The UK&I Top 100 Rankings: The Cookie Jar’s Ultimate Rank of Ranks

Back by popular demand, we bring you our amalgamation of the UK&I Top 100 rankings! A tool for you to play around with till your heart’s content, a quick reference guide for architect info, individual rankings or even age of the course (visit on laptop browser for full version)!

Much like the global rankings, the UK&I Top 100 lists are a guiding compass for the travelling golfer and a significant driver for golf clubs all over our blessed isles, and inclusion in those lists can (in the minds of the golfer and the clubs marketing committees at least), have a seismic impact on the green fee the course commands. As such it’s no surprise the rankings themselves are a hotly debated topic, so we wanted to combine them all and let you draw your own conclusions. 

Whether you’re planning your next trip, or just wanting to see how many you’ve ticked off it’s a fascinating tool to use. But we also wanted to dig deeper, beneath the surface, to see what we can learn about the best courses of the British Isles by looking more closely at the numbers.

Before we jump into our conclusions, one must first understand how the rankings are comprised, by who, and on what grounds;

The Rankings themselves…

We have selected the four most prominent UK&I rankings, however the criteria for rating the courses varies significantly which gives us important context: 

• Top100GolfCourses.com – Top100GolfCourses.com is a popular website, inviting contributions from members of the website to issue course reviews, however where rankings are concerned, these are conducted by their own expert panel, based on 3 key factors; Quality of design and test (40%), visual appearance and enjoyment (30%) and presentation (30%).
• Golf World – Self-proclaimed as the most authoritative and respected ranking panel, Golf World value overall design as the key component (30%), visuals, scenery and atmosphere, and ‘memorability’ (30%), and give a hefty weighting to playability, consistency and presentation (40%). 
• Golf Monthly – Golf Monthly interestingly precludes any course which is not accessible on a pay for play basis. This is our first important piece of information, as it means courses like Skibo Castle, Loch Lomond and Queenwood cannot be featured. Is it fair to create a list of the best of the British Isles but remove clubs who are consciously private? An experienced and varied panel, Golf Monthly also places a whopping 35% premium on factors ‘off the course’, including scenery and visuals, visitor experience and clubhouse.
• National Club Golfer – The panel for National Club Golfer is small, and select. A group of 8 who use a broad and extremely balanced series of criteria, with a heavier weighting attributed to design (20%), and all other factors like challenge, playability, conditioning and visuals carry the same weighting (10%). NCG is course centric, and is focussed on the 18 holes you’ll play, as opposed to the clubhouse or facilities available off the course. 

The Method.

At its heart, the spreadsheet compiles the respective 1-100 ranking of each course across the four websites: we simply add up the four ranks for each course to generate a combined total, with a lower score reflecting consensus regarding the excellence of the course. 

Compared with the similar exercise we did with the global lists – amazingly – we saw less courses listed in total and more consensus here which is surprising given we looked at 4 rankings as opposed to 3. All four rankings cover 130 courses in total across their respective lists. Amazingly, 79 (60%) courses featured in all 4 lists, with 11 courses featuring in 2 as well as 3 lists, leaving a tail of 29 courses where only one rank featured them, perhaps a ‘wildcard’ pick. Given the breadth and diversity in the British golfing landscape this is certainly a surprising result.

Awarding a fair score for courses in lieu of rankings on each panel was difficult here, so we have awarded a notional score of 105 for a 4th missing ranking, 110 where courses fail to feature in 2 ranks, and 120 in the 3 missing scores for courses ranked by one panel. 

Nevertheless, we concede that this is far from a perfect solution: it’s far too subjective to say whether West Hill (which occupies 73-96th position in all 4 ranks) should be ranked higher than Walton Heath (New); which is ranked 51st by Golf Monthly, featuring in only 2 rankings.  

The table at the bottom will allow you to filter the rankings in different ways, and we’d encourage anyone to play with the spreadsheet and filter it however they choose. Our conclusions are below…

The Findings:

The joint winners are Royal County Down and The Ailsa at Trump Turnberry, however we thought we would start at the bottom this time, focussing on the 29 courses who only feature in one rank. These courses couldn’t be more different, including new kids on the block like ‘The JCB’, modern day tournament courses like Close House (host to 2020 British masters) or the Brabazon course at The Belfry. It also features old classics, like the quirky links of Dunbar, or Abercromby’s masterpiece at The Addington. We even see a 9-holer included; Royal Worlington and Newmarket (how incredibly woke), the James Braid highlands classic – Brora, and even the ultra-exclusive Queenwood! This is the product of having 4 separate rankings each with their own view on what constitutes a great golf course, and perhaps means we end up with safer ‘all-rounders’ that feature further up where panelists are more ‘aligned’ in their thinking. 

One thing we believe is that some of the most memorable courses you will play feature in this part of the rankings. They are different, they split opinion and celebrate the diversity and rich history for which the UK & Ireland’s golfing landscape is renowned. 

Now, speaking of Queenwood, what about the few ultra-exclusive courses that have sprung up in recent decades. Unlike the USA and other parts of the world, golf in the UK & Ireland is very accessible in general and something we should all celebrate. Open championship venues are all open to public visitors, and only a few courses on this list will require you to part with a kidney, or enter a faustian pact to stand on the first tee. That said, there is a market for premium, exclusive golf in the UK&I, and clubs like Queenwood, Ardfin, Skibo Castle and Loch Lomond deliver an experience for the lucky few that is hard to replicate. Can a ranking of the ‘best golf’ seriously exclude the few clubs that are hard to access? When we spoke with David Davis from Top100GolfCourses.com who felt Ardfin could feature in the best 10 courses in the world, yet it is simply ignored by panels like NCG or Golf Monthly? Surely this can’t be right… can it?

Next, what about the history. It’s no secret that the UK&I has a history in the game that precedes most other countries, and as such it won’t shock you to learn that of the 130 courses, 97 were founded or designed prior to WWII. Only 4 of the Top 25 in fact, were built after 1932!

These Golden and pre-Golden age courses are the envy of the golfing world, and the passionate historians (if they had their way) would probably see an even heavier representation in this list. Maybe this is just a romantic notion, present across the golfing world today, and perhaps some other ‘chancers’ like us will come along in 30 years time, where we’ll see post-war masterpiece like The Forest of Arden, Belfry, Close House, Celtic Manor and St Mellion make a bigger play for top spot? Regardless, it’s incredible to think what was achieved by the early great architects without access to heavy machinery, 3D renderings, modern day irrigation, teams of agronomists and consultants who can help perfect the art of laying out a golf course. What we can say for certain though, is that this is perhaps the best evidence of Golf Course Architecture as an art-form, rather than a science, with a creative mind forming a connection with the land and understanding how golfers of all ability will navigate the holes. 

Playing golf in Britain and Ireland, one cannot ignore the impact of Harry Colt. His work was prolific, and he has his fingerprints on 26 of the 130 courses mentioned (our most prominent architect in the list), and when you visit Scotland, you cannot miss the influence of James Braid (who comes in second place with 22)! It’s great to see firms like Clayton DeVries & Pont working with fabulous clubs like The Addington, and New Zealand to restore the principles of Golden Age architects that have faded over time. Perhaps a symptom of having so many historic courses across Britain and Ireland, is that we can, at times, take it for granted? 

Why the need for this work at all? Sadly, the quintessential golf clubs in the UK&I today are run by committee, and the Greens committee’s at most golf clubs rotate frequently, and with that a new series of ‘long-term plans’ are established, often represented by the clubs best golfers and long standing members, rather than people with any expertise in agronomy, or course architecture. This is where we see the ‘have-a-go-heroes’ who have sought to maximise standard scratch and course length, often at the detriment of playability and enjoyment. People like Frank Pont who deliver transformational programmes of work with these clubs give them a new lease of life, and it is a trend we can no doubt expect to see continue in this decade. One can only wonder how many golden age classics lie dormant, ready for a tree removal programme or bunker renovation scheme to help give it the status it deserves.

Digging deeper on the analysis, we looked at the variation of the scores between ranks. To do this, we took the average of all four rank scores and benchmarked it against their ranking position in our Rank of Ranks. Where the difference increases, it represents a growing lack of consensus on its position. This seems to show three categories of golf course. 

1. The average score more closely resembles the ranking position up to about No.45, Royal West Norfolk (Brandcaster). These Top 45 courses feature in all rankings, are all either links or heathland layouts, and all are pre-WWII with the exception of four courses. Observationally, these are also the most frequent courses in the list that appear on the social media golf-pornography and bucket-list checking that is shared throughout the twittersphere, and serves as the lodestar for golfers seeking the very best. 
2. The rankings then polarise somewhat, from 46 with Hillside (insert: ‘best back 9 in golf’ quotation here) all the way down to Elie in Fife, peering out from it’s periscope down at 113th. Perhaps this is a subtle way of telling us these are the second tier of the greatest golf courses in the UK&I, or perhaps they are just a little more quirky and cannot straddle the all-rounder categories required to tick off all four lists (and nor would we want them to)! Half of these featured are only in 3 or less rankings. More memorable? Perhaps…. To be ignored? Certainly not…. 
3. Then there are the courses below 113th, all of which are wildcard picks by one ranking panel only. Golf Monthly has the strongest showing from the list, with 6 appearances here. Perhaps a reminder of their weighting of off-the-course factors like clubhouse and visitor experience, which see courses like The Belfry or Close House make an appearance. Something to consider when you’re enjoying a turkish bath after your round?   

Some other notable mentions in here from the data; Ireland – often overlooked – by golfers looking for a few days away on the shores, boasts the most dramatic dunescapes around, and with 24 courses across Northern and Republic of Ireland, there is a lot to go at. Whilst County Down or Portrush would almost certainly feature on anyones global bucket list, clubs like Carne, the product of Eddie Hackett in 1993 have received global fame, or classics like Lahinch should surely be worthy of a short flight and a few glasses of the black stuff in their own right!

Scotland may be globally renowned, but England tops the list by representation by some margin with nearly half of all courses listed – 60 entries. They are geographically spread, offer enormous diversity, and generally speaking, very good value. One thing that does seem to be poorly represented is parkland golf. The blurred lines between parkland and heathland means it’s hard to say for certain, but of the 130 courses, there are but a small handful of typical ‘parkland’ courses featuring in here, and one must go a long way down the list before you lose sight of the coastal dunes, or the rich purple heather…. But then again why would you want to!

Our final tip: Keep this article in your bookmarks for a quick reference guide, and you never know when you can impress someone on the fly by turning to this in search of insight!

We hope you find this useful!