Best Golf Courses in Gloucestershire

Best Golf Courses in Gloucestershire

The best golf courses in Gloucestershire offer an intriguing mix of quirky and challenging courses in an underrated county.

No county in England and possibly Britain illustrates our preference for eccentric courses over exacting ones better than Gloucestershire. If our criteria rewarded challenging, well-manicured experiences at the expense of character, charm and quirk, there would be a very different order to this ranking of the best golf courses in Gloucestershire.

So if the former style of golf is more to your liking, it won’t take much more than a glance down the descriptions to work out which courses here are for you… and which are not.

Why should you trust our ranking of the best golf courses in Gloucestershire? Well, the Golf World Top 100 panel has been ranking the finest courses in England for decades and has the most comprehensive knowledge in the game.

We welcome your feedback on all of our rankings and know that everyone will have an opinion on their favourite course’s position. We’d love to hear from you via email, on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

And, once you’ve enjoyed this ranking, please do take a look at some of our others – including the best courses in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and Europe.

Chris Bertram, Golf World Top 100 Editor

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The Best Golf Courses in Gloucestershire

1. Cleeve Hill

A wonderful course and, happily, now a wonderful story. Cleeve Hill was weeks away from being lost, the council poised to close it before two friends who had played there as kids took it over.

It wasn’t only an emotional decision though, because Cleeve has enormous potential. It’s already terrific, and is going to get even better.

The views, the funky holes, the playability… Cleeve Hill is an England Top 100 course of rare appeal.

2. Painswick

Painswick is the most eccentric, idiosyncratic and bonkers golf course in these county rankings.

The fact Painswick has two blind par 3s gives you an idea of what to expect. It is a raucous journey over undulating land shared with walkers taking advantage of the breathtaking Cotswolds scenery.

3. Minchinhampton (Old Course)

Minchinhampton is how golf used to be. The Old at Minch is the game in its simplest and arguably best form.

Holes were set down in 1889 on the land as it lay, giving a wonderful natural feel and flow.

It’s not punishing, but you need to hit it well to score well. The crossing of the village roads that intersect The Common somehow adds rather than detracts.

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4. Ross on Wye

Tight, hilly and heavily tree-lined, Ross on Wye is a wonderful parkland perched in the wooded hills above the Wye Valley.

The club has been around since 1903, with the current C.K. Cotton course (6,451-yards) in play since the early 1960s.

It puts a premium on accuracy – with every club!

5. The Players (Stranahan Course)

A very clever modern course by Adrian Stiff that’s short on the card but very strategic, with cunning use of undulations.

The Stranahan Course is usually ranked No.2 at this 36-hole club but not in the minds of our panel.

It starts with a cute par 3 to an island green.

6. Minchinhampton (Cherington Course)

The better of the newer Minch courses, it opened in 1995 and is great fun as a result of the way the rough is managed and the way it flows. Looks a treat in spring and summer.

7. The Players (Codrington Course)

A very long, modern, tournament-type course, this former Champions Tour host has plenty of water and railway sleepers.

Those who relish a challenge will lap it up, the higher handicapper will struggle.

Its greens are always good.

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8. Stinchcombe Hill

Stinchcombe Hill is a lovely, lesser-heralded downland course set on a high hilltop plateau.

Some splendid green complexes and clever design.

Rough is often long due to nesting skylarks, but this is a lovely walk with super views.

9. Long Ashton

Hog’s back fairways do not endear this long-established parkland to all, but we like it.

Long Ashton could have been higher but for a little inconsistency that makes some holes feel out of place with the rest of the course.

10. Bristol & Clifton

Bristol & Clifton is a delightful, well-presented, sporting-but-playable course.

Some gorgeous views and always in excellent condition.

11. Kendleshire (Hollows and Ruffet Course)

A big, modern course characterised by plenty of water.

A big test and a real challenge without buckets of charm.

Not a members club, so has a country club rather than purely golf club feel.

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12. Broadway

Located on the edge of the Cotswold escarpment, expect a wonderful MacKenzie front nine but a less inspired second half.

13. Minchinhampton (Avening Course)

The third Minch course in the ranking, this one opened in 1975 and is a host of Open regional qualifying.

Minchinhampton’s Avening Course is traditional parkland that is very well presented.

14. Knowle

Squeezed between housing estates with barely a spare yard of space, Knowle is a tight but interesting and beautifully presented parkland.

It generates tremendous loyalty in its membership, who tend to stay there forever, as well producing well above average numbers of scratch and plus-handicap golfers.

15. Henbury

The first nine holes at Henbury are in a valley, then there is a steep ascent for the 10th that leads to an attractive and challenging back nine.

Some of the routing on the front nine is quirky and not to everyone’s taste, but we approve.

16. Cotswold Hills

Nestled in the rolling hills above Cheltenham, Cotswold Hill’s 6,800-yard, mid-1970s course was designed by club member and scratch player Morris Little.

Highlights include the demanding par-3 15th.

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17. Cirencester

A great members’ course that serves a very lovely town.

18. Chipping Sodbury

A challenging, relatively long parkland with some very strong holes and a good routing.

Particularly good par 3s.

19. Tewkesbury Park

Attached to a wonderful hotel and the perfect base for a Gloucestershire golf break, Tewkesbury has a fine parkland course in its own right.

Redesigned by Peter McEvoy and in immaculate condition.

20. Shirehampton

Sitting above the Portway into Bristol with views over the water and Avon Gorge, Shirehampton is a mix of the challenging and quirky, with some cross-over fairways where the uninitiated can struggle to choose a line or even play to the correct green. Never boring.

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