Created in partnership with Golfbreaks
If you only take one golf trip a year, make it a fall one. As summer’s heat fades, courses across the country hit their stride, with punishing midday temperatures that define a July round giving way to blue-sky afternoons that beg for 36 holes. The scenery isn’t bad either, whether that’s desert light turning gold in the late afternoon or the first hint of color creeping into the Carolina pines.
There’s a catch, and it’s a familiar one to anyone who’s tried to book a tee time in October: fall is peak season in most of the country’s best golf markets. Demand is high, the top resorts and rental homes fill up fast, and prices climb right along with them. The move is to plan ahead and book early, and a service like Golfbreaks can lock in tee times, lodging, and logistics before the best ones are gone.
According to the golf travel experts at Golfbreaks, these are the five best fall golf destinations worth building a trip around.
Best Fall Golf Destinations
1. St. George, Utah
If you haven’t been paying attention to St. George, you’re not alone, but that’s changing fast. Tucked into Utah’s southwest corner, this is some of the most dramatic golf scenery in the country: black lava rock, red rock mountains, and desert terrain that makes every hole feel like a photograph. Courses like Sand Hollow, Copper Rock, and Coral Canyon built the area’s reputation, and Sand Hollow in particular routinely lands on lists of the best public courses in America.
The headline addition is Black Desert Resort, now a PGA TOUR venue, which has put St. George on the map for a whole new audience. That’s exactly why you should go sooner rather than later. This is still a bit of a hidden gem, but it’s earning more publicity every year, and it won’t stay under the radar for long.
On the logistics side, there’s a strong mix of luxury golf resorts and rental home options for groups of any size. The easiest way in is to fly into Las Vegas and make the roughly two-hour drive—which also opens the door to a proper golf road trip, with stops in Mesquite and Vegas itself along the way.
2. Orlando, Florida
Orlando might be the most well-rounded golf destination on this list. Whatever your group is after—championship tests or relaxed resort rounds, premium green fees or budget-friendly ones—you’ll find it here, often within a short drive of one another.
The accommodation options run just as deep. Orlando has no shortage of hotels and resorts, and it’s home to one of the largest vacation rental home markets in the country, which makes it a natural fit for big groups who want to stay under one roof. Many of the best properties are multi-course complexes, so you can play all week without ever moving your bags—Reunion Resort, Omni ChampionsGate, Walt Disney World, Orange County National, and Orange Lake among them. For a bucket-list round, Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill, host of the PGA TOUR’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, is right in town.
Then there’s everything else. Few golf destinations can compete with Orlando’s off-course lineup: world-famous theme parks, an endless restaurant scene, and plenty to keep non-golfing partners and kids happy for days. Getting there is easy too, with excellent flight options from just about anywhere in the country. And if you want to stretch the trip, Tampa and Jacksonville—home of TPC Sawgrass—are each about two hours away.
3. Scottsdale, Arizona
For a lot of golfers, Scottsdale is THE desert golf destination. The layouts here make the most of their surroundings, with dramatic elevation changes and rocky terrain, often with wildlife wandering through, and the result is some of the best desert golf in the United States.
The course list reads like a wish list: WeKoPa, Grayhawk, Troon North, and The Boulders are just the start, and TPC Scottsdale, home of the raucous WM Phoenix Open, is the marquee PGA TOUR venue. There’s no shortage of places to stay either, from resorts and hotels to another enormous rental home market that’s ideal for larger groups.
Scottsdale delivers off the course, too. Old Town Scottsdale is a destination in its own right, and the area is loaded with great hiking, casinos, and some of the best Mexican food you’ll find anywhere, with all of Phoenix right next door. Flying in is simple thanks to PHX, with flights from all over the country. One word of caution: Scottsdale is in high demand come fall, so book as far in advance as you can. The best courses and homes go quickly.
4. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
They don’t call it the “Golf Capital of the World” for nothing. Myrtle Beach packs more than 80 courses into roughly 60 miles of coastline, which means variety is the whole point. You could play for two weeks straight and never repeat a layout or a style.
Standouts include True Blue and Caledonia in Pawleys Island, along with TPC Myrtle Beach, while many of the area’s top layouts are grouped into multi-course destinations like Legends, Barefoot Resort, Myrtle Beach National, and Myrtlewood—ideal for groups looking to simplify tee times and logistics. It’s also worth venturing north to North Myrtle Beach for courses like Tidewater and Glen Dornoch. The golf is exceptional, but it’s a bit removed from the heart of the Grand Strand, so it’s best to plan those rounds as part of the same day, or even the same stay.
Accommodation is where Myrtle Beach really shines for groups, with everything from beachfront hotels to condos to a huge selection of rental homes. And access couldn’t be easier. MYR (Myrtle Beach International) puts you just minutes from the first tee.
5. Southern Pines & Pinehurst, North Carolina
If Myrtle Beach is about abundance and variety, the Sandhills of North Carolina are about pure, undiluted golf. This is one of the sport’s true meccas, home to legendary courses like Pine Needles, Mid Pines, Tobacco Road, and, of course, Pinehurst Resort, whose famed layouts have hosted more championships than almost any venue in the country.
A word on expectations: this is a golf-first destination. You won’t find the sprawling off-course scene of an Orlando or a Scottsdale here. Lodging and non-golf activities are relatively limited, and that’s rather the point. You come to the Sandhills to play, then talk about the round you just finished over dinner.
Getting there is straightforward. It’s about 90 minutes from Raleigh-Durham (RDU) and roughly two hours from Charlotte (CLT).
Ready to Book Your Fall Golf Trip?
Here’s the honest truth about organizing a golf trip, especially for a big group: it can be a lot. Coordinating tee times across multiple courses, lining up the right lodging, splitting payments among a dozen people, and keeping everyone on the same page adds up to a real headache, and it usually falls on one poor soul in the group.
That’s where Golfbreaks comes in. They handle all of it—the courses, the accommodation, the logistics, and the payments—so you can focus on the actual golf. On top of the heavy lifting, you’ll get access to customer travel perks and rewards that make the whole trip better and easier. And with your clubs shipped ahead with ShipSticks, all you’ll have to carry to the airport is your carry-on.
Ready to lock in your fall trip? Get in touch with Golfbreaks today to start planning.
