Want To Be A Golf Course Rater? Join Our Top 100 Panel

Before the start of the new UK & Ireland course rankings process, we are looking to recruit a small number of readers to the assessment panel

Want To Be A Golf Course Rater? Join Our Top 100 Panel
Looking back down the tenth at Royal County Down which heads the Golf Monthly rankings
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Want To Be A Golf Course Rater? Join Our Top 100 Panel

NB - The Date To Register Interest in Joining The Panel Has Now Passed

The biennial Golf Monthly Top 100 and Next 100 lists are compiled with the assistance of a team of around three dozen experienced, enthusiastic and knowledgeable readers. Most importantly, each panellist has played many courses of differing styles and standards, and ideally, each one will have played a minimum of 20 courses in the existing Top 100.

Top 100 Assessment Form

The form used during the 2023/2024 Top 100 assessment period

(Image credit: Rob Smith)

All panellists should be able to commit to visiting and reviewing at least ten contender clubs (from our shortlist of approximately 140 courses) during the review period. For the next set of rankings for 2025/26, this window will run from the summer of 2023 to late autumn 2024. There are more details on how we rank golf courses in the Top 100 section of the website.

Rosapenna - St Patricks Links

The fifth hole on the stunning new St Patrick's Links at Rosapenna

(Image credit: Clyde Johnson)

All panellists arrange their own visits, beginning with a polite and friendly email to the club. They also pay for their own expenses such as travel, food & drink, and any associated accommodation. We strongly believe that the integrity of the process relies on this. Each is supplied with a PDF 'letter of introduction' that explains they are an assessor for Golf Monthly.

In return, the majority of our contender clubs offer courtesy, although some do charge a reviewer's rate. Happily, most panellists also complete some of their reviews as a secret shopper; playing in matches, society events, with friends who are members, or on trips with golfing friends. We welcome all such assessments.

Women golfers shaking hands

We are keen to include more women on the panel

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Although the group we have now is extremely strong, there is quite naturally a small turnover of personnel from time to time. It is also healthy to seek fresh ideas and input. Our content and our audiences are increasingly diverse and we are focused on mirroring this. We are therefore particularly keen on creating a more diverse assessment panel with more women and more younger golfers.

Female golfers of varying ages

All ages are welcome on the panel so long as there is a breadth of courses' experience

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Although there will not be many places on offer this time round, if you are interested, then please email us via golfmonthly@futurenet.com and we can send you more details about how to apply. The cut-off for getting in touch this time round was Wednesday, May 10th, 2023.

Rob Smith
Contributing Editor

Rob Smith has been playing golf for 45 years and been a contributing editor for Golf Monthly since 2012. He specialises in course reviews and travel, and has played more than 1,200 courses in almost 50 countries. In 2022, he played all 21 courses in East Lothian in 13 days. Last year, his tally was 81, 32 of them for the first time. One of Rob's primary roles is helping to prepare the Top 100 and Next 100 Courses of the UK&I, of which he has played all but seven and a half... i.e. not the new 9 at Carne! Of those missing, some are already booked for 2024. He is a member of Tandridge in Surrey where his handicap hovers around 16. You can contact him at r.smith896@btinternet.com.