Top 100 links courses

[Deleted member 15344]

I changed my view a year or so ago where I always said I'd never pay £100 for a round and at the time the most I ever payed was £55 for Kingsbarns then I realised if I kept that thought I'd never play many top courses unless I got lucky invites.

In Scotland our member guest rates can be silly, West Kilbride for example is under a tenner and it's a £52 course in the summer and Machrihanish also I under £10 with it £85 in the summer, Wallasey is £20 as a guest but £95 in the summer, years ago I'd have had WK in the £25 bracket witj Mach and Wallasey as maybe £50 and £45 but this I recognise is all wrong.

I guess the prices are to reduce the amount of visitors goign to courses

Woburn for example is around £120 a round but with a member is less than half that

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

Sadly I'm stone cold sober Gordon.

Every Google search I do throws up this list,

http://www.nationalclubgolfer.com/c...les/article/britains-top-100-links-80-71.html

which now I look more closely does say 2013, but I cannot find a 2014 list for love nor money. Got a link please?

How Princes is even in the list is even further beyond me….

Sorry Rich, I can't find a link. The list is published in the latest NCG magazine which is dated Jan 2015 and I only picked one up at the club yesterday. Hopefully they will put the list on their website ASAP.

 

[Val]

I can't get my head around the pricing at times my place for example is £65 during the week and £80 on a Saturday morning ,to me thats far to much . But the member guest rate is £18 now it was £15

This is what affects the mindset when looking on pricing elsewhere too Steve, similarly when looking at opens, RA £50 but a summer round in excess of £150

 

[Val]

I guess the prices are to reduce the amount of visitors goign to courses

Woburn for example is around £120 a round but with a member is less than half that

Absolutely and that why Wentworth is where it is now and even at that folk pay it, £300 for 1 round is nuts

 

[Blue in Munich]

Sorry Rich, I can't find a link. The list is published in the latest NCG magazine which is dated Jan 2015 and I only picked one up at the club yesterday. Hopefully they will put the list on their website ASAP.

No worries mate, I automatically thought it was online, hence the confusion. The clue was probably that you didn't post a link in the first place…..

Like the quote edit :thup: To steal a line from Lee Westwood, I'm not sure Princes is in the top 100 links in Kent.

 

[Deleted member 1740]

Castle Stuart
Hillside
Royal Aberdeen
Formby
SandA/Wallasey/west lancs/Nairn - hard to split. On four of the criteria I mentioned some are better than others, but pretty close. They are all similar full price, but I've paid £20 for Sand A twice, £35 max for Wallasey, £50 odd iirc for WL. Nairn has the best setting and greens, Sand A like Wallasey has 12 great holes, WL is a beast and although the best holes on WL aren't as good as the others, I think it has a better average of holes overall.

That was a googly, our Stu.


I inserted 1 or 2 others to show a bit more to judge on,

You should've been a politician with answers like that!!

On the course alone where would you rate nairn with hillside, formby, wallasey, west lancs s&a and say Conwy?

 

[3565]

Woburn was always a course I wanted to play long before the 3rd course was added, but seeing that price, I think I'll take that out of my bucket........

 

[Swingalot]

How Princes is 25 places above Littlestone is even further beyond me….

Dare I say it, but may be something to do with Princes being a bigger spender on adverts for stay and play deals etc in the magazine perhaps?

 

[Liverbirdie]

You should've been a politician with answers like that!!

On the course alone where would you rate nairn with hillside, formby, wallasey, west lancs s&a and say Conwy?

That's a very good question.........

 

[stevek1969]

Ive been fortunate to play some cracking course for basically sweeties, Kingbarns i played for nowt 3 times now as my mates a caddy its £215, which to me is ridiculous , Old Course at St Andrews i was signed on as a guest and it cost £33, Carnoustie was £10 when my dad was alive as he was a member there ,the question is would i pay over £100 for a game nowadays i don't think so. How to do th stop English clubs member guest rate differ from Scottish clubs?. For VFM Donegal has some amazing links courses all about 60 euro and under which would give a lot of so called illustrious courses a good run for there money

 

[Liverbirdie]

You should've been a politician with answers like that!!

On the course alone where would you rate nairn with hillside, formby, wallasey, west lancs s&a and say Conwy?

Hillside
Formby
SandA
West Lancs
Wallasey
Nairn
Conway

 

[richart]

Interesting comparing courses on price. I am trying to book Royal Portrush for £75 last day in April. Play it the next day it is £155. Not sure that price will affect my rating of the course though, just the value for money. £75 is the average price for a round on an average course in Surrey in the summer, so I think I am on to a winner.

I have played a lot of the top UK courses, but nearly all off peak, winter rates, as £100 is about my limit and that would be for an Open course, or somewhere like Sunningdale, St Georges Hill or The Berkshire.

 

[stevek1969]

Just checked Enniscrone there wanting 95 Euro a round next year i think there 2014 price was 60 Euro, ouch

 

[Deleted member 1740]

Hillside
Formby
SandA
West Lancs
Wallasey
Nairn
Conway

I'd have thought Nairn would've been higher reading some of the reviews.

Btw, there's no a in Conwy.

Yours Mr Pedantic!

 

[Junior]

Intersting ratings Pedro.

Note how Formby is over 10 places higher than Hillside in this Top 100...

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

Note how Formby is over 10 places higher than Hillside in this Top 100...

Yes, I spotted that. I've not played Hillside so can't make a direct comparison but every ranking list I've seen rates Hillside above Formby.

 

[Junior]

Yes, I spotted that. I've not played Hillside so can't make a direct comparison but every ranking list I've seen rates Hillside above Formby.

It does, and its a running debate between me and LB as i have always said that 18 holes vs 18 holes Formby is a better course and overall golfing experience.

Hillside is stunning, but i feel the front 9 lets it down a little bit (and im obviously being very critical). Next time your in the area, id recommend Formby ....vould you class it as inks? Is it heathland? Im not sure as its more a combination of both encompassed by majestic pines.

Finally...all those emails i sent to the golfing press have paid of

 

[patricks148]

Phil, there are 100's of courses that are non open qualifiers or tour holding charging that money, in today's terms £110 isn't OTT any more for a round on a quality course.

I think as member guests at any courses we all can be spoiled a bit and when we need to pay full whack we baulk at it.

The National Club Golfer list the OP is talking about did a list of the best courses under £100 Nairn was in the top 5 so to say we charge £110 is incorrect, They might be charging that for next year as the "advertised Rate" but you can get on for £70 after 1pm.

But at the end of the day, the club is a "members" course and the green fee's we get don't subsidize the membership as it does at Royal Dornoch. RD have had a bit of unrest as Members can't get on the course (not if they want to get around in a decent time) at the moment and the times are very visitor friendly, a lot of the members want more members times AM. So will be interesting what happens.

our member guest rate has gone up in the last couple of years it was £10 for a single now its £15.

 

[patricks148]

Unfair, you are making a comparison with other courses that charge 50-100% more to play than Nairn, but saying Nairn is not VFM!!

I'm judging courses on what I paid for them at the time, not what they are now. I paid £100 for RA.

I don';t understand where you get the Nairn jumps on the bandwaggon for CS, especially as Nairn has been there 120 years longer. so If anything CS is there partly due to Nairn. Also Mark Parsenan and the guys that runs the place Stuart are both members of Nairn. One of the Main pulls for visitors is the walker cup was played there, lots of yanks come for that reason and did for th 10 years before CS was built.

When I say "jump on the bandwagon" it has nothing to do with history. It can also mean when a fantastic course is built, that the other courses then start to charge a lot higher, as people don't often play out of the way places in isolation. After Trump built his course, did RA suddenly start to increase their price exponentially, has Cruden bay? If people visit Trumps Aberdeen, apart from Yanks who may fly in for a day, most golfers will also play 2-3 in the same vicinity. I'd think the same for the Inverness courses, so they feed off each other. Nowt to do with history on this occasion.

I agree that RA is a better course but they charge over £50 per round more again not a good comparison.

Again, I paid £100 (full price and literally a week before the walker cup) and comparing it to Nairn at over £100 is in the same bracket in my own comparison.

I rate Western Gailes rather Highly but they charge £135 per round and its at restricted Times, you can do twilight, but like RD its time restricted and £90. Ive a couple of Mates that are members of WG and both rate Nairn Higher than there own club, something i wouldn't agree with myself.

I would definitely rate Prestwick higher than Western gailes. I played 17 holes at WG in around level par, I played Prestwick in around 13 over so not based on performance.

Kingsbarnes has a huge reputation and charge a small fortune, i don't think its anything as good as CS and Charges more.

I think £100 is too much for a round of golf, I wouldn't pay that for RD or CS. does not mean i like either course less.

as you payed under the odds for Nairn why say its not VFM, i would say you got great VFM, i can't see the other courses you mention cutting the green fee's by half so you could play.

I said "We only paid £55 iirc (after a lot of bargaining) and that was a good price,", so I think you are misrepresenting me in saying I didn't get VFM. I did get VFM and even up to £70 would be VFM, but not above. Play Silloth for £40 and then equally judge.


As for the first 6 holes blending into one, i find hard to fathom as 2 of those are par 3' one being in the opposite direction. You would have got a better feel for the course if you played off the whites and not the yellow, its a much better course off the medals and better still off the blue.

I do remember the first par 3, and it was a good hole, although hard to club it iirc. The others around it weren't memorable. Not saying they weren't good (par 5 was) but I cant differentiate them in my minds eye.

You could have easily said why is Prestwick and Hoylake not rated Higher? without making a negative comment about Nairn?

I think most people pick up on what they perceive as a course too highly ranked, compared to what is too low. I also did the same on another thread for Royal St. Davids.

I'm not expecting you to agree with my points, as we all have subjective opinions, but to say I have been unfair, I just cant see. Maybe I've cleared up some mis-understandings.

But you are still comparing the prices you paid some time ago to a price at Nairn you didn't pay? as i keep saying you can get on after 1pm any day for £70 and that price was less 5 years ago.

When you came up and played CS on your own did you pay the full £170?

 

[Liverbirdie]

I'd have thought Nairn would've been higher reading some of the reviews.

Btw, there's no a in Conwy.

Yours Mr Pedantic!

There is if your English, always thought you were a wool.