TheGrint HQ
6 minutes
Updated
October 24, 2026
The best golf course in California, according to golfers on TheGrint, is Cypress Point Club (99.4), No. 1 on TheGrint's 2026 Top 100 U.S. Private list. The best public course is Pebble Beach Golf Links (97.6), No. 4 on the U.S. Public list. California has 25 courses on the 2026 Top 100, more than any other state.
This guide covers the courses you can play, the private clubs on the list, the highly rated courses just outside it, and how hard each one plays. Rankings come from golfers who played the courses, not a panel.
Every course links to its page in TheGrint's directory of 987 California golf courses, with the full scorecard for every set of tees.
The best public golf courses in California are the nine on TheGrint's 2026 Top 100 U.S. Public list, led by Pebble Beach Golf Links at No. 4. Four of the nine are in Pebble Beach. Here they are with their rank on the list, TheGrint Rating out of 100, and TheGrint Difficulty:
| Rank (U.S. Public) | Course | City | TheGrint Rating | Plays harder than |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Pebble Beach Golf Links | Pebble Beach | 97.6 | 97% |
| 9 | Pasatiempo Golf Club | Santa Cruz | 96.7 | 97% |
| 18 | Spyglass Hill | Pebble Beach | 95.5 | 99% |
| 33 | The Links at Spanish Bay | Pebble Beach | 94.9 | 96% |
| 41 | CordeValle | San Martin | 94.7 | 94% |
| 77 | Maderas Golf Club | Poway | 93.5 | 97% |
| 83 | Poppy Hills | Pebble Beach | 93.3 | 96% |
| 94 | Old Greenwood | Truckee | 93.1 | 99% |
| 99 | PGA West: Pete Dye Stadium Course | La Quinta | 93.0 | Not shown |
Access varies: several of these list as Semi-Private in the directory, and resort courses can have booking rules for guests. Check each course's page and the course itself before you plan around it.
California's top-ranked golf clusters in three regions, each with several Top 100 courses close together:
Near San Diego, Maderas in Poway is the public pick. The Los Angeles area has four private clubs on the list, Riviera, Los Angeles Country Club, Bel-Air and Sherwood, but no public courses.
Sixteen California private clubs are on TheGrint's 2026 Top 100 U.S. Private list, more than on the public list. The top five are also the five highest-rated courses in the state:
The rest are Sherwood (No. 22), Los Angeles Country Club's North Course (No. 24), The Madison Club (No. 31), Bel-Air (No. 44), The Preserve (No. 47), Stone Eagle (No. 52), the Olympic Club's Lake Course (No. 61), The Quarry at La Quinta (No. 79), The Vintage Club's Mountain Course (No. 93), The Farms (No. 96) and Martis Camp (No. 98).
Private clubs need a member invitation; see the full 2026 Top 100 U.S. Private list.
These resort and semi-private courses rate highly with golfers on TheGrint but aren't on the 2026 Top 100. Each ranks in the top 105 of the 857 well-reviewed courses in California:
For a short course, The Hay at Pebble Beach, a nine-hole course, rates 91.7 and plays easier than 97% of rated courses.
Spyglass Hill, Old Greenwood and Monterey Peninsula Country Club's Dunes Course all play harder than 99% of rated courses on TheGrint, so there isn't a single hardest California course in the data. Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pasatiempo and Maderas play harder than 97%.
Cypress Point is the exception at the top: it is the highest-rated course on TheGrint's Top 100 but plays harder than only 75% of rated courses. For more, see the hardest golf courses golfers rank among the best, and our guide on what tees to play before you take one on.
TheGrint Rating is a score out of 100 built from golfers' reviews and their head-to-head course rankings on TheGrint. TheGrint Top 100 uses those signals, including the Course Ranking Game, and gives more weight to golfers who have played more courses.
How we counted: ratings, difficulty and state ranks come from TheGrint's California directory and course pages on October 23, 2026. Ratings update as golfers add reviews and rankings. For more on the lists, see how TheGrint Top 100 works.
TheGrint has the scorecard, ratings and difficulty for every course before you go, and GPS and scoring when you get there.
Cypress Point Club in Pebble Beach is the best golf course in California according to golfers on TheGrint, with a TheGrint Rating of 99.4. It is No. 1 on TheGrint's 2026 Top 100 U.S. Private list. The best public course is Pebble Beach Golf Links at 97.6, No. 4 on the U.S. Public list.
The best public golf courses in California, by TheGrint Rating, are Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pasatiempo, Spyglass Hill, The Links at Spanish Bay and CordeValle. All nine California courses on TheGrint's 2026 Top 100 U.S. Public list take outside play, though some limit tee times to resort guests.
California has 25 courses on TheGrint's 2026 Top 100, more than any other state: nine on the U.S. Public list and 16 on the U.S. Private list. The Monterey Peninsula alone has six, including Cypress Point, the No. 1 private course, and Pebble Beach Golf Links, No. 4 public.
TheGrint's golf course directory lists 987 golf courses in California. Each course page has a free scorecard for every set of tees, plus TheGrint Rating out of 100, built from golfers' reviews and rankings, and TheGrint Difficulty, based on the scores golfers log there.
Spyglass Hill, Old Greenwood and Monterey Peninsula Country Club's Dunes Course all play harder than 99% of rated courses on TheGrint. TheGrint Difficulty doesn't rank courses within that top 1%, so no single California course is the hardest in the data.
Pick a course, check the scorecard and your tees, then keep score in TheGrint with free GPS distances and live scoring for your group. Rank the course when you're done to help shape next year's Top 100. Get started with TheGrint.
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