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I'm wondering if our UK members would be kind enough to describe what it's like to be a golfer in the UK. I'm not as interested in stories about great experiences on the UK's many great courses. I've heard such stories, and I've got books with photo's of the rota courses, etc.

What I really want to know is: What's it like for ordinary UK residents playing ordinary UK courses?

Tell us about your course, the people you play with, the usual games you play (and any stakes you play for). What do you like and dislike about your golf experience? Is it hard to get a tee time? Is it easy to walk on as a single? Is it expensive? Are the course conditions good? How's the weather? How long is your golf season? As far as you can tell, how is your golf experience different from golf in the USA or elsewhere?

I know that answers will vary. I'd love to hear them all!

BTW, it's OK for non-UK residents to contribute their stories about ordinary-golfing in the UK. I'm not trying to leave you out. But I do hope to hear from our UK folks.

Well I 've only started playing golf since September but here are my thoughts so far.

We have lots of courses, there are 20+ courses within a 20 mile drive from my home, there are 10 within 10 miles of my home.

So far I have confined my self to the muni in Bath, 9 holes. Most experianced golfers tell me its a difficult course because although it is not long ( longest hole is 380 ) it is very narrow, hilly and wooded. I enjoy the course though.

The main problem I have is that at 35 and not having a handicap I am caught in the gap, not being a young person but also being far younger than most of the members at the local clubs.

Snobery is abig problem as well in the UK, although there are lots of courses a fair amount are out of reach on grounds of cost or members only no visitors.

I am playing now ( well not literraly ) and we brits don't mind the weather that much. Gets muddy though.

Other thoughts,

It can be muddy playing golf in the uk......

The bigest problem is the snoberry. There are those in the UK who believe that you should be good, single digit handicap , before setting foot on the course, even though there is an obvious problem.

A side effect of this though, has been the gradual reduction in membership fees for newer club to say £500 a year. But the Bath club is £2K membership and £2k a year which is a lot !

You do get a varition in courses though flat and wide, hilly and narrow, open, wooded etc.

There are also lots of non snobs, I talked to someone the other day whos best score was 120 and in winter he shot 140, he just loved golf, he though I was good for shooting 110 in my only 18 hole round.

Also I have a driving range with practice facilities only 5 minutes drive from my work, so every lunchtime ......

Well I guess I've only played NORMAL courses so far, although I live close to Walton Heath (Ryder Cup venue) and near enough to Wentworth etc... I might spring for a day at Walton Heath next summer...

Our golf season is pretty much year round - courses have been spending a lot of money upgrading drainage systems and irrigation to ensure play can take place year round. In the south of the UK (ie south of Scotland) snow is relatively rare and that is the one thing that prevent play more than anuthing else. Interestingly, a lot of newer and recently upgraded courses boast of their USGA-spec greens and tees. Because UK weather is rather unpredictable, all serious golfers are well-equipped for most weather conditions.

Much like in the US I guess, it is pretty easy to get a tee time in the midweek, and much tougher at the weekend. A typical green fee for a visitor would be between £15 to £30 (say $25 - $55), although there are a lot of twilight etc deals to be had. This only applies to your run of the mill courses though, anything a bit more exclusive or famous and green fees shoot way up. Walton Heath green fee is £75, Wentworth at least £150.

A lot of private courses (most clubs are private, owned by the members for the members) only operate tee bookings on competition days, or just at weekends. Members always have priority on bookings, usually getting a long advance period.

What are the people like? The usual cross-section of society - plumbers, accountants, loads of taxi drivers (London taxi drivers can rake it in!), tall, short, fat, thin, easy-going, racist, non-racist, everything.

There is IMO a real respect for the traditions of the game - proper attire is a real priority at clubs. Most clubs don't like the use of buggies (carts), and often even pull-carts (trolleys) are banned in winter to protect the course. On the course behaviour is of a decent standard, except at the cheapest public courses.

In general we play in three-balls (many refer to four-ball play as an "American thing") - personally I prefer this for pace, although I am more than happy to play as four or two. Clubs run a nice variety of competitions - usually at least two medal (strokeplay) competitions and two Stableford competitions a month, often more. There will also be winter and summer individual and pairs matchplay competitions, along with the occasional greensomes, three club, and novelty competitions (my club has a night golf game, and a cross-country event, with 900 yard par 9 holes and stuff like that). There is also a LOT of inter-club competition, these do tend to be stratified so that more exclusive clubs play more exclusive clubs.

Clubs are divided into mens, ladies, and juniors sections - mot clubs have at least some restriction on when ladies and juniors can play, although some newer clubs are eliminating distinctions. My club restricts ladies to after noon on weekends, but Tuesday is ladies day and the tee is closed to men until 1 pm or something.

Course conditions vary immensely. In general, the more you pay the better the conditions. Most, but not all, municipal and public courses are khazis. I've played one that doesn't always bother to fill the holes when the cup is moved! There are notable exceptions to this rule.

Golf clubs are very social - many have excellent bars with nice beers and decent bar food - I've been to some clubs and considered joining just because the bar is so good. Usually you only need to play a course a few times and the staff get to know you. Some clubs can be snooty, but there's always another one down the road that may well be friendlier.

More and more players coming in to the game are not joining clubs - so the public course get quite busy. This also means that there is intense competition for members among the private clubs. So if you are going to play every week it is worth your while to join somewhere.

I've never had trouble getting a game - I don't mind playing by myself in any case, but if there is another single hanging around we hook up and by the end of the round you've got another friend.

I wouldn't say golf is a different game to anywhere else in the world. Whenever I've played abroad, unless you play late in the day you have to rent a cart, whereas here you have to ask ahead for one. That's the biggest difference I've noticed. Also, here most new course are still being built for people to play on affordably, instead of monster Pete Dye-type layouts that might one day host a Tour event.

JungleJ has summed it all up far more ellequantly than I could, but he's spot on.

The muni here in Bath is reasonablly good. Although you get people who don't follow etiquette but thats probably the same the world over. Once sat for 15 minutes behind 4 lads looking for a ball and they refused to let us play through.

I would like to join a club but can't make my mind up its basically cost versus facilities versus location....

I live in a town called St Helens near Liverpool in the northwest. About half an hour south of Royal Birkdale.

The main course I play is Sherdley municipal GC. Its ten pounds for a round but if your under 16 you can play for 5 pounds. Me and my friends are 18 but we use our old high school UCAS cards to blag our way in for a fiver. Little tip, if youre going to try this make sure you shave that day. My usual partners are Chris who always wears black and Dave who outhits my driver with his 5 wood. We always play with a relaxed attitude and ribbing and distracting is commonplace.

The course is wide open and only 6000 yards but still surprisingly hard because the greens are so small.

Standing on the first tee is always a nerve wracking experience because you are watched by those queing behind you as well as those putting on the nearby 10th green. However the nerves always subside when the high power business man infront of you tops his fancy new driver 50 yards down the fairway.

This time of year the course is a no go. The winter greens are just shaved areas of fairway with a hole 4 feet wide, oh and no matter what the terrain the putt is always straight. Its easier to play a shot from the light rough than the fairway and you cant wear any decent trousers because the ground is always soggy and the bottom third will be caked in mud.

What do you know, I've been playing in UK conditions for the past month and a half here in Southeastern Pennsylvania!

I`m very lucky in that the company I work for actually owns three very heavily subsidised golf courses. My favourite of which is Leckford near Andover which is about a forty minute drive away. I LIKE the way it has no clubhouse or pro-shop, just a honesty-box for the greenfees and the best thing of all is no-one hardly plays there . It`s a very tough course, one of the longest nine-holers in europe with some daunting bunkers.
My local muni is very good, although slow-play kills the enjoyment so I only go there for a change of scene. Wentworth and Sunningdale are the closest of the elite courses, I think Sunningdale is the better course. It`s where Karen Stupples won the ladies open earlier this year.
My biggest disappointment with American courses (at least the one`s you see on television) is how lame the bunkers are. Modern pro`s are now in some cases actually aiming FOR the greenside bunkers which defeats the object to me. Although I do like the greenside bunker at the 17th at Sawgrass, now that`s one you don`t want to `thin` one from..!

I think there is a slight difference between golf in England and Scotland. My uncle in England feels that it is slightly elitist. There is very little snobbery here in Scotland - golf has always been a game for the masses and there are very good municipal courses. Braids 1 in edinburgh is often listed as one of the top courses in Scotland, for example, and there is always that other municipal course in St Andrews!

Living in Fife, I have a ridiculous number of courses nearby to choose from and often when our club is really busy at weekends we will try out other courses. Green fees for municipals are about 10 pounds full price, for private clubs about 20 pounds.

The only time ladies can't play at our club is Saturday mornings, but the men can't play when we play on Sunday mornings, so it is pretty fair. I know that's not true of all clubs.

I haven't noticed 3 balls being more popular than 4 balls where I'm from. Going on as a single isn't a problem either, but often you'll end up joining in with another group. I love that sociable aspect of golf.
I don't know what it's like in US, but when I played in Portugal it was so busy that we always got paired up with another couple and I really liked that, I love meeting new people on the golf course.

As for the weather - If you like horizontal rain driving into your face and waterlogged greens, then come to Scotland

Finally, an answer to the question: "The Thane of Fife had a wife; where is she now?"

Playing golf on Sunday morning!

lol

In Portugal Golf is still very elitist, higher society, professionals and turists...

Around Cascais, a reasonably elitist beach town close to Lisbon, there are several ranges, and we can play all year, just some rain to put up with, but not that often...

In my club we pay 1300 euros for an year membership, or 60 per weekend game, half of that when invited by another member...

My club and academy:

Golf in UK is the same as USA, there are good public courses , good private clubs, lousy public courses and private clubs full of elitist idiots. We tend to play all year round because the lack of snow in the Southern half of the country.

The biggest change has been in the last fifteen years. In the late eighties, a review of golf in UK decided we needed 750 courses to cope with the demand. In those days it was common to wait three or more years to join a club. Many had closed waiting lists. If you moved area you had no chance of finding a club unless you had a low single figure handicap. The change in fortunes in the Ryder Cup combined with the run of UK wins in the US Masters saw a huge change in business attitude. Suddenly people bought farmland and created new courses with people queing to join.1000 courses were built, with many being over geared and insolvencies became common. Now it is easy to find membership and prices have dropped.Some elite clubs still have long waiting lists ,but you can find good golf easily. The elitist male white old farts no longer dominate .

At my club, Mentmore, we are equal opportunity, with a black ladies captain, no restrictions on junior or lady tee times, all are welcome. We have two courses over 6800 yards long and subscriptions are c. $2000 per annum.Out of 1000 members , we have a cross section of good guys and bad guys as you would expect anywhere.

We tend to use buggies far less , but electric push carts more - especially those of us over forty with back problems.

I've played in Florida and California and enjoyed a great book called ' The Dewsweepers'. From that , I can see we are no different........except when the Ryder Cup comes round.....

Thats a good overview

Great posts, folks; thank you! As I thought, many similarities to golf in the US, but some interesting differences, too. Too much good stuff for me to respond to, but I did want to say something, so...

simonk: I'd like the muni in Bath that you play. I'm a short hitter, so if the longest hole is 380 (yards, I assume), that would be fine with me. Also, a tight course will teach you accuracy (as you know, I'm sure!), which is always a good thing. On a vacation to London, my wife and I took a bus tour to Bath and Stonehenge. Lovely part of England you live in.

JungleJ: What an informative post! I was especially glad to hear about respect for the game. I don't know what others may think, but golf at its best and (shameless plug) Golf Rewind, too is a haven for civility in an increasingly uncivil world. JMO. Your comment on the popularity of three-ball games was interesting, too. On my first vacation to London (have been to UK only twice, London both times), a bus took us by a golf course. A threesome was walking down the fairway. I thought, "Look at that; they couldn't find a fourth!" And, like simonk, you pointed out how well the Brits are prepared for less-than-ideal conditions. I sometimes think that we Yanks want things perfect: perfect courses, perfect weather, etc. I sense that the Brits may be better at accepting conditions as they are. I know that's a sweeping generalization. At least I know I don't like playing in wet conditions, so maybe I'm projecting my own bias on my fellow Americans.

TyeDye: With those small greens, it sounds as if you get to practice your chipping skills a lot. Nothing wrong with that! So, you're 18, ribbing your friends as you play golf on a wide-open course... cherish these days, young man. You're "free as a bird," as John Lennon sang. I think of him every year at this time, and others.

v-man: You crack me up.