Some of the clubs that made our list boast the most iconic courses in golf, but there are a few you likely haven’t even heard of. Regardless, you should consider yourself lucky, or extremely well connected, if you can make your way on to just one of these bucket-list courses. To determine our 10 most exclusive, we used Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Courses in the world as our starting point. Then, with some rigorous research, bolstered by some real-life feedback from seasoned PGA tour professionals and multi-millionaire scratch golfers, we finalized our choices.
These courses just missed the cut: Oakmont Country Club, Seminole Golf Club, Los Angeles Country Club, Sand Hills Golf Club, Swinley Forest Golf Club, The Country Club, Chicago Golf Club, National Golf Links of America, Nanea Golf Club.
Here is our ranking of the 10 most exclusive clubs:
10. San Francisco Golf Club
San Francisco, Calif.
Golf Magazine ranks this No. 27 in the world, and says this about its exclusivity: “The Internet boom has birthed countless millionaires in San Francisco, but you won’t find any of them at this old-money club. Bloodlines, not bankrolls are what matter here, at an A.W.
Tillinghast-designed redoubt whose entrance is so discreet members have been said to get lost trying to find it. Over 20 years ago, the club lost its role as host to PGA events because it had no female or minority members. In 2004, the club famously said no to Scott McNearly, one of the founders of Sun Microsystems, who had recently been named the best CEO golfer in the country by Golf Digest.
