Unfortunately, most golfers cannot afford the greens fees on a majority of these courses.  $200+ greens fees are an absolute joke unless you are a one percenter.  Personally, I consider anything over $100 to be a rip off for a  round of golf and the saving grace is that there are plenty of good courses out there under $100.  The Golf Channel (I'm looking at you Ginella) and the golf industry's definition of "affordable" is about as skewed as what college's consider to be "affordable tuition".

I appreciate a list like this as a reference for discovering new places to play. Some of the rankings seem strange, though. My biggest consideration is shot value. At Bandon I put Bandon Trails on top for that reason. And, I put Chambers Bay way down for the same reason. Thanks.

Actually Matt, if Forest Dunes is rated higher than Arcadia Bluffs, that would be the biggest crock of all time. Please don't promote that overrated piece of junk.

I'm surprised to see Arcadia Bluffs at 31- this should be top a top 10 course. I don't know too many that haven't said after playing this course that's it's the best course they have ever played - and most of these people have played Pebble, Spyglass, etc.

Why doesn't someone come up with a list of the best affordable public courses.  While I'm sure these courses mentioned in this list are open to the public, most of the golfing public cannot afford those fees.  In Ohio we have many examples of great golf at fair rates.  Longaberger and Boulder Creek are 2 of the best, but there are so many more.  I have also spent a lot of time around Traverse City, Michigan and they also have great public golf at fair prices.

Arcadia at 31st? I'll stay tuned to see what's in the top 20, but Arcadia is a gem. I feel like it might be a little undervalued right there.... Then again, I've only played 2 of the courses on this list so far.