Pictures of Famous Golf Courses

Golf courses are more than just 18 or 36 holes randomly placed on a property, they are landscaping masterpieces crafted for difficulty, style, and playability, and all around the world, golfers visit these beautiful courses not only to play a round of golf but to bask in the landscaped beauty therein.

From the Olympic Club in California to the Royal Liverpool Golf Course in England, read on to discover the history of some of the PGA Tour's most famous courses, known for both their beauty and difficulty.

In the following paragraphs, click on the linked names of courses to view a gallery of that course's pictures. Some of these galleries include just a few holes of the featured course, but many are more in-depth and some are hole-by-hole tours including information about each, individual hole on the featured course. 

North American Golf Courses of Note

Golf has been a favored sport in America since the end of the 1800s when American golfers first brought the activity back to U.S. soil. Since then, a number of golf courses have popped up across the United States, among them the Olympic Club in California, the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course in Florida, and the Medinah Country Club in Illinois.

Among the hosts of the major championship tournaments on the PGA Tour are the famous Pebble Beach Golf Links in Monterey, California which has hosted the annual U.S. Open multiple times, and the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, which plays host to the annual Masters Tournament—the Augusta National Landmarks and Augusta National Par-3 Course both also offer a fantastic array of beautiful design and fun gameplay.

The Oakland Hills Country Club (South Course) in Michigan and the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota has also hosted the U.S. Opens, PGA Championships, Ryder Cups, U.S. Senior Opens, and men's and women's U.S. Amateurs, and the Valhalla Golf Club in Kentucky, the Atlantic City Country Club in New Jersey, and the Bethpage Black, Liberty National, and Oak Hill Country Club in New York have all played host to the PGA Tour's U.S. Open as well. Quail Hollow Club in North Carolina, a longtime PGA Tour stop, joined the major championship ranks in 2017.

Be sure to also check out Oklahoma's Southern Hills Country Club, Oregon's Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Pennsylvania's Merion Golf Club (East Course) and Oakmont Country Club, the Chambers Bay course in Washington, and Wisconsin's Erin Hills and Whistling Straits courses for some other great images.

European Golf Courses of Note

The tradition of golf started in Scotland in the 15th Century, so it's no surprise that Europe has some of the most beautiful and difficult courses in the world of golf. Scotland itself boasts five courses often featured as hosts of professional championship tournaments including the Castle Course at St. Andrews, the Muirfield course, Royal Troon Golf Club, and the Ailsa Course at Turnberry. 

In England, the Royal Birkdale Golf Club, Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club, Royal St. George's Golf Club, and the Old Course at the Sunningdale Golf Club all share remarkable landscaped features and a number of challenging holes.

Even Wales boasts the Celtic Manor Resort, Twenty Ten Course, whose modern sweeping holes and freshly manicured fairways against a castle-like resort offer guests the opportunity to disappear into a land of Celtic legend and the old traditions of 15th Century and modern golf.