How late can you tee off and still finish before dark?

The table

Last tee times below assume an 18-hole round takes 4 hours 15 minutes and a 9-hole round takes 2 hours 15 minutes, with 30 minutes of spare daylight built in after the round finishes. Times are UK clock time (GMT in winter, BST in summer). Sunset varies a little across the region, so three towns are given: Liverpool for Merseyside, Lancaster for north Lancashire, and Chester for Cheshire.

Notice the jump between 15 March and 1 April: that is the clocks going forward for British Summer Time, which moves every time on the table an hour later overnight, not a sudden change in daylight.

How the last tee time is worked out

Take the sunset for the day, subtract 30 minutes so you are off the course with light to spare, then subtract the length of your round. For 18 holes that is 4 hours 15 minutes; for 9 holes it is 2 hours 15 minutes. Tee off any later than that and you are finishing in fading light or worse, in the dark.

The 30-minute buffer is our own margin, not an official figure from anywhere. It covers the last few minutes of usable light before the sun is technically down, the time it takes to hole out and walk off, and a bit of slack if the round overruns slightly.

Why round length matters more than you think

We assume 4 hours 15 minutes for 18 holes, which is on the brisk side of normal. The R&A's own Pace of Play Manual works from baseline times of 10 minutes for an average par 3, 13 minutes for a par 4 and 16 minutes for a par 5, for a four-ball, before any adjustment for a longer course or a tricky walk between holes. Add those up for a typical par-72 layout and you are already close to 4 hours before accounting for a busy course, a search for a ball, or a slow group ahead. The R&A is clear there is no single correct time for every course, but the lesson holds everywhere: if your group usually runs long, move your last sensible tee time earlier than the table shows, not later.

Using the table

Find the nearest date, then read down to whichever town is closest to your round. If you are playing a 9-hole course, or the front or back 9 of a bigger one, use the 9-hole column instead. Then work backwards from your own start time to check you are inside it, especially late in a round booked for late afternoon in autumn or winter, when the last tee time can be more than an hour earlier than it was only a fortnight before.

Photo to followGolfers finishing a round in low golden light as the sun sets over a links course

For a specific date, the weather score on each course page reads the actual forecast sunset for that day rather than this table, so it is worth checking again closer to the day; see how the weather score works for the detail.