Why Royal St George’s is officially the best golf course in England

Royal St George’s stands proudly and deservedly atop the updated NCG Top 100s: England list for 2025.

The Kent venue has played host to the Open Championship on 15 occasions, most recently in 2021. The course dates back to 1887 and it became the first English venue to play host to the historic championship just seven years later.

RELATED: Check out the new NCG Top 100s: England list

Why does Royal St George’s lead the NCG Top 100s: England list?

Royal St George’s stands as a majestic gem on the Kent coastline, exuding timeless elegance and sporting excellence. Although St George’s features as many as seven blind tee shots – and there is not a single marker post on the course – at most holes driver is an option from the tee with only the occasional bunker threatening. The real challenge comes closer to the greens where a combination of factors will put a great premium on the short game. Fairways often dissolve into rough hillocks, obligatory steep-faced bunkers gather shots from all around while severely sloped gullies tend to gather imprecise approaches.

The irregular shapes, sizes and contours of the greens supply endless fascination. It is hard to imagine better turf. The holes pivot in all conceivable – and indeed several inconceivable – directions. The setting alongside the English Channel is special.

The course plays just as well regardless of the wind direction. It is simultaneously an Open Championship-level test while also being manageable (from the right tees). These are just some of the reasons why Royal St George’s is the best course in England.

READ MORE – NCG Top 100s: Royal St George’s

What do our experts say about Royal St George’s?

Dan Murphy, chairman of the NCG Top 100s Rankings loves Royal St George’s for its quirks.

“It is English, idiosyncratic and plays by a set of rules that you probably don’t understand, unless you are local. I love it for all those things,” Murphy said on The NCG Golf Podcast.

“It is an endlessly fascinating golf course with some of the best green complexes I have ever seen. Some of the places they can put pins are out of this world.

“I just think it is the most special place to play and to me, I think it is way better than anything else in the country and that it is one of the easiest things we do is to name Royal St George’s as the No.1.

“As a golf course, it is better for knowing and they are the best golf courses. I love what it does, I love that it is rumpled and crumpled, I love that it has character. It is hard and bony, it is all about the angles of the wind, the dog-legs and the choices.

“I could run through any number of holes but what I love about them is that they are not quite as they appear – much like Brancaster. The first tee is a very strange place at George’s if you don’t know it and it is not clear where you’re going. You are not sure where the fairway is, you are not sure where the bunkers are and all you know is that it is one of the unbelievably cool St George’s flags in the distance and you are trying to find a way to get to it.

Tom Irwin, Director of NCG and co-host of The NCG Golf Podcast loves how Royal St George’s is “quintessentially English”.

“It is another place that is special from before you arrive. The pickle through Sandwich is, again, quintessentially English,” he said.

“The drive in on that little toll road is like nowhere else in the world. You arrive at the big turning point with the massive St George’s flag and the flags on the golf course are all St George’s flags. It is almost the spiritual home of English golf.

“I don’t think that the golf course is without its flaws. I am not a big fan of the 2nd, I don’t like the reverse camber on the fairway, and I also don’t like the reverse camber on the 5th fairway either. However, that is picking hairs in what is an unbelievably fun layout to play. You think of Open venues as being championship tests and you do find those at Muirfield and Carnoustie, where it is really hard golf.

“I think at Birkdale and St George’s, George’s particularly, the variety of holes is just exceptional. It is quite quirky. You think of the giant bunker on 4, or the stupendously long 3rd, or the blind second shot into the 5th. The 8th is an absolute worldie of a driving hole and that is before you get into the rock-and-roll back nine.

“The par 5 with out of bounds down the right-hand side, and the ridiculous 10th hole which plays basically up a mountain to a green in the sky. You can’t go there and say you have played a championship test and that’s all it was. It is that, but it is souped up with loads of quirk and loads of character. I think it is fundamentally really good!”

Listen to the NCG Golf Podcast in full…

You can play at Royal St George’s on the NCG Top 100s Tour in the 2026 season!

• Book your spot to play at Royal St George’s on the NCG Top 100s Tour on March 10th, 2026 here.
• You can also play at Prince’s and Royal Cinque Ports in our South East Coast Swing – check that out here.

Now have your say

Have you been fortunate enough to play at Royal St George’s? If so, what did you make of it? Would you agree with us that it is the best course in the country? Let us know your thoughts with a post on X, formerly Twitter!