15+ filters, a calendar view, a map search, email alerts, saved searches and favourites — all in one place
For years, finding the right open competition meant trawling fixture pages, scrolling endlessly, or hoping our regional & category pages returned what you were looking for. Search+ changes that. It's our new, ground-up rebuild of the entire search experience, and it puts every open competition in the UK — over 10,000 of them annually — one click away. This guide walks through what's new, who can use what, and why it's worth taking five minutes to explore.
- 10,000+UK opens, all searchable
- 15+filters to narrow your search
- 3 viewsList, Calendar & Map
- Email AlertsNew events to your inbox
- Saved SearchesSave for later
- FavouritesSave, sort, track
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What's covered in this article
The headline change — everything in one place
Search+ runs alongside our main website where you can still search in the traditional way by golf club, region or event type. All three new views (List, Calendar & Map) on Search+ live behind a single page at golfempire.co.uk/search/, sharing the same filters and the same data. You pick the view that suits the task, and you can flick between them at any time without losing your filter state.
That last point is the one that matters most in everyday use. Set a filter for "Yorkshire, men's, under £40" in List view and switch to the Map — the same events appear, plotted geographically. Switch to the Calendar and you see them spread across the months. The filters are the conversation; the views are different ways of listening.
Three ways to browse
List view
The classic feel. Filtered, sortable, paginated event cards with all the information you need at a glance: competition name, host club, date, price, format, gender, age category, holes, and a "closes" date (when provided) so you can see when entries shut. Cards open the event detail page in a single click.
Sort by date, by closing date, by price (high or low), or by "most recently listed" if you want to see what's just been added to the site.
A limited number of filters are available for free users whilst Premium unlocks them all.
Calendar view
A proper month grid showing how many events are on each day. Click any date and the day's events open below the calendar. Navigate forwards and backwards through the year with arrows; today's date is highlighted in gold.
Brilliant for diary planning — "what's on Saturday the 5th of September?" or "show me a free weekend in August" — or for spotting clashes when you're juggling a packed calendar. The calendar respects every filter you've set, so a calendar view filtered to "Surrey, ladies, 18 holes" shows exactly those events on each day, not all 10,000.
Map view
Every open plotted on an interactive map of the UK. Zoom in on a region; click any pin for the event details. Markers cluster sensibly when you're zoomed out so the screen doesn't disappear under thousands of overlapping pins.
Two ways to focus the map: type a postcode, town or city into the search box, or simply click anywhere on the map to drop a pin. Either way, Search+ draws a circle at your chosen radius (10, 25, 50 or 100 miles) and shows only the events inside it — sorted by distance, with an estimated drive time on each card.
"Set the filters once. Switch views as the question changes. The events stay in sync."
The filters — 15+ ways to narrow it down
This is where Search+ does its heaviest lifting. The sidebar holds over twenty filters, all of which apply instantly — no "Apply" button, no page reload, no waiting. Tick a checkbox or drop a date and the results refresh in front of you. Each filter shows you the count of matching events too, so you know what you're going to get before you click.
- Keyword — club name, competition name, trophy name and more
- Event type — Individual, Pairs or Team
- Recently listed — past 24 hours, 7 days or 30 days
- Date range — from and to dates, perfect for diary planning
- Postcode / location — plus your chosen radius
- Country, region and county — pick one or many
- Gender — men's, ladies', mixed or any combination
- Format — Stableford, Medal, 4BBB, Scramble, Greensomes and more
- Age category — Open age, Juniors, Mid-Am or Seniors (with min-age cutoff, eg: 55+)
- Hide senior & junior events — one tick to show only open-age opens
- Max price — chips for £20, £50, £75, £100, £150 or your own custom limit
- Course attributes — Top 100, True Links, Royal, Open Venue, Ryder Cup venue
- Tags — Charity, Multi-Day, Scratch, and other special categories
- Holes — 9, 18, 27, 36 or "other"
- Day of week — pick any combination of weekdays
- Open for entry — hide events past their closing date
- Bookable online — show only events with online entry
- "Find events I can enter" — eligibility filter (see below)
Every filter you set shows up as a removable "pill" above the results, so you can always see what you've narrowed by and clear any single filter with one click. A "Clear all" link resets the whole sidebar when you want to start over.
"Find events I can enter"
Tell Search+ your gender, age and handicap and it will show you only the events you're actually eligible for. No more clicking through to an entry form to discover the event is men-only off scratch, or a seniors competition you don't yet qualify for.
The maths runs behind the scenes: it filters out events restricted to the wrong gender, juniors-only events if you're an adult, mid-am events if you're under 35, senior events with cutoffs higher than your age, and any event whose maximum handicap is lower than yours. You can also set an optional event max handicap limit to find stronger matches if you're a lower-handicap player.
The filter activates only once all three of gender, age and handicap are filled in — until then it doesn't apply, so you can take your time entering each one.
Postcode & radius search
Type your postcode (or any town or city), pick a radius from 10 to 100 miles, and Search+ filters the entire result list to events within that distance. Works in every view — List, Calendar and Map — and each card shows you the straight-line distance plus an estimated drive time, so you can quickly tell a 30-minute hop from a 90-minute slog.
Setting a centre also unlocks a new sort option: "Distance (nearest first)", so the closest events float to the top of the list.
My Favourites — build your shortlist
Every event card in Search+ now has a "Save" heart button. Tap it to add the event to your personal favourites list, accessible any time from My Favourites in the members area. It's the simplest way to build a shortlist of opens you're considering, share ideas with playing partners, or just keep track of the ones you've already entered.
On the favourites page itself you can mark events as "entered" once you've sent your entry form off, so you have a running record of your year's open competition calendar.
- Free members — save up to 3 events
- Premium members — unlimited saves
Saved Searches & Email Alerts — let the events find you
Maybe the biggest leap forward, this one. Set up a search the way you like it — "Yorkshire seniors, under £50, Saturdays only" — then click "Save this search" and you can access this specific search anytime from your Saved Searches — additionally we'll email you whenever new events matching that search go live on the site. Open competitions get added daily; with a saved search and alerts on, you're the first to know.
Manage all your saved searches in one place at Saved Searches, where you can pause, edit or delete any of them — or run the saved search again with one click to see the current matching events.
- Free members — 3 saved searches with weekly email alerts
- Premium members — unlimited saved searches with daily or weekly alerts
Search+ is available to anyone — signing up for a free Golf Empire account provides more and upgrading to Premium unlocks the lot. The breakdown:
| Feature | Guest | Free | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| List view | 3 events | 15 events | ✓ Unlimited |
| Calendar view | — | — | ✓ |
| Map view | — | — | ✓ |
| Keyword, event type, country & region filters | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| All 15+ filters (date, price, format, county, day of week, etc.) | — | — | ✓ |
| Postcode / radius search | — | — | ✓ |
| "Find events I can enter" eligibility filter | — | — | ✓ |
| My Favourites | — | Up to 3 | ✓ Unlimited |
| Saved Searches & Email Alerts | — | Up to 3, weekly | ✓ Unlimited, daily or weekly |
Free membership costs nothing and takes thirty seconds to set up — enough to save up to 3 favourites and 3 saved searches with weekly email alerts. Premium is an annual subscription that unlocks everything. It renews automatically each year, and you can cancel anytime from the members dashboard.
Getting started
The best way to see Search+ in action is just to open it and start clicking around. A few suggestions to get the hang of the filters in five minutes:
- Tick an event type (eg: Pairs), pick a region (eg: Yorkshire) and see what events are scheduled
- Switch to Map view, type your postcode or drop a pin, pick a 25-mile radius and sort by distance
- Open the Calendar, pick a free weekend and see what's available that day
- Set the eligibility filter with your gender, handicap and age, then browse the list of events you can actually enter
- Save the search and let new events come to you by email instead of you hunting for them
Everything updates the URL as you filter, so you can bookmark or share your favourite searches — "Cheshire Saturdays under £40" is just a link.
Feedback welcome
Search+ is still actively being developed, and the best ideas have always come from members using the site day in, day out. If you spot something that doesn't work, find a filter that would make your life easier, or just want to tell us what you think — get in touch. We read everything.
Try it now
Related guides
- Golf competition formats explained — Stableford, 4BBB, Scramble and the rest
- Why enter an open competition?
- Open competitions FAQ