Best Golf Courses In Pennsylvania (Top 5 RANKED)

Looking to play the best golf courses in Pennsylvania? GolfReviewsGuide.com picks out the top courses to play in Pennsylvania.

From Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is a state with a lot to offer with some of the most historic, impressive and famous golf courses.

Both Tom Fazio and Pete Dye make appearances in the shortlist below for the best golf courses in Pennsylvania state, which includes majors host venues like Oakmont and Merion.

Oakmont Country Club

Oakmont Country Club is located in the Plum area of Pennsylvania and is one of the most renowned venues anywhere in the United States.

It has staged the US Open nine times, the most recent in 2016, the PGA Championship three times but not since 1978, the US Women’s Open twice and the US Amateur six times.

The course dates back to the early 1900s when it was designed by Henry Fownes before Tom Fazio did an update at this private country club in 2014.

Today, the course plays at a length of 7,254 yards with par set at 71 with Oakmont ranked as high as number three in ratings for the best golf course in the United States.

Oakmont is a very difficult course that requires both precision and power. If you miss the fairway, which can be narrow, then expect to land in a hazard with Oakmont rewarding accuracy.

From fairways to greens that slope significantly, there is no aspect of this course that is considered easy…and that is what probably makes this is bucket-list golf course.

Merion Golf Club

Another major championship host, Merion Golf Club has a deep history and is one of the best courses Pennsylvania has to offer.

Justin Rose, Lee Trevino, and Ben Hogan have all won US Open titles at Merion Golf Club, the most recent taking place in 2013.

There are a couple of courses at the Merion Golf Club near Haverford, Pennsylvania, but the East Course is the pick of the two.

The East Course, which is noted for the unique wicker baskets on top of the pins rather than the traditional flag, has been ranked sixth nationally by Golf Digest.

The championship course is a par-70 affair at a total length of 6,846 yards, which was extended from an original 6,500 yards.

Olde Stonewall Golf Club

The list for Pennsylvania could be dominated by private courses, but such venues don’t help out the tourists to the area secure a tee time.

Old Stonewall Golf Club is one of the best public courses that you will be able to get a tee time – in fact it has been ranked as the state’s number one public option.

Located in the Ellwood City area of the state, this golf course opened for play in 1999 and is a par-70 with a total length of 7,103 yards.

Dr. Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry designed the course and came up with an interesting design to test all levels of golfer.

Expect bent grass greens and fairways, bluegrass rough, 91 bunkers, a creek that goes through the entire course and five sets of tees.

Nemacolin Resort

If you are looking for quality golf courses affiliated with a resort in Pennsylvania, then the Nemacolin Resort near Lafayette has two impressive offerings.

Pete Dye, a noted American golf course architect, did work at the venue and it continues to attract visitors in their thousands every month. And there’s a reason why!

Shepherd’s Rock is the first of the courses that Dye designed at the resort and it is an incredibly challenging one too. A new course that opened in 2017, it plays at 7,151 yards in a mountainous setting.

Mystic Rock is a second course at the resort and was also designed by Dye across the Pennsylvania Allegheny Mountains landscape.

The 7,526-yard test was opened for play in 2021, offers breathtaking views of Laurel Highland and is regarded as one of the “premier mountain courses in the country” – not just Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia Cricket Club

Don’t let the sport in the name put you off because the historic Philadelphia Cricket Club is home to three golf courses.

The private club boasts three premier golf courses – the Wissahickon, Militia Hill, and St. Martins with each offering something different.

The A.W. Tillinghast-designed Wissahickon Course is a par-71 7,005 test and is known for its challenging terrain, tree-lined narrow fairways, strategic bunkering and undulating greens.

The Militia Hill Course is a par-72 designed by Dr. Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry and has a more modern design with wider fairways and larger greens across 7,370 yards. The course incorporates natural wetlands.

St. Martins Course is a nine-hole course played twice to a par-68 and measures just 4,620. It notably hosted the 1907 and 1910 U.S. Opens with Willie Tucker’s design features a compact layout that rewards accuracy.