Pinehurst No. 2 and No. 4 Rank Highly in Golfweek's "Best Courses You Can Play in the U.S."

Golfers looking to add a fistful of highly ranked courses to their resume in one fell swoop can conveniently do so at Pinehurst Resort this season.

Golfweek just released its annual list of the “Best Courses You Can Play in the U.S.” and the “Cradle of American Golf” secured a formidable foursome across both the prestigious national and uber-competitive state rankings.

Storied Pinehurst No. 2, the Donald Ross masterpiece restored by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, is ranked a lofty third in the U.S. and first overall in North Carolina (one of the most golf-rich states in the country with more than 600 layouts).

No. 4, which re-opened late in 2018 following an extensive renovation by Gil Hanse, ranked 41st nationally, and all the way to second in-state. No. 4 did not appear on the 2019 national ranking by Golfweek since it had just reopened following Hanse’s redesign, but returned in a hurry in 2020 once course raters were able to fully review it.

Tom Fazio-designed No. 8 checked in at seventh in North Carolina, and No. 7, a Rees Jones design, at ninth in-state.

So many courses (more than 15,000 nation-wide), and so little time … how does Golfweek canvas the country to generate so many “best of” lists each year?

Golfweek’s team of course raters, which currently boasts more than 850 evaluators, surveys more than 3,600 courses, grading each nominated course on strict standards. Collectively, more than 75,000 votes are tabulated to compile the best-courses lists.

Raters evaluate courses on 10 criteria: routing, design / shaping, land plan, greens and surrounds, variety and memorability of par 3s, 4s and 5s, tree and landscape management, conditioning and ecology and the “walk in the park” test.

One of the longest continually published golf periodicals, Golfweek also rates resort and residential courses. Pinehurst No. 2 and No. 4 are currently ranked third and 34^th in the magazine’s “Top 200 Resort Courses.”