Granite Links and Pinehills are the two most expensive public rounds near Boston and they cost within $5 of each other on a weekend. The similarity ends there. Granite Links is seven miles from downtown and the public cannot tee off before 1:30pm on a Saturday. Pinehills is an hour south and lets you book the 7am slot 10 days out. One is a windy links on a capped landfill with the skyline in every frame. The other is 36 holes of pine barrens with the top-rated public course in Massachusetts on the property. Here is the head-to-head on price, access, difficulty and reputation, and when the answer flips.
Granite Links
- 27 holes, one nine held for members daily
- $165 Mon to Thu, $180 Fri to Sun, cart included
- Public weekend times after 1:30pm only
- Books 4 days out, no singles
- Quincy/Milton: 6,873 yds, slope 142
- 7 miles from downtown, skyline views, wind
Pinehills
- 36 holes, Jones and Nicklaus, both public
- $140 Mon to Thu, $175 Fri to Sun, cart included
- No public blackout, any tee time any day
- Books online 10 days out at midnight
- Jones 7,175 yds slope 137, Nicklaus 7,243 slope 135
- About an hour from Boston, pines, no wind
The courses
Granite Links is a John Sanford design built on 13 million tons of Big Dig fill over old quarries and landfills in Quincy and Milton. The Milton nine opened in 2003, the Granite nine in 2004, and the Quincy nine in 2006. Three nines, all par 35 or 36, and one of them is always reserved for members. The Quincy/Milton combination is the hard one: 6,873 yards to a 73.9 rating and a slope of 142 from the blacks. Each nine on its own carries a slope between 134 and 140. There are almost no trees. The site tops out 298 feet above sea level and the 5th on the Milton nine aims between the Hancock and the Prudential.
Pinehills is two full 18s on 300 acres of glacial kettles in Plymouth. The Jones course, by Rees Jones, opened in 2001 and plays 7,175 yards to a 75.4 rating and a slope of 137. The Nicklaus course, by Jack Nicklaus II and Nicklaus Design, opened in 2002 at 7,243 yards, 75.2 and 135. Both are wide off the tee. The Nicklaus has smaller greens with collection areas and a 189-yard all-carry par 3 at the 15th. Houses show through the pines on both. The full breakdown of the two is in the Pinehills review.
What it costs
| Granite Links | Pinehills | |
|---|---|---|
| Weekday, peak season | $165 | $140 |
| Weekend, peak season | $180 | $175 |
| Late afternoon | $165 after 3pm Sat/Sun | $100 / $115 after 2:30pm |
| Twilight | $90 after 5pm | None |
| Shoulder season | None published | $95 to $115 |
| 9 holes | $90, Mon to Wed | Not offered |
| Cart | Included, required | Included |
| Range balls | Bucket included | Unlimited, included |
| Rental clubs | $85 | $75 |
Both cards are fixed, not dynamic. The peak weekend gap is $5. The weekday gap is $25 in Pinehills' favor. The real spread is in the off-peak rates. Pinehills drops to $100 on a weekday after 2:30pm and to $95 for a full weekday round from October 19 to close. Granite Links has no shoulder card at all, so a Tuesday in late October is still $165. Its only cheap round is $90 after 5pm, and reviewers on GolfPass call that too pricey for a round you cannot finish.
Granite Links does have discounts Pinehills does not. Quincy and Milton residents play $130 Monday through Thursday. Seniors 65 and up and juniors play $120 on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Pinehills has no resident, senior or junior rate. Neither publishes a replay rate.
Getting on
This is where the two split hardest. Granite Links is semi-private. Weekend tee times are members-only until 1:30pm. The public window is four days. Singles must book in with other players and solo rounds are not allowed. Ride-alongs are banned at peak. All categories of membership are full for 2026 with a waitlist, so there is no buying your way onto the morning sheet this year. Phone is (617) 689-1900 and the club runs a Noteefy waitlist for cancellations.
Pinehills moved to online-only booking. The public window is 10 days, opening at midnight on EZLinks. The phone line takes same-day bookings only. Weekend times for the whole season can be reserved starting in February through the Director of Golf with full payment up front. The annual pass, $7,400, gets a 16-day window and also has a waitlist. Both clubs charge the full fee for a no-show inside 24 hours.
Net: if you want a Saturday morning at Granite Links as a non-member, you cannot have one. At Pinehills you can, if you are awake at midnight 10 days out.
Reputation
Pinehills wins on the review sites. The Nicklaus course holds a 4.9 across 344 GolfPass reviews with 99.7 percent recommending it, and the Jones a 4.7 across 308. Both show 2026 reviews. GolfPass's 2026 Golfers' Choice list puts the Nicklaus at number one in Massachusetts. On Golfweek's 2024 Best Courses You Can Play list for the state, Pinehills Nicklaus is ninth and Granite Links is tenth.
Granite Links holds a 4.7 across 148 GolfPass reviews with 95.3 percent recommending it, but the listing shows no reviews in the past 12 months. Its value score is 3.9, the lowest category. Its last GolfPass Massachusetts ranking was sixth in 2023. Where Granite Links wins is Golf Digest. It made the 100 Greatest Public list in 2009 at 73rd, was 18th in the state in 2017, and sits 30th now. Pinehills carries no Golf Digest state ranking. Golf Digest panelists score Pinehills higher round for round, though: 3.8 for the Nicklaus, 3.6 for the Jones, 2.8 for Granite Links.
The complaints are different in kind. Golf Digest panelists call Granite Links target golf with blind shots and stiff wind, a course that lacks character beyond the view. They call the Jones course at Pinehills copy-and-paste 90s earthmoving with holes that blend together. Spring 2026 reviewers at Pinehills found bumpy early-season greens and worried the club had gotten comfortable with its waiting list. October 2022 reviewers at Granite Links hit cart-path-only and standing water after rain.
Which one to play
Play Granite Links when the point is the day, not the golf. The skyline from the elevated tees, the Tavern, the seven-mile drive home. Bring a partner, book a weekday, and take the $130 resident rate if you live in Quincy or Milton. Do not book it after a rain.
Play Pinehills when the point is the golf. Two courses, the better ratings, the range included, no public blackout, and a $100 weekday afternoon that Granite Links cannot match. The cost is the drive. An October 2025 reviewer clocked it at close to an hour from downtown. Pair it with Waverly Oaks three miles away if you are making a trip of it. For how the rest of the premium tier stacks up, see the best public courses in Massachusetts.
Granite Links locks the public out of weekend mornings and gives you a four-day window for whatever is left. Pinehills opens its sheet at midnight and the good Saturday times are gone before breakfast. Text Carl the weekend and your group and he watches both windows the second they open, checks GolfNow for either club's hot deals, and texts you a confirmed time with the all-in price. You pick the course. He handles the alarm clock.
