It’s all happening on england’s golf coast

England’s Golf Coast is used to being in the spotlight but the focus on the area will intensify even further this summer when the country’s favourite golf destination plays host to a series of top amateur and professional events.

The area is home to three Open Championship venues and no less than seven courses within the Top 100 Courses in the UK and Ireland and the first one to hit the headlines this summer will be Formby Golf Club which hosts the English Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship on June 26-29.

The English Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship – or Brabazon Trophy as it is better known – is one of the most prestigious events on the amateur calendar and when it comes to Senior golf the pinnacle is undoubtedly the Senior Open Championship which this year is to be played at Royal Birkdale on July 25-28 and will mark Colin Montgomerie’s debut on the Senior Tour stage.

Golfers who find themselves in the north west of England during the fourth week of July will be spoilt for choice because they won’t just be able to watch the likes of Montgomerie, Tom Watson, Tom Lehman, Bernhard Langer and Fred Couples in action but also get a first look at some of the country’s brightest young talent when the English Boys’ Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship is played down the road at West Lancashire Golf Club on July 23-26.

The Carris Trophy – to give it its less formal name – is the first of two major boys’ events to be staged in England’s Golf Coast this summer because a couple of weeks later the finest young players from all over Europe and further afield will congregate at both Royal Liverpool and Wallasey for the (British) Boys’ Amateur Championship on August 13 -16.

“It would be fair to say that golfers who visit England’s Golf Coast this summer won’t be short of good golf to watch as well as play,” said England’s Golf Coast Manager, Geoff Harris.

“We will be expecting bumper crowds at the Senior British Open at Royal Birkdale and followers of the amateur game will be out in force at Formby, West Lancs, Royal Liverpool and Wallasey to see the stars of the future compete against each other in three national events.”

A year seldom goes by without the top courses at England’s Golf Coast featuring at least once on the golfing calendar.

Royal Birkdale, Royal Liverpool and Royal Lytham & St Annes have hosted The Open Championship an impressive 31 times between them and that number will increase to 32 next summer when the Championship returns to Royal Liverpool for the first time since 2006 when Tiger Woods produced a masterclass to leave the rest of the field trailing in his wake.

Next summer will also see Royal Birkdale stage the Ricoh Women’s British Open for a sixth time while Hillside is one of four courses selected to stage Open Championship Final Qualifying between 2014 and 2017. Royal Lytham & St Annes will host the Walker Cup in 2015 while Royal Liverpool will stage the same international match as part of its 150th anniversary celebrations in 2019.

*Further information about the reformed England’s Golf Coast can be found by logging on to www.englandsgolfcoast.com.