The 13 best finishing golf holes in the UK

The final hole of any golf course should leave you wanting more. To go down as a truly great closer, however, there needs to be thrills and a genuine question over a player’s strategic skill.

The great ones will make the most of the setting – the clubhouse may well play a part in that – and it should offer you the chance to end your round on a high or somehow eke out a par at a challenging test.

It's all too often the case in golf that the the 1st and 18th holes sit on the least desirable land on the plot. The opener is simply there get you underway and onto the course while the latter will get you back to the clubhouse. At some courses, however, the very best golf is saved until the round's dying breath.

As such, we've decided to put together a list of the most truly special closing holes in all of British Golf: finishers that make not just the 17 holes played beforehand well worth it, but the entire journey. And of course, there's only one natural place to start.

Got a favourite closing hole you think we should add to this list? Let us know in the comments below.

The best finishing holes in the UK

Tom Morris - The Old Course, St Andrews

Par: 4

Length: 366yds

The 18th at St Andrews isn't just the most iconic closing hole in all of golf – it's the most iconic hole in golf, period. Everything about this famously open par 4, oozes history and romance, from the breathless ritual of stepping over Swilcan Bridge to playing your final approach over the Valley of Sin into a green framed by the R&A Clubhouse. 

Few final holes inspire such an invigorating blend of awe and terror in a golfer, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

18 - Royal Birkdale

Par: 4/5

Length: 473yds

The 18th at Royal Birkdale will play host to the closing shots of next year's Open Championship, and there are few better stages on which to close any major tournament. Meandering its way through the last of Birkdale's distinctive grassy dunes with the club's world-famous art deco clubhouse in sight the whole way, it's the most revered closing Par 5 in British golf by some stretch (although the pros play it as a 4), requiring pinpoint accuracy to navigate both its length and its exceptionally narrow green entrance.

Home - The West Links, North Berwick

Par: 4

Length: 277yds

Bordered on its right hand side by the Pointgarry Road and open to the left, North Berwick’s closer is as spiritually close to the 18th at St Andrews as it's possible to get, but at just 277 yards, is significantly more gettable in terms of length.

The build-up to the 18th on the West Links is like nowhere else, with a set of holes that are so different and so steeped in history. Then you are faced with a tee shot that has to be taken on, can be pulled left but you really should focus on the pin and, with the clubhouse framing the final pin, go for a grandstand finish. 

18 - The Championship Course, Carnoustie

Par: 4

Length: 444yds

'No more difficult finishing hole will be found anywhere.' That's not our words, that's the words of Carnoustie themselves, who seem almost devilishly proud of creating the most challenging closer on The Open rota. It was here, in the depths of the Barry Burn that snakes twice across the fairway to provide an obstacle to both your first and second shots, that Jean Van De Velde's Open hopes evaporated in '96, and countless other great rounds have met their doom here. 

If you nail it, however, there are few more rewarding experiences in golf.

18 - Muirfield

Par: 4

Length: 444yds

Regarded by many as one of the purest links experiences anywhere, Muirfield's 18th closes a truly special course with grace, grandeur and a serious challenge. One of the tightest holes on the course, this agonisingly long par 4 requires pin point accuracy and a tactical approach to hitting into a prevailing crosswind, with sand and fescue a constant threat on both sides as you approach its iconic rising green.

18 - The Old Course, Moray

Par: 4

Length: 414yds

A Highlands golf trip is pretty much as good as it gets and Moray should be included in just about any itinerary. It’s a proper Old Tom Morris creation, playing as a traditional out-and-back links with the piece de resistance coming at the 18th. Here you meet a crumpled fairway, houses looming ominously down the right off the tee, out of bounds left on the approach and a stadium-like elevated green in the middle of it all.

Terrace - Wallasey Golf Club

Par: 4

Length: 430yds

Wallasey is another that finishes in front of the clubhouse and the green here is double the size of what most of us are used to. Here we have an historic church to lone ourselves up on, a welcoming tee shot where you can open your shoulders but a need to get that line right.

Then the approach, in front of a brilliant clubhouse, needs to avoid the front-left bunker. Awaiting you is the real star of the show: a jaw-dropping green complex which, at 800m² is the biggest on the course and double the size of the average green on a parkland course. 

50 yards long, it's been extended and pushed back to form an incredible creation on which the club can produce some great pin locations. You should be putting with your third but it might also be from 70 feet away. 

18 - Hollinwell Golf Club

Hollinwell is a top-50 course in its own right and begins with a brilliant run of varied holes. But, for my money, the best is saved til last with a par 4 that rounds out the scorecard to a very testing 72.

Hollinwell's 18th hits this list for its simple brilliance. Everything just fits in with its surrounds, the staggered bunkers make sense and it’s a genuine two-shotter to follow the previous gentle par 5. Everything faces the clubhouse, there’s room to play it more sensibly but, ideally, you’ll finish on a real high by sending a 200-yard approach up onto the putting surface. 

The first striking part of Hollinwell's 18th is the setting and view. If ever a hole looks like it's been positioned in the perfect spot it's here. The formidable clubhouse, which comes into view as you make your way down the driveway, sits behind the final green which makes for ideal viewing when enjoying a post or pre-round drink.

18 - Moortown Golf Club

Par: 4

Length: 436yds

Things just sit perfectly at Moortown's 18th, a fiendishly tough closing hole which runs 430 yards, is peppered with bunkers and has the watching clubhouse looming large. The skill here is to aim your tee shot far enough left to avoid the fairway bunkers and then you’re faced with a lovely line and shot in which has to be straight. 

You won’t get much help from the land and the front-left bunker sees a lot of traffic. You couldn’t place an 18th green in a better spot in relation to the clubhouse which adds to it all.

18 - Hillside Golf Club

Par: 4

Length: 480yds

The elevated tee on Hillside's 18th gives you your clearest look at the iconic clubhouse of Royal Birkdale just next door, but the second nine at Hillside is every bit as captivating as its neighbour. The 18th is tough yet rewarding closing hole, playing 480 yards at its longest with dangerous grasses that promise a lost ball on either side if you don't get your drive right. 

Two bunkers flank the green as the warm embrace of clubhouse sits just behind, meaning you'll need to be on your game to the very end to post a good score here.

18 - Hankley Common

Par: 4

Length: 460yds

Hankley Common is another Heathland course that provides a grandstand finale, threading its way towards the clubhouse down a tight, tree-lined dogleg fairway framed at first by pristine heath just beyond the teebox. The true obstacle, however, is the cavernous gulley that jealously guards the 18th green and will rightly punish any short approaches – a common occurrence given the hole's 460 yard length.

18 - The Church Course, St Enodoc

Par: 4

Length: 446yds

St Enodoc's closer is a brilliant 18th hole, with rippled fairways setting the scene ahead of an elevated putting surface that sits in front of the clubhouse. As tough as it is picturesque, you'll need to play your way through the gentle undulations of the fairway lest you find yourself either out of bounds on the left or lost in a mire of thick rough on the right, while the clubhouse lies just beyond and to the right of the green, making precision with the short game a must.

18 - Aberdovey

Par: 4

Length: 491yds

Aberdovey is the first that comes to mind when pondering Wales’ best closing holes, rounding out one of the nation's finest links. Measuring in at almost 500 yards from the tips, it's a dauntingly appointed hole, flanked initially on the left by a hazard which gives way just in time for another creek that straddles the rest of the hole on the right. If you manage to stay out of these two, the green is bordered on its left by the clubhouse, making every shot a test of both power and precision.