Our Combined Great Britain & Ireland Top 100 Golf Courses List
Last updated 7th May 2025.
First started approximately 10 years ago (when there were just three lists) this is now our 3rd edition of the combined GB&I list.
In total 126 golf courses feature across all four lists in 2025.
As with all rankings it's not designed to be definitive but rather something which allows golfers to see how the recognised best courses fare across the four most respected lists in the industry.
You can also view a Sortable Table of all the courses.
In terms of the numbers, 80 venues are included in all four lists whilst 24 appear in just one. This is no surprise as each publication has slightly different criteria for amassing their respective rankings.
How we calculated it:
For the 80 golf courses included in all lists the calculation is a simple one; the sum of the positions is divided by four to create an average ranking.
However, to establish an average for those courses that are only in one, two or three of the lists we have given each course a nominal rank of 101 if they are not included. The exception to this is the Golf World list where the magazine pleasingly rank to 200th place so we have used their accurate position. This clearly isn't going to be 100% accurate as some "101" courses would inevitably be ranked lower in the respective list but it will hopefully provide a useful guide and doesn't have much impact towards the top end of the table.
(A footnote to the above is that Royal Dublin is not in the Golf World top 200 so we have given it a nominal value of 201 for GW and the same for Royal Worlington & Newmarket which is not included in Golf Monthly's 'next 100' which frustratingly they just list alphabetically.)
Things do get a little bit more complicated still because Golf Monthly has chosen to exclude some private courses from consideration and National Club Golfer were asked not to consider a handful of venues which may or may not have made their list. For these courses we have not given them a nominal ranking but have simply calculated the average rank based on the lists they do feature in. For example, we feel it would be unfair to give Queenwood a nominal value of 101 in the three lists in which it is not included.
After all the computations if any course has the same average score we have given the venue with the highest rank in any given list the higher placement.
Some Thoughts:
Golf Empire founder, Ed Battye, has played the majority of courses on the combined list (123 out of 126) and below you can find links to his golf course reviews. He has also cast his eye over the combined list and provided some personal thoughts on courses that he feels should perhaps be included or at least ranked higher and bravely (foolishly?) stated those he thinks could arguably make way or drop down!
You can read these here.
It should also be noted that Ed was a member of the panel which helped produced the NCG list.
Each list also has a brief summary:
- Golf Monthly
- Golf World
- National Club Golfer
- Top 100 website
Top 100 Combined GB&I List:
