Top 5 – Most Expensive UK Golf Events 2026

Joint top of our list -- and the most audacious day of competitive golf you will find anywhere in the UK in 2026. The Hagen 54 is not a round of golf. It is three rounds of golf, played across three of the most storied links courses in England, all in a single day. Your starting point is Princes Golf Club, but your day also takes in Royal St George's and Royal Cinque Ports -- three neighbouring giants of the game, all within a few miles of each other on the Kent coast at Sandwich Bay. If that combination doesn't make your pulse quicken, nothing will.

Named in honour of the great Walter Hagen, who won The Open Championship at Royal St George's in 1922 and 1928, the event carries genuine historical weight to match its extraordinary setting. Princes itself hosted the 1932 Open Championship won by Gene Sarazen, has featured in every Top 100 Great Britain and Ireland ranking, and is scheduled to host the 2030 Walker Cup. Royal St George's needs no introduction -- it has hosted The Open 15 times, most recently in 2021 when Collin Morikawa lifted the Claret Jug. Royal Cinque Ports at Deal is one of England's most demanding and least-played championship links, having hosted The Open in 1909 and 1920 and remaining fiercely protected and rarely accessible to visitors.

The format is individual Stableford across all 54 holes, meaning your card follows you through all three courses and your final score is the sum of an entire day's play on three world-class links. At £995 per person, this is without question the most remarkable day of golf on this list -- and quite possibly the most remarkable one available to a visiting golfer in England in any year. Pack energy, pack layers, and clear your diary for the day after.

Also priced at £995 per person, the inaugural Trump Greatest 36 Championship Trophy earns its position at joint top of this list through sheer ambition. This is not merely a round of golf -- it is a full 36-hole challenge played across both the Old Course and the New Course at Trump International Golf Links, set on the dramatic dunescapes of the Menie Estate overlooking the North Sea on the Aberdeenshire coast.

Both courses were designed by renowned golf architect Dr Martin Hawtree. The Old Course is an award-winning championship links, while the New Course has been described as a bold masterpiece redefining links golf. In 2025, Trump International received the World Golf Awards accolade for World's Best Golf Course -- so you can be under no illusions about the quality of what's on offer.

The format is Pairs Stableford Betterball, which means you and your partner combine your best scores to compete against the field across all 36 holes. It is a sociable yet intensely competitive format, and the setting -- sweeping dunes, the North Sea beyond, two world-class layouts -- makes this one of the most theatrical competitive golf days you can buy in the UK in 2026. Pack your stamina along with your waterproofs.

There is something distinctly special about the word "Royal" in a golf club's name, and Royal Winchester wears the distinction with quiet confidence. Established in 1888 and designed by the great J.H. Taylor, it is the only Royal club in Hampshire and sits in rolling downland countryside just outside one of England's most beautiful cathedral cities.

At £320 per person, the Men's Open is more accessible than our top two -- but do not for a moment think that means it offers less occasion. The Hampshire Downland terrain provides superb natural drainage, meaning excellent conditions virtually year-round, and the design takes full advantage of the undulating landscape to create a course that is a genuine test of ball-striking and course management. The J.H. Taylor pedigree is evident in every hole.

Royal Winchester offers a clubhouse that can host private functions for up to 120 guests, and the post-round atmosphere in that setting -- with views across the course and the Hampshire countryside -- is as much a part of the experience as the golf itself. Entries are online, tee times run throughout the day, and this one has a habit of filling up. Plan ahead.

There are Pro Ams and then there is the Hankley Common Pro Am. At £250 per amateur (the pro covers their own entry), this is a Southern Region sanctioned event that earns its place on this list as much through pedigree of venue as through price. Hankley Common is ranked 30th in Great Britain and Ireland -- one of the finest heathland courses in England and, frankly, one of the best-kept secrets in Surrey golf.

The format pairs one touring or club professional with three amateurs over 18 holes in a team Stableford, with both a morning and afternoon shotgun start creating a proper tournament atmosphere throughout the day. Playing alongside a professional is an education in itself -- you will see the game played at a level that makes even the best amateurs reconsider their approach to shot selection, course management, and what it actually means to control a golf ball.

The course itself is a masterpiece of heathland design. Heather, Scots pine, rowan, oak and birch frame every fairway across sandy subsoil that delivers the kind of springy, firm, true turf that heathland golf does better than anywhere else in the world. The greens are slick and demanding. The layout rewards precision over power. Hankley hosted a major championship in 2025, confirming its status at the very top of English inland golf. For an amateur golfer, getting to play it in a sanctioned Pro Am is a rare and genuinely special opportunity.

Hillside. Just the name among British golf aficionados prompts a certain reverence. Located on England's famous golf coast in Southport, Hillside is consistently ranked as one of the top 50 courses in Great Britain and Ireland, and many would argue it deserves to be ranked even higher. Its neighbour on one side is Royal Birkdale; on another, Southport and Ainsdale. The postcode alone is worth the entry fee.

The Gents Open Team Event on 30 April 2026 is priced at £840 per team -- working out at approximately £210 per person for a four-ball. When you consider that a standard summer green fee at Hillside in 2026 is £300 per round for a visitor, the team event represents real value, not just an expensive day out. Tee times run from 8.00am to 12.30pm in a Stableford format, so expect a busy, competitive field of golfers who know exactly what they have come for.

The club hosted the Amateur Championship in 2023, the Cazoo Classic on the DP World Tour in 2022, and the British Masters in 2019. It has been an R&A venue for the Amateur, Ladies Amateur, and Final Qualifying for The Open on multiple occasions. Playing Hillside in any format is a privilege. Playing it competitively in an organised open is something else again -- a chance to really measure yourself against a course of the very highest calibre. Book early; this event sells out.