The great links, and how to actually get a tee time

Every golfer wants to play the Old Course, and most go about it the expensive way. The great British and Irish links are more accessible than their reputation suggests, provided you understand how each one lets visitors on. Here is how the tee sheets actually work.

St Andrews: the ballot, and the six other courses

St Andrews Links Trust runs seven public-access courses: the Old, the New, the Jubilee, the Eden, the Strathtyrum, the Castle and the nine-hole Balgove. Six of them can be booked in the normal way. Only one is a lottery.

For the Old Course, roughly half the tee times go through the daily ballot. It is drawn two days before play, except on Fridays, because the Old Course is closed on Sundays. Entries close at 2pm and results are usually out by 4pm. You enter as a group of two, three or four, giving each player’s name, home club and handicap, with a maximum of 36 for men and women alike. Single golfers cannot enter the main ballot.

The practical advice: enter the ballot for every day of your trip, and book the New or the Jubilee as your guaranteed round. Both are genuine championship links, and you will have played St Andrews either way.

Royal Birkdale, Royal Portrush and the championship rota

The Open venues take visitors, but on their terms: limited days, a handicap limit, a letter of introduction from your home club in some cases, and green fees at the top of the British scale. Book months ahead, not weeks, and expect the tee sheet to close entirely in the run-up to a championship.

Royal Birkdale hosts the 154th Open from 12 to 19 July 2026, with practice days from the 12th to the 15th and the championship itself from the 16th to the 19th. Visitor access around that window will be restricted, so plan a Southport trip for another month.

The links that welcome visitors

Away from the rota, a long list of first-class links takes visitors on ordinary terms and charges a fraction of the famous names. East Lothian, the stretch east of Edinburgh, is the densest concentration in the world. Aberdovey, Nefyn and Royal Porthcawl do the same job in Wales. County Down and County Louth do it in Ireland.

The rule of thumb: the more famous the name, the earlier you book and the more paperwork you need. The less famous the name, the better the round-to-price ratio, and often the better the day.

What you need to have ready

A word on length: championship links run to 7,000 yards and more from the back tees, and almost nobody should play them from there. Ask which tees the club recommends for your handicap when you book.

An official Handicap Index, because most links ask for one and some ask for a certificate from your home club or golf association on the day. If you are not a club member, iGolf gives you that Index in England for £47 a year. Then a realistic assessment of your game: many links set a handicap limit, and playing a 7,000-yard links off 28 in a crosswind is nobody’s idea of a good day.

How to plan the trip

Two rounds a day only if you are fit and it is midsummer. Otherwise one round and an afternoon on the practice ground, which is where you will actually learn the bump-and-run that links golf demands.

Book the guaranteed rounds first, then enter ballots and take your chances around them. A trip built entirely on lotteries is a trip that can collapse.

Where to book

• St Andrews Links: tee times for the seven courses and the Old Course ballot.
• The Open: championship venues and dates, useful for avoiding the weeks when access closes.
• iGolf if you need an official Handicap Index before you travel.
• Scottish Golf and Wales Golf for club directories in each country.

Green fees on the famous links change by season and by day. Confirm the figure when you book, not from a table you read somewhere.