Green Fees in the Cotswolds: What Golf Costs in 2026

The short answer

Budget 20 to 85 pounds for 18 holes in 2026, and for most rounds that matter, 45 to 80. The top of the market is Burford, the polished Oxfordshire parkland on the eastern edge of the region, at 85 pounds midweek before 2pm from April to October. Cirencester charges a flat 80 pounds any day of the week in summer, Cotswold Hills above Cheltenham is 70 midweek and 80 at weekends, and Broadway, with its grandstand views over the Vale of Evesham, is 70 and 75. Minchinhampton's two modern courses, the Avening and the Cherington, sat at 65 and 70 pounds on the card running to the end of April 2026.

The bargains are the headline, though. Cleeve Hill, the wild common land course on the highest ground in the Cotswolds and a fixture in top 100 lists for Great Britain and Ireland, is 50 to 60 pounds for a morning round and 25 to 30 pounds after 4pm. Painswick, an 1891 escarpment course of barely 5,000 yards that connoisseurs rank among the great short courses anywhere, lists 20 pounds midweek. Few regions in world golf put a course of Cleeve Hill's reputation and a fee that small on the same page. For where these courses sit in the pecking order, see our ranking of the best golf courses in the Cotswolds and the Cotswolds destination guide.

When fees peak, and when they dip

The Cotswolds runs on a simple two season clock. Summer cards apply from roughly April 1 to the end of October, and that is when every fee in the table above is at its peak, weekends carrying a premium of 5 to 20 pounds. Winter is the dip: Cirencester drops from 80 pounds to 65, Burford from 85 to 65, and the common land courses keep playing firm and fast when lowland parkland is on mats. The catch is access rather than price. Burford takes weekend visitors only from 2pm during British Summer Time, Painswick's last Sunday tee time is mid morning, and Cleeve Hill and Broadway tee sheets fill quickly on fine summer weekends. Naunton Downs, the downland course near Stow, now sells its tee times only through its online booking system, so price that one on the day.

Demand peaks differ from seaside golf too. There is no Open rota pressure here; the crunch is Cheltenham race week in March, summer Saturdays and the wedding season that fills the hotel courses. Midweek mornings in May, June and September are the sweet spot: full summer conditions, the gentlest tee sheets and every twilight rate still leaving four hours of light.

How to pay less

Twilight is the big lever. Cleeve Hill after 4pm is 25 to 30 pounds, Cotswold Hills is 40, Cotswold Edge is 20 and Minchinhampton's afternoon rate has run at 42. In June and July that still buys a comfortable 18. Second, use the calendar: the winter cards at Cirencester and Burford take 15 to 20 pounds off, and the high wolds drain well enough that winter golf here is real golf. Third, if you hold an English county card, most Gloucestershire clubs honor it at a meaningful discount, typically 40 to 60 pounds at the bigger names. Finally, the region's quirks pay: Painswick's society packages bundle golf, a bacon roll and coffee from 25 pounds a head, and the Cotswolds Club at Chipping Norton prices its afternoons down to 30 pounds midweek. Walking is the default everywhere, and on the common land courses it is the rule; for cart policies and what they cost, see our guide to buggies and caddies in the Cotswolds.

For context, these numbers are friendly even by English inland standards: the famous Surrey heathland courses start where Burford tops out. Our England green fees guide sets the national picture, and the Cotswolds golf holidays page shows how the fees stack into a two or three day trip built around honey stone villages and very good pubs.