Some of the clubs that made our list boast the most iconic courses in golf, but there are a few you likely haven’t even heard of. Regardless, you should consider yourself lucky, or extremely well connected, if you can make your way on to just one of these bucket-list courses. To determine our 10 most exclusive, we used Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Courses in the world as our starting point. Then, with some rigorous research, bolstered by some real-life feedback from seasoned PGA tour professionals and multi-millionaire scratch golfers, we finalized our choices.
These courses just missed the cut: Oakmont Country Club, Seminole Golf Club, Los Angeles Country Club, Sand Hills Golf Club, Swinley Forest Golf Club, The Country Club, Chicago Golf Club, National Golf Links of America, Nanea Golf Club.
Here is our ranking of the 10 most exclusive clubs:
10. San Francisco Golf Club
San Francisco, Calif.
Golf Magazine ranks this No. 27 in the world, and says this about its exclusivity: “The Internet boom has birthed countless millionaires in San Francisco, but you won’t find any of them at this old-money club. Bloodlines, not bankrolls are what matter here, at an A.W.
Tillinghast-designed redoubt whose entrance is so discreet members have been said to get lost trying to find it. Over 20 years ago, the club lost its role as host to PGA events because it had no female or minority members. In 2004, the club famously said no to Scott McNearly, one of the founders of Sun Microsystems, who had recently been named the best CEO golfer in the country by Golf Digest.
9. Golf du Palais Royal
(Royal Palace Golf Club)
Agadir, Morocco
Inside the Royal Palace walls in Agadir you will find a hidden gem. The great golf course architect Robert Trent Jones Sr. was commissioned by the King to build the course in the late 1980s, producing one of his finest works on a beautiful site within the Palace grounds that border the Atlantic Ocean. Unless you’re an invited guest of the Prince, you’ll have to qualify for the European Tour’s Trophée Hassan II event (or its pro-am) to tee it up here, where many months sometimes pass between rounds, though the course is always kept in perfect shape just in case the Prince has the urge to play a round.
8. Hirono Golf Club
Hyogo, Japan
Hirono is a relatively unknown marvel in the mix of the best courses in the world. Ranked the 42nd best club in the world, Hirono is considered Japan’s most prestigious course. And in a country where golf has a reputation of being exclusive, Hirono may also the hardest to get time on, as non-members must play with a member. But if you can swing it, beauty awaits you. The course is laid out with attractive ponds, tree-lined fairways, huge bunkers and elevated greens. The 15th hole is picturesque and challenging with players having to hit over a ravine to reach the green. Located just outside Kobe, the course has hosted each of Japan's major championships to date.
7. Cypress Point Country Club
Pebble Beach, Calif.
Ranked by Golf Magazine as the second best golf course in the world, former USGA President Sandy Tatum called this Alistair Mackenzie course “the Sistine Chapel of Golf.” The 15th, 16th and 17th – each along the Pacific Ocean — are considered to be among the best holes in the world. And you’ll need an invite from its small, very private membership of about 200 to 250. How exclusive is it? An average day sees eight groups play. “One year they had a big membership drive at Cypress,” Bob Hope deadpanned. “They drove out 40 members.”
6. Golf de Morfontaine
Mortefontaine, France
This course was designed in the 19th century for Duc de Guiche and his friends and still retains much of the original design. After the duke died, the club became the property of its 450 members and is now the most exclusive club in continental Europe. It retains its rugged landscape, ignoring the modern manicured aesthetics for a game that is a journey back into time. Should you be able to land an invitation by one of its members, you will discover its equally hard just to find the course. The one-hour drive up from Paris is a tricky one, through a heavily forested area and then down side roads.
5. Fishers Island Club
Fishers Island, N.Y.
When Golf Magazine first ranked Fishers Island no. 73 on its Top 100 list in 1987, a club representative promptly responded by letter to the magazine: “We do not wish our club to be ranked, visited or, for that matter, known.” Today, the magazine ranks it no. 24 in the world. Seven miles long, Fishers Island is located on the narrowest part of the Long Island Sound between New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island. It is one of the most affluent places in the world. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was a retreat for families with last names like Dupont, Firestone and Whitney. Fishers Island remains a secluded enclave, and more than a handful of billionaires summer on the island. Get the picture?
4. Loch Lomond Golf Club
Dunbartonshire, Scotland
Home of the Scottish Open, Loch Lomond Golf Club is a very private affair. Organized in 1994, the club has an international membership and is constituted as a "destination" club to be "savored" only a few times a year. Even more exclusive than Muirfield, Loch Lomond members describe themselves as a "private and discerning international golf club." How discerning are they? They even limit the amount of play for members — no more than fourteen times in any given year. So, if you’re looking for the mandatory member invite, you can always give Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie or Prince Andrew a call. Then you can expect a £600 guest green fee.
3. Myopia Hunt Club
South Hamilton, Mass.
Never heard of it? The course, located 30 minutes north of Boston, is not widely known to most people. “This is as old money as you get,” said one PGA tour veteran. “Donald Trump wouldn’t have a chance of getting a tee time there.” It has hosted the U.S. Open four times (1898, 1901, 1905 and 1908), and is the only course in the United States to have been listed by Golf Magazine as having two of the United States’ top 100 signature holes, the fourth and ninth. Membership recently passed on the opportunity to host the 2020 United States Women’s Open.
2. Pine Valley Country Club
Pine Valley, N.J.
Many believe this is the best golf course in the world. Tucked away in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, Pine Valley is a highly exclusive male-only club with its 900 members scattered around the world. Each year, Pine Valley Golf Club in New Jersey opens its gates to the public on the final Sunday in September. Not to play, mind you, but to watch the final round of the annual Crump Cup. Membership is invitation-only from Pine Valley's board of directors. To play there you must be invited and accompanied by a member. Women are allowed on the course only on Sunday afternoons. But before you start working your friends and colleagues, you should know this one tough golf course. Think twice if you’re not a good golfer.
1. Augusta National Golf Club
Augusta, Ga.
Designed by golf legends Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie and home of the Masters Tournament, it’s there on your television set every April, tantalizing you with its beauty and design. But your chances of playing Amen Corner are remote unless you’re perhaps a close friend of Bill Gates, or you’re a professional golf writer and win the media lottery to play the Monday after the Masters. Otherwise, you must be invited and accompanied by one of its 300 members. (There’s a waiting list of about 300 as well.) And good luck in finding a membership list; the club is very protective of that information. Your odds become even slimmer when you consider the club is closed from mid-May to mid-October for course renovations.
