Ranked: The 10 best golf courses to play in the UK with clear No.1 pick

The United Kingdom and Northern Ireland is the home of golf. Scotland insists on being the exact home. And St Andrews is the home within the home.

This is where golf was first played and it remains where most of the world’s golfers venture to play the very finest courses.

But which are the best of the best? Let’s find out.

1. Royal County Down

· Founded: 1889
· Location: Northern Ireland
· Type of golf course: Links
· Designer: Old Tom Morris, Harry Vardon, Harry Colt (re-design)
· Par/Yardage: 71 / 7,186
· Famous for: Being magnificent
· Green Fee starts at: £425

There’s absolutely no doubt that Royal County Down is a world class golf course, but it is also boasts one of the greatest locations in the sport. The eerie Mourne Mountains overlook it, a vast beach edges it, the course itself is set among the most rugged dunes imaginable.

The views from the tee boxes at the second and third holes would make any golfer swoon. They are simply outrageous – demanding blows from a high vantage point with those mountains behind, the sand to the right, the dunes in front of you, and the fairways mere ribbons among bunkers and gnarly grass.

Time, and time, and time again you are faced with a shot that makes you weak at the knees with golfing joy, even as the scorecard picks up more shots than students in a bar. One round at Royal County Down should be gifted to anyone who has ever taken golf even remotely seriously.

2. Royal Portrush

· Founded: 1888
· Location: Nothern Ireland
· Type of golf course: Links
· Designer: Harry Colt
· Par/Yardage: 71 / 7,337
· Famous for: the 2019 Open
· Green Fee starts at: £385

Oh, 2019. The Open’s return to Northern Ireland. Rory McIlroy bunting his opening tee shot out of bounds and four putting the 16th green. Then nearly making the cut with a sensational second round. Shane Lowry winning. The Irish fans running across the dunes in pursuit of Lowry. The rain. The wind. The glory.

The championship was a triumph and in 2025 the Claret Jug returns to this wonderful stretch of linksland just a few miles from the Giant’s Causeway and among the many stirring locations for The Game of Thrones. How apt.

The course has a peculiar first hole (ask Rory) but then it sweeps across, between and around a magnificent set of dunes. Every facet of your game is tested. And wait for that 16th hole. It’s a par-3, 236-yards long, across the corner of a vast drop down from the dunes, otherwise known as Calamity Corner. That’s also apt.

3. The Old Course, St Andrews

· Founded: 1552
· Location: Fife
· Type of golf course: Links
· Designer: Old Tom Morris
· Par/Yardage: 72 / 7,305
· Famous for: Being the Home of Golf
· Green Fee starts at: £400

There is nowhere quite like St Andrews. The Old Course is the jewel in the crown and it finishes in the town itself – locals walk around and across the course, university students wander too, and golf tourists are almost permanently in awe.

Old Tom Morris transformed the sport here and echoes of him remain – his statue overlooks the course, his old shop too, his old home is close by, and so is his grave.

The course has the simplest first and final holes but they are also the most intimidating in a funny way. History hangs over every blow. In-between is a timeless test that leaves you giddy and very happy.

4. Royal Dornoch

· Founded: 1877
· Location: Northern Scotland
· Type of golf course: Links
· Designer: Old Tom Morris
· Par/Yardage: 70 / 6,748
· Famous for: Being marvellous
· Green Fee starts at: £175

The Amateur Championship ventured to Royal Dornoch in 1985 but there have been no other major amateur or professional events on the track. It’s too short for that – but it is so deliciously wonderful it doesn’t really matter.

Americans love it there. It holds a fascination for them. The estuary glitters, the gorse is golden, the fairways sweep, the golf is terrific fun.

David Brice of Golf International called it “the king of Scottish links”. Tom Watson said, “It’s the most fun I’ve ever had on a golf course.” It’s not merely good – Royal Dornoch is special.

5. Muirfield

· Founded: 1744
· Location: East Lothian
· Type of golf course: Links
· Designer: Old Tom Morris
· Par/Yardage: 71 / 7,245
· Famous for: 16 Opens
· Green Fee starts at: £365

Muirfield is the home of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers and is located in the golf town of Gullane, about 30 minutes from Edinburgh. It’s unusual because it features two loops, one goes clockwise round the edge of the property, the second is anti-clockwise inside the front nine.

It is known as being the finest Open test, but it does not sit above the Old Course due to the latter’s history. Nick Faldo won two Opens at Muirfield, in 1987 and 1992 – in the first of them he famously parred every hole in the final round.

It’s a superb test. From the tee it is demanding. From the fairway it is demanding. Around the green it is demanding. On the greens it is demanding. But you’ll smile. It will demand that, as well.

6. Carnoustie

· Founded: 1842
· Location: Angus
· Type of golf course: Links
· Designer: Allan Robertson, Old Tom Morris, James Braid (re-design)
· Par/Yardage: 72 / 7,402
· Famous for: Being brutal
· Green Fee starts at: £321

Carnoustie Golf Links has recently been bought by American investors and there is local hope that the unusual set-up in the town will be maintained. The course is separate to the clubs, each of which have access to the three courses of which the Championship is the best.

It’s a brutal layout, sometimes referred to as Car-nasty, and it famously destroyed the hopes of Jean Van de Velde in 1999 – the Frenchman led by three going up the 72nd hole and contrived to lose.

It is the toughest of the three Dunhill Links Championship host venues and when the Open visits the field prepares itself for tears before bedtime (Sergio Garcia cried on his mother’s shoulder). Tough, but also tremendous fun – especially the par-5 sixth, otherwise known as Hogan’s Alley (after the great Ben).

7. Sunningdale (Old)

· Founded: 1900
· Location: Berkshire
· Type of golf course: Heathland
· Designer: Willie Park Jr
· Par/Yardage: 70 / 6,627
· Famous for: Agatha Christie
· Green Fee starts at: £395

Hang on? Famous for Agatha Christie?! Yes – she and her husband were members at the club and, when he fell for another lady member, Christie disappeared into the night prompting a nationwide search.

The course is also famed for many European Tour events in the 1970s and 80s, the club’s famous Foursomes event, and Karen Stupples’ victory in the 2004 Women’s British Open when she opened the final round eagle-albatross. Yes – 5-under-par through two holes!

The Old Course is golfing heaven. It twists and turns through woodland on bouncy turf with craggy bunkers and swift greens. It’s golf as it should be played – and you might see a famous face or two (or three).

8. Trump Turnberry

· Founded: 1906
· Location: Ayshire
· Type of golf course: Links
· Designer: Willie Fernie, Martin Ebert (re-design)
· Par/Yardage: 71 / 7,448
· Famous for: The Duel in the Sun in 1977
· Green Fee starts at: £300

Turnberry’s first Open might possibly have been the greatest of them all: the 1977 championship when Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson went head-to-head over the final 36 holes – a magnificent duel that went right to the final hole before Watson prevailed.

It’s a sensational course and incredibly Watson very nearly won there again in 2009 at the age of 59. He was denied by Stewart Cink but the memory is a great one.

When Donald Trump bought the resort he charged Martin Ebert with improving the course and there is no doubt he has. The holes which cling to the cliffs, and skirt the lighthouse, are as good as any in the world.

9. Ganton

· Founded: 1891
· Location: North Yorkshire
· Type of golf course: Heathland
· Designer: Tom Chisholm
· Par/Yardage: 71 / 7,055
· Famous for: The 1949 Ryder Cup
· Green Fee starts at: £220

Ganton is a course that has been tweaked by the finest architects of golf’s Golden Age – the likes of Harry Vardon, James Braid, JH Taylor, Harry Colt and Alister MacKenzie.

It is an inland course but its standing in the game is revealed by the fact that it is the only non-links course to have hosted the Amateur Championship.

It helps that the heathland essentially plays like a links track. It’s a glorious, sweeping layout with fierce bunkering and thick gorse. Only the finest will shoot a low score here.

10. Royal Lytham & St Annes

· Founded: 1886
· Location: Lancashire coast near Blackpool
· Type of golf course: Links
· Designer: George Lowe, Harry Colt (re-design)
· Par/Yardage: 70 / 7,118
· Famous for: Hosting 11 Opens
· Green Fee starts at: £245

Only the greats tend to win at Royal Lytham: Bobby Jones, Bobby Locke, Peter Thomson, Bob Charles, Tony Jacklin, Gary Player, Seve Ballesteros (twice), Tom Lehman, David Duval and Ernie Els.

And why is that? Because Royal Lytham is one of the fiercest Open tests of them all with a closing stretch of six straight par-4s that zigzag across the property calling on high quality ball-striking in the typically blustery winds.

Bunkers are another key feature. Lots of them. Lots and lots of them, in fact. 167 in all. It is a true links but there is no sight of the sea and recent renovations have tightened the par-5 seventh and turned the good par-5 11th into a sensational one.

The Full List

1. Royal County Down
2. Royal Portrush
3. The Old Course, St Andrews
4. Royal Dornoch
5. Muirfield
6. Carnoustie
7. Sunningdale (Old)
8. Trump Turnberry
9. Ganton
10. Royal Lytham & St Annes

READ MORE: Battle of the links: which is best Royal Portrush or Royal County Down?