The 12 best 36-hole golf courses in England

The opportunity to play 36 holes of world-class golf is such an enticing one. Two rounds in a day often involves getting in the car and starting all over again, here you can just enjoy a bite to eat, have a pint or something equally refreshing and go again.

Here you get the chance to take in all that the club has to offer; the clubhouse, the history, the locker room, maybe a snooker room and the practice facilities and putting green. You get the feel of the club and a small insight into how it works and, above everything, you get to enjoy two courses.

Starting with our home nation of England, we've put together a ten-stop tour of courses and properties offering 36-hole experiences that are world-class from start to finish – some part of the same club, others separate but adjoining and closely linked. And it's only right to start, of course, with a 36-hole masterpiece that that might just be the UK's best 36-holer from top to bottom.

The best 36 hole golf courses in England

Sunningdale Golf Club

Location: Sunningdale, Surrey

Green fees: £700 for 36 holes

Top of the leaderboard is Sunningdale, which has the two best courses on this list and, according to most, two of the top-10 layouts in the UK. For so many reasons Sunningdale is often pointed to asthe best day’s golf at least in Europe, if not much further afield.

Spread across two incredible courses much of Sunningdale's appeal lies in its quality from the first hole on the Old course to the 18th on the New. If you were to place 100 golfers on Sunningdale and they were to tackle both courses, you'd likely get close to an even split of who enjoyed which the most.

Weaving through old-growth forest and heathland, the Old is more enclosed and the New more of a driving course – however neither approach anywhere near 7,000 yards off the white tees. Both, however, are an exquisite test of heathland golf. The whole Sunningdale experience is like little else anywhere in the world and, if you are lucky enough to get here, then it will be the most memorable days you've ever spent out on the course

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The Berkshire Golf Club

Location: Ascot, Berkshire

Green fees: £365 for 36 holes

If your idea of golfing heaven is to play 36 holes that'll challenge you as much as they entrance, you'll do little better than a day out at The Berkshire.

Here there is enough different between the Red and the Blue to place the two in separate parts of your mind with the former employing a fairly unique mix of half a dozen 5s, 4s and 3s.

Here this can feel a world away from the usual run of back-to-back par 4s, with one and three-shooters popping up everywhere while the Blue enjoys a fantastic finish after a dramatic opening.

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Walton Heath Golf Club

Location: Walton-on-the-Hill, Surrey

Green fees: £400 for 36 holes

Another Surrey sandbelt gem, Walton Heath boasts two incredible courses, both of which are worthy of the visit (and expenditure). Walton Heath offers a very different heathland experience compared to its neighbour at Sunningdale, situated over a sprawling, open plot. Even so, it's no less rewarding. The Old is the star of the show while the New is slightly more playable. Both require a strong all-round game to not spend your day in the heather.

Like the other courses located south-west of London, Walton Heath offers a perfect blend of location and convenience, with the added feeling of having truly escaped the hustle and bustle into somewhere magical.

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Formby & Formby Ladies Golf Club

Location: Formby, Liverpool

Green fees: £380 combined (Formby £270, Formby Ladies £110)

The finest round of golf to be found on Merseyside with the possible exception of Royal Liverpool, Formby and Formby Ladies form an intriguing prospect: separate clubs, both widely open to play, but located on the same plot of land with the first tees of each almost adjacent to one another. The namesake course of the area is one of England's true must-plays, with a front nine that particularly lives long in the memory and three holes before the turn that are off-the-charts good.

Next door lies Formby Ladies, which is very much open to all genders and represents the perfect example of a course that invites you to ignoring the scorecard and focus on what lies ahead. Formby Ladies has just one set of tees and and plays around 1000 yards short of the other courses on this list, but this is one of those rare courses that prove great things often come in small packages. Keep yourself in check, and the ball in play, and you’ll have a lovely time here. .

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Saunton Golf Club

Location: Braunton, Devon

Green fees: £265 for a day pass

There are many undiscovered golfing gems in Devon which far too few golfers have arrived at. Better known, however, is the county's best pair of courses as Saunton.

Bernard Darwin described this as the ‘real thing’ when it comes to links golf, as opposed to St Andrews or Sandwich. It’s another sprawling mass but this time of magical links land with the East a fantastic and often a brute of a course where par 4s and grinding out a score dominate. The West is gentler but perfectly brilliant in its own right.

If you like your golf played between the dunes, then you’ll love it here.

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Rye Golf Club

Location: Rye, East Sussex

Green fees: POA

You'll have a hard time getting on, but if you're lucky enough to grace the turf at Rye Golf Club, you'll be rewarded with an experience that both Bernard Darwin and Donald Steel have named among the finest in the world. Its showpiece Old course, famously the course that kickstarted the design career of a young Harry Colt, is still widely regarded among the UK's top 10, offering a true links experience on the atmospheric east Sussex coastline.

Complementing the Old is the Jubilee—a 12-hole course (yes, we're cheating here a little) that's altered at the club's discretion to play as two loops of nine. Playing off most tees as a Par 69, it's a shorter but no less stern than the Old, and is the perfect digestif to one of England's finest links courses. 

Outside of its sprawling links, perhaps the biggest challenge at Rye Golf Club is actually getting a tee time. Bookings are highly limited if you're not a member, with green fees and bookings available strictly at the secretary's discretion.

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Woodhall Spa

Location: Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire

Green fees: £255 for 36 holes

Famous as the home of the National Golf Centre and England Golf's HQ, Lincolnshire's Woodhall Spa has a lot to live up to as the country's unofficial golfing home. Thankfully, it has two of the country's best heathland courses to challenge all comers. 

The signature Hotchkin course was laid out by Harry Vardon before undergoing alterations from Harry Colt and later Colonel S.V. Hotchkin (who leant the course its name), however more recent work has been done by Tom Doak to bring the course into the 21st century and make the most of its notorious bunkers.

Opened in 1998, the adjoining Bracken course plays as something more of a parkland course, with wider fairways, fairer hazards and more generous greens that make it a perfect test for the developing golfer. Given England Golf's job of training the next generation of elite golfers, it's about as good a proving ground as they come.

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Foxhills Country Club

Location: Chertsey, Surrey

Green fees: From £200 for 36 holes

Set over 400 acres of stunning Surrey Estate, there are few more romantic places to embark on a stay and play than Foxhills, which aside from its vast five-star resort and spa also plays host to two of the county's best parkland tracks. 

The Longcross is Foxhills' crown jewel, having hosted the PGA Cup twice in the last decade, while the Bernard Hunt course, named after the 10-time Ryder Cup star and former Foxhills head pro, is a longer, yet more open test of golf.

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Royal Ashdown Forest

Location: Forest Row, Sussex

Green fees: £180 for 36 holes

Royal Ashdown Forest represents one of English golf's most unique propositions. Strictly protected by law, it falls under the unofficial category of what's known as an entirely natural course. No alterations are allowed to the terrain without official approval, while the course has no bunkers—its only potholes and undulations coming from the existing terrain.

All of this gives both of Royal Ashdown Forest's courses an untouched, magical quality (indeed, Winnie the Pooh Author A.A. Milne and son Christopher Robin were both members here) with plenty of challenges still on offer by way of natural streams, trees, heather and ample gorse if you're not finding the fairways. The Old Course is the showpiece, while the West course is an extension of the old ladies course, featuring a tantalising mix of par 3s and 4s.

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London Golf Club

Location: Sevenoaks, Kent

Green fees: £195 (International course)

Despite the illustrious name, London Golf Club is far from the city's most central course. In fact, it's really more a Kent club than anything else, residing outside the confines of the M25. Still, the London Club it shall remain, and there's no doubt that its 36 holes live up to the task of representing the Capital.

Both of London's Heritage and International courses were designed by the one and only Jack Nicklaus, ambling gracefully through the picturesque Sevenoaks countryside with long grass and water features both prominent. The Heritage is the more memorable of the two, its dramatic tee shots and greenscapes having played host to a pair of European Opens, while the International is a classic downland course, punctuated with steep changes in elevation and water-lined vistas. 

Sadly, at the time of writing, only the latter is available to the public.

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East Sussex National

Location: Uckfield, East Sussex

Green fees: £140 for 36 holes

East Sussex is marketed first and foremost as a resort, leaning more heavily on its stay and spa experiences than the golf itself. Even so, its position on the dramatic East Sussex coastline all but guarantees 36 holes of great golf. Indeed, it was one of the country's more celebrated courses in the '90s and early oughts, playing host to two European Opens in its day.

You could argue that East Sussex National's golfing glory days are behind it, but the 36 holes here still combine to form a unique golfing experience for the region. The East Course is a 7,081 yard stadium layout, designed for dramatic tournament play with plenty of water about. The West is more quiet and considered, forming a picturesque, peaceful parkland track. 

They're also far more affordable to play both individually and together than any other club on this list.

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St Enodoc

Location: Wadebridge, Cornwall

Green fees: From £120 for 36 holes.

The highlight of St Enodoc is undoubtedly the famed Church course, but the Cornish club has 36 holes and 18 of them are among the Top 100 in the world , so there's no doubt it's deserving of its place in this list. A sprawling layout set on Cornwall's rugged Northern Coast, St Enodoc provides arguably the best 18 hole links experience in England, complemented by an 18-hole, 4000 yard short course that's every bit as fun as its bigger brother. 

You can walk on to both for £120 in the winter, as well, making for one of English golf's best value days out.

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