Best in State
The best golf courses in Rhode Island
You can head to upstate Vermont and New Hampshire, or western Maine or Massachusetts, for a certain flavor of New England that comes in the form of ancient mountains, lost-in-time hamlets, snowdrift winters and electric fall colors. The golf courses of Rhode Island show off another version of New England, this one centered around the historic beach and port cities of the state's southern shore where Moby Dick meets the Vanderbilts.
That unique maritime essense permeates the atmosphere of six of this year's ranked courses, and several, like Newport Country Club, The Misquamicut Club, Sakonnet and Warwick Country Club, have holes that run alongside the ocean and bays. The course that doesn't, Wannamoisett, is equally unique, a 1914 Donald Ross design that occupies one of the smallest footprints of any course in the country, barely 90 acres.
Below you'll find our 2023-'24 ranking of the Best Golf Courses in Rhode Island.
We urge you to click through to each individual course page for bonus photography, drone footage and reviews from our course panelists. Plus, you can now leave your own ratings on the courses you’ve played … to make your case why your favorite should be ranked higher.
(Parentheses indicate the course's previous ranking.)
![1. (1) Newport Country Club](http://golfdigest.sports.sndimg.com/content/dam/images/golfdigest/fullset/2021/9/Newport CC clubhouse - Jon Cavalier.jpeg.rend.hgtvcom.406.203.suffix/1631480536688.jpeg)
![2. (3) Shelter Harbor Golf Club](http://golfdigest.sports.sndimg.com/content/dam/images/golfdigest/fullset/course-photos-for-places-to-play/ShelterHarbor21_9_KAH.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.406.271.suffix/1641407016493.jpeg)
![3. (2) Wannamoisett Country Club](http://golfdigest.sports.sndimg.com/content/dam/images/golfdigest/fullset/course-photos-for-places-to-play/wannamoisett-country-club-twelfth-hole-10113.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.406.271.suffix/1674744692939.jpeg)
![4. (4) The Misquamicut Club](http://golfdigest.sports.sndimg.com/content/dam/images/golfdigest/fullset/course-photos-for-places-to-play/misquamicut-club-10097.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.406.229.suffix/1677099165846.jpeg)
![6. (5) Warwick Country Club](http://golfdigest.sports.sndimg.com/content/dam/images/golfdigest/fullset/course-photos-for-places-to-play/placeholder-images/Placeholder_1.png.rend.hgtvcom.406.229.suffix/1652210514118.png)
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