Britain and Ireland represent the spiritual heartland of golf. Nowhere else on earth can a golfer experience such density, diversity and sheer quality of courses within easy reach of one another — from the windswept links of the Outer Hebrides to the Surrey heathland belt, from the Antrim coast to the dunes of County Kerry. Eight new entries join the rankings alongside a series of significant climbers, while the summit remains as stable and formidable as ever.
The GB&I ranking draws on the assessments of a dedicated panel of well-travelled golf enthusiasts who evaluate courses across all five nations under consistent criteria. The result is the most authoritative cross-border ranking of golf in the British Isles — a resource for every golfer planning a links pilgrimage or seeking out a heathland gem closer to home.
The 2026 list spans links masterpieces, heathland classics, parkland gems and modern championship designs, offering something for every golfing traveller regardless of budget, geography or preferred style of play.
Eight courses make their debut in this edition, and Scotland leads the new-entry count with three. England adds four fresh names. Ireland contributes a landmark addition in Royal Portrush Valley, while Wales and the Isle of Man both contribute.
🏅 The Immovable Elite
The entire top 30 holds its position unchanged from 2025, which is due to the alignment with the world ranking. (European Club has been removed after its sale and new development).
Royal County Down (Championship) retains top spot, a position it has occupied since 2006. Harry Colt's masterpiece on the County Down coast remains the benchmark against which all others are measured. St Andrews Links (Old Course) holds second, Muirfield fourth, and Trump Turnberry Ailsa fifth, with Royal Dornoch sixth, completing a top-six that reads like the definitive roll-call of British links golf. Royal Porthcawl (21st) anchors the Welsh presence at the upper end of the table.
Brora Golf Club
Brora's rise signals a renewed appreciation for one of Scotland's most characterful links experiences. James Braid's Sutherland has long been cherished by those who make the pilgrimage north, and the panel's verdict this time around is emphatic.
St Andrews Links (New Course)
Tom Morris's New Course at St Andrews makes a similarly dramatic leap. Laid out on the same Fife linksland, the New Course offers a subtler but no less rewarding examination of links golf, and its rise reflects growing recognition among the panel of its considerable merits.
Pennard
Wales's most dramatic mover, Pennard's climb continues a strong upward trajectory for Welsh golf in this ranking. Set atop dramatic cliffs with views across Three Cliffs Bay, James Braid's coastal design delivers a links experience unlike anything else in the principality.
The Addington Golf Club
The Addington's extraordinary heath-and-heather landscape and inventive routing through woodland have always inspired devotion among connoisseurs of the inland game; the panel now recognises it more prominently within the national context.
Formby Golf Club
Formby's leap into the top 40 is particularly noteworthy. The Merseyside club, now sits among the top tier of English links venues. West Lancashire's rise reinforces the quality of the Lancashire coast corridor, which already features Royal Birkdale, Royal Lytham & St Annes, Hillside, Southport & Ainsdale and Wallasey.
Carne Golf Links (Wild Atlantic Dunes)
Three Irish courses make meaningful advances. Portstewart's Strand Course, County Louth, and Carne Golf Links on the wild Atlantic coast of County Mayo, shaped into the dunes by Eddie Hackett.
Eight courses make their debut in the 2026 GB&I Top 100:
England — 47 Courses
England accounts for nearly half the rankings — a reflection of both the volume and variety of world-class golf across the country. The Surrey and Berkshire heathland belt contributes a disproportionate share of the upper-table entries: Sunningdale Old (8th) and New (13th), Swinley Forest (18th), St George's Hill (27th), West Sussex (31st), Walton Heath Old (38th) and Hollinwell (41st) all feature within the top half. The links of Lancashire, Kent and East Anglia provide a contrasting but equally compelling strand of the English golfing story.
Four new entries — Aldeburgh, Hayling, Royal Ashdown Forest and Beau Desert — expand the list's geographic footprint into Suffolk, Hampshire, East Sussex and Staffordshire, demonstrating that England's golfing heritage extends well beyond its most celebrated corridors.
Scotland — 30 Courses
Scotland's 30 entries include five of the top six — a statistical dominance that reflects the country's unique concentration of championship links. St Andrews (2nd and 69th), Muirfield (4th), Turnberry Ailsa (5th) and Royal Dornoch (6th) anchor the Scottish contingent at the summit, while Carnoustie (11th), North Berwick (14th), Kingsbarns (15th), Ardfin (16th) and Cabot Highlands Castle Stuart (19th) complete a formidable top-20 presence.
Ireland — 18 Courses
Eighteen Irish courses feature across the island, with 11 of them sitting in the top 52 — a density of quality that underscores Ireland's claim to be the world's premier links destination. Royal County Down (1st) and Royal Portrush Dunluce (3rd) lead the charge from Northern Ireland, while Ballybunion Old (9th), Lahinch Old (10th), Rosapenna St Patrick's (12th) and Portmarnock (24th) anchor the Republic's contribution at the highest level.
Wales — 4 Courses
Wales holds four positions in the ranking, led by Royal Porthcawl. Pennard's rise is the Welsh highlight of 2026, with Royal St David's (77th) and Aberdovey (90th) completing the principality's quartet. The Welsh presence reflects a small but fiercely competitive national golfing scene whose best courses can match many of their more celebrated neighbours.
Isle of Man — 1 Course
Castletown enters the rankings at 93rd, extending the list's geographic scope to include what is perhaps the most underrated links destination in the British Isles. Designed on Langness Peninsula with views across Castletown Bay, the course offers a genuine links experience that few golfers beyond the island's shores have yet discovered.
Scotland's Mid-Table Revolution
Brora and the New Course at St Andrews both making gains along with three new Scottish entries arriving suggest that the expanded panel membership has brought fresh perspectives to the evaluation of Caledonian golf, reaching beyond the famous Fife and Ayrshire corridors into the Highlands and East Neuk.
England's Heathland Heritage Runs Deep
With 47 entries, England dominates the ranking numerically. But the nature of the English contribution is as interesting as the volume. The heathland courses of the Surrey and Berkshire sandbelt account for a remarkable cluster of entries in the top 40. Royal Ashdown Forest's debut as a bunkerless inland classic adds yet another dimension to the story of English golf design. The four new English entries span different eras and geographies, from the ancient links of Hayling Island to the heathland of Beau Desert.
Welsh Golf Reaching New Heights
Four Welsh courses in a combined GB&I Top 100 is genuinely significant. With Aberdovey re-entering the list at 90th, the principality now presents a quartet of genuinely diverse and compelling experiences.
The complete 2026 GB&I Top 100, with individual course pages, panellist commentary and regional breakdowns, is available at Top100GolfCourses.com. Each of the 100 courses links through to detailed profiles, visitor information, and review collections from thousands of golfers who have experienced them firsthand.
For regional perspectives within Britain and Ireland, the site also maintains separate Top 100 rankings for England and Scotland, a Top 50 for Wales, and individual rankings for Ireland and Northern Ireland — together covering nearly 700 distinct golf courses across the five nations.
