Best Golf Courses in Maryland 2024-25
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Ran Morrissett, GOLF’s course rater and construction editor
The par-5 9th green at Congressional Blue Course.
James Lewis
As part of GOLF’s rigorous rating process for our new rankings of the Top 100 Courses in America and the Top 100 Courses You Can Play, our more than 100 expert panelists determined the best golf courses in each state.
You can view the links below to browse all of our course rankings, or scroll down to see the best courses in Maryland. If you’re looking to create your own trip in the future, you’d be wise to let GOLF’s new course finder tool help you. Here you can toggle through all of our lists – Top 100 Public Courses, Best Municipal Courses, Best Short Courses, Best Par 3 Courses and more – or filter by price to create the perfect itinerary for your next trip .
GOLF Other Course Rankings: Top 100 Courses in the World | Top 100 Courses in the U.S. | 100 Best Courses You Can Play | 100 Best Value Courses in the U.S. | Best Municipal Courses in the U.S. | 100 Best Short Courses in the World
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Best Golf Courses in Maryland (2024/2025)
Symbol Guide
# = Top 100 courses in the United States
Y = Top 100 games you can play in the US
V = Top 100 Value Courses in the United States
P = Public/Resort
Ed. Note: Some courses were removed from our rankings because they did not receive enough votes.
1. Congress – Blue (Bethesda) [#]
The course was always designed to achieve great things, given its location on the outskirts of our nation’s capital. But after 100 years of existence, and so many architects involved in its evolution, Devereaux Emmett’s design lost the spirit of its golden age. what to do? The club turned its focus to Andrew Green and gave him carte blanche to completely redesign the course and unify it in one hand. Green introduced an improved design that now looks like it has been around for more than a century. Alternate questioning is very good and every aspect of the game is tested. From No. 7 to No. 9: The uphill par-3 No. 7 requires clearing the deepest greenside bunker on the course; the eighth is a teaser for a short par-4 with ample play on an angled green. The par-defense; No. 9 is a 600-plus yard roller coaster along the rolling land back to the majestic clubhouse. Pete Wendt, one of the nation’s finest greenkeepers, layered native grasses among the lively landscaping to give the course a gorgeous texture it had long lacked. The days of felled trees, blown winds and soft courses – like the one Rory McIlroy encountered when he won the 2011 U.S. Open here – have become a distant memory for Congress “old and new” memory.
2. Baltimore – East Five Farms (Baltimore) [#]
Five Farms is situated on a large tract of rolling land. Tillinghast makes good use of the land, with routes that take full advantage of the many natural greens, resulting in diverse, interesting and challenging greens that are the crown jewels of the course. Five Farms also features what are arguably Tillinghast’s two best par 5s, the Barn Hole No. 6 and the Big Handicap No. 14. Course restoration enlarged the greens and fairways, allowing for more hole locations, providing more angles and options on the course. If you get an invite, drop everything and go.
3. The Burning Tree (Bethesda)
4. Columbia Country Club (Chevy Chase)
5. Cave Valley (Owings Mills)
How we rank our courses
For our new “America’s 100” and “Top 100 You Can Play” lists (a process that helps us create the 50 best in-state rankings), each panelist was given a list of 609 courses of votes. Next to the course list are 11 “buckets” or groupings. If our panelists think a course ranks among the top three in the country, they put a check in the first column. If they think a pitch belongs 4-10, they’ll check that column, then 11-25, 26-50, and so on up to 250+, and even check the “remove” column. Panelists were also free to write on courses they felt should be included on the ballot.
Each bucket is assigned a score; to find the average score for each course, we divide its total score by the number of votes. Based on these scores, courses will be ranked accordingly. It’s an intentionally simple and straightforward process. Why? Because it has produced widely acclaimed results throughout history. Like the game itself, there’s no need to complicate things unnecessarily or try to fix something that already works well.
Key to the process is the experience and expertise of our group. Our 127 hand-picked panelists hail from 15 countries and golf destinations across the globe, each with a keen eye for regional and global architecture. Many of our team members have attended more than 1,000 courses in more than 20 countries, some with more than 2,000. Their handicaps range from +5 to 15.
Due to the highly subjective nature of course ratings, no one opinion can prevail. Therefore, the only way to build meaningful consensus is to incorporate the diversity of panel members and experiences into a ranking.
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