Map / Golf by the numbers
U.S. Golf by the Numbers
What 15,665 mapped golf courses say about where Americans play
Clubhouse Collector maps 15,665 golf courses across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Counting them up shows some clear patterns: where public golf dominates, where private clubs are most common, and which towns have more courses than anywhere else. Every figure on this page comes straight from our map data.
Most golf is open to everyone
Of the 15,665 courses on our map, 9,245 are public, meaning anyone can book a tee time. Another 2,593 are semi-private: they sell memberships, but visitors can usually play at certain times. The remaining 3,827 are private clubs, where you generally need to be a member or a member's guest. Put together, roughly three out of every four mapped courses are courses a traveling golfer can realistically play.
The states with the most courses
Florida leads by a wide margin, with 1,353 mapped courses, followed by California and New York. The top ten mixes the obvious warm-weather states with northern states like Michigan and Wisconsin, where a short season hasn't stopped golf from becoming a fixture of summer life.
| # | State | Courses | Public |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | 1,353 | 52% |
| 2 | California | 993 | 61% |
| 3 | New York | 912 | 66% |
| 4 | Michigan | 810 | 76% |
| 5 | Pennsylvania | 709 | 58% |
| 6 | Texas | 691 | 62% |
| 7 | North Carolina | 564 | 38% |
| 8 | Illinois | 559 | 64% |
| 9 | Ohio | 555 | 65% |
| 10 | Wisconsin | 456 | 79% |
Where public golf rules, and where clubs do
The share of public courses varies a lot from state to state. Among states with at least 50 mapped courses, Utah has the highest public share at 80%, and states in the Upper Midwest and the West fill out the top five. At the other end, private clubs make up 45% of the courses in Mississippi and 45% in New Jersey.
| Most public | Public share | Most private | Private share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Utah | 80% | Mississippi | 45% |
| Wisconsin | 79% | New Jersey | 45% |
| Michigan | 76% | Connecticut | 43% |
| Idaho | 72% | Rhode Island | 36% |
| Oregon | 72% | Georgia | 36% |
Golf by region
Grouped into the four Census regions, the Midwest stands out as the most public part of the country: 68% of its courses are public. The South has the most courses overall but also the highest share of private and semi-private golf.
| Region | Courses | Public | Semi-private | Private |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Midwest | 4,426 | 68% | 16% | 17% |
| West | 2,878 | 65% | 11% | 24% |
| Northeast | 2,932 | 57% | 15% | 28% |
| South | 5,429 | 50% | 21% | 29% |
America's golf towns
Counting by city or town rather than metro area, Florida and the desert Southwest dominate. Naples, Florida has 95 mapped courses, more than any other place in the country, and The Villages is close behind with 69. Most of the towns on this list are well-known retirement or resort destinations.
| # | City or town | State | Courses |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Naples | Florida | 95 |
| 2 | The Villages | Florida | 69 |
| 3 | Scottsdale | Arizona | 47 |
| 4 | Fort Myers | Florida | 38 |
| 5 | Tucson | Arizona | 37 |
| 6 | Boca Raton | Florida | 35 |
| 7 | Las Vegas | Nevada | 35 |
| 8 | Palm Desert | California | 34 |
| 9 | Indianapolis | Indiana | 30 |
| 10 | Cincinnati | Ohio | 29 |
The biggest golf metros
By metro area, the largest cities naturally lead: the New York area has 523 mapped courses within its boundaries. More surprising is how high Phoenix, AZ ranks, ahead of much larger metros, a sign of how central golf is to the desert Southwest.
| # | Metro area | Courses |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York, NY-NJ-PA | 523 |
| 2 | Chicago, IL-IN-WI | 344 |
| 3 | Phoenix, AZ | 247 |
| 4 | Miami, FL | 238 |
| 5 | Boston, MA-NH | 227 |
| 6 | Riverside, CA | 214 |
| 7 | Philadelphia, PA-NJ-DE-MD | 191 |
| 8 | Atlanta, GA | 188 |
| 9 | Los Angeles, CA | 188 |
| 10 | Detroit, MI | 175 |
Par 72 is the standard
We have the par for 12,355 courses. Par 72 is by far the most common, at 5,303 courses (43%), followed by par 71 (2,102) and par 70 (1,054). Nine-hole courses show up as par 36 (1,376) and par 35 (830), and 382 courses are par 27, which usually means a nine-hole par-3 course.
How we count
These numbers describe what is on the Clubhouse Collector map as of October 2026, not an official census of every course in the country. Our course list starts from OpenStreetMap data via OpenGolfAPI, with our own research and corrections from players added on top. A few things to keep in mind:
- Some facilities have more than one course, such as a club with a North and a South course. Where they are listed separately, they count separately.
- For 1,176 courses, our sources didn't say whether the course is public, semi-private or private, so the type is our best estimate.
- Courses open and close every year. If you spot a mistake, please tell us, and the whole list is free to download from our open data page.