Where is the best golf town in America?

Where is the best golf town in America? At first the mind wanders southerly, looking for clusters of famous or at least very good courses with warm weather. But that’s a narrow approach. Maybe a better consideration is, where would you raise your children if you were hellbent on cultivating within them your love for the game? A properly golf-obsessed mom or dad can do that anywhere, of course, but it’s easier if there’s a village.

We should be able to find places in this country where the whole golf ecosystem is thriving. Perhaps a private club has a caddie program that’s initiating kids with the lure of cash for pleasant outdoor work. Alongside that, hopefully there’s a public course with a solid design that offers affordable tee times and maybe innovative summer camps. A well-managed practice facility that serves a wide range of clientele? (Not asking for Titleist Pro V1s, but at least give us balls with dimples, and lights for nighttime sessions would be a nice bonus). Maybe the local high school has a dynamic coach whose teams have become perennial contenders. Again, we don’t need a town that grows tour pros, but a regular crop of college golfers would indicate a strong golf community. Wherever golf utopia has sprung up, it’s certain to be a symbiotic combination of many forces.

To start our search, Golf Digest turned to the PGA of America because anywhere the game is soaring undoubtedly has a strong golf professional at the helm.

Carrie Williams is the executive director of the Illinois PGA and works in a town called Golf, named by an enthusiastic member of the storied Glen View Club more than a century ago. The Evans Scholars Foundation is headquartered next door, and one of the walnut-paneled boardrooms that long served as the space for hundreds of life-changing interviews was recently converted to a hi-tech simulator. There are only about 500 residents, but a good number sport bright orange “Support Youth Golf” license plates.

It’s always easy to get a tee time or hit balls in Plymouth, Mass. America’s original hometown of pilgrims now has 13 golf facilities for a population of 60,000. The beating heart is Squirrel Run Golf & Country Club, a par-57 course managed by David Moore, PGA, who has worked there since 1995. Moore’s PGA Junior League program—golf’s answer to baseball’s Little League—has averaged more than 150 kids every season since 2019 and is held as a model for the region.

Although the season is short at the 27-hole public Bangor Municipal in Maine, manager Rob Jarvis, PGA, packs the summer with events that promote the game. His “Little Putters” hooks kids ages 4-6 with interactive games that impart short-game fundamentals, and last year’s annual Golf With Pride event for the LGBTQ+ community welcomed 25 individuals, many of whom had never set foot on a golf course.

Diamondhead is a town on the Mississippi Gulf Coast with retirees from New Orleans and young families connected to the nearby Navy and Air Force bases and where the 36-hole Club at Diamondhead defies categorization. “The feel is more of a country club than a resort, but there are also inexpensive tee times for the public,” says Robert O. Brown, executive director of the Gulf States PGA section. “The driving range is full of kids, and there’s always something happening. I’ve heard it described as a ‘cruise ship on land,’ which is accurate, but I think of it as mini The Villages, except with children,” Brown says. The two courses tip at around 6,700 yards, but regularly hosting Drive, Chip and Putt sub-regionals and PGA Tour Champions qualifiers keeps local excitement for the game high.

Now, dear reader, we’re asking for your help. If you live in or close to a town where all the levels of golf are thrumming, let us know. Send an email to max.adler@golfdigest.com and tell me all about it. It’s Golf Digest’s mission to recognize and celebrate places “where golf works” so that other communities might borrow best practices.

Together, let’s spread the love.