The UK's home of amateur open golf competitions — since 1998
Golf Empire helps amateur golfers discover where and when competitive golf is being played, and helps clubs and tournament organisers fill the events they put on. We've been doing it since 1998 — longer than anyone in the open golf competition space.
Today the site lists over 10,000 amateur golf competitions at more than 1,500 host venues across England, Scotland and Wales — from £15 mid-week Stablefords at the local club, to 72-hole WAGR scratch opens at championship courses, to multi-day events across the Top 100 courses of Great Britain & Ireland.
Golf Empire by the numbers
- 10,000+ open competitions listed each year
- 1,500+ host golf clubs UK-wide
- 2 million visits in 2025
- 9.3 million page views in 2025
- 641,000+ unique annual users
- 155,000+ registered members
- 500+ course reviews
- 27+ years connecting golfers and clubs
"The cream of resources for finding golf competitions."
— Golf Monthly
Our story
Golf Empire started in 1998 as a passion project by Ed Battye, who'd grown tired of trawling individual club websites and clubhouse noticeboards to find open competitions worth entering. The idea was simple: persuade golf club secretaries to list their opens in one place so golfers could browse, compare and enter them side by side.
More than 25 years on, the site is still independent, still run with a love of the game, and now widely recognised as the leading destination for golfers looking to play competitive amateur golf in all its forms.
Meet the founder
Ed Battye founded Golf Empire and continues to run it today. A keen amateur with a handicap of 4 (and a member at Spey Bay in Scotland), Ed spent much of his playing career off scratch and has competed in Open Championship qualifying, the British Mid-Amateur Championship and several World Amateur Ranking events — winning the Hollinwell Trophy at Notts Golf Club in 2016.
Nowadays most of his time is split between playing in open events all over the UK and travelling to review golf courses for the Golf Empire Reviews site. Ed has played over 500 courses, is a leading contributor to Top 100 Golf Courses, a reviewer for Leading Courses, and a ranking panellist for National Club Golfer magazine.
Read more about Ed's views on golf courses, or follow him on Instagram and Twitter/X.
What you'll find on Golf Empire
- Every kind of open — individual, pairs, team, ladies, mixed, seniors, juniors, scratch, matchplay, multi-day, charity, overseas and winter opens.
- Search by region, event type or club — covering all 50+ counties and regions across the UK.
- Top 100 opens — events at the courses ranked by Golf Monthly, Golf World, Today's Golfer and National Club Golfer.
- True Links opens — events on the genuine seaside links where the game began.
- Amateur tours — season-long order-of-merit competitions culminating in a grand final.
- 500+ honest course reviews from Ed.
- Premium tools — search+, calendar view, recently-listed alerts, favourites and members' discounts.
- Specialist golf insurance and partnerships with leading amateur tour operators.
Why open competitions?
Open competitions are one of the best-kept secrets in amateur golf. You'll play new courses presented at their very best, for entry fees that are typically a fraction of the standard green fee, with real prizes on the line and a draw of like-minded players to share the day with. Many include coffee and a bacon roll on arrival, post-round food, and sometimes even a courtesy practice round. Read our full guide to entering open competitions →
For golf clubs & competition organisers
Golf Empire is trusted by private members' clubs, public courses and many of the UK's Top 100 venues to promote their open golf events. We also work with independent tournament organisers to help fill their competitions.
It's completely free to list your 2026 opens. We also offer paid options — targeted email campaigns to golfers in your region, becoming the Featured Club for your county, and bespoke promotional packages — for clubs that want extra visibility. More information for clubs →
What clubs say about us
"The last campaign you did for me brought 8 entries over that weekend alone, which I thought was fantastic. If anybody is wondering whether a mailshot from you is worth it, tell them to contact me."
Martin Ball, Secretary, Eaglescliffe Golf Club
"Happy to share that over £1,700 has been generated so far since the e-shot was sent out — really successful, with some repeat bookings too."
Callum Gray, Secretary, Keighley Golf Club
"Although we do a mailshot ourselves, the majority of entries come through your website entry form, which indicates how successful your service is to golf clubs around the country. We frequently receive entries from people some distance away who are looking for Open competitions."
George Davies, Seniors Opens Organiser, Knighton Heath Golf Club
"We have filled the Spring Open which is great news, thanks mainly to the e-shot — worked really well."
James Washington, General Manager, Bradford Golf Club
Get in touch
Editorial, partnerships, press enquiries or general feedback — Ed and the team are always happy to hear from readers, clubs and organisers. Contact us →