Oldham Golf Club begins course setup for National Masters 2026

Hole digging has started at Oldham Golf Club as FootGolf Association of England begins turning the venue into the stage for National Masters 2026. The championship is set for 21st-23rd August 2026, and the first visible work on the course shows how much goes into building a FootGolf event before the opening kick.

At Oldham, the setup is not just a maintenance job. In FootGolf, hole placement shapes the way every fairway is played, influencing line choice, landing zones and scoring pressure from the first tee-off time to the final putt-like finish. By starting with hole digging, the organisers are laying down the framework for a proper championship layout rather than simply adapting a standard golf course for a weekend field.

That matters at National Masters level, where experienced players will expect precise course definition and a venue prepared to tournament standard. Oldham Golf Club is the named host, which gives the event a strong base in a club already equipped to handle FootGolf bookings. The club’s own booking system runs through Booking Hound, with a maximum of five players per tee-off time. Groups larger than that are directed to footgolf@oldhamgolfclub.com, a sign that the operation is already structured for organised FootGolf traffic rather than casual one-off play.

The National Masters also sits inside a larger 2026 calendar for the sport. FootGolf Association of England says its National Tour 2026 runs from April to October and is built around expertly managed tournaments hosted at premier courses nationwide. That wider schedule puts Oldham’s course conversion into context: the club is not preparing for an isolated exhibition, but for one stop on a season-long domestic circuit that depends on consistent standards from venue to venue.

For players, the value of this kind of early work is obvious once competition begins. Hole position, access lines and the shape of the playing surface will help determine how aggressive a round can be and where mistakes will cost the most. For the Association, the message is just as clear: National Masters 2026 is already moving from calendar entry to physical build, and Oldham Golf Club is now part of the championship’s machinery months before the first ball is struck.