Costa’s "Cruise & Golf" allows golfers and their families to combine a unique golfing experience with the relaxation and fun of a cruise on board Costa Smeralda. Golf enthusiasts are offered a choice from 23 top-quality golf clubs; their chosen courses are played during the ship’s port calls in Italy, France and Spain. While the golfers are driving the fairways, accompanying non-golfers are able to enjoy the amenities and activities on-board, or explore wonderful places on day excursions organised by Costa. Read more ...

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