How to start playing golf in the UK, and what it really costs

Starting golf in Britain costs less than most people assume, and the expensive route is rarely the fast one. You do not need to join a club to get a handicap, and you do not need a full set to play your first round. Here is the order that works, and what each step actually costs.

The three things you actually need

A way to hit balls regularly, somewhere to play, and, once you want to enter competitions or book certain courses, an official Handicap Index. That last one used to mean club membership. It no longer does.

England Golf is the only authorised handicapping body for the World Handicap System in England, and its iGolf scheme is the route for golfers who are not club members. A subscription costs £47 a year and includes an official Handicap Index, the MyEG app for submitting scores, and public liability insurance provided by Howden. Once you have submitted enough scores, the Index appears.

The first three months

Spend them on the range and the short game area, not on the course. Six lessons with a PGA professional, spaced over three months, will do more than sixty solo range sessions: the point is not to hit further, it is to hit the middle of the face repeatedly.

Between lessons, practise what the lesson covered. One thing at a time. A bucket of balls hit with no plan is a bucket of balls wasted.

Where to play at the start

Municipal and pay-and-play courses are Britain’s great advantage over most of Europe: no membership, no joining fee, book online and turn up. Par-3 and nine-hole courses are better still for a first round, because you are not holding up a four-ball behind you while you learn where to stand.

Twilight rates, usually from late afternoon, are the cheapest way to see a proper course. On many courses they are half the daytime green fee for a round you will comfortably finish in summer.

What the first year costs

Item	Typical outlay
iGolf subscription, official Handicap Index	£47 a year
PGA lessons, six sessions	varies by teacher and region, ask locally
Half set of second-hand clubs	pre-owned market, see below
Green fees	municipal and twilight rates first

Green fees and lesson rates vary enormously between regions and even between neighbouring courses. Ring the club and ask rather than trusting a figure in an article, this one included.

Clubs: buy fewer, buy used

One practical note on distance: British courses are measured in yards, and a beginner who carries a 7-iron 120 yards is playing a different course from the card’s championship yardage. Play the forward tees until the numbers match your game.

Seven clubs are plenty for a first season: driver or 5-wood, a hybrid, three irons, a wedge and a putter. Fewer clubs means fewer decisions, and fewer decisions is exactly what a beginner needs.

Buy them pre-owned. Golfbidder, based in Chessington in Surrey, carries one of Europe’s largest used ranges with a published grading scale and a straightforward buy, sell and trade-in model. American Golf, which has 94 stores across the UK and Ireland, has partnered with Golfbidder so that clubs can be traded in at any of its stores.

The mistakes that cost a season

Buying a full set before you have a repeatable swing. Practising only with a driver. Playing eighteen holes before you can get round nine without losing six balls. And waiting to be “good enough” to book a tee time, which is the one mistake that stops people playing at all.

Where to start, in practice

• Handicap without a club: iGolf from England Golf, £47 a year, Handicap Index, MyEG app and public liability insurance. In Scotland and Wales, check the equivalent schemes with Scottish Golf and Wales Golf.
• Lessons: your nearest range or municipal course will have a PGA professional attached. Ask for a beginner block rather than single lessons.
• Clubs: Golfbidder for pre-owned, American Golf for a free custom fitting session once your swing has settled.

Panxis Golf has no commercial relationship with these retailers and earns nothing from your purchases.