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I've always wanted to play golf in Delaware.
It's one of just seven American states I have. yet to play golf in. Unfortunately, my interest in visiting is waning after the recent news that two of its top public golf courses have closed.
Jonathan's Landing Golf Course in Magnolia closed on Dec. 31 with the White Clay Creek Country Club in Wilmington following on Jan. 1. That's a serious blow to the state's public golfing scene for 2026.
Even before these closures, Delaware barely deserved to be on the radar of traveling golfers like me. There are fewer than 50 golf courses in the entire state. Fewer than 25 of them are open to the public, and there's no real must-play, top-100 pick (public or private) to attract golfers from outside the region. Nevertheless, I've always been curious about Delaware's golf and beach lifestyle in the summer.
We ranked Jonathan's Landing, a 6,622-yard par-71 built in 1996, second among the best courses to close in the United States in 2025. With a healthy 4.4 overall star rating on GolfPass, it finished eighth, seventh and 10th among Delaware's top public courses in the Golfers' Choice state rankings from 2023 to 2025.
Its final GolfPass review from last November noted that it's "A Shame they are closing. [It's] Superior to courses that cost twice as much. A good variety of distances and types of holes."
White Clay Creek (also 4.4 stars) was even more highly respected. It ranked among the top five courses in Delaware in Golfers' Choice every year from 2019 to 2024 (4-4-4-1-2-5). Architect Arthur Hills laid out the 7,007-yard course in 2005. Its 40,000-square-foot clubhouse gave golfers the feeling of playing at a private club. A GolfPass review from last September called the course a "Fantastic value with a fun layout. It was a bit of a hike from Philly but would definitely come back again. Course was mostly well maintained with well manicured greens and fairways."
What does the future hold for White Clay Creek and Jonathan's Landing?
Thankfully there's at least a chance one or both courses could potentially reopen. Currently, nothing has been announced that either property will become homes or be developed another way. The Delaware Business Times reported that White Clay Creek is “working on multiple options to find a new owner but this will take time.”
Not all is not lost for public golfers in Delaware if they do stay shuttered, either. America's second-smallest state still offers four different golf resorts for stay and plays. They're not traditional golf resorts with big hotels and tons of amenities, but I hope to someday experience at least a couple of them to say I've teed it up in Delaware. Click on their resort pages to learn more about each property.
