Golf in Kent: Courses, Green Fees and Where the Value Is

Golf in Kent is unusually stratified for one county. Within an hour of each other you can pay £14.50 for nine holes at a pay and play on the edge of Dartford or £400 for a summer morning at Royal St George's, and both are legitimate days out. What confuses visitors is that the price has almost nothing to do with distance and everything to do with which of four different kinds of golf you are buying.

This page sorts the county into those four tiers, with the published green fees for each, so you can work out where your round actually sits before you start ringing pro shops.

Tier one: pay and play

These are the courses that will take a booking from anyone, online, without a handicap or an introduction. They are concentrated in the north west of the county, around Dartford, Bromley, Orpington and the Darent valley, because that is where the population is. Lullingstone Park sits in this group, on 500 acres of Kent Downs countryside just off the M25 at Chelsfield.

The pricing pattern is the thing to learn. At Birchwood Park near Dartford, eighteen holes on the main course is £44 for a visitor Monday to Thursday before 3pm, £54 at the weekend, £37 after 3pm midweek and £22 after 5pm. Nine holes is £14.50 midweek and £16.50 Friday to Sunday. That is the same course and the same greens at a third of the price, and it is why the late afternoon tee sheet in summer is the best value golf in the county.

• Book seven days ahead, which is the standard visitor window at most pay and play centres.
• Play the twilight slot from late April to September, when there is enough light after five for a full round.
• Use the nine hole loop if you are learning, playing with children or short of time. Our page on pitch and putt and short game practice covers the shorter options.

Tier two: parkland and downland members' clubs

The bulk of Kent golf sits here: established clubs with a membership, a competition calendar and a visitor rate. Parkland courses run through the Weald and along the Medway, on heavier clay that plays soft in winter, while the downland courses on the chalk of the North Downs drain hard and stay playable when everything else is closed. Lamberhurst, Knole Park, Chart Hills and their neighbours are in this group.

Visitor fees vary too widely to quote a single number, and they change seasonally, but the practical range is roughly £40 to £90 for eighteen holes, with weekends at the top of it and some clubs restricting weekend visitor tee times entirely. Two things are worth checking before you book: whether the club wants a handicap certificate, and whether there is a competition on, because a Saturday medal will take out the whole morning sheet.

If you are new to the game and unsure how a members' club differs from turning up at a public course, our guide to starting out at a pay and play is the easier first step.

Tier three: the Sandwich links

The east Kent coast between Sandwich and Deal holds genuine links land, and it is the reason golfers travel to the county at all. Prince's, at Sandwich, is the accessible one: 27 holes across three nine hole loops, next door to Royal St George's, and open to visitors seven days a week in four-ball format. Its published rates for 2026 are £175 per person midweek and £215 Friday to Sunday in high season, from 1 April to 27 October, falling to £100 midweek and £140 at the weekend in the low season from 28 October to the end of February. Full payment is taken at booking.

The winter number is the interesting one. £100 for a round on a proper links, on ground that drains as well as anything in Britain, is a serious day out for less than a mid-range parkland green fee in July. Links turf plays firm in winter rather than soft, which is the opposite of what happens inland.

Tier four: Royal St George's

Royal St George's at Sandwich is on The Open Championship rota and is the only Open course in south east England, which puts it in a market of its own. Its published visitor green fee for 2026 is £400 from August to September and £215 from October to December. The 2027 schedule is already out: £235 in March, £430 from April to September, and £235 from October to November.

The conditions matter as much as the price. Visitors play on Tuesdays and Wednesdays only. Every player needs a handicap index of 18.4 or better, and it is verified at check-in, not taken on trust. Groups of three or four can book online; singles and pairs go through reception. The dress code is enforced, with jackets, collared shirts, ties and tailored trousers required for men in the clubhouse after 11am, and no hoodies, jeans, trainers or t-shirts on the course. Lunch in the Dining Room is included in the green fee, which softens the number slightly.

A quick price comparison

Rates checked against each club's own published green fee page in September 2026. Everything moves seasonally, so confirm before you travel.

Driving ranges and practice

Kent is well served for ranges, and most of the pay and play centres in the north west of the county run one alongside the course. A bucket of balls before a round is the cheapest shot-saving thing you can do, particularly on a downland course where the first tee is often exposed. Birchwood Park runs a Trackman range; several others have covered bays that stay usable through the winter. Practice matters more than equipment for anyone in their first two seasons, which is the argument we make in our guide to a practice plan for lowering your handicap.

When to play

May and September are the two best months in Kent: the courses are in condition, the light is long enough for an evening round, and the school holiday pressure on tee sheets has gone. July and August bring peak pricing on the coast and the firmest, fastest links conditions of the year.

Winter is genuinely worth planning for rather than avoiding. The links prices halve, chalk downland drains, and the courses that suffer are the heavy clay parkland ones, which is where you meet temporary greens and mats. Our guide to winter golf rules and preferred lies explains what changes when they do.

Playing Lullingstone Park

Lullingstone Park is in the first tier: a public course, in Kent Downs countryside on the edge of the Darent valley, with an eighteen hole Championship course and a nine hole Valley course, and no requirement to be a member or hold a handicap to play. Green fees and booking are on our green fees page, the hole by hole detail is in the course scorecard guide, and if you are bringing children the family golf page covers a first visit. The Lullingstone Park homepage has everything else.

Kent Golf, the county union, keeps the definitive list of affiliated clubs and runs the county competition calendar if you want to go further than a casual round.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a round of golf cost in Kent?

It depends entirely on which tier you play. A pay and play round starts around £14.50 for nine holes and £22 for eighteen after 5pm midweek, rising to the low fifties at a weekend peak time. A well-known parkland or downland club is usually somewhere in the £40 to £90 range. A championship links is a different market: Prince's at Sandwich runs £100 to £215 depending on season and day, and Royal St George's publishes £215 in winter and £400 in high summer.

Can you play golf in Kent without being a member?

Yes, on most courses. Pay and play centres take bookings from anyone, usually up to seven days ahead and online. Private members' clubs vary: some take visitors any day, some restrict you to particular days, and the championship links have the tightest conditions. Royal St George's takes visitors on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and asks for a handicap index of 18.4 or better, verified at check-in.

Where is the cheapest golf in Kent?

Late tee times at pay and play centres. Birchwood Park at Dartford publishes £22 for eighteen holes after 5pm Monday to Thursday and £14.50 for nine holes midweek, against £44 for the same eighteen before 3pm. The pattern holds across the county: the same course can cost half as much at six in the evening as it does at ten in the morning, and a nine hole loop is usually a third of the eighteen hole price.

What is the best golf course in Kent?

By reputation, Royal St George's at Sandwich, which is on The Open rota and the only Open course in south east England. It is also the hardest to get on and the most expensive. If the question is which course gives the best day out for the money, the answer is more likely one of the Sandwich neighbours or a good downland course, where you get genuine links or chalk-country golf without a £400 green fee.

Do you need a handicap to play golf in Kent?

Not at a pay and play course, where nobody will ask. Members' clubs often ask visitors for a handicap certificate or a club membership, and the championship links set a limit: Royal St George's requires an 18.4 handicap index or better and verifies it on the day. If you do not have a handicap yet, start at a pay and play and get one through a club or the England Golf app once you are playing regularly.

When is the cheapest time of year to play golf in Kent?

November to February. Winter rates on the links are dramatic: Prince's drops from £175 midweek in high season to £100, and Royal St George's from £400 to £215. The trade-off is temporary greens, preferred lies and a bare chance of a still day on the coast. Inland parkland courses hold up better in winter than people expect, and the discount is real.

Sources

• Royal St George's: green fees and timetable, for the 2026 and 2027 rates, visitor days and the handicap condition
• Prince's Golf Club: green fees, for the 2026 high and low season rates
• Birchwood Park: green fees, for the pay and play tiers by time of day

Fees checked on 10 September 2026 against each club's own published page. Green fees change seasonally; confirm before booking.