For several years, the very private Pine Valley Golf Club in New Jersey, has been ranked by golf publications as the top golf course on the planet as well as the U.S.

Many other fine and classic country clubs here have glowed in the national spotlight, including Baltusrol, host for several U.S. Opens, Somerset Hills in Bernardsville and Galloway National Golf Club in Plainfield, with a much-loved Tom Fazio golf course. Several of these clubs have a distinguished history going back to the early 20th century. For golf lovers, just having an invitation to play a round at one of these clubs is a coveted experience.

But country club golf has expanded in New Jersey recently and includes many new courses with outstanding golf communities.

You can live where you play in New Jersey

Among the newer private clubs with great real estate are: Westlake Golf & Country Club, featuring resort-style living; the Jasna Polana TPC Country Club in Princeton where stately homes back up to a Gary Player course built on what was once a 230-acre estate; and Trump National Golf Clubs at Colts Neck and Bedminster.

Everything’s bigger and better in Texas, right? Maybe that’s why this 10-gallon state has more than 1,000 golf courses. Hundreds of country clubs not only have fairways, they also overlook lakes or ramble up and down hills studded with mesquite and oak. Let CountryClubs.com help you choose the perfect membership.

Many fine designers have laid out fairways here, including Fred Couples, Jack Nicklaus, Pete Dye, Arnold Palmer, Tom Fazio and others. Lots of clubs have more than one 18.

Live where you play — country clubs and golf communities are everywhere

Forget about cowboys and cattle, “ranches” here have estate-sized lots as well as elegant villas and condos. Many private clubs have more than one 18 and also have inviting clubhouses. This state is ideal for enjoying the country club lifestyle.

Houston, San Antonio, Austin and Dallas are prime locations for country clubs where you can live and play. Go north of Austin to Cimarron Hills or visit the Craig Ranch TPC area in McKinney. Cordillera Ranch in San Antonio offers private golf plus equestrian, tennis, and fishing clubs.

Some of the finest country club living in America can be found in the suburbs of Chicago and along the Illinois border with Wisconsin.

Giant hickories and oaks shade gently rolling fairways laid out by great course designers, including Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Tom Fazio and Arnold Palmer. Tennis and swimming and even snowshoeing in winter are available. Some clubs are even the setting for cross-country hunt clubs. Some of the most prominent business leaders in the nation live in these gated communities. CountryClubs.com can help you choose the perfect private club and home here.

Live where you play — country clubs and golf communities are everywhere

Among the possibilities:

– Conway Farms Golf club in Lake Forest with a Fazio course that will remind you of St. Andrews in Scotland.
– The Ivanhoe Club in Lake County with an Arthur Hills design regularly named one of the Top 25 courses in Illinois.
– Royal Melbourne Country Club near quaint Long Grove village has a Greg Norman course inspired by the Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia.
– Wynstone Golf Club in North Barrington with a Nicklaus signature course.

Picture yourself putting in on 18 in the shadow of a green, green mountain; driving your ball off a tee next to a glistening lake; or playing along fairways lined with hardwoods flaming with the brilliant orange and red of autumn. That’s what golf is all about at the country clubs of New Hampshire.

Golf courses here fit the lay of the spectacular landscape and many of them have a great history as well. Outstanding designers like Rees Jones, Arnold Palmer, Clive Clark and Donald Ross have laid out the fairways at the finest private and semi-private clubs in this state.

We can help you find a membership and home at one of New Hampshire’s finest golf clubs

At Owl’s Nest high in the state’s White Mountains, you can find a community with four-season resort-style living, including golf. Wentworth Country Club Estates has panoramic ocean views at a Scottish links golf course – Wentworth By The Sea. Near the White Mountain National Forest, Mount Washington Resort offers a planned community of homes as well as great golf. For other membership possibilities, check out Lake Winnipesaukee, Baker Hill Golf Club and The Golf Club of New England.

If all you know about Nevada is Las Vegas, you have much more excitement to discover, especially when it comes to country clubs and golf communities. In the past 10 years, one new exciting course after another has opened here; many surrounded by wonderful homes.

The PGA comes here, too, for the Legends at Reno-Tahoe and the Shriners at the TPC Summerlin near Vegas. And stars of golf architecture have designed courses: Jack Nicklaus, Tom Fazio, Hale Irwin and Arnold Palmer.

Besides visiting Las Vegas, look at Reno, Carson City, Mesquite and Lake Tahoe. Some golf communities and clubs bask in desert sunshine; others offer mountain breezes, lakes and forests. CountryClubs.com can help you choose the perfect membership and home.

Live where you play — country clubs and golf communities are everywhere

Check out golf communities at: Lake Las Vegas in Henderson where you’ll find SouthShore and Reflection Bay, both with private Nicklaus courses; Montreux Country Club in Reno, site of the Legends; Southern Highlands near Vegas, with a course by the Robert Trent Joneses, Sr. and Jr.; and Somersett Country Club in Reno with Tom Kite signature golf.

Among more than 1,000 golf courses in Florida are many private and semi-private country clubs choices for your club membership. CountryClubs.com can help you find what you want in a private club and a new home.

Florida has probably been home to more PGA stars than any other state – from Tiger Woods to Arnold Palmer to Greg Norman to Nick Faldo. It’s no wonder when you consider the exciting private golf choices here. And what about all those clubs that have hosted PGA events? Doral, Innisbrook, Bay Hill and Sawgrass, to name a few.

The big challenge is that so many areas will beckon to you. You’ll find vibrant new golf communities and prestigious choices at historic clubs with famous names.

Live where you play — country clubs and golf communities are everywhere

Consider these possibilities:

– Orlando and Central Florida, home to golf communities like Lake Nona, Isleworth, Bay Hill and Juliette Falls.

– The Atlantic Palm Coast with gated developments like Hammock Dunes and Hammock Beach.

– Picturesque Naples on the Paradise Coast, with Hammock Bay, TwinEagles and Grey Oaks.

Among the great golf courses in the Seacoast area of New Hampshire is a historic retreat, much beloved for its classic layout. That private club, Cochecho Country Club in Dover, N.H., was founded in 1920 on farmland just minutes away from downtown Dover.

The club began with a six-hole course that was expanded and improved. A visionary Boston architect Wayne Stiles is responsible for many of the great lines of its early layout. Cochecho is a course that tests a golfer’s ball striking ability. Each hole has its own personality, not only in its looks, but also in the types of the shots and length of club you will need to use.

The club offers swimming and tennis and year-round dining.

Other outstanding courses along the Seacoast in New Hampshire include Portsmouth Country Club in Greenland and Wentworth by the Sea in Rye.

One new country club after another has opened in Las Vegas and its suburbs for years. And every “new kid” on the teebox seems to top what the previous new club offers.

These clubs have lakes, waterfalls and manmade canyons that compete for attention with natural mountain views. Their huge clubhouses could hold conventions inside. Their fairways have palatial homes that rival villas in Tuscany.

Gated communities offer you fantastic homes and golf

If want private golf plus top real estate, country clubs in Las Vegas make a wonderful choice. At Anthem Country, 15 minutes from the Strip, you’ll find golf designed by Hale Irwin and Keith Foster.

At nearby Lake Las Vegas, plush communities surround Jack Nicklaus courses at SouthShore and Reflection Bay.

Canyon Gate in Vegas offers golf at a Nicklaus course and one designed by Ted Robinson. Spanish Trail, founded in 1984, has three nines, laid out by Robert Trent Jones Jr. Southern Highlands near Vegas has a course by the Trent Joneses, Sr. and Jr. And be sure to visit the TPC Summerlin, site of a Fuzzy Zoeller course where the PGA Tour plays every year.

If you’re hunting a country club membership and gated golf community in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, the choices are endless. If you can’t find fairways you love at Dallas country clubs, you probably can’t find them anywhere.

You’ll find brand-new courses with big-name designers as well as legendary clubs with great history.

Check out top names among Dallas country clubs

– Colonial Country Club, site of an annual PGA event.
– Gleneagles in prestigious West Plano with 36 holes by Von Hagge and Devlin.
– Stonebriar in Frisco with gated communities and one course by Joe Finger and Ken Dye and another by Tom Fazio.
– Stonebridge Ranch in McKinney with Pete Dye and Arthur Hills courses.
– The Trophy Club and Hogan’s Glen with 36 holes, including the only course Ben Hogan ever designed.
– Prestigious Vaquero built on what was once the Circle T Ranch in Westlake and has a Tom Fazio course.
– The Dallas Athletic Club has 36 holes by Jack Nicklaus.
– TPC Craig Ranch with a Tom Weiskopf course was named one of the top 100 Golfweek residential communities in 2008
– Tripp Davis and Justin Leonard co-designed The Tribute in The Colony that simulates several famous Scottish links holes.