Course Review Guidelines

Golf Empire publishes reviews of golf courses written by the golfers who have played them. This page explains who can leave a review, how we moderate them, what we will and won't publish, how a course's rating is worked out, and how clubs can respond to a review.

Reviews can be left by registered Golf Empire members. Each member may leave one review per course, which they can edit or remove at any time from their account. A reviewer's name is taken from their member profile — reviews cannot be left anonymously or under a false name, which keeps the feedback accountable and genuine.

Every review is read by a person before it appears on the site. We check that a review is genuine, relevant to the course, and within the guidelines below. Most reviews are approved. We aim to deal with submissions promptly, but moderation is carried out by a small team, so there may be a short delay before a review appears.

If a member edits a review that's already published, the edited version is re-checked before it goes back online — so an approved review is briefly hidden while we look at the change.

We publish honest, first-hand opinions about a course and the experience of playing it — including criticism. A low rating or an unfavourable review is not removed simply because it reflects badly on a course. Golfers rely on reviews being candid, and clubs benefit far more from genuine feedback than from a filtered picture. The kinds of things golfers tell us about include:

• The condition and quality of the course and greens
• The welcome and organisation — particularly for open competitions and visitors
• Value for money
• The overall experience of playing or competing there

We'll decline a review, or remove one that's already live, if it:

• Contains abusive, discriminatory, defamatory or threatening language
• Identifies or targets a named individual, such as a member of staff or another golfer
• Includes personal data, contact details, or anything that could identify a private person
• Is not a genuine first-hand account, or appears to be fake, duplicated, or posted to manipulate a rating
• Is unrelated to the course or the experience of playing it
• Contains advertising, spam, or unrelated links
• Is unlawful or infringes someone else's rights

Where a review breaches these guidelines only in part, we may decline it rather than edit it, and invite the member to resubmit.

Each review carries an overall rating from one to five stars. Reviewers can optionally add more detailed ratings covering the welcome, value for money, organisation and course condition.

A course's headline score is the average of its published overall ratings. The more detailed averages are shown only once enough reviews include them, so a single rating can never skew the picture of a course that has only been reviewed a handful of times.

"Reviews are only worth reading if they're honest — so we publish genuine opinions, good and bad, and we don't take a review down just because it's critical."

If you're connected with a club and believe a review breaches the guidelines above, you can ask us to look at it again. Send us the course name and the details of the review, and we'll re-check it against these guidelines. We'll remove a review that breaches them — but we won't remove one simply because it's critical, or because the club disagrees with it.

If you'd prefer to respond to a review publicly rather than have it removed, let us know — we're happy to discuss adding club responses where appropriate.

Played somewhere recently? Find the course on Golf Empire and leave a review on its page — your honest verdict helps other golfers decide where to enter.

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These guidelines may be updated from time to time. Last updated June 2026.