Kent has 59 clubs spread across the Garden of England, and the geography does most of the talking. You've got the North Downs cutting through the middle, the coast running from Deal round to Folkestone and beyond, and orchard country filling the gaps between. That variety shows up in the golf: 26 parkland courses form the backbone, but there are 12 links tracks along the coast, four courses that play across proper downland, and outliers like Chestfield's heathland-meets-coastal setting near Whitstable. Green fees start from £18, which for a county with this much pedigree is worth knowing.
The parkland courses range from village clubs to full estate golf. Bearsted, founded in 1895 near Maidstone, is a tree-lined test of accurate driving with a reputation for tough par fours in a compact village setting. At the other end of the scale, Hever Castle Golf Club sits within the grounds of the Hever Castle Estate near Edenbridge, offering 27 holes across a Championship Course (the Kings and Queens nines) plus the shorter Princes nine. Leeds Castle Golf Club, a Guy Campbell design from 1931, occupies nine holes of the 500-acre Leeds Castle Estate near Maidstone — a reminder that Kent's country houses have long made room for golf alongside the peacocks and moats.
Colt, Braid and the classic inland courses
Canterbury Golf Club, laid out by Harry Colt in 1927 on 160 acres of tree-lined ground originally leased from the War Office, is the sort of inland course where elevated tees and raised greens keep you thinking on every shot. James Braid's fingerprints are all over the county: he designed Faversham Golf Club (1902), redesigned Dartford Golf Club's heathland layout in 1936, and co-designed Chestfield with Abe Mitchell. Dartford's 16th, an elevated 245-yard par 3, is rated among the toughest short holes in Kent, while Faversham can claim a genuine roll call of talent through its gates — Mickey Walker, twice British Ladies Amateur champion and later a four-time Solheim Cup captain, and Roger Chapman, who won the Kent Open in 1977 before going on to win two USA Senior majors in 2012, are both connected to the club. Knole Park in Sevenoaks, a J. F. Abercromby design from 1924 set across the deer park estate, is regularly ranked among England's top 100 and is generally reckoned Kent's best inland test.
Faldo's Signature course and the modern era
Chart Hills in Biddenden was Nick Faldo's first Signature Design course in Europe, threading oak woodland and lakes across rolling ground, and it has held its place in Golf World's Top 100 in England since. Kings Hill near West Malling, opened in 1995 to a David Williams design, is often called the driest inland course in the county thanks to its free-draining heathland base and USGA-spec greens. The biggest statement of intent, though, is the London Golf Club at Brands Hatch — a 700-acre Jack Nicklaus design that has hosted the European Open twice and the Staysure PGA Seniors Championship in both 2018 and 2019, a scale of tournament golf that few counties outside the traditional links heartlands can match.
Links golf on the Kent coast
With 12 links courses, Kent's coast offers a proper alternative to all that inland parkland. Littlestone Warren, founded in 1888 at New Romney, carries the design legacy of Purves, Braid and MacKenzie across two courses — the Championship Links and The Warren — on genuinely old linksland. Hythe Golf Club plays along the Royal Military Canal with the English Channel on one side and views to France on a clear day, a forty-acre eco-friendly layout that stays open year-round. Chestfield, though classified as downs rather than links, adds sea views over the Thames estuary to Southend and the Isle of Sheppey, and its 15th-century clubhouse is claimed as one of the oldest clubhouse buildings anywhere in the world. Between Deal, Broadstairs and Folkestone, there's enough coastal golf here to fill a week without repeating yourself, and enough contrast with the Downs and parkland inland to make Kent one of the more complete golfing counties in the South East.