Golf In 2021 – Best Golf Courses

Best Golf Courses - The number of golfers hitting fairways across Europe and further afield has risen during the pandemic and many of us are more appreciative the quality and beauty of the courses we play on. Here we run through some of the very best courses we’ve covered this year at home and abroad.

Related: Golf in 2021 - A Review Of The Year

Golf Monthly released the highly respected Top 100 Golf Courses UK and Ireland 2021/22. Once again, we played, reviewed and ranked the top 100 golf courses in the UK and Ireland and there were some interesting movers and shakers.

The stunning links at Royal County Down in Newcastle on the County Down coast climbed to Number 1 on Golf Monthly’s Top 100 Courses in the UK and Ireland list for the first time. RCD is one of the most photographed tracks in the world and recent changes, including new bunkering and new championship tees on the 12th and 16th holes, means it now represents the very pinnacle of golfing quality in these isles.

Dumbarnie Links went straight in to the Top 100 at Number 40, a tremendous addition to the rich golfing opportunities on the Fife coast. And with the opening of a new clubhouse, the offering at Dumbarnie was further enhanced.

With significant recent renovations and improvements to the links, the Shore and Himalayas course at Princes in Kent climbed into the Top 100 at 76. 

Just behind the top-100, we also ran through the next 100 courses in the UK and Ireland.

Including some from the UK and others from all over the world, we went on a tour of 15 bucket list courses you have to play.

We also shortlisted 25 courses everyone can play that will make your friends jealous.

Looking further afield, we considered 10 of the world’s most extreme golf courses.

Turning inland we ran through 45 of the best heathland courses

Staying with those great heathland tracks, Elliott Heath wrote a fabulous love letter to Sunningdale.

In Europe, one of the big new developments on the horizon, scheduled to open next year is Jose Maria Olazabal’s stunning new project at Navarino Hills.

Fergus Bisset and Jeremy Ellwood considered what they would do if they had £250 to spend on green fees…

... And Fergus considered the best 18 hole eclectic course on the Open rota.

As we reach the end of the season and the weather has turned for the worst, we considered the 10 best winter sun breaks on offer right now.