The 10 Best Golf Courses in Kent

If you want a golf trip that seems to have its own micro climate, then try Kent. 

With three courses that have held The Open, the county boasts perhaps the greatest concentration of world-class courses of any region in the UK, with big hitters that are well known to all of us.

While the county known as the Garden of England has a strong variety of different course types, it is of course best known for the swathe of high-quality coastal links courses that flank its eastern coast.

There are something like 100 courses in Kent and, away from, there is plenty of value to be had throughout the county. You'll generally pay a bit of a premium by virtue of being in England's wealthier south but, with some shopping around and some friends in high places, you could have one of the greatest golf trips imaginable. 

With that in mind, these are the courses you should be checking out.

Royal St George’s

Location: Sandwich, east Kent

Green fees (weekday): £215-£400

In Royal St George's, aka Sandwich, we probably have the best course in England. Here we have a course that Golf Digest ranks as the 20th best course on the planet and to go with its quirks and vast bunkers, it boasts a list of surprise winners, with Bill Rogers and Ben Curtis joining the likes of Harry Vardon, Walter Hagen, Bobby Locke, Sandy Lyle and Greg Norman.

Many consider Sandwich to be England's very best course, ahead of both Sunningdales and anything that the classic North West links  have to offer.

It has hosted 15 Opens – only St Andrews, Prestwick and Muirfield have staged it more – and it was the first to take The Open outside Scotland.

St George's is certainly different, more quirky than other Open venues, and you will get as much variety here as you would anywhere. The greens are exceptional, with the option to tuck pins away into some incredible spots, and it won't always be clear where the hole is heading. This is evident from the very shot of the day and it takes a bit of getting to know but it will be worth the exercise.

The par-5 14th, Suez Canal, which runs along the perimeter of the course is a stand-out test, as is the brilliant short 6th. Expect blind tee shots, St George's flags, some strange stances and lies and one of greatest tests on the planet.

Visit Royal St George's

Royal Cinque Ports

Location: Deal, east Kent

Green fees (weekday): £150-£285

Approximately three miles from St George's, Royal Cinque Ports is another English top-10 course and one that still maybe goes under the radar in terms of quite how special it is.

Royal Cinque Ports is similarly sensational, less quirky but a course well worthy of Open Final Qualifying and an absolute must if you're travelling to Kent's east coast. 

Which is a ridiculous thing to say about a course that held two Opens (1909 and 1920) and would have staged a third but for its defences against the sea – JH Taylor and George Duncan were the two champions here.

Get Deal on a good day and it's fantastic day's golf. Get it on a gusty day and it's still something brilliant but it will certainly test your skills. For the last seven holes you generally head back into the teeth of the wind and, while the holes, and spectacularly good, they are also fairly brutish.

Deal is now a host to Final Qualifying, along with West Lancs, Burnham & Berrow and Dundonald, which gives you some idea of how strong it and there's a good argument to suggest that it's the best of the quartet.

An all-round high-quality links which is worthy of a place in the best 100 courses in the world.

Visit Royal Cinque Ports

Prince’s Golf Club

Location: Sandwich, east Kent

Green fees (weekday): £95-£175

Just across the way from Cinque Ports is Prince's, which is back on a huge upward curve and will host the 2030 Walker Cup: an absolute stamp of approval when it comes to quality courses.

Another Kent links classic which borders Royal St George's at the far end of the Dunes and Shore, Prince's consists of 27 spellbinding holes split into three nines. The Himalayas was historically the weakest, however with Mackenzie & Ebert working their magic here in recent years, it's now more down to personal choice.

For me, I would play the Shore first of all and then probably the Himalayas, though all three have their huge merits. The former probably has the best holes and the sight of Sandwich's 14th behind the 6th green adds nicely to your day.

And another to have held The Open, in 1932 when Gene Sarazen debuted his sand iron. Interestingly, fellow Open winners Gary Player and Phil Mickelson are honorary members here.

On top of the 27 holes the lodges make this a great spot for a few days away and it's easily located by train from the capital.

Visit Prince's Golf Club

Littlestone Golf Club

Location: New Romney, south Kent

Green fees (weekday): £90-£160

Kent's top four courses easily pick themselves, and Littlestone sits well inside England's Top 100 courses. In fact, it wouldn't be far off the best 50.

This quiet corner of Kent has been touched by some of the great designers; James Braid was responsible for much of the original bunkering and Alister MacKenzie made his suggestions which include 17 and 18. Indeed the final three holes make for an incredible finish with a 4, 3 and a 5 that will end things on a huge high.

It's a slowish start here to ease you in but things get going from the 6th and, while it is mainly flat linksland, dunes and angles also play their part.

Certainly lesser known but of interest to any visiting party is that there is a second 18 here, The Warren, which measures 5,000 yards and can be played for just £30.

Visit Littlestone Golf Club

Knole Park

Location: Sevenoaks, central Kent

Green fees (weekday): £75-£125

Away from the coastal links classic sits Knole Park, which JF Abercromby routed through Kent's only medieval deer park. You can expect fantastic draining soil, generous and undulating fairways, raised greens, half a dozen par 3s and all the better for knowing or playing with a member.

Very highly thought of, James Braid was up against Abercromby in the initial design. Braid chose to lay out the holes in a clockwise direction around the parkland, Abercromby ant-clockwise and they would go with the latter who is known for his work at The Addington, Worplesdon and Coombe Hill.

With a par of 70 there are a host of great and varied par 3s with the 8th touted as one of the most scenic – here the landscape nearby was used by the Beatles to shoot part of their Penny Lane video.

Visit Knole Park

Chart Hills

Location: Biddenden, central Kent

Green fees (weekday): £90-£130

Sir Nick Faldo's first and only design in England, Chart Hills opened in 1993. A grand parkland track land with lots of sand, Chart Hill felt tailor-made for tour stops in the early part of this millennium – indeed the Ladies European Tour visited here several times.

The problem was that the drainage meant that the course struggled for a third of the year. In 2019 it was bought out and is now controlled by the McGuirk family, who also own Prince’s, and it's now back inside England's Top 100 courses.

The fairways are undulating and there is still plenty of sand and water. The 5th, Anaconda, features one of the longest bunkers in Europe and the 17th has an island green though is only a short iron to try and locate it.

More recently a six-hole par-3, dubbed The Loop, was added, while its new luxury Barn sleeps up to eight guests.

Visit Chart Hills

London Golf Club (Heritage and International)

Location: Brands Hatch, northwest Kent

Green fees (weekday): £115 (Summer rates TBA)

Claiming the name despite not technically being in London nor even in the bounds of the M25, the venue commonly known as the London Club boasts a pair of Jack Nicklaus-designed championship courses, with the Heritage being rightly rated ahead of the International. 

The courses have only been around for a little over 30 years and they achieved plenty of attention when the European Open was played over the Heritage in 2008 and 2009 – the Tour also returned here as recently as 2021 for the Cazoo Classic.

The Heritage has the better holes and the short par-4 13th is a stand-out hole and you should be familiar with the 11th which is the hole where Andy Sullivan tried (and succeeded) to make a hole-in-one with the 500 balls in a day challenge.

While the International boasts some very grand and memorable par 3s, where water plays a prominent part, and it begins and ends with a par 5. The set-up here are on a similar grand scale with an excellent practice and food/drink facilities.  

Visit London Golf Club

Wildernesse Golf Club

Location: Sevenoaks, northwest Kent

Green fees (weekday): £100-£150

One of the oldest clubs in the county, dating back as far as 1890, and Wildernesse is also well regarded as being one of the nation's best parkland layouts.

You need to be straight here, with trees lining the fairways, and there are seven par 4s to tackle on the front nine before the back nine begins 3-5-5-3. 

“This is a parkland course well-known for its natural beauty. It has many trees, which makes your long shots feel tighter than they really are. There is relief, however, on the 10th and 14th holes, which are more open. There are several short to medium-length par 4s which may yield birdie opportunities, and three of the par 3s, in still air, are no more than mid-iron shots,” explained Peter Alliss.

Another that sits comfortably inside England's Top 200 courses, Wildernesse is a regular host of Regional Open Qualifying which is always a decent gauge of a course's merit.

Visit Wildernesse Golf Club

North Foreland

Location: Broadstairs, northeast Kent

Green fees (weekday): £40-£80

Tucked away in the far north east of Kent just north of Ramsgate, Herbert Fowler and Tom Simpson laid out the 18 holes that make up North Foreland and, while the order has changed over the years – the tough 9th is still called 'Home' – it still has the feel of something very natural.

You would be hard pressed to find a course that is perched more on top of the Kent coastline. The clifftop setting makes for a dramatic round in places and the short 5th, right next to the white cliffs, is a spectacular short hole at the far end of the course.

Otherwise it's pleasantly bouncy, the greens can be fiddly if you get in the wrong spots and the downhill par-5 16th is probably the pick of the holes coming home and the par-3 18th, something is often hard to pull off, is a great finish.

There is also an 18-hole par-3 course which we didn't have time for but it looks an incredible spot to spend an hour at.

Visit North Foreland

Canterbury Golf Club

Location: Canterbury, north east Kent

Green fees (weekday): £35-£65

Built on land leased from the War Office, Canterbury is one of the lesser-known works of Harry Colt (of Sunningdale and Portrush fame), and a fitting golfing accoutrement to this most historic of cities.

Adam Lawrence, editor of Golf Course Architecture, said this of the signature hole and another course that features inside England's Top 200 layouts: "Hole 12 is the best on the course, and frankly almost made me fall over with surprise when I saw it. The hole plays along a valley, with a ditch all the way up the favoured left side. But it is the terrain that astonishes. Canterbury was truly the most pleasant surprise I have had on a British golf course in a long time."

Canterbury begins and ends with a par 5 and, in between is 6200 yards of undulating and varied terrain, and there is also a TopTracer range on site.

Visit Canterbury Golf Club