Golf membership pricing in England is anything but uniform. Move twenty miles and you can go from 'that seems reasonable' to 'I might need a second job'. The reason is simple: clubs sit inside local economies. Land values, wages, demand for leisure, and the number of nearby courses all feed into what a club can charge. If you want a quick sense of what clubs near you actually charge, you can search by postcode here.
Below are the five most expensive postcode areas for golf membership, followed by the five most affordable, based on the typical (median) full adult membership price I could observe. Want to jump straight to clubs near you? Search your postcode and age to see live prices.
| Rank | Postcode area | Average annual fee | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GU | £2,030 | Highest cost |
| 2 | TW | £1,929 | Highest cost |
| 3 | KT | £1,925 | Highest cost |
| 4 | HA | £1,870 | Highest cost |
| 5 | AL | £1,771 | Highest cost |
| Most affordable postcode areas | |||
| 1 | CA | £600 | Most affordable |
| 2 | HD | £622.50 | Most affordable |
| 3 | TR | £700 | Most affordable |
| 4 | NE | £750 | Most affordable |
| 5 | HR | £770 | Most affordable |
What is going on here?
Membership pricing is not just about the course itself. It is a tug of war between costs and confidence: what it costs a club to operate in an area, and what golfers in that area are willing (and able) to pay. You can see that most clearly when you compare the South East commuter belt with large parts of the North, the rural West, and the far South West.
The postcode areas at the top of the table sit in and around some of the most expensive and densely populated parts of England. That usually means higher land values, higher staffing and maintenance costs, and more people competing for the same tee times.
- GU covers west Surrey and nearby areas such as Guildford, Woking, Godalming, Farnham and parts of Hampshire and West Sussex.
- TW covers parts of south-west London and north-west Surrey, including places such as Twickenham, Richmond, Hounslow and Staines-upon-Thames.
- KT spans Kingston upon Thames and a wide slice of north-east Surrey, including areas such as Elmbridge and Epsom and Ewell.
- HA is north-west and west London, including Harrow, Pinner, Ruislip, Stanmore and parts of neighbouring boroughs.
- AL centres on central Hertfordshire, including St Albans, Harpenden, Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield.
Golf is a discretionary spend. In areas with higher incomes and higher property prices, clubs can often charge more without seeing demand fall away. As a quick proxy, local housing data shows just how different these economies are.
- Average house prices in Richmond upon Thames were around £798,000 in September 2025.
- Average house prices in Guildford were around £541,000 in September 2025.
- By contrast, Newcastle upon Tyne was around £206,000 in September 2025, and Kirklees (covering much of the HD area) around £203,000.
Why Surrey and its neighbours can be pricey even with lots of golf
You might expect that 'more courses' would mean 'cheaper memberships'. Sometimes it does, but in the South East the demand is relentless: strong population, strong commuter links, and a lot of golfers with limited time who value convenience. Surrey is a good example of how supply and demand can both be high at once. There is plenty of golf, yet the land itself is valuable and operating costs are high, so fees remain elevated.
What makes the affordable areas good value?
The five most affordable areas on this list are not 'worse at golf'. They are simply shaped by different local economics and geography. Lower land values, lower wage pressures, and a broader spread of courses across larger areas can combine to keep fees grounded.
Big landscapes, lots of space, and a cost base that generally sits below the South East. If your goal is maximum golf per pound, CA is hard to ignore.
A strong local golf culture and solid access to courses, but with local property and operating costs far lower than the commuter belt.
Cornwall has pockets of high demand, especially where second homes feature heavily, but many clubs still price sensibly for local members.
A large postcode area with a lot of choice. Fees can stay competitive because the cost base is lower, and you often have multiple clubs within sensible driving distance.
More rural, often less congested, and typically cheaper to run. That makes it easier for clubs to keep membership at a level that feels welcoming rather than exclusive.
An important note on 'exclusive clubs' and hidden pricing
The areas at the top of the list are also the ones where you are more likely to find clubs that do not publish full membership fees online. That matters because 'price on application' often signals a different kind of product: limited membership, strong waiting lists, higher joining fees, and a premium on privacy. Since those prices are missing from the dataset, the highest-cost areas here should be read as a strong signal, not a full capture of the very top of the market.
The headline is not simply 'London is expensive'. It is that golf membership behaves like many other local services: it reflects land, labour, and the spending power nearby. In places such as GU, TW, KT, HA and AL you are paying for convenience, competition for tee times, and the reality of operating on high-value land. In CA, HD, TR, NE and HR you often get better value because the local cost base is lower and the market is more price-sensitive, even though the golf can be every bit as enjoyable. The smartest play is to treat postcode averages as a starting point, then compare nearby clubs side by side. A fifteen minute drive across a boundary can be worth hundreds of pounds a year. Use the postcode search to check what clubs near you are charging today: start a search.