Golf Courses Near Warwick, RI

Located 12 miles south of Providence in central Rhode Island, the coastal city of Warwick is not only a suburb of Providence but also, with a population of 83,000, the Ocean State’s second largest city. When it comes to golf, Warwick Country Club, a Donald Ross-designed layout, is one of Rhode Island’s very best courses, but, alas, it is private. Thankfully, if you’re looking for public-access tee times, you have fine courses to choose from. Valley Country Club, a picturesque course that now welcomes everyone, features a mix of holes with small greens that date back to 1925 and others with large, sloping greens that were integrated into the layout in the 1960s. Cranston Country Club (Golf Advisor’s #5 top course in Rhode Island in 2021) is a varied layout highlighted by an island green. North Kingstown Golf Course, a 1946-vintage muni that Golf Advisor rated #2 in Rhode Island in 2020, abuts Quonset State Airport. All levels of players and those short on time can find a nearby 9-hole layout, including two right in Westerly: Harbor Lights Golf & Country Club, a tight but scenic course on Narragansett Bay; and Goddard Memorial State Golf Course, the only state-run golf facility in Rhode Island.

Warwick, known as “The City by the Bay,” is very easy to get to, especially if you are flying– Providence’s T.F. Green International Airport (PVD) is actually in Warwick. The town spreads out on a peninsula on Narragansett Bay with 39 miles of continuous coastline, numerous beaches and a couple of lighthouses. Warwick Lighthouse was built in 1826. Other top attractions include the Warwick Museum of Art and Clouds Hill Museum, a Goth Victorian architecturally resplendent house made of granite that showcases the fancy side of 19th century Rhode Island life. A party spirit prevails in Warwick in summer. There’s a vibrant restaurant and bar scene highlighted by craft breweries and the “Bring Your Own Improv” comedy club. One of the biggest annual events on Warwick’s calendar is Gaspee Days, a civic-minded festival every June celebrating the 1772 Gaspee Affair in which colonists burned the British customs schooner, the HMS Gaspee, in Warick’s waters. To this day, “the Gaspee Affair” is known as “America’s First Blow for Freedom.”