Are green fees at our best courses getting out of hand?

03 November 2023

The cost of playing the best courses in Great Britain & Ireland is on the rise again. But are some golfers starting to draw a line on what they’ll pay? The jury is out…

This article is part of GCMA Insights – topical content for golf industry professionals, discussing the things that matter to those who work in golf clubs.

It’s becoming an annual tradition at the Home of Golf. Green fee prices for the Old Course at St Andrews are increasing yet again.

Next year, golfers will have to shell out £320 for a high season tee time at the game’s most hallowed ground.

It represents a rise of £25 on 2023 tariffs and is the latest in a series of hikes imposed by St Andrews Links Trust over the last few years.

In 2021, the equivalent price was £195. That rose to £270 in 2022 and £295 in 2023.

It means players who want to tee it up between April 15 and October 13 next year at the historic course will have to pay 60 per cent more than they did three years ago.

The move continues the trend of top courses rapidly raising their green fees since the Covid pandemic.

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At the start of this year, National Club Golfer reported that 25 of its Great Britain & Ireland top 50 ranked courses charged £250 or more.

Nine of the top 50 were over £300 in 2023 and the Old Course has now joined that number. But they are far from the only big-hitting outfit to stick up their prices for 2024.

Royal Portrush have upped their green fees from £295 to £340 and Carnoustie and Royal St George’s will both also hit the £300 barrier.

And while, tee times at many of these courses are available at lower rates at other times of the year, the figures begs two questions.

Have greens fees for an unforgettable experience have yet reached a ceiling, and how much club golfers in GB&I will continue to pay?

An informal poll carried out by NCG suggest growing resistance to price hikes with only 22 per cent of respondents saying they had paid either £201 to £300 or £301 or more on a round of golf.

Here’s what some of GB&I’s biggest names will be charging visitors in 2024:

Murfield £340
Turnberry (Ailsa Course) £495 (£595 in Open week)
Royal Birkdale £340 (£370 on Sundays)
Royal St George’s £330
Royal Lytham & St Annes £320 (£380 weekend and Bank Holidays)
Kingsbarns £418

But in the latest GCMA Insights episode of the Golf Club Talk UK podcast, BRS Golf’s Kevin Murray and Karen Moss revealed visitor bookings on Golf Now had passed £11 million in revenue so far this year, with some 737,000 rounds played – a 14 per cent increase on the same period last year.

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With the industry having braced itself for a tough year in the face of the cost of living crisis, Murray said that “people are actually spending more on their visitor golf and more often”.

Moss added the effects of increased mortgage and energy costs may not have been fully felt for a lot of people yet, but said many golfers were also looking for bucket list experiences.

Could that demand be helping to drive up prices?

She said: “The feedback that we get from our golfers is that golf is a priority for them. It’s not just a luxury. It’s something they make room for in their budget, that they account for, so they can continue to do it going forward.

“The feedback we got, when we surveyed people in Q2, is that they wanted to play more high-end courses, more expensive courses.

“They’re not just looking to play golf, they were ‘we need an experience. It has to be bucket lists and it’s got to be the whole nine yards’.”

This article is part of GCMA Insights – topical content for golf industry professionals, discussing the things that matter to those who work in golf clubs.

Get involved in the debate. To join the GCMA, click here, or to organise a call with a member of the GCMA team, just complete this form and we’ll be in touch!

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