Our Picks for The 10 Best Golf courses in Rhode Island
1. Shelter Harbor Golf Club
Address: 1 Golf Club Drive, Charlestown, Rhode Island (RI) 02813, USA
Type of field: Links
Course access: Private
Length of play: 18-hole course
Slope index: 132
Course Rating: 72.3
Total par (men’s tees): 71
Total yardage (men’s tees): 6,695
Scorecard: Link
Shelter Harbor is ranked 63rd on Golfweek’s Best Modern Courses in the U.S and 177th on Golf Digest America’s Top 200 Courses. Designed by Michael Hurdzan with Dana Fry and constructed by Landscapes Unlimited. It was the first private layout to open in Washington County, Rhode Island for more than a hundred years when it was unveiled in 2005.
2. Wannamoisett Country Club
Address: 96 Hoyt Avenue, Rumford, Rhode Island (RI) 02916, USA
Type of field: Parkland
Course access: Private
Length of play: 18-hole course
Slope index: 133
Course Rating: 72.1
Total par (men’s tees): 69
Total yardage (men’s tees): 6,661
Scorecard: Link
The course played host to the 1931 PGA Championship and hosts the prestigious Northeast Amateur every year. The original 9-hole layout at Wannamoisett Country Club was fashioned by Willie Campbell in 1899. Fifteen years later, Donald Ross remodelled and expanded the course to the 18-hole layout that’s now in play.
3. Newport Country Club
Address: 280 Harrison Ave, Newport, Rhode Island 02840, Newport County
Type of field: Links
Course access: Private
Length of play: 18-hole course
Slope index: 134
Course Rating: 74.9
Total par (men’s tees): 70
Total yardage (men’s tees): 7,027
Scorecard: Link
Founded in 1893, it hosted both the first U.S. Amateur Championship and the first U.S. Open in 1895. In October 1895, Newport Country Club hosted both the first U.S. Amateur Championship and the first U.S. Open. The first president of the USGA, Theodore Havemeyer, along with a number of American businessmen including three members of the Vanderbilt family, helped to inaugurate Newport way back in 1894.
4. Rhode Island Country Club
Address: 150 Nayatt Road, Barrington, Rhode Island (RI) 02806, USA
Type of field: Parkland
Course access: Private
Length of play: 18-hole course
Slope index: 127
Course Rating: 72.8
Total par (men’s tees): 71
Total yardage (men’s tees): 6,800
Scorecard: Link
Rhode Island Country Club was founded in 1911 by a group of Providence businessmen, and originally consisted of a golf course designed by Donald Ross and a small clubhouse. Since 1999, the club has been home to the annual Charity Classic, in 2011 it hosted the US Women’s Amateur.
5. Warwick Country Club
Address: 394 Narrangansett Bay Avenue, Warwick, Rhode Island (RI) 02889, USA
Type of field: Links
Course access: Private
Length of play: 18-hole course
Slope index: 128
Course Rating: 71.6
Total par (men’s tees): 69
Total yardage (men’s tees): 6,467
Scorecard: Link
Founded by fifty respected Rhode Island residents in 1924, Warwick Country Club engaged Donald Ross to lay out a 9-hole course for the membership a year after it was formed. It then took thirty years until Geoff Cornish was asked to add another nine in order to fashion a full 18-hole layout.
6. Misquamicut Club
Address: 60 Ocean View Hwy, Westerly, Rhode Island 02891, Washington County
Type of field: Parkland
Course access: Private
Length of play: 18-hole course
Slope index: 125
Course Rating: 70
Total par (men’s tees): 69
Total yardage (men’s tees): 6,214
Scorecard: Link
In 1895, the founding members of The Misquamicut Club engaged Tom Bendelow to fashion their original golf facility. It’s said that both Willie Anderson and Seth Reynor made modifications to this rudimentary layout before the purchase of additional land enabled Donald Ross to completely redesign the course in 1923.
7. Newport National Golf Club (Orchard)
Address: 324 Mitchells Lane, Middletown, Rhode Island (RI) 02842, USA
Type of field: Links
Course access: Public
Length of play: 18-hole course
Slope index: 138
Course Rating: 74.4
Total par (men’s tees): 72
Total yardage (men’s tees): 7,244
Scorecard: Link
Newport National Golf Club is one of New England’s finest golf courses. Fringed by tall swathes of fescue, the bent grass fairways on this exciting layout have been open to New England golfers since 2002. Designed by Arthur Hills and his then associate Drew Rogers.
8. Sakonnet Golf Club
Address: 79 Sakonnet Point Rd, Little Compton, Rhode Island 02837, Newport County
Type of field: Links
Course access: Private
Length of play: 18-hole course
Slope index: 124
Course Rating: 71.1
Total par (men’s tees): 70
Total yardage (men’s tees): 6,337
Scorecard: Link
Designed by Donald J. Ross, ASGCA, the Sakonnet golf course opened in 1899. Gil Hanse restored the layout in 2004 which included extending the overall length by more than 400 yards. He also included two new holes that were in the original Ross drawings but never built.
9. Wanumetonomy Golf & Country Club
Address: 152 Brown Ln, Middletown, RI 02842, USA
Type of field: Links
Course access: Private
Length of play: 18-hole course
Slope index: 123
Course Rating: 74
Total par (men’s tees): 70
Total yardage (men’s tees): 6,350
Scorecard: Link
The course opened for play in 1922 and was designed by Seth Raynor. Wanumetonomy Golf & Country Club is a classic links-style course. Located on the East side of Narragansett Bay, wind is often a factor.
10. Point Judith Country Club
Address: 150 Windermere Rd, Narragansett, Rhode Island 02882, Washington County
Type of field: Links
Course access: Private
Length of play: 18-hole course
Slope index: 133
Course Rating: 72.6
Total par (men’s tees): 71
Total yardage (men’s tees): 6,694
Scorecard: Link
The country club at Point Judith initially offered members a choice of fashionable non-golfing pursuits, like tennis and polo. he golfing element of the club’s sporting activities only really took off when Donald Ross added nine holes to the existing 9-hole layout in 1927. Established in 1894 by a group of twenty-five wealthy Philadelphians.
