The Nine Hardest Courses on the PGA Tour

These are the nine most difficult courses on the PGA Tour during the 2020-21 season.
The Nine Hardest Courses on the PGA Tour
The Nine Hardest Courses on the PGA Tour /

It's no surprise when the world's best players go way low, like Cam Smith did when he won the 2022 Tournament of Champions with a record 34 under par.

But there are times when courses do get the better of PGA Tour players, relatively speaking. Here are a few that did that during the 2020-21 season, according to statistics from the official PGA Tour media guide, which ranks them based on average score relative to par.

The Nine Hardest Courses on the PGA Tour

9. Waialae Country Club  — .513 strokes over par

Waialae Country Club is the home of the Sony Open / Kyle Terada-USA Today Sports

8. Pebble Beach Golf Links — .516 strokes over par

Pebble Beach Golf Links.
Pebble Beach Golf Links :: David Rodriguez/The Salinas Californian / USA Today Network

7. Torrey Pines GC (South) — .534 strokes over par

Patrick Reed plays the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.
The Farmers Insurance Open is played at Torrey Pines / Orlando Ramirez-USA Today Sports

6. TPC Harding Park — .755 strokes over par

Collin Morikawa won the 2020 PGA Championship at Harding Park.
Collin Morikawa won his first career major in the 2020 PGA Championship at Harding Park / Kelvin Kuo-USA Today Sports

5. Spyglass Hill — .877 strokes over par

Si Woo Kim plays a shot from the drop zone on the 12th hole in 2021 at Spyglass Hill.
Spyglass Hill is one of the host courses for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am / Orlando Ramirez-USA Today Sports

4. Olympia Fields (North) — 1.815 strokes over par

Olympia Fields Country Club
The 2020 BMW Championship was at Olympia Fields / Olympia Fields Country Club

3. PGA National (Champion) — 1.904 strokes over par

2. Muirfield Village — 2.007 strokes over par

Brooks Koepka looks for his ball during the 2020 Memorial Tournament at Muirfield.
Brooks Koepka tracks down an errant shot during the 2020 Memorial at Muirfield / Aaron Doster-USA Today Sports

1. Bay Hill Club and Lodge — 2.106 strokes over par

Tiger Woods celebrates a birdie on the 18th hole at Bay Hill in 2011.
Tiger Woods celebrates a birdie on the 18th hole at Bay Hill in 2011 / Allan Henry-USA Today Sports

Here are the hardest courses in table form:

Rank

Course

Tournament

Average Score

Average over/under par

Par

1

 Bay Hill Club & Lodge

Arnold Palmer Invitational

74.106

2.106

72

2

Muirfield Village GC

The Memorial

74.007

2.007

72

3

PGA National (Champion)

The Honda Classic

71.903

1.904

70

4

Olympia Fields CC (North)

BMW Championship

71.815

1.815

70

5

Spyglass Hill GC 

AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

70.755

0.755

70

6

 TPC Harding Park

PGA Championship

70.755

0.755

70

7

Torrey Pines GC (South)

Farmers Insurance Open

72.533

0.534

72

8

 Pebble Beach Golf Links

AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

72.516

0.516

72

9

Waialae CC 

Sony Open

70.513

0.513

70

The other courses that averaged over par in the 2020-21 season were No. 10 Riviera Country Club (.255) and the Golf Club of Houston (.011).

The easiest was La Quinta Country Club. The average round there was -2.824 strokes under par. 


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