The best affordable golf courses in England and Scotland
Municipals, pay-and-play, twilight rates and the lesser-known courses at famous venues: where British golf is still cheap.
British golf has a reputation for members-only clubs and joining fees, and it is half deserved. The other half of the country is municipal, pay-and-play and genuinely cheap, and it includes courses that would cost three figures anywhere else. Here is how to find them.
Start with the municipals
Council-run courses are the backbone of accessible golf in Britain. No membership, no joining fee, no letter of introduction: book online, turn up, play. Standards vary from ordinary to very good, and the good ones are frequently better maintained than mid-range private clubs charging four times as much.
They are also where beginners are welcome rather than tolerated, which matters more than the condition of the bunkers when you are learning.
The trick most visitors miss: the other courses at famous venues
St Andrews Links Trust runs seven public-access courses, not one: the Old, the New, the Jubilee, the Eden, the Strathtyrum, the Castle and the nine-hole Balgove. The New and the Jubilee are championship links in their own right. The Strathtyrum, a par-69, and the Balgove, a nine-hole par-30, are aimed squarely at less experienced golfers and cost a fraction of the Old.
The same pattern repeats around Britain: the famous course has neighbours, often under the same management, on the same soil, with the same views and a green fee that does not require a second mortgage.
Twilight, winter and midweek
Three levers cut the price of a round without changing the course.
- Twilight rates, usually from mid or late afternoon, are frequently half the daytime fee. In June and July in Scotland you will finish eighteen holes comfortably after a 5pm tee time.
- Winter rates, when temporary greens and mats appear, drop further still. On sandy links soil the winter course is often close to the summer one.
- Midweek is cheaper and emptier nearly everywhere, and it is the only realistic way onto a busy club course as a visitor.
Nine holes is not a consolation prize
A nine-hole municipal of 2,800 yards asks the same questions of your short game as an eighteen-hole course of 6,500 yards, at a third of the price and half the time.
A nine-hole round after work costs less, takes two hours, and does more for your game than a rushed eighteen. Britain has hundreds of nine-hole courses, many of them old, characterful and under-visited. They are also the easiest place to bring somebody who has never played.
What to check before you book
Does the course require a handicap for visitors? Are there restrictions on weekend mornings? Are buggies available if you need one, and are they allowed at that time of year? A phone call answers all three in two minutes, and course websites frequently do not.
If you are not a club member and the course asks for a Handicap Index, iGolf provides one in England for £47 a year, including the MyEG app and public liability insurance.
Where to look
- St Andrews Links: the seven courses, with the Strathtyrum and Balgove at the accessible end.
- iGolf for an official Handicap Index without club membership.
- Scottish Golf and Wales Golf: club directories, including the municipal and pay-and-play courses that rarely appear in magazine lists.
- Your local council’s website, which lists its courses and their booking systems and is almost never indexed under “golf”.
Green fees change by season, day and time. Confirm the figure with the course when you book.
