We created this value top 100 because we’ll never agree on how much is too much to pay for a game of golf. We’ve all got our own answer to that question but what we can agree on is that some courses represent better value than others.
Going further, I think it’s fair to say that you can pay a £25 green fee and not come close to receiving good value, and two or three times that amount and have an experience that more than justifies the outlay.
You may think that, say, £100 is simply too much to pay for any round of golf but a sizeable green fee does not necessarily equate to poor value. In golf as in life, you often get what you pay for.
It is in that spirit that we reveal our new Great Britain’s Value Top 100 Courses list.
Normally when we compile a rankings list we pay precisely no attention to the green fees and concentrate entrely on the golf course rather than the arbitrary price tag put on accessing it.
But here, for the Value Top 100, we considered the 200 courses in our Great Britain and Ireland ranking list and then took into account the green fees they charge.
The results, I hope you agree, make fascinating reading. While accepting that a green fee at a renowned course in the south-east of England is likely to be higher than one in, say, the Scottish Highlands or North Wales or north-east England, this is a rankings list that tells a different story to most others.
I’d like to think that when planning your next trip you might just bear the list in mind as you’ll probably have a budget to adhere to – and stretch as far as possible.
For the discerning golfer, the holy grail is to play great courses without breaking the bank and that’s what we can help you with here.
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As I compiled the Value Top 100, I smiled at just how many of the courses in it are among my personal favourites.
You may yourself have played most – or even all – of the courses in the list, or there may be several you have never previously heard of.
What I can guarantee you is there is nothing approaching even an average course in our list. These are the very best in the Britain, ordered in a way that might just help you to experience a great course you had previously discounted.
And the further you get up the list, the more you are seeing courses that truly combine fantastic golf with a more than reasonable green fee. Enjoy.
- NCG’s Value Top 100: The ranking in full
- NCG’s Value Top 100: Green fees and other information
How we compiled this Value Top 100 list
For the purposes of this Value Top 100 ranking, we considered all the British courses in our list of the best golf courses in the British Isles.
We then established their 2020 green fees – we sought out their openly available rate for a midweek round in high season. We didn’t use twilight deals or off-peak green fees or shoulder rates.
We added this green fee to their ranking in our GB&I list. The lower the total number, the better. We then arranged the courses in ascending order.
So if a course was ranked 50th in GB&I and had a green fee of £100, its score was 150.
If a course was ranked 10th in GB&I and had a green fee of £200, its score was 210.
If a course was ranked 150th in GB&I and had a green fee of £25, its score was 175.
How many on the list have you played? Let me know in the comments below or you can tweet me.
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