Winter golf daylight: the last tee time for 18 holes in 68 UK towns
Updated 7 November 2026
On the shortest day of the year, Monday 21 December 2026, a golfer in Penzance can tee off as late as 12:22pm and still finish 18 holes before sunset. In Elgin the last tee time is 11:27am, and in Aberdeen it’s 11:26am. That’s the difference between four hours to get your round started and two and a half.
We worked out sunrise and sunset on the shortest day for 68 towns and cities across the UK, then took off four hours for a round. The table below ranks every town by how much time you have to tee off between sunrise and that cut-off.
The short version
- The south-west has the most winter golf daylight. Penzance, Truro and Plymouth all give you four hours or more to start a round on the shortest day.
- The north of Scotland has the least. Elgin, Inverness and Aberdeen have about two and a half hours between sunrise and the last tee time.
- Summer flips it. The towns that lose out in December are the ones that win long summer evenings. Inverness is level with Derry and Fort William for the most after-work daylight on our list across 2027, yet it comes 67th out of 68 here. Canterbury comes bottom for summer evenings but 9th here, and London 11th.
- Across the whole winter (1 November to the end of February), Penzance gets 1,072 hours of daylight and Elgin 938. That’s 134 hours more in the far south-west.
Last tee times on the shortest day
Times are UK clock time (GMT) on Monday 21 December 2026. “Last tee time” is sunset minus four hours. “Time to tee off” is the time between sunrise and that last tee time. Towns with the same time to tee off share a rank.
| Rank | Town | Sunrise | Sunset | Last tee time for 18 holes | Time to tee off |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Penzance (England) | 8:19am | 4:22pm | 12:22pm | 4h 03m |
| 2 | Truro (England) | 8:18am | 4:19pm | 12:19pm | 4h 01m |
| 3 | Plymouth (England) | 8:15am | 4:15pm | 12:15pm | 4h 00m |
| 4 | Bournemouth (England) | 8:07am | 4:04pm | 12:04pm | 3h 57m |
| 4 | Exeter (England) | 8:14am | 4:11pm | 12:11pm | 3h 57m |
| 6 | Brighton (England) | 8:01am | 3:56pm | 11:56am | 3h 56m |
| 6 | Portsmouth (England) | 8:04am | 4:00pm | 12:00pm | 3h 56m |
| 8 | Southampton (England) | 8:06am | 4:01pm | 12:01pm | 3h 55m |
| 9 | Canterbury (England) | 7:58am | 3:49pm | 11:49am | 3h 51m |
| 10 | Bath (England) | 8:12am | 4:03pm | 12:03pm | 3h 50m |
| 11 | London (England) | 8:04am | 3:53pm | 11:53am | 3h 49m |
| 11 | Bristol (England) | 8:14am | 4:03pm | 12:03pm | 3h 49m |
| 11 | Cardiff (Wales) | 8:16am | 4:05pm | 12:05pm | 3h 49m |
| 11 | Reading (England) | 8:07am | 3:57pm | 11:57am | 3h 49m |
| 11 | Southend-on-Sea (England) | 8:01am | 3:50pm | 11:50am | 3h 49m |
| 16 | Swansea (Wales) | 8:20am | 4:08pm | 12:08pm | 3h 48m |
| 16 | Swindon (England) | 8:11am | 3:59pm | 11:59am | 3h 48m |
| 16 | Newport (Wales) | 8:16am | 4:04pm | 12:04pm | 3h 48m |
| 19 | Oxford (England) | 8:10am | 3:56pm | 11:56am | 3h 46m |
| 20 | Gloucester (England) | 8:14am | 4:00pm | 12:00pm | 3h 45m |
| 20 | Colchester (England) | 8:02am | 3:47pm | 11:47am | 3h 45m |
| 22 | Milton Keynes (England) | 8:09am | 3:53pm | 11:53am | 3h 43m |
| 22 | Ipswich (England) | 8:02am | 3:45pm | 11:45am | 3h 43m |
| 22 | Hereford (England) | 8:17am | 4:01pm | 12:01pm | 3h 43m |
| 25 | Cambridge (England) | 8:07am | 3:48pm | 11:48am | 3h 42m |
| 25 | Worcester (England) | 8:16am | 3:58pm | 11:58am | 3h 42m |
| 27 | Northampton (England) | 8:11am | 3:52pm | 11:52am | 3h 41m |
| 28 | Coventry (England) | 8:14am | 3:54pm | 11:54am | 3h 40m |
| 29 | Birmingham (England) | 8:16am | 3:55pm | 11:55am | 3h 39m |
| 29 | Aberystwyth (Wales) | 8:25am | 4:04pm | 12:04pm | 3h 39m |
| 31 | Peterborough (England) | 8:10am | 3:48pm | 11:48am | 3h 38m |
| 32 | Leicester (England) | 8:14am | 3:51pm | 11:51am | 3h 37m |
| 32 | Norwich (England) | 8:04am | 3:41pm | 11:41am | 3h 37m |
| 34 | Nottingham (England) | 8:16am | 3:49pm | 11:49am | 3h 34m |
| 34 | Derby (England) | 8:17am | 3:51pm | 11:51am | 3h 34m |
| 36 | Stoke-on-Trent (England) | 8:20am | 3:53pm | 11:53am | 3h 33m |
| 37 | Wrexham (Wales) | 8:24am | 3:56pm | 11:56am | 3h 32m |
| 38 | Chester (England) | 8:24am | 3:55pm | 11:55am | 3h 31m |
| 39 | Lincoln (England) | 8:15am | 3:45pm | 11:45am | 3h 30m |
| 39 | Bangor (Wales) | 8:29am | 4:00pm | 12:00pm | 3h 30m |
| 41 | Sheffield (England) | 8:20am | 3:48pm | 11:48am | 3h 29m |
| 42 | Manchester (England) | 8:23am | 3:51pm | 11:51am | 3h 28m |
| 42 | Liverpool (England) | 8:26am | 3:54pm | 11:54am | 3h 28m |
| 44 | Hull (England) | 8:17am | 3:42pm | 11:42am | 3h 25m |
| 45 | Leeds (England) | 8:22am | 3:46pm | 11:46am | 3h 24m |
| 45 | Preston (England) | 8:27am | 3:51pm | 11:51am | 3h 24m |
| 45 | Blackpool (England) | 8:28am | 3:52pm | 11:52am | 3h 24m |
| 48 | York (England) | 8:21am | 3:43pm | 11:43am | 3h 22m |
| 49 | Lancaster (England) | 8:29am | 3:50pm | 11:50am | 3h 21m |
| 50 | Middlesbrough (England) | 8:26am | 3:40pm | 11:40am | 3h 15m |
| 51 | Belfast (Northern Ireland) | 8:45am | 3:59pm | 11:59am | 3h 14m |
| 52 | Durham (England) | 8:28am | 3:40pm | 11:40am | 3h 12m |
| 53 | Carlisle (England) | 8:35am | 3:45pm | 11:45am | 3h 11m |
| 54 | Newcastle (England) | 8:30am | 3:39pm | 11:39am | 3h 10m |
| 54 | Sunderland (England) | 8:28am | 3:39pm | 11:39am | 3h 10m |
| 56 | Derry (Northern Ireland) | 8:53am | 4:02pm | 12:02pm | 3h 09m |
| 57 | Dumfries (Scotland) | 8:38am | 3:47pm | 11:47am | 3h 08m |
| 58 | Ayr (Scotland) | 8:45am | 3:48pm | 11:48am | 3h 03m |
| 59 | Glasgow (Scotland) | 8:46am | 3:44pm | 11:44am | 2h 58m |
| 60 | Edinburgh (Scotland) | 8:43am | 3:39pm | 11:39am | 2h 57m |
| 61 | Stirling (Scotland) | 8:47am | 3:41pm | 11:41am | 2h 54m |
| 62 | Perth (Scotland) | 8:47am | 3:37pm | 11:37am | 2h 51m |
| 62 | St Andrews (Scotland) | 8:44am | 3:35pm | 11:35am | 2h 51m |
| 64 | Dundee (Scotland) | 8:45am | 3:35pm | 11:35am | 2h 50m |
| 65 | Fort William (Scotland) | 8:56am | 3:41pm | 11:41am | 2h 44m |
| 66 | Aberdeen (Scotland) | 8:47am | 3:26pm | 11:26am | 2h 40m |
| 67 | Inverness (Scotland) | 8:58am | 3:32pm | 11:32am | 2h 35m |
| 68 | Elgin (Scotland) | 8:55am | 3:27pm | 11:27am | 2h 32m |
How to read it
Four hours is our assumption for a round of 18 holes. If your club gets round quicker, add the time you save to the last tee time. If you play nine holes, you have roughly two more hours.
Sunset is not the same as dark. In December there is roughly 40 to 50 minutes of twilight after sunset, more the further north you are, but you can’t count on finding a ball in it. We’ve used sunset so that the times are the same for everyone.
The shortest day has the least daylight, but it doesn’t have the earliest sunset. Sunsets are earliest around 12 to 15 December and are already a few minutes later by the 21st. Sunrises keep getting later until the last days of December. So the last tee time shown is close to the earliest it gets all winter, but not exactly.
Making the most of short days
- Book the first tee times you can. With under three hours of tee-off window in much of Scotland, a late start can leave you walking in on the 15th.
- Keep your trolley moving. Winter wheels help on soft ground. See our wheels page.
- Charge the night before. PowaKaddy says wet or soft ground and heavy bags reduce a battery’s range. See our guide to lithium golf trolley batteries.
- Keep your hands and kit dry. Umbrella holders and covers are on our accessories page.
How we worked it out
- Towns: 68 towns and cities chosen to cover every part of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Coordinates for each town centre come from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0).
- Sunrise and sunset: calculated for each town with the open-source astral Python library, which uses the NOAA solar calculation. We cross-checked a sample against a second library, PyEphem, and the times agreed to within a minute.
- Times are rounded to the nearest minute and given in UK clock time. Local hills, buildings and weather will change what you actually see.
- Round length: four hours for 18 holes, our assumption.
If you’d like the full data for your own town or an article, get in touch through our about page.