Turnberry is launching one of golf’s priciest greens fees. Here’s why

The best things in life are free, but some pretty good things cost a fortune.

Like, for example, a tee time at the Ailsa Course at Turnberry, ranked the 18th course in the world by GOLF’s course raters. The former Open Championship host is one of golf’s great experiences, a true championship test set along a craggy cliffside on the coast of Scotland. Now, it’s also one of golf’s most expensive.

In 2025, the cost of a tee time at Turnberry will balloon to £545, with greens fees rising as high as £1,000 (!!!!) in peak times, making it one of the most expensive tee times in the world. That’s roughly $700 per person, and nearly $1,300 during peak times.

The good news, if there is good news, is that only a handful of players will wind up paying the full freight for Turnberry’s most expensive tee time. That tee slot, which is restricted for pre-1 p.m. tee times during high season, is priced in an effort to leave the tee sheet open for visitors at the course’s adjacent hotel and members during the high season. For out-of-towners visiting during the high season, post 1-p.m. tee times will drop down to £545 — a hefty (but not-quite-$1,300) sum.

Still, even at the post-1 p.m. rate, Turnberry finds itself in rarefied air in the world of golf course prices, close to the most expensive peak tee times at destination courses around the world, including two of the most expensive offenders, TPC Sawgrass and Pebble Beach.

Sunrise or sunset at Turnberry is pretty close to a spiritual experience, a jaunt along a quiet cliffside on the coast of Scotland out to a historic lighthouse and back. But the reason for the pricing shift has more to do with a broader trend in the golf industry toward so-called “flex pricing,” which allows courses to charge more for their tee times during the most desirable times to play.

For a resort like Turnberry, guaranteeing tee times to those who have paid to stay on property means raising the value of both businesses. And charging a small fortune for the rights to play one of the best golf courses in the world during the rest of the hours of the year? Well, that’s just the cost of doing business.

The upside for visitors to Turnberry during the high season is that the sun stays out until well after 10 p.m., meaning there are close to five hours of tee times that will allow you to complete your round in full under the Scottish sun. But whether those times are worth the several-hundred-dollars it takes to play them?

Well, we’ll leave that decision between you and your bank account.