If you need a little sunshine during this snowy, icy golf offseason, the newly released top-100 lists put out by GOLF Magazine/GOLF.com and Links Magazine have all the bright, lush golf course imagery you’re looking for. There, Bethpage Black’s fourth-hole glacier bunker lives frozen in time, not snow, at the height of summer, amid green grass and wispy fescue. It’s a reminder that warm spring days will soon arrive even as your golf clubs stand winter-chilled in the back of the garage.
Bethpage Black, home of last September’s Ryder Cup, is ranked #56 in GOLF’s 2025-26 Top 100 Golf Courses in the World and #43 in The Links 100 U.S. list The GOLF listing, released in November, is the product of 126 raters from 16 different countries. Long Island’s own Shinnecock Hills and National Golf Links of America stand back to back at #5 and #6.
Unlike other magazine rankings, The Links 100 U.S. is determined solely by golf architects. The Black Course sits comfortably in the top half of the list, a few spots ahead of fellow stalwarts Pasatiempo and Southern Hills and modern marvels Sand Valley and Bandon Dunes. National and Shinnecock rank #3 and #4.
In all, nine Long Island courses made the two lists. Joining the Black Course, Shinnecock Hills and National on both lists are Fishers Island, Friar’s Head, Garden City and Maidstone. The Creek and Piping Rock made the back half of The Links 100, which was published last month.
Also noteworthy as far as Long Island golf history is The Lido at Sand Valley, which landed at #48 on GOLF’s World 100 and #57 on The Links 100. The widely praised Wisconsin course is a nearly exact replica of the famed Lido Club located here on Long Island from 1917 to 1942.
View the full rankings at the GOLF and Links Magazine websites.