The list
The best golf courses in Scotland
79 courses across 15 regions. Not a hundred, because we counted honestly and stopped when we ran out of courses we'd actually send you to.
Every golf magazine in Britain publishes a Top 100, and every one of them has the same problem: the last thirty are filler. Somebody has to get to a round number, so courses appear that nobody at the magazine would drive past two better ones to play.
This is our list instead. It is assembled from the flagship and hidden-gem picks on our eight regional guides, plus the courses that carry enough demand to belong whatever we think. That comes to 79. We have not padded it, and we have not ranked it one to a hundred — we have no honest basis for saying Cruden Bay is Scotland's 14th best course and North Berwick its 15th, so we have grouped them and ordered each group by region.
One hard rule for inclusion: you have to be able to play it. Any course that doesn't publish a visitor green fee is off the list entirely rather than sitting here with an “ask the club” asterisk. Every fee below comes from our course records, so it is the same figure the course page shows and it changes here when that changes.
Worth planning a trip around (37)
The flagship pick for each of our eight regions — the course you'd build the drive, the ferry and the hotel around.
Aberdeenshire
Cruden Bay Golf Club
18 holes · par 70 · links
£110–£220
Aberdeenshire
Murcar Links
18 holes · par 71 · links
£115–£195
Aberdeenshire
Royal Aberdeen (Balgownie Links)
18 holes · par 71 · links
£175–£265
Aberdeenshire
Trump International (MacLeod Course)
18 holes · par 72 · links
£195–£435
Angus
Carnoustie Golf Links (Championship)
18 holes · par 72 · links
£249–£360
Ayrshire
Dundonald Links
18 holes · par 72 · links
£95–£195
Ayrshire
Prestwick Golf Club
18 holes · par 71 · links
£170–£380
Ayrshire
Royal Troon Old Course
18 holes · par 71 · links
£250–£395
Ayrshire
Trump Turnberry (Ailsa)
18 holes · par 71 · links
£425–£1000
Ayrshire
Western Gailes Golf Club
18 holes · par 71 · links
£95–£335
Dumfries & Galloway
Powfoot Golf Club
18 holes · par 71 · links
£40–£80
Dumfries & Galloway
Southerness Golf Club
18 holes · par 69 · links
£75–£95
East Lothian
Dunbar Golf Club
18 holes · par 71 · links
£120–£225
East Lothian
Gullane No. 1
18 holes · par 71 · links
£285–£325
East Lothian
Muirfield (The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers)
18 holes · par 71 · links
£325–£395
East Lothian
North Berwick West Links
18 holes · par 71 · links
£220–£320
Edinburgh
Braid Hills Golf Course
18 holes · par 70 · parkland
£18.50
Edinburgh
Dalmahoy Hotel (East Course)
18 holes · par 73 · parkland
£65–£100
Edinburgh
Mortonhall Golf Club
18 holes · par 71 · parkland
£60–£130
Edinburgh
Royal Burgess Golfing Society
18 holes · par 71 · parkland
£135–£200
Fife
Crail Golfing Society (Balcomie Links)
18 holes · par 69 · links
£70–£170
Fife
Kingsbarns Golf Links
18 holes · par 72 · links
£399–£486
Fife
Lundin Golf Club
18 holes · par 71 · links
£60–£175
Fife
St Andrews Old Course
18 holes · par 72 · links
£340–£355
Glasgow
Cathkin Braes Golf Club
18 holes · par 71 · parkland
£25–£85
Glasgow
East Renfrewshire Golf Club
18 holes · par 70 · heathland
£80
Glasgow
Haggs Castle Golf Club
18 holes · par 71 · parkland
£30–£45
Glasgow
Pollok Golf Club
18 holes · par 71 · parkland
£75–£105
Highlands
Boat of Garten Golf Club
18 holes · par 70 · heathland
£45–£115
Highlands
Brora Golf Club
18 holes · par 70 · links
£80–£180
Highlands
Castle Stuart Golf Links
18 holes · par 72 · links
£285–£385
Highlands
Royal Dornoch Championship Course
18 holes · par 70 · links
£215–£360
Highlands
The Nairn Golf Club
18 holes · par 72 · links
£100–£350
Moray
Moray Golf Club (Old Course), Lossiemouth
18 holes · par 71 · links
£80–£150
Scottish Borders
Melrose Golf Club
9 holes · par 35 · parkland
£10–£20
Scottish Borders
Peebles Golf Club
18 holes · par 70 · parkland
£50–£60
Scottish Borders
The Roxburghe
18 holes · par 72 · parkland
£70–£140
The ones the locals rate (32)
Regional hidden-gem picks. Cheaper, quieter, and on more than one of these you'll have the place to yourself on a Tuesday.
Aberdeenshire
Fraserburgh Golf Club
18 holes · par 70 · links
£150
Aberdeenshire
Royal Tarlair Golf Club
18 holes · par 71 · links
£20–£30
Aberdeenshire
Stonehaven Golf Club
18 holes · par 66 · links
£22–£85
Ayrshire
Ayr Belleisle
18 holes · par 71 · parkland
£30–£45
Ayrshire
Irvine Golf Club (Bogside)
18 holes · par 71 · links
£90–£125
Ayrshire
Prestwick St Nicholas
18 holes · par 69 · links
£90–£130
Ayrshire
Troon Municipal (Darley Course)
18 holes · par 71 · links
£20–£28
East Lothian
Craigielaw Golf Club
18 holes · par 71 · links
£60–£160
East Lothian
Kilspindie Golf Club
18 holes · par 69 · links
£90–£170
East Lothian
Longniddry Golf Club
18 holes · par 68 · links
£70–£140
East Lothian
The Glen Golf Club, North Berwick
18 holes · par 70 · links
£60–£135
Edinburgh
Baberton Golf Club
18 holes · par 69 · parkland
£75
Edinburgh
Duddingston Golf Club
18 holes · par 71 · parkland
£40–£120
Edinburgh
Ratho Park Golf Club
18 holes · par 69 · parkland
£40–£65
Edinburgh
Silverknowes Golf Course
18 holes · par 71 · parkland
£17.50
Fife
Anstruther Golf Club
9 holes · par 32 · links
£35–£50
Fife
Leven Links
18 holes · par 71 · links
£85–£135
Fife
Scotscraig Golf Club
18 holes · par 71 · heathland
£75–£125
Fife
St Andrews Eden Course
18 holes · par 70 · links
£28–£80
Glasgow
Cardross Golf Club
18 holes · par 71 · parkland
£60–£70
Glasgow
Cowglen Golf Club
18 holes · par 71 · parkland
£65–£99
Glasgow
Littlehill Golf Club
18 holes · par 70 · parkland
£10.50–£16.50
Highlands
Fortrose & Rosemarkie Golf Club
18 holes · par 71 · links
£35–£125
Highlands
Golspie Golf Club
18 holes · par 70 · links
£50–£120
Highlands
Grantown-on-Spey Golf Club
18 holes · par 70 · heathland
£39–£49
Highlands
Tain Golf Club
18 holes · par 70 · links
£35–£95
Lanarkshire
Strathaven Golf Club
18 holes · par 71 · parkland
£50–£80
Moray
Cullen Golf Club
18 holes · par 63 · links
£20–£60
Scottish Borders
Eyemouth Golf Club
18 holes · par 67 · links
£50–£57.50
Scottish Borders
Hawick Golf Club
18 holes · par 68 · parkland
£35–£50
Scottish Borders
Jedburgh Golf Club
9 holes · par 31 · parkland
£40–£50
Scottish Borders
Kelso Golf Club
18 holes · par 70 · parkland
£25–£40
The famous ones you'd expect (10)
Courses carrying enough demand to earn their place whether or not a regional editor short-listed them.
Argyll
Machrihanish Dunes
18 holes · par 72 · links
£75–£125
Argyll
Machrihanish Golf Club
18 holes · par 70 · links
£95–£125
East Lothian
Archerfield Fidra Links
18 holes · par 72 · links
£135–£185
Fife
Elie (Golf House Club)
18 holes · par 70 · links
£60–£200
Fife
St Andrews Castle Course
18 holes · par 71 · links
£120–£180
Fife
St Andrews Jubilee Course
18 holes · par 72 · links
£75–£150
Fife
St Andrews New Course
18 holes · par 71 · links
£45–£155
Perthshire
Gleneagles King's Course
18 holes · par 71 · highland
£260–£405
Perthshire
Gleneagles PGA Centenary
18 holes · par 72 · highland
£260–£405
Scottish Islands
The Machrie
18 holes · par 72 · links
£74–£185
Questions we get asked
- Why isn't this a top 100?
- Because the honest list comes out shorter than 100, and padding it to a round number would mean adding courses we didn't pick. Every course here earned its place by being a regional flagship, a local favourite, or a course carrying enough demand to speak for itself.
- How is the list ordered?
- By region, then alphabetically, within three stated groups. It is deliberately not ranked 1 to 100 — we have no basis for saying one great links is the 14th best in Scotland and the next is the 15th, so we don't pretend to.
- Are the green fees current?
- Every fee on this page renders from our canonical course records rather than being typed into the page, so it changes here the moment it changes there. Individual course pages show when that fee was last checked against the club's own published rates.
- Can visitors play all of these?
- Yes — that is the entry requirement. Any course that does not publish a visitor green fee is left off this list entirely rather than included with an 'ask the club' note, because you cannot plan a trip around a course you might not get on.
Looking for something narrower? The regional guides go deeper on each area, James Braid and Old Tom Morris have hubs of their own, and the Honesty Box Trail collects the courses where you pay into a tin on a post.