Golf World Top 100: Best Golf Resorts in the World

We reveal the best golf resorts in the world.

What are the best golf resorts in the world? The Golf World Top 100 panel ranks and rates the best golfing getaways on planet earth in our inaugural list.

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Welcome to the Golf World Top 100 Golf Resorts in the World.

We dedicated 40 magazine pages to this ranking (and I wanted far more) so I don’t think anyone can suggest we aren’t taking these Top 100s seriously!

This is the first time the panel and I have ranked the world’s best golf resorts but, having produced the Top 100 Golf Resorts in Great Britain and Ireland and the Top 100 Golf Resorts in Continental Europe in the past 12 months, I felt now was the time.

I’ve tried to pick out resorts from different parts of the world and with a different look in a bid to illustrate the fact there is something for everyone.

There are resorts from 33 countries and with so much variety – some are very golf-centric, others have especially amazing accommodation, plenty have so much to do away from the course. Among this diversity, there are two themes: many are spectacular seaside entries; and many are expensive.

I do realise that precludes many from ever going to them, and we are very conscious of that; we want these Top 100s to be relevant and to be used as a guide to plan your trips. But adding a value element would have been so hard, given there are so many packages for so many resorts. Tracking all the deals available via third parties would have made this ranking impossible!

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We have produced a GB&I £60 and Under ranking already and an Under £35 will follow in 2022. Believe me, we are very conscious of the cost of the top-end destinations.

Finally on this, we also hope there is some escapism, as we plough through a British winter and yetr more restrictions, in looking at pictures of and reading about so many sun-kissed foreign fields. Please do feed back where you feel we’ve gone wrong – and also if you think we’ve got things right, too. We’d love to hear from you via email, on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

And, once you’ve enjoyed this ranking, please do take a look at some of our others – from the best courses in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, to GB&I’s best links, the most fun courses to play and the finest courses and resorts Portugal has to offer, we’ve got it covered.

Chris Bertram, Golf World Top 100 Editor

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What is the Golf World Top 100?

The Criteria: How we ranked the Golf World Top 100 Best Golf Resorts in the World

Firstly, what is a golf resort? It’s an important point to clarify as it explains why Resort X made it in, yet Resort Y didn’t. We define a resort like this: the course and accommodation must be owned by the same company and the accommodation has to be on-site. Any time there is a short transfer time involved, the resort loses a mark in the ‘setting’ category.

People often ask whether advertising affect positions? No! Never. The editorial and sales teams have scars to prove the many battles…

On a serious note, advertising does not affect positions in any of our rankings. Take our Continental Europe Resorts ranking as an example – some resorts which advertised actually move down in the list. We might, however, give a resort or course which is advertising a larger image for their entry, but never anything more than that.

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The scoring: How we marked the Golf World Top 100 Best Golf Resorts in the World

Led by myself (I’ve been to 59 of the 100), well-travelled figures from the golf travel industry, in addition to our GB&I and continental Europe panels, assessed all 100 in these categories:

Golf Course/s (marked out of 40): The quality of the course/s – with second or third courses duly recognised.

Accommodation (marked out of 20): The range, quality and quantity of the accommodation.

Non-golf amenities (marked out of 20): Additional facilities that can make a resort a family and couples attraction. 20 marks

Setting (marked out of 20): Lots of 14s and 15s for standard countryside locations, but those that drop jaws get a boost with 18 and 19s – occasionally even higher.

Golf is clearly still the key category in all of this, but we take accommodation and non-golf amenities into account fairly strongly, because we didn’t want a list of ‘courses with rooms’ and to end up with a list of Top 100-ranked courses with a dormy house. We wanted to include rounded resorts that could appeal to couples and families as well as those for absolute golf nuts.

RELATED: Best Golf Courses in Britain and Ireland

Can I join the Golf World Top 100 panel?

Yes! If you have knowledge of lots of resorts and courses, we’d love to hear from you. Whether you’re male, female, young, old, low handicap, high handicap, if you’re well-travelled then get in touch with us, here.

>>> Click here to start the Top 100 countdown >>>

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Bertram is the Golf World Top 100 Editor.

He was born and brought up in Dumfriesshire and has been a sports journalist since 1996, initially as a junior writer with National Club Golfer magazine.

Chris then spent four years writing about football and rugby union for the Press Association but returned to be Editor and then Publisher of NCG before joining Golf World and Today’s Golfer as Senior Production Editor.

He has been freelance since 2010 and when he is not playing and writing about the world’s finest golf courses, he works for BBC Sport.

A keen all-round sportsman, Chris plays off 11 – which could be a little better if it wasn’t for hilariously poor lag putting which has to be seen to be believed.