How did we come to the new NCG Top 100s: England Value list?

FacebookXInstagramYouTubePodcast0 comments

Welcome to our assessment of the courses that combine quality with green fees that are below market rates, but how did we get here?

Seacroft Golf Club England Value list 2025

The new and updated NCG Top 100s: England Value list is out, showing off the best of the best of the cheapest golf courses in the country.

The regular NCG Top 100s lists – the likes of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland – are the best courses that there are in the country.

The England Value list compiles the best courses that offer the best rates. You might not find Open Championship venues here, but you will find some top notch venues, both around the coast, and in the heart of England.

CHECK OUT – NCG Top 100s: England Value list

Top 100s England panel
Silloth on Solway – a staple of an England Value list for many years

How do we calculate the England Value list?

What is the Value list? 

Our Value lists only consider courses that are in our Top 100s shortlists. Whatever your stance on the green fees being charged, we can all agree that every course that features in this list is exceptionally good. 

How do you calculate it? 

We take the position a course occupies in our latest England list, then add to it their least expensive Summer 2025 green fee. We are happy to count a midweek rate, and even one only available in the afternoon.

We do not include twilight rates. We do not include shoulder season rates. It must be available to the golfing public. We are not interested in any kind of package deal or group discount.

And the price must be a rack rate that is readily offered by the club, either on their website or on application.  

Can any green fee in excess of, say, £100 offer great value? 

Yes, we believe it can. The price may or may not be appealing or affordable to you, but all the course on our list stand out as offering value due to the combination of the quality of the golf and the price being charged to visitors. 

Kington
Kington offers the cheapest green fee we can find in the NCG Top 100s: England shortlist

What is the point of a Value list? 

Advertisement

Our regular lists take no notice of green fees. We simply try to evaluate the courses. We take the view that it is not the fault of the course that somebody has put an arbitrary value on it. The course isn’t better or worse because of the green fee.

In a Value list, by contrast, we want to reward top 100-level courses that are out-performing the market. We love the idea that there are courses in our lists that can be enjoyed by lots of golfers and not just the ones with the deepest pockets. 

What are the key learnings? 

There are several regions where it is possible to enjoy a great golf trip without the green fees reaching unmanageable levels.

They include the North East, the south west and Cumbria. It is fair to say that you might have to work that little bit harder to get yourself in position to play these courses – but we reckon you will be glad you made the effort. 

NOW READ – NCG Top 100s: England Value list

Now have your say

What do you make of the new and updated NCG Top 100s: England Value list? How many have you played, and how many will you try and play this year? Let us know with a post on X, formerly Twitter!

About the author

Matt Coles
Matt Coles

Mention a European country, and Matt will tell you which resorts make the National Club Golfer Top 100s: European Resorts list. He might even throw in who designed the golf course and how many rooms the hotel has got at each one…

Matt got into the game of golf from a young age, following his old man to the local golf club. He fell for the sport, and now can’t seem to go a day without thinking about how to improve his game (Thanks Dad!). Matt has been a member of Howley Hall GC in Leeds since 2020, and is just about managing to maintain a single-figure handicap. He likes to remind people that he once broke 75, but won’t tell people that it was on a shortened course during the winter.

He moved to Leeds after graduating from the University of Central Lancashire with a First Class Honours degree in Sports Journalism. Matt joined NCG after almost five years travelling the world with the Professional Squash Association, working on events in all four corners of the globe.

Matt currently plays a Cobra King LTDx driver and RadSpeed 3-wood. TaylorMade monopolise the rest of his bag, with a SIM UDI, M5 irons and both Milled Grind and HI-TOE wedges, along with a Monza Redline putter. He uses a Vice Pro Plus golf ball, because he’s a bit different…

Away from golf, Matt is a Manchester United fan, and a keen runner, having ran the Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon (his first and possibly last), in May 2023.

Comments (0)

Leave a Comment

No comments yet. Be the first to comment!