A Golfers Guide To Merseyside

We all love links golf. The sea breeze; the tight turf; soft sand in tiny pot bunkers; blazing yellow gorse; lumpy greens; whispy rough…

In fact, there’s only one thing we don’t like about this genre of the game – links courses are generally tricky to get to. Unless you visit Merseyside.

Here, drive north or south from Liverpool city centre and in half-an-hour, you could be teeing it up at two of the most recent, and best, Open Championship venues – plus half-a-dozen other courses which could host the oldest Major in the game if they had the necessary infrastructure.

There are five members of Golf World’s illustrious Top 100 Golf Courses here, including the best course in England. From Royal Liverpool Golf Club on the corner of the Wirral, up to Hesketh Golf Club on the northern outskirts of Southport, it’s hard to recommend a better group of courses in such a small and easily-accessible area.

Here’s our pick of the best…

ROYAL BIRKDALE GOLF CLUB

01704 552020, www.royalbirkdale.com
£165 per round on week days, £195 at weekends until September, £120/£150 after that.
The best course in England – comfortably – and Golf World’s No.3 course in Britain and Ireland. Last year’s successful Open here merely showcased that fact. Carved out of giant sand dunes, it’s tough, but fair; the par 3s are all beautiful, and different; it’s not too long for us mortals; and you can barely see another fairway as you walk the course. The grand, art-deco clubhouse is full of fascinating memorabilia.

ROYAL LIVERPOOL GOLF CLUB

0151 632 7772, www.royal-liverpool-golf.com
£150 a round Wed and Fri only until September, £120 October, £75 Nov-Feb. Other tee times limited, £25 extra per player Mon, Tue, Thurs, £50 weekends.
Who can forget Tiger’s ‘stinger’ 2-irons, or Sergio Garcia’s lemon-yellow final-round ensemble, when the Open returned here in 2006? The event was a huge success, and much of that was down to the course. Ranked 15th in our Top 100, it doesn’t boast the impressive dunes of a Birkdale, but it’s a classic out and in links with perilous pot bunkers and great views across the Dee Estuary to North Wales. Check the card for the internal OB on several holes.

WALLASEY GOLF CLUB

0151 691 1024, www.wallaseygolfclub.com
Summer £75 a round week days (£95 day), £85 (£100) weekends. Winter £40 (day).
Set on the northern tip of the Wirral, Wallasey’s claim to fame is that it’s the home of Stableford, which was invented by club member Dr Frank Stableford in 1932. Like Birkdale, it’s set amid huge dunes. Unlike Birkdale, several holes run right next to the Irish Sea; the views from the raised tee on the par-5 4th, looking south towards Hoylake and Snowdonia, rival any course in the UK. On the 9th, look out for the plaque in memory of Bobby Jones, who qualified here before winning the 1930 Open at Hoylake, and had a lifelong contact with the club.

SOUTHPORT & AINSDALE GOLF CLUB

01704 578000, www.sandagolfclub.co.uk
£75 a round week days (£100 day), £100 a round weekends.
The first club to stage two Ryder Cups (1933, 1937) is a hidden gem. Bordered by a cemetery on one side and a railway line on the other, it doesn’t sound like an auspicious location. But S&A is an immaculate, heather and gorse-covered beauty (above), and a magnificent test – one of the finest from James Braid. Bring your A-game from the off, because the 1st is a 180-yard par 3. After your round, check out the Ryder Cup memorabilia from 1933 in the friendly clubhouse – it’s fascinating.

HESKETH GOLF CLUB

01704 536897, www.heskethgolfclub.co.uk
£55 per round week days (£70 day), £75 weekends.
Set on the northern outskirts of Southport, part-links part-parkland Hesketh marks the end of the coastline’s impressive dune system. Half of the holes meander through the dunes, while the others border the Ribble Estuary. The clubhouse dominates the south bank of the river, and inside it you’ll find a wealth of memorabilia celebrating local heroes Harry and Arnold Bentley, two legends of the amateur game.

FORMBY GOLF CLUB

01704 872164, www.formbygolfclub.co.uk
£100 per round Mon-Fri, £120 Sundays; until Sept, then £75.
Formby has an identity all of its own, located in the sandhills and pine woods, and having the feel of being a heathland and woodland course, while essentially still being a links. The best holes are from the 5th – 15th where you play among tumbling dunes and because there are trees on three sides, there is a real feeling of isolation. Accuracy off the tee is a key because the heather covers large parts of the rough and this was much in evidence at this year’s Amateur Championship.

HILLSIDE GOLF CLUB

01704 567169, www.hillside-golfclub.co.uk
£85 per round Mon-Fri, £100 a day. Sundays one round only at £100.
Next door to Royal Birkdale and Southport & Ainsdale, there are very few courses in the world whose nines are so different in look and feel. The outward nine (which is the older) is played over low and relatively flat land with the railway line running down several holes, while the inward nine is built over spectacular dunes, land bought by the club in the early 1960s. Fred Hawtree is responsible for most of the design. Hillside is ranked 43rd in our Top 100, and this was the first course Jack Nicklaus played in a pro event outside America.

WEST LANCASHIRE GOLF CLUB

0151 924 1076, www.westlancashiregolf.co.uk
£75 a round on week days (£90 day), £90 (£105) weekends until October. From £40 a round November onwards.
A superb new clubhouse is just one extra reason to visit West Lancs, one of the oldest clubs in England (founded 1873). This is links golf at its purest; sea views, dense rough, a stiff breeze, hard-running fairways, brutal pot bunkers and blind shots galore. As an Open qualifying course, it’s been graced by some of the biggest names in the game – and last month, along with Formby, it hosted the stars of the future in the 2009 Amateur Championship.