A golf weekend two hours from home
Ayrshire, Kent, Norfolk, Surrey or the Lancashire coast. One round a day, booked direct, Stableford rather than medal.
A golf trip does not have to mean a flight and a resort. A weekend built around two or three courses within a couple of hours of home is cheaper, organised in an evening and, played properly, better golf than a package where nobody is speaking to anybody by Sunday.
Two rounds and a drive, not four rounds and exhaustion
The classic mistake is booking thirty-six holes a day for three days. By the second afternoon nobody is swinging properly. Two rounds a day at most, with a long lunch between them, produces better scores and considerably better company.
Pick a cluster, not a headline course
The best weekends are built around three courses within half an hour of each other rather than one famous name and two hours of motorway. The Ayrshire coast, the Kent and Sussex links, the Norfolk coast, the Surrey heathland belt and the Lancashire coast all offer exactly that.
Book direct, midweek if you can
Green fees fall sharply between Sunday afternoon and Thursday, and the course is empty. If the group can take a Thursday and Friday, the same trip costs a good deal less per head and takes half the time to play. Where you must play a weekend, book the first tee times of the day.
The format decides whether it works
A weekend of medal play among mixed abilities is a weekend of slow, silent golf. Play Stableford, a scramble on the first afternoon and a match on the last morning, with a small prize and a running total. The format matters more to the mood of a golf weekend than the courses do.
What to actually pack
- Two gloves and two pairs of shoes, because one of each will get wet.
- Twice the balls you think you need, and a permanent marker.
- Waterproofs regardless of the forecast. This is Britain.
- Tees and a spare set of spikes, which nobody ever has.
Where to look
Within two hours of most British cities there is a cluster worth a weekend: the Ayrshire links from Troon to Turnberry, the Kent coast around Sandwich and Deal, the Norfolk courses from Hunstanton to Brancaster, the heathland around Surrey and Berkshire, and the Lancashire stretch from Formby to Lytham. Rates vary enormously with season and time of day, and only the club’s own green fee page is reliable.
The weekend that works
- Three courses within half an hour of each other.
- One round a day, two at most, booked direct and early.
- Stableford or match play, never medal.
- Thursday and Friday rather than Saturday and Sunday, if the group can.
The trip people remember is rarely the most expensive one. It is the one where the golf finished before everybody was tired of it.
