Which College Football Playoff Team Has the Best Golf Course? Here's the Top 5

The 2025 College Football Playoff is here!

And while there's still plenty of opinion, conjecture and thoughts about who deserved to be in and who didn't, this is not the forum for debate. Instead, we're taking a golf-themed spin on the CFP bracket and asking another question.

Of the 12 teams fighting for a national championship, who has the best golf course?

We scouted the teams' courses and to meet the criteria, a university needed to have a course attached to their name. That boiled it down to the top five spots, which are ranked from five to No. 1 below. We also added some honorable mentions, so no one feels left out.

Here's your best College Football Playoff team courses:

Located right on campus in Athens, the University of Georgia Golf Course — where the Dawgs play — is open to all students, staff, alumni, and the general public. Set on rolling northeast Georgia terrain, this par 71 course is both a beautiful and challenging Robert Trent Jones Sr. design. It was renovated by Love Golf Design in 2006 to refresh the green complexes and stretch the course; from the Bulldog Tees, it plays to almost 7,300 yards. The University of Georgia Golf Course also proudly serves as the training grounds for both the men’s and women’s golf teams, with exceptional practice facilities and a dedicated clubhouse to meet all fans' shopping needs.

Much like the Oklahoma Sooners football team, Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club is oozing with history. Designed by Perry Maxwell - the genius behind 2022 PGA Championship host, Southern Hills, among other classic courses - the course has both Bishop Creek, a major artery running through the middle of the golf course, and the South Canadian River that have helped form incredible golf terrain that was laid out for hundreds of years before Maxwell starting digging in the 1950s. With its rolling hills, native grasses and majestic Bur Oaks, Jimmie Austin is a peaceful beauty not expected from being on the campus of a major university and in the center of Norman. The club's logo - a leaf from the iconic Bur Oaks on course - is also one of the best on this list, so hit the golf shop before you leave.

Located within walking distance to the Texas Tech campus in Lubbock, The Rawls Course opened in 2003 and is a West Texas masterpiece designed by renowned architect Tom Doak. The creator of Pacific Dunes and Ballyneal took a flat cotton field on the high plains of the panhandle and transformed an entire landscape from scratch. Doak moved 1.3 million cubic yards of topsoil and shaped the earth to mimic the land east and south of Lubbock where the great plain suddenly starts falling into the valleys and canyons that lead to the Caprock region. As a result, The Rawls Course offers wide fairways and boldly contoured greens while being playable for golfers of all skill levels.

A big-time school deserves an architect with a big-time resume, and that's what Ohio State University Golf Club has in its Scarlet and Gray courses. Dr. Alister MacKenzie, one of golf's most famous course designers, laid out the routings for both the Scarlet and the Gray. MacKenzie passed in 1934 before the courses opened, but another renowned architect, Perry Maxwell oversaw construction. The bunkering is a main feature on both the Scarlet and Gray and is reminiscent of MacKenzie's work at Augusta National and Cypress Point, with high lips and massive scale. Buckeye alum Jack Nicklaus returned in 2005-06 to restore those bunkers and lengthen the course to meet modern standards. It now sits at over 7,400 yards and is known for its firm greens, but its hard to beat playing a MacKenzie course in Ohio.

Surely there will be debate on this choice, but if there's one course that seems to welcome both the best players and the casual, couple-times-a-year golfer, it's the Pfau Course at Indiana University. Designed by highly-acclaimed architect Steve Smyers and two-time Major Champion Fuzzy Zoeller (a Hoosier State native), the Pfau opened in 2020 and occupies the land used by the old Indiana University golf course, par-3 course and cross country course. Smyers used the natural topography to build the layout and it resulted in a picturesque journey. Fescue frames the fairways and 147 bunkers are spread throughout the course in different sizes and depth. The greens also are wide-ranging in size as are the fairways, which makes it an ideal course for any golfer . . . and the best on our list.