The Gloucestershire Golf Union celebrated its centenary in 2006, only the eighth county union in the EGU to attain a hundred years of age at that time. The union represents golfers in 39 clubs within the county – though, interestingly, the Gloucestershire website details 19 other clubs that have come and gone down the years.

The county, which comprises parts of the Cotswold Hills, the River Severn valley and the entire Forest of Dean, is one of six counties in the south west of England that form the South Western Counties Golf Association and it has triumphed in 27 of the 80 Inter Counties Team Championships played within the Association. Gary Wolstenholme, six-time Walker Cup player and one of the all-time greats of the English amateur game, was Gloucester county champion for four of the five years between 1992 and 1996 and in two of these years (1994 and 1996) he also won the title of English Champion of Champions.

Female golfers in the county were actually a little quicker than their male counterparts at organising themselves as they founded the Gloucestershire Ladies' County Golf Association in 1903 when a handful of clubs attended an inaugural meeting to establish the governing body. Nowadays, there are 38 clubs affiliated to the association, with club delegates meeting every quarter to help form policies and determine county spending.

Our Gloucestershire Best in County golf course rankings were updated in 2019. Click the link to read the story.