By thinking outside the box, you can play golf for free or cheaply anywhere, here’s how:

1. Reciprocal – if you are a member of a golf club it is likely that your home golf club will have reciprocal arrangements with other golf clubs.  Surprisingly, these partner clubs are not necessarily local to you, so you can take a few days away and play some great golf courses.  Some clubs even have overseas reciprocal courses, so build you next holiday around that and really maximise your next trip.

2. Club matches – this is great way to get to know some of your local courses, there may be a small fee towards the team costs, but by being able to represent your golf club and get to play another golf course in a match scenario kills two birds with one stone, and you will get to meet new people too.

3. In England we have county cards.  As club members you should either be given  a county card as part of your membership or there may be a small charge for this.  The country card enables you to play at affiliated golf clubs in England and some in Wales, pretty much anywhere at a reduced green fee rate.   It’s a bit like being part of a country wide golf club.  Naturally playing some top name courses might not happen, but if you’re sensible you can get to play some places you’ve heard about and always wanted to tick off your next bucket list.

4. Mates network – this entirely depends on your mates of course!  If you find a willing friend to host you, you can go and play their golf course and have a laugh along the way, but be prepared to host them in return to repay their friendship and hospitality!

5. Enter prize draws.  Many prize draws are out there for you to enter, so long as you don’t mind sharing your personal data and/or email address or follow people on social media, there are a number of good prize draws to enter.  The chances are if you follow particular people or sites, then they are golfers too, so nothing lost but plenty to gain- especially if you win!

6. Opens.  Lots of golf venues open up their courses for people to enter their Open.  These can be single sex or mixed opens, they can be individual or team comps and over 18 or 36 or any combination of number of holes.  They can be either at the weekend or during the week to appeal to a variety of golfers.  There is a cost to enter these Opens but they usually represent good value, especially as food can often be included.

No one likes people who take, take, take, so these tips are legitimate ways to get some free, if not cheap golf.

[email protected] Freelance golf travel and leisure writer