Green Meadow in Hudson had two 18-hole courses, and its farewell note thanked golfers for 61 years. Target bought the 375-acre property for $121.8 million in March 2023 and is putting a 1.4 million square foot distribution center on it. GolfLink and Golf Digest still list both the Prairie and the Jungle courses as if you could book a Saturday morning.
That is the first thing to know about golfing in southern New Hampshire: the listings lie. The second thing is that New Hampshire is not cheaper. Here is the real map of what is up there, what it costs in 2026, and why you should still make the drive.
The tax thing is a myth
New Hampshire has no sales tax. Massachusetts charges 6.25 percent. That does nothing for your green fee, because Massachusetts taxes tangible goods and telecom, not services, and a round of golf is a service. You save nothing on the round by crossing the border.
The cleanest proof is Windham Country Club and Far Corner in Boxford. Same owner, Bill Flynn's Golf Course Management, one on each side of the state line. Their 2026 green fee and cart lines are identical: $56 to walk 18 on a weekday, $68 on a weekend, $24 per rider for a cart, $30 and $37 for nine. Only the senior programs differ.
Where the tax gap is real, it cuts both ways. A dozen balls in a New Hampshire pro shop is 6.25 percent cheaper. A beer and a burger at the turn is more expensive, because New Hampshire's meals tax is 8.5 percent against Boston's 7.
Southern New Hampshire weekday 18s cluster between $45 and $59. Boston residents pay $46 at George Wright and William J. Devine. Non-residents pay $61. So the border courses beat the non-resident rate at the city munis by a little and lose to the resident rate. Price is not the reason to go.
Walking is the reason to go
Every course in this band publishes a walking green fee with the cart as a separate add-on. Not one mandatory-cart policy in the whole group. Compare that to Highfields in Grafton, which has no weekday walking rate at all, or Trull Brook, Juniper Hill, and Blackstone National, all of which force a cart on weekend mornings.
The other reason is availability. These sheets have Saturday morning times when everything inside 128 is gone.
Campbell's Scottish Highlands, Salem: the closest and the best liked
Thirty-three miles from Boston Common, about 44 minutes with no traffic. Par 71, 6,249 yards from the blues, 70.1 rating, slope 121. MHF Design and George Sargent built it in 1994 on 135 acres of the Campbell family dairy farm.
It holds a 4.7 rating across 558 reviews on GolfPass with 97.6 percent recommending it. That is the best-sampled score of any course in this guide. Conditions 4.6, value 4.6, layout 4.6, pace 4.2.
Green fees are $54 weekday and $64 weekend, walking. Carts are $24 for 18. Twilight is $22 weekday and $30 weekend for as many holes as you can finish, with junior twilight at $5 alongside a paying adult. Spring and fall Tuesdays and Wednesdays run a $59 special with 18 holes, cart, and lunch.
Two quirks worth knowing. On even-numbered weekdays, 18-hole groups start on the 10th tee, not the first. And every Monday is a shotgun tournament, all of them booked solid for 2026. Weekends are clear of shotguns. Book through TeeItUp, 5 days out, which is the shortest window in the region.
Windham Country Club: 57 minutes, and hilly
Par 72 at 6,442 yards from the gold tees, 71.2 rating, slope 135. The club credits PGA Tour player David Graham with the design and says Bill Flynn's company completed and opened it in 1995. Aggregators credit Dean Bowen. Reviewers agree on one thing: it is steep. You can walk it. You may not enjoy it.
$56 weekday and $68 weekend walking, $24 cart. Early Bird is $22 for nine holes walking if you tee off before 7am Monday through Friday. Twilight is $22 for up to nine holes after 6pm every single day. Seniors 60 and up and first responders get 18 with a cart for $64, Monday and Tuesday only.
Tee It Up, 7 days for the public and 10 days for season pass holders. Cart drivers must be 21, stricter than the usual 18. The club also keeps a free adaptive single-rider cart for mobility-impaired golfers, which almost nobody else in the region does.
Passaconaway, Litchfield: the most golf for the money
This is the pick if you want to get beaten up. Brian Silva of Cornish and Silva designed it on 140 acres along the Merrimack River and it opened in September 1989. Par 71 at 6,855 yards from the blues. The headline listings say 73.0 rating and slope 132, the tee-by-tee tables say 72.1 and 129, and the course publishes no scorecard of its own. Either way, nothing else in the band is that long or that hard.
It is $49 to walk 18 Monday through Friday and $59 on a weekend, $47 after 2pm on weekends. Carts are $21. Seniors 60 and up, juniors, ladies, and military pay $40 for 18 Monday through Thursday, or $52 with a cart. Google has it at 4.4 across 234 reviews.
The back nine is where the course gets you. Three long par 4s at 15, 16, and 18, two three-shot par 5s at 10 and 14, and out of bounds down the entire right side of 10, 12, and 14. You cannot book nine holes on a weekend before noon. Booking runs on foreUP.
Derryfield, Manchester: $45 at a 1932 muni
One of only three municipally owned courses in New Hampshire, established 1932, attributed to Wayne Stiles and John Van Kleek. It plays 6,143 yards from the blues to a 69.7 rating and slope 128. Google rates it 4.3 across 685 reviews, the largest review base of any course in this guide.
Eighteen holes is $45 weekday and $48 weekend walking, carts $24. That undercuts the Boston non-resident muni rate by $16. The city rebuilt it in 2015 with 15 miles of drainage across nine holes, new irrigation on 12, and new or restored greens on six.
Tee times are required seven days a week through Prophet Services. The city bans outside food and drink on the course. Dress code is relaxed by the standards of this list, with golf t-shirts and mock necks allowed.
Overlook, Hollis: the best evening round anywhere
Overlook is in Hollis, not Hooksett, and there is no regulation golf course in Hooksett at all. It is 76 minutes out, par 71, 6,624 yards from the blues, 70.1 rating, slope 126, built by David Friel around 1989.
Eighteen is $54 Monday through Thursday, $59 Friday, $64 weekend. Everything after 2:30pm drops to $42 to $52. Everything after 5pm drops to $32 weekday and $35 weekend, including Saturday. That $35 Saturday evening round is the cheapest quality golf in this entire guide. Juniors 17 and under pay $18 walking after 2:30pm any day.
No driving range, which is a real omission at this price. There is a cafe with a full bar where you can call in a food order from the 9th tee and pick it up on the way to 10. The Inner Club membership is $70 a year and buys a GHIN handicap, league access, and unadvertised specials rather than golf. Advance window is 7 days. Threesomes and foursomes can book online, singles and twosomes have to call. The booking platform is mid-migration between Teesnap and Chronogolf, so check both.
Souhegan Woods, Amherst: awards and a broken book button
GolfPass Golfers' Choice named it the 4th best course in New Hampshire, 12th friendliest in the country, and 15th best value in the country for 2024. Par 72 at 6,507 yards, 70.4 rating, slope 122, Penncross bent greens, opened as nine holes in 1991 with the second nine in 1992. Phil Friel designed it.
Weekday 18 is $52 Monday through Thursday and $57 Friday. Weekends are $62 before 2:30pm, then $51 for all you can walk, then $39 after 4pm. Juniors are $17. Carts $23. Google has it at 4.3 across 384 reviews, with pace of play the recurring complaint and several 4.5-hour rounds reported.
The season runs to December 23, which is the longest of any course here. The catch is booking. The homepage “book a tee time” button links to nothing and the tee times page loads empty. You book through Chronogolf directly or you call 603-673-0200.
The two that will not tell you the price
Candia Woods in Candia runs dynamic pricing and publishes no rate card at all. Its own site says rates vary by day and hour based on historical and real-time demand. Par 71 at 6,550 yards, 70.9 rating, slope 121, a Philip Wogan design from 1964. Google 4.4 across 206 reviews. The only fixed prices are a 55-plus special at $74 riding midweek in the off season and junior rates of $35 for 18. It books on CPS Golf, 7 days public and 14 for Evergreen members. No-shows and short groups get charged $25 per player.
Atkinson Resort in Atkinson is 58 minutes out and also publishes nothing. There is no rates page on the site. Pricing lives inside its booking engine. The course is 6,580 yards from the blacks, 72.2 rating, slope 134, with the front nine opened in 1996 and the back in 1998. It has 16 guest rooms, which makes it the only stay-and-play in the band. Its GolfPass score is 3.5 across 51 reviews, the weakest well-sampled number here.
Also worth a line
Stonebridge in Goffstownis the best course in the group on paper: 6,808 yards, 73.4 rating, slope 136, Phil Wogan and George Sargeant, 1997, and seven straight Union Leader Reader's Choice wins. It is also 77 minutes with no traffic and realistically 90 to 110 on a Friday. Kids 8 to 15 play free with a paying adult who rents a cart. Prepaid online tee times there are non-refundable with no rain checks, ever.
Amherst Country Club has been public since 1965 and is a full family complex: an 18, a nine-hole executive, a range, mini golf, four simulators, and two restaurants. Weekday 18 around $48, weekend $60. Pace is its lowest-rated category at 3.7. Hoodkroft in Derry is a solid nine at 61 minutes, $49 to walk 18 on a weekday and $28 for the early bird before 7am.
Skip Sky Meadow and Nashua Country Club. Both are private.
Primary sources checked
Rates and policies were checked against the official 2026 pages for Campbell's, Windham, Passaconaway, Derryfield, Overlook, Souhegan Woods, and Stonebridge on August 13, 2026.
Southern New Hampshire is eight worthwhile courses on six different booking systems, two of which refuse to publish a price, one whose book button is broken, one mid-migration between platforms, and advance windows that range from 5 days to 14. No single marketplace represents every one of those direct systems. Text Carl the date and how far you're willing to drive. He checks the relevant booking paths and uses phone inquiry where the course supports it, then sends ranked options and direct links instead of another research project.
