Which state has the most public golf

By The National Golf Foundation

Hint: It's not Florida or California

The state with the most public golf in the U.S. leads the category by a fairly substantial margin.

It’s not Florida, which has the most golf courses overall.

And it’s also not California, which has the most golfers in the nation.

The U.S. leader in publicly accessible golf is Michigan, whose 748 daily fee, municipal and resort courses are more than the total golf supply in 45 other states. With 868 golf courses overall at the start of 2026, Michigan is one of five states with 800+ courses – behind Florida (1,290) and California (963), and just ahead of New York (830) and Texas (825). And 86% of the golf courses in Michigan are public, notably higher than the 72% national average.

There’s good reason Michigan has been called “America’s Summer Golf Capital.” In addition to temperate weather, natural beauty, a centralized U.S. location and the nation’s longest freshwater coastline, Michigan boasts roughly the same number of public golf courses as the combined total of McDonald’s and Burger King locations statewide. These courses, from the Detroit area to Northern Michigan and the U.P. (Upper Peninsula), appeal not only to the nearly one million golfers who live in the state, but help draw visiting golfers from dozens of states and countries, especially our friends in Canada north of the border.

Chart courtesy of the National Golf Foundation