I've been tracking green fees at the Top 100 courses in the UK for several years now. Each spring, I analyse the raft of price increases, trying to make sense of what’s happening — and, ideally, spot a few trends.

Every time I publish the findings, I get a wave of responses, usually falling into two broad camps:

"It’s supply and demand, stupid. Stop moaning and count yourself lucky to play these courses. You don’t get to play tennis at Wimbledon."
"These clubs have completely lost sight of the normal golfer and only care about the high-end American market now."

There’s truth in both positions. Hopefully, this piece will shed a bit more light on what’s really going on at UK golf clubs in 2025

THE NUMBERS

The average green fee at a Top 100 course in the UK in 2025 is £237 — up 10.7% on last year.

This is one of the biggest % increase for this group of courses yet.

2021 - £161

2022 - £174

2023 - £200

2024 - £214

2025 - £237

At the top 25 courses the average is now £352, up from £318 last year.

METHODOLOGY

A couple of words on methodology.

Here’s how I pulled the data together:

Course selection: I have used the latest Today’s Golfer/Golf World GB & Ireland Top 200 list. It’s the most comprehensive list and goes deep enough to filter out clubs who don’t accept green fee play and those in the Republic of Ireland and still have a top 100.
Pricing used: Summer weekend green fees where available. If not, I use the weekday rate. This is the rate a typical out-of-town or international visitor would pay at the weekend
Exceptions: Turnberry is a special case. Their peak morning rate is now £1,000 unless you're staying at the hotel. I’ve gone with the afternoon rate, which is available to all.

I know you can get a round for less through a member, play in an open, or have a county card that’s great, but not relevant here. This is about the publicly peak available rack rates.

GREEN FEES ARE OUTPACING INFLATION

This one’s undeniable. With UK inflation currently at 2.8%, green fees at Top 100 courses are rising almost four times faster.

Courses are seeing increases in materials and will also be seeing increases as a result of the National Insurance changes impacting staffing costs.

I have been able to look at 14 sets of accounts from courses included in this list. The average increase in spend on greenkeeping - including materials - was 6.3%. So yes, expenses are going up - but not at the rate of green fee rises

GREEN FEES ARE RISING FASTER THAN MEMBER SUBS

At 26 clubs where I had access to both sets of data, member subscriptions rose by an average of 4.8%. Visitor fees at those 26 clubs? Up 11.8%.

RIDING THE COAT TAILS

Some clubs are clearly banking on proximity to greatness.

Take Castlerock, near Royal Portrush. Their July green fee has jumped from £160 in 2024 to £270 this year - a 69% increase. Their rate for other summer months is £225, up 40%.

Maybe they realise that this is a little, err, punchy, as they’ve added this note to the green fee section of their website:

"Through the winter of 2017/18 the Championship Course - Mussenden Links went through some major reconstruction to make some changes to the course which resulted in 9 holes being changed on the course. The course itself has now had a few years of bedding in and we are delighted with the changes."

That may be true, but it’s still a big ask. Castlerock is currently ranked 115th in the UK & Ireland by Today’s Golfer, and 41st in Ireland by Irish Golfer. At £270 (or even £225), they are pricing themselves far beyond where their ranking might suggest.

But you know what they do have going for them? Proximity to one of the very best courses in the world. And that is worth a lot. If players are travelling to Portrush to play, they’ll often want a second game in the area. Portstewart is a popular option, but Castlerock are clearly keen to grab a slice of the US market as well.

Another that stands out is Nairn - a course I’ve always really liked and one I’ve often recommended. This year they’ve priced themselves at £300 for a round. That’s up from £230 last year. Originally, they set their 2025 price at £270, but a few months later they bumped it up again to hit that £300 mark.

In 2015, the green fee at Nairn was £110 — so it’s almost tripled in a decade.

The Highlands are busier than ever. With so much traffic going through Dornoch and Inverness, and Cabot Highlands creating new interest, Nairn is well placed geographically. But they need to be careful. If American visitors have to choose between playing the new Cabot course and making the trip to Nairn, the pull of the new and shiny might just win out. £300 is a bold ask and I question now if it can be considered value for money any more

DO SOME CLUBS EVEN NEED THE MONEY

A General Manager at a Top 50 course told me recently: "We don’t need the extra income - but if we don’t raise green fees our members will wonder why we’re not keeping up with the other courses around."

So some clubs feel they have to keep up — not for revenue, but optics.

We’re now seeing all kinds of "experience" packaging: drinks on the first tee, luxury gift bags, new branding. Bells and whistles to help justify the green fee.

There’s another worrying trend: unnecessary course upgrades. Some clubs feel compelled to spend on design tweaks to maintain rankings and justify green fees. In my experience on ranking panels, that rarely helps. In fact, it often strips away the character that made the course great to begin with.

Homogenisation is the enemy of discovery. Same architects, same pro shop stock, same clubhouse decor. Uniqueness gets flattened in the pursuit of a perceived prestige.

SHRINKING TEE SHEETS

Another clear trend: clubs are reducing visitor access.

In 2019, 23 of the Top 25 allowed visitor play in the winter. In 2024? Just 7.

Weekend visitor slots are disappearing. Some clubs have slashed weekday hours too. And I’ve already heard of three that plan to eliminate Friday visitor play in 2026.

That’s bad news for local hotels, other courses and restaurants in those areas as visitors will move on or skip them altogether. But the members will be happy. Basically the spectacular rise in green fees means they can take in more revenue from fewer times, freeing up more for member play.

MARKET FORCES CAN GO BOTH WAYS

Yes, it’s textbook supply and demand. But it’s not bulletproof.

Visitor play at the top end is now almost entirely American. The Asian market hasn’t come back fully and the European market has been largely priced out of peak time play.

But what happens if the dollar weakens? It’s sat between £1.20–£1.40 for five years. If it shifts back toward £1.80, UK golf looks a lot more expensive.

Or if US consumer confidence dips - particularly with an uncertain political and economic outlook - some of that core audience could hold off on their ‘once in a lifetime’ trip.

I suspect that the very top end courses will still do well if this happens, the Muirfields and Royal County Downs of the world could sell their tee times many times over, but further down the list some may be vulnerable.

A rising tide lifts all boats, but if the tide goes out at speed some of those may find life gets harder. Many clubs now rely on green fee income to pay operating costs, not just capital improvements as they have traditionally. That’s a precarious position to be in.

A LOOK TO THE FUTURE

Readers of this blog will not be surprised by the trends or what I am showing here, this is a trend which started some years ago. Here are the 10 year increases at a selection of the top courses

The fact is that international visitors want to come to the UK to play our great golf courses. I am bringing over a group of 16 Americans in May on a UK Golf Guy trip and they will enjoy playing 7 of these courses in a week. They will have a great time and marvel at how they get to play courses of such quality and history.

The genie is out of the bottle and it would be naive to think it is going to go back in.

But I think some clubs could manage the situation better. I will use Muirfield as an example of a club which is doing a good job at managing both their own finances and maybe recognising a broader responsibility to the game.

Muirfield has actually increased the number of tee times available in the last few years. They now offer both 36 hole and 18 hole options on the two days a week they are open to visitors.

They also continue to support winter golf. Tee times are available every Tuesday and Thursday throughout the year - in winter 2025/2026 it will be £150 to play. Considering the course is in immaculate condition all year round and there are no winter greens/tees or mats this represents good value.

And finally they have increased the green fees in line with greenkeeping costs over the last few years rather than just put it up to what they think they could. If Muirfield wanted to, they could probably sell out at £1,000 a time.

But they don’t. They seem to understand that there is a balance to be struck.

I know that I sound like a hopeless romantic and I know that market forces will rule the roost in almost all clubs. But it would be great if a few more clubs thought about what they could do for the greater game, for the communities they operate in and for the benefit of golf generally.

But don’t hold your breath, I’ve seen some 2026 green fees already and there are some real doozies there. And on it goes…