The Great Linksland Liberation: Why Budget-Conscious Golfers Are Finally Getting Their Due

After 35 years of watching professional golf evolve—and having walked alongside some of the game’s finest competitors as a caddie—I’ve developed a pretty keen eye for trends that matter. So when I sat down with this piece about affordable linksland courses dotting the British coastline, something struck me hard: we’re witnessing a quiet revolution in access to the game’s most authentic form.

For decades, the narrative around linksland golf has been wrapped in exclusivity. St Andrews. Royal County Down. Turnberry. These names conjure images of bucket-list pilgrimages and five-figure credit card charges. The Open Championship rotates among roughly a dozen elite venues that collectively cost more than a decent car payment just to walk around. It’s created this unfortunate mythology that true links golf is reserved for the wealthy or the exceptionally connected.

That mythology is finally crumbling, and frankly, it’s about time.

The Accessibility Question I’ve Been Waiting to See Answered

In my experience covering tour players who grew up in Scotland and England, I noticed something consistent: most of them cut their teeth on courses that never hosted major championships. They played the local tracks. The hidden gems. The places where green fees stayed reasonable because the course didn’t need a global brand to fill tee sheets.

Yet somewhere along the way, golf media—myself included, if I’m being honest—became obsessed with the rarefied air of championship venues. We chased the majors. We followed the money. We inadvertently reinforced this idea that linksland excellence required a premium price tag.

“In fact, the coast of Scotland, England and Wales is blessed with a variety of standards and prices. There is also the happy medium: courses that are wonderful to play and also kind to the pocket.”

That’s the observation that caught my eye because it’s true in a way the broader golf industry hasn’t adequately communicated. The British Isles aren’t just Muirfield and Royal Birkdale. They’re teeming with legitimate, challenging, beautiful links courses that won’t require you to take out a second mortgage.

Five Courses That Prove the Point

Gullane No. 3 stands out to me as the most compelling argument. Starting at £70 for a weekday round, you’re getting genuine linksland experience in a golf town that genuinely breathes golf. Having covered tournaments in that region, I can tell you the atmosphere around Gullane—where three courses exist on one property—is something special. The isolation, the views across the Firth of Forth, the sense that you’re part of something larger than yourself. You don’t need to play Muirfield next door to feel the pedigree.

Perranporth, down in Cornwall, represents something equally important: linksland outside Scotland. For years, American golfers especially have viewed Scottish links as the only “real” linksland experience. Perranporth—at just £60 to start—challenges that assumption entirely. Dramatic sandhills, sweeping fairways, the kind of imaginative shot-making that defines links golf. It’s the antidote to the notion that you need a Michelin-starred pedigree to experience genuine links golf.

What strikes me most is the pricing architecture across all five recommendations:

• Gullane No. 3: £70 weekday
• Perranporth: £60
• Elie: £60 weekday / £75 weekend
• Newbiggin: £30 (an absolute steal)
• Borth: £43

That’s democracy in golf. That’s access. That’s the game remembering its roots before it became Instagram content and corporate retreats.

Why This Matters More Than You Might Think

Having caddied for Tom Lehman throughout the ’90s, I watched him approach every course with humility, regardless of its pedigree. Tom understood that the course teaches you, not the other way around. A well-designed links track—whether it’s hosting the Open or sitting quietly on the English north coast—has wisdom to impart. The cost of entry shouldn’t determine who gets access to that wisdom.

“Like St Andrews and Gullane the course starts and ends right in the town, the clubhouse is a cracker, and the starter famously has a submarine periscope at his (and your) disposal to check that the first fairway is clear for your first blow.”

That detail about Elie’s starter and his periscope tells you everything about these courses’ charm and character. They’re not trying to be something they’re not. They’re not commodified beyond recognition. They’re still clubs where a starter can have a bit of personality, where the game feels connected to actual human community rather than corporate hospitality suites.

The north-east England coast, particularly around Newbiggin, has historically gotten short shrift from golf writers and travelers. There’s industrial history nearby—acknowledgment of that reality rather than pretension about it. Yet at £30, Newbiggin offers something increasingly rare: a genuine linksland test at a working-person’s price point. That’s not just golf; that’s the sport remembering its democratic roots.

The Bigger Picture

After fifteen Masters tournaments and countless weeks on tour, I’ve watched professional golf become increasingly disconnected from recreational reality. The economics push toward exclusivity. The sponsorships favor marquee names and storied venues. But courses like these five—scratchy, real, beautifully flawed—remind us why we fell in love with this game in the first place.

These aren’t courses trying to impress you with their resume. They’re trying to give you a genuine links experience for £30 to £75. In 2025, that’s not just valuable. It’s radical.