Golf’s popularity keeps soaring globally, amplifying the need for new courses as more people become passionate about the sport. Course designers are running with the cue and creating inventive designs with fresh challenges and breathtaking views, and 2025 promises to unleash some standout projects that will revitalize the game. Below, Essential Golf digs into unique new courses opening to the public this year.
Gamble Sands’ Scarecrow Course – Brewster, Washington
One of the most interesting new courses to watch out for is the Scarecrow, which is opening as the third course at Gamble Sands in Brewster, Washington. Designed by David McLay Kidd alongside design associate Nick Schaan, the new par-71, 6,900-yard layout will debut in the summer of 2025, joining the resort’s 7,200-yard Sands course opened in 2014, and the 14-hole QuickSands short course launched in 2021.
The much-anticipated Scarecrow Course boasts sweeping views of the Columbia River, with the design emphasizing compact routing with elevated ridgelines and rolling terrain. Players will negotiate smaller greens and strategically placed bunkers tailored to the course’s undulating terrain. Still, the fairways are wide, and the Cascade Mountains provide the perfect backdrop for a premium golfing experience.
New Coore & Crenshaw course at Palmetto Bluff – South Carolina
South Carolina boasts a long golf history, and 2025 will see a new course opening at Palmetto Bluff, joining the Nicklaus-designed May River Golf Course, which opened in 2005, and the Crossroads reversible nine-layout from King Collins. South Street Partners, the owners of Palmetto Bluff, contracted famed designers Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw for the new course, which will sit on a 500-acre property and open around winter 2025-26.
The layout will take players through the tapestry of Low Country vegetation in Bluffton, weaving through dangling Spanish moss and live oaks. The terrific sandy ground with gentle rises and falls drains exceptionally well and will promote prized playing conditions. The new course is poised to eventually anchor the community’s third village, Anson, with the site including four different forest types. Players can expect wetland and coastal views from many holes, while the land between holes will be managed areas of native flora, comprising wiry broom sedge, goldenrod, fox tail, silky aster, and sparkleberry.
Shura Links – Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is wasting no time and effort in becoming a dominant force in golf. The nation’s Public Investment Fund is already sponsoring LIV Golf, with talks ongoing about partnering with the PGA and DP World Tours. Back home, high-end golf courses are under construction, such as Shura Links, developed by Red Sea Global and part of a larger phase of coastal development that includes 11 hotels and resorts, luxury villas, a marina, and sustainable green spaces.
Designed by Brian Curley of Curley-Wagner Design, Shura Links will be Saudi Arabia’s first island golf course, built in conjunction with Golf Saudi in its quest to make the country a premium golf destination. A 3.5-kilometer causeway connects Shura Island to the Saudi mainland, about half an hour from the new Red Sea International Airport, which opened to international flights in April 2024.
The course is sustainability-sensitive, using Platinum TE paspalum grassing supplied by Atlas Turf Arabia, which thrives in hot, arid environments and uses fewer inputs. A Toro irrigation system is also part of the project, with large flowering trees and palms being added to create a garden-like dunescape environment. Every hole will provide maximum playability, variety, and memorability, with holes 4 to 7 hugging the coastline, while holes 14 to 18 provide a crescendo finish. Shura Links will open in March 2025, and players will enjoy a backdrop of open sea or channel views on each hole.
MacLeod Course, Trump Aberdeen – Scotland
As Donald Trump begins his second term in office, Trump International Golf Links Aberdeen, located near Balmedie, Scotland, is set to debut its second course, the MacLeod, this summer. The new layout sits south and west of the original 2012 course, with the design team comprising Martin Hawtree, Christine Fraser, and Christian Lundin. Fairhurst is the project engineer, while GolfLink Evolve is the principal golf contractor. The layout spans hundreds of acres of rugged coastal terrain over expansive wetlands, heather-clad heathlands, and sandy dunesland, offering panoramic North Sea views.
The MacLeod’s architects have incorporated ancient burns into their design, promising the course will have the world’s largest natural bunker and infinity greens. Apart from drainage and irrigation pipework, all other materials, such as sand, stone, and soil, have been sourced on-site to reduce the construction work’s carbon footprint and environmental impact. The project has seen more than 10 hectares of natural vegetation moved to allow Indigenous plant habitats to thrive, with over one million sprigs of native marram grass planted and six tons of marram seeds harvested across the new course. Water from across the site will feed into a drainage system engineered to provide irrigation for all 36 holes at Trump International.
Els Club Vilamoura – Algarve, Portugal
Investment management company Arrow Global will launch Els Club Vilamoura in the summer of 2025, the first private members’ golf club in Algarve, Portugal. As the name suggests, the new course is the work of Ernie Els Design, built on the site of what used to be the Victoria golf course, the former home of the Portugal Masters. Arrow Global acquired the site in 2023 after the former course closed and went ahead with a total redesign. The new golf club promises to offer members a new level of service and privacy previously unattainable in the Algarve, reflecting golf legend Ernie Els’ passion.
Old Petty at Cabot Highlands – Scotland
The Cabot Collection is fast emerging as a force to be reckoned with in luxury golf resort development, boasting an expansive portfolio that includes international golf destinations such as Cabot Cape Breton, Cabot Saint Lucia, and Cabot Citrus Farms. One of the company’s projects to watch out for in 2025 is Old Petty at Cabot Highlands in Inverness, Scotland, designed by the legendary Tom Doak and slated to open in late fall. The project seeks to create something special, and perhaps unconventional by modern standards, including crisscrossing play on a huge, shared fairway on the 1st and 18th holes.
Broomsedge – South Carolina
Broomsedge will open in February 2025, located just 35 minutes east of Columbia, South Carolina. The new course is a perfect golf feel-good story, as co-designer Mike Koprowski bought the land with his own money after noticing that it was the perfect ground for the sport. He partnered with reputed designer Kyle Franz, utilizing firm and fast conditions on a compact routing of 200 acres to facilitate multiple strategies for players of all skill levels. The private course will offer public play at special times of the year via a request portal, seeking to take advantage of the rapidly growing golf region in the Sandhills of South Carolina.
2025 is shaping up to be a landmark year for new golf course developments, showcasing both modern innovation and a nod to classical golf designs. If you love golf vacations, you can add the above-listed stunning venues to your bucket list, each offering a distinct playing experience and helping you explore new environments and make unforgettable memories.