Top 100 'Affordable' courses in Great Britain

[jeffwarne]

Niall,

I'm with Sean on this one.  Yes it might be nice to have a place to post deals that are running, but for the purposes of a list such as this you have to look at the rack rate.  It's the only way to get an apples to apples comparison.  i.e. for a guy planning a trip looking to put together some interesting courses that won't break the bank.  One should always look for deals, but they are hit or miss.

Jud,
In many cases the list does not post the rack rate (it says "from" 75 pounds etc.)
yet the weekday summer rate (rack)is listed higher on many of the individual websites

I'm not sure 80 pounds (even with the weakening pound vs. US) is "affordable" golf

Especially in a country with so many good choices at a lower rate

[Sean_A]

I agree about the £80 band still being a bit toppy. I think Under £50 is a definite band that seems important to multiple play. I also think Under £30 is important too and too many £20 is enough for a game golf. I think much past £50 does not matter if its a great course we want to play it but will probably only afford 1 play.

I dont think the Stranahan really belongs in an under £80 list though at £19 represents good value but its still got flaws being on just 72 acres, our other course The Codrington at £48 does belong though. Couple of my others, Cumberwell, Kendleshire, Dainton and Oake Manor probably should be in 'affordable' llists since they are very busy so must be offering great value.

Adrian

Yes, I would probably top out at £60 if I made a list from scratch.

You are terrible at marketing!  Besides, I disagree with you.  The greens alone at the Stranahan are well worth seeing especially for those who are looking for budget golf.  I look at my list above and only see a few courses which compete with your Stranahan for green interest and at least a few of those would be chopped if £60 were the cut-off.

Niall

Fair enough, but as Jud states, your idea is not quite the same thing as comparing rack rates.

Ciao


Ciao

[Adrian_Stiff]

Sean - I think the Stranahan is good value, but it more probably belongs quite high in a list of courses under £30 rather than on an under £80 list.... theres plenty of good sub £50 ones.

Interstingly those same people that did the £80 list have just done an under £50 list. Silloth is #2 Boat of Garten is 4. Kington is quite high too.

[Sean_A]

This would be an interesting exercise for us folks.  Of course, some of the courses mentioned on the list are now over £80 and Dornoch will be £100 in 2012!  I think £80 is a bit high, but if we dropped this to £50 it would be very difficult to come up with a meaningful list (for me, courses I would actually recommend folks see) of anything close to 100 courses - less than half my list is courses under £50. 

For me, the list would look more like:

St Enodoc ~£70
Kington ~£25
Enniscrone ~£55 
Woking ~£70
Cavendish ~30
Burnham & Berrow ~£70
Addington ~£70
Cruden Bay ~£70
Princes ~£80 (food included so qualifies-tee hee)
Silloth on Solway ~£45
Tenby ~£36
Brora ~45
Donegal ~£45
Huntercombe ~£52
Pennard ~£50
Southerndown ~£55
Camberley Heath ~£55
Carne ~£56
Beau Desert ~£65
Northamptonshire Co ~£70
Cleeve Cloud ~£20
Hockley ~£40
Portrush Valley ~£40
Harlech ~£55
Sherwood Forest ~£60
Stoneham ~£52
Castletown ~£50
Prestbury ~£55
Aberdovey ~£55
Dunbar ~£60
The New Course ~£70
Saunton East ~£77
Church Stretton ~£20
Strandhill ~£26
Yelverton ~£30
Southfield ~£35
Perranporth ~£36
Machrihanish ~£62
Players Club Stranahan ~£15
Burnham & Berrow Channel ~£20
West Cornwall ~£40
Worcester ~£40
Whittington Heath ~£42
Conwy ~£45
Edgbaston ~£47
Reddish Vale ~£36
Coxmoor ~£45
Delamere Forest ~£50
Southerness ~50
Harborne ~£50

Lets see some lists of other folks.

Ciao

An update over seven years later.  All these courses make my Happy 100. Man, prices have climbed...even taking in the generous £80 limit.  The list has changed considerably, not just because of price hikes.  Sometimes after more visits I like some courses more than others.  There are more nine hole courses on the list...I am slowly being converted to 9 hole golf.

I have a few courses pegged for a future visit which may crack the list: Royston, Banburgh, Brancepeth, Dunstanburgh, Cleveland, Forfar, Isle of Harris, Fraserburgh, Machrie, Pitreavie, Cruit Island, Mulranny & Dunfanaghy.

Castlerock Bann ~20
Kington ~30
Cavendish ~30
Welshpool ~25
Reigate Heath ~45
Goswick ~55
Sacred 9 ~75
Pennard ~70
Perranporth ~40
Corballis ~30
Southerndown ~55
Cleeve Cloud ~20
Appleby ~25
Minch Old ~20
Reddish Vale ~25
Oxford ~35
Leckford Old ~25
Silloth  ~55
Aberdovey ~60
Beau Desert ~75
Burnham Channel ~25
Sutton Coldfield Winter Card ~55
Northamptonshire Co ~70
Addington ~70
Edgabston ~65
Ballybunion Cashen ~70
Portrush Valley ~50
Westward Ho ~70
Formby Ladies ~60
Harborne ~45
Hockley ~55
St Andrews Eden ~50
West Cornwall ~40
Isle of Purbeck ~55
Seaton Carew ~50
Church Stretton ~30
Coxmoor ~75
Epsom ~30
Stinchcombe Hill ~25
Alnmouth Village ~20
Whittington Heath ~60
Castletown ~65
Prestbury ~70
Machrihanish ~75
Kilspindie ~60
Seacroft ~50
Southerness ~60
Delamere Forest ~75
Painswick ~20
Cumberwell Park Orange 9 ~35
Players Club Stranahan ~25

It would be lovely if folks could continue to add to the lists.

Ciao

[Jeff Schley]

I assume those are local prices?  What do you think the Yankee price would be?

[Mark Pearce]

I assume those are local prices?  What do you think the Yankee price would be?

Not sure what you mean, Jeff?  I don't imagine any of those courses would charge a different rate to an overseas visitor than a local, if that's the answer to the question you are asking.

[Mark Pearce]

I will be interested to see what you make of Dunstanburgh, Bamburgh and Brancepeth, Sean. 

[Jeff Schley]

I assume those are local prices?  What do you think the Yankee price would be?

Not sure what you mean, Jeff?  I don't imagine any of those courses would charge a different rate to an overseas visitor than a local, if that's the answer to the question you are asking.

That is what I meant.  Good to know, as I guess you have to play a premium high end course to get the overseas VIG.

[David_Tepper]

Jeff S. -

The golf clubs in GB&I charge the same daily green fees to visitors regardless of where they are from. It does not matter if you from a country outside of or inside one of the GB&I countries. There may be a few exceptions to this, but my guess is there are very few of them.

DT 

[Thomas Dai]

Be careful with the use of GB&I terminology here.
In GB&I the I’ usually refers to the RoI, ie the Republic, whereas ‘GB’ refers to England, Wales, Scotland and North Ireland although sometimes the latter is referred to as GB&NI!

As to greenfees, my recollection is that in three of the elements of GB (ie E,W and S) all visitors pay the same greenfee (see below though).

However, on the island of Ireland members of any club in the Republic or NI received a discount on a visitor greenfee, which effectively means those from overseas, ie those not a member of club on the island of Ireland, pay a premium.

There is also a slight complication in E and W where if you are a club member in E and W (not sure about in S) you can receive a discount through a scheme known as the County Card. This often, but not always, allows members of E clubs playing in E a discount, although a member of a club in E doesn’t get a discount in W (and vice versa).

Clear as mud!

Atb

[David McIntosh]

Jeff S. -

The golf clubs in GB&I charge the same daily green fees to visitors regardless of where they are from. It does not matter if you from a country outside of or inside one of the GB&I countries. There may be a few exceptions to this, but my guess is there are very few of them.

DT

David,

The only two exceptions I can think of seeing are Kingsbarns and Castle Stuart, which offer a 50% discount for Scottish residents and Scottish Golf members (i.e. a member of a Scottish club) respectively.

Not 100% certain that Kingsbarns still do this as it’s not mentioned on their website (it may never have been) but Castle Stuart clearly states this on their green fees page.

[Ally Mcintosh]

Dai is absolutely correct in his statement that Irish clubs charge less for GUI (Golfing Union of Ireland) members.


The ‘I’ in GB&I refers to the island of Ireland. Great Britain is Scotland, Wales and England.


The otherwise excellent Top100golfcourses website continues to annoy me by dividing out the Republic and Northern Ireland. In golfing terms, it is one, same as in geographical terms and with many other sports.

[Michael Whitaker]

Dai is absolutely correct in his statement that Irish clubs charge less for GUI (Golfing Union of Ireland) members.


The ‘I’ in GB&I refers to the island of Ireland. Great Britain is Scotland, Wales and England.


The otherwise excellent Top100golfcourses website continues to annoy me by dividing out the Republic and Northern Ireland. In golfing terms, it is one, same as in geographical terms and with many other sports.

Except that they each accept different currencies! 🤔

[Ally Mcintosh]

Dai is absolutely correct in his statement that Irish clubs charge less for GUI (Golfing Union of Ireland) members.


The ‘I’ in GB&I refers to the island of Ireland. Great Britain is Scotland, Wales and England.


The otherwise excellent Top100golfcourses website continues to annoy me by dividing out the Republic and Northern Ireland. In golfing terms, it is one, same as in geographical terms and with many other sports.

Except that they each accept different currencies! 🤔

Well there are clearly differences, political and sovereignty chief amongst them.


But in geographical terms, Ireland is the island. And most sports - including golf - are run with one island / no border governing bodies. Football/Soccer is the obvious exception.


In fairness, because Top100golfcourses are all about ranking by flag, they have little choice. Ran did the same in his 147 custodians.

[Mark Chaplin]

I would imagine the Inverness residents discount at Castle Stuart was related to planning permission for the course to be built.


Most English clubs other than the elites are members of the county card scheme where you join your county for an annual fee and can get discounted fees for one visit a year at 100s of clubs.


Only Australia and New Zealand blatantly charge overseas visitors considerably more than locals.


The New and Jubilee at St Andrews are £80 this year.

[Ulrich Mayring]

There's a border going up in Ireland, if the Tories get their way with Brexit. It will be interesting to see how the golfing union of Ireland copes with that - with the men's union sitting in the North and the Ladies in the Republic. But it appears to be even worse for Rugby, where the rules regarding "non-European players" would have to be changed.

Ulrich

[Ally Mcintosh]

There's a border going up in Ireland, if the Tories get their way with Brexit. It will be interesting to see how the golfing union of Ireland copes with that - with the men's union sitting in the North and the Ladies in the Republic. But it appears to be even worse for Rugby, where the rules regarding "non-European players" would have to be changed.

Ulrich

Ulrich,


Europe is different to the EU. Brexit will have no effect on rugby’s “non-European” ruling.


The GUI and ILGU (Irish Ladies Golfing Union) are set to merge as of the beginning of 2021.

[Jon Wiggett]

I would imagine the Inverness residents discount at Castle Stuart was related to planning permission for the course to be built.

No, it was nothing to do with the planning Mark.

[Michael Whitaker]

The New and Jubilee at St Andrews are £80 this year.

Wow! When I first visited St Andrews in 2001 the fee for the Old Course was £85.

[Jon Wiggett]

The New and Jubilee at St Andrews are £80 this year.

Wow! When I first visited St Andrews in 2001 the fee for the Old Course was £85.

Back in 1985 it was £18.

[Mark Chaplin]

Now the Old Course is only £98 cheaper than Kingsbarns.

[Padraig Dooley]

Dai is absolutely correct in his statement that Irish clubs charge less for GUI (Golfing Union of Ireland) members.


The ‘I’ in GB&I refers to the island of Ireland. Great Britain is Scotland, Wales and England.


The otherwise excellent Top100golfcourses website continues to annoy me by dividing out the Republic and Northern Ireland. In golfing terms, it is one, same as in geographical terms and with many other sports.

Some Irish clubs charge less for Golfing Union members, not all.

[Mark Pearce]

There's a border going up in Ireland, if the Tories get their way with Brexit. It will be interesting to see how the golfing union of Ireland copes with that - with the men's union sitting in the North and the Ladies in the Republic. But it appears to be even worse for Rugby, where the rules regarding "non-European players" would have to be changed.

Ulrich

Ulrich,


Europe is different to the EU. Brexit will have no effect on rugby’s “non-European” ruling.


The GUI and ILGU (Irish Ladies Golfing Union) are set to merge as of the beginning of 2021.

Brexit will have an effect on the ability of EU27 players to play for Ulster, though.

[Thomas Dai]

Brexit will have an effect on the ability of EU27 players to play for Ulster, though.

Doesn't the historic area/Province known as 'Ulster' refer to 9 Counties of which 3, Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan are actually part of the Republic of Ireland, whilst the other 6 form part of the UK?
atb