US Golf Course Statistics
Updated 2026-10-06. Every number on this page is computed nightly from the live dataset behind our course map.
How many golf courses are there in the United States?
There are 15,008 golf courses currently open across the 50 states and Washington DC, from championship resorts to nine-hole town courses. We also keep records for 636 courses that have closed, each verified against news reports, operator statements or satellite imagery rather than quietly deleted.
Public or private?
Of the 14,354 US courses whose access type is verified: 8,572 public · 1,385 municipal · 341 resort · 796 semi-private · 3,260 private. Roughly 77 of every 100 verified courses are ones anyone can play.
Course sizes
10,225 courses have a standard 18 holes, 2,147 are nine-hole courses and 153 facilities have 27 holes or more. The average 18-hole course plays to par 71.1 at 6,510 yards.
Courses by state
| State | Open | Public access | Closed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | 1,177 | 715 | 76 |
| California | 935 | 686 | 73 |
| Michigan | 816 | 706 | 41 |
| New York | 790 | 560 | 23 |
| Texas | 782 | 548 | 35 |
| Ohio | 635 | 473 | 34 |
| Pennsylvania | 612 | 425 | 27 |
| Illinois | 611 | 451 | 31 |
| North Carolina | 497 | 332 | 24 |
| Wisconsin | 485 | 425 | 16 |
| Minnesota | 438 | 373 | 12 |
| Iowa | 391 | 329 | 5 |
| Indiana | 380 | 303 | 10 |
| Georgia | 377 | 250 | 18 |
| Arizona | 361 | 281 | 15 |
| Massachusetts | 352 | 231 | 8 |
| South Carolina | 343 | 252 | 11 |
| Virginia | 326 | 210 | 11 |
| Missouri | 326 | 249 | 11 |
| New Jersey | 300 | 184 | 10 |
| Washington | 259 | 210 | 17 |
| Colorado | 253 | 198 | 9 |
| Kentucky | 238 | 174 | 11 |
| Tennessee | 236 | 167 | 11 |
| Kansas | 211 | 155 | 7 |
| Nebraska | 205 | 172 | 3 |
| Alabama | 197 | 133 | 10 |
| Oregon | 184 | 145 | 6 |
| Maryland | 180 | 129 | 8 |
| Connecticut | 179 | 108 | 2 |
| Oklahoma | 174 | 136 | 9 |
| Arkansas | 142 | 94 | 1 |
| Utah | 127 | 104 | 3 |
| North Dakota | 120 | 99 | 0 |
| Maine | 116 | 103 | 2 |
| Louisiana | 115 | 88 | 16 |
| West Virginia | 113 | 93 | 8 |
| Mississippi | 109 | 75 | 4 |
| Idaho | 108 | 86 | 0 |
| Nevada | 103 | 81 | 4 |
| Montana | 97 | 78 | 0 |
| South Dakota | 96 | 82 | 1 |
| New Mexico | 92 | 73 | 2 |
| Hawaii | 92 | 72 | 3 |
| New Hampshire | 91 | 73 | 2 |
| Vermont | 59 | 51 | 1 |
| Rhode Island | 55 | 39 | 0 |
| Wyoming | 55 | 43 | 1 |
| Delaware | 38 | 22 | 2 |
| Alaska | 23 | 22 | 2 |
| Washington DC | 7 | 6 | 0 |
Closures by year
Documented closings over the last twelve years. 429 of our 636 recorded closures carry a confirmed year; the current year is still in progress.
| Year | Closures |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 13 |
| 2025 | 18 |
| 2024 | 17 |
| 2023 | 16 |
| 2022 | 23 |
| 2021 | 23 |
| 2020 | 35 |
| 2019 | 44 |
| 2018 | 45 |
| 2017 | 37 |
| 2016 | 24 |
| 2015 | 31 |
Most prolific architects
3,124 US courses carry a verified designer attribution. The most represented architects:
- Donald Ross 328 courses
- Edmund Ault 222 courses
- Tom Bendelow 184 courses
- A.W. Tillinghast 166 courses
- Jack Nicklaus 157 courses
- Arthur Hills 129 courses
- Tom Fazio 112 courses
- Pete Dye 97 courses
- Larry Packard 91 courses
- Ted Robinson 88 courses
Method and reuse: the dataset combines OpenStreetMap, the USGA course rating database and thousands of user and operator corrections, rebuilt nightly. These figures are free to cite for any purpose with a link to golfcoursebrowser.com (CC BY 4.0).