Southport UK Accommodation

Royal Liverpool Golf, England's Golf Coast

The spectacular art deco clubhouse at Royal Birkdale, host to the Open in 2008

Golf Southport Golf Coast Formby Golf Club Royal Birkdale Hesketh Hillside Golf UK

England's historic golf coast, including three famous Royals, is here in the North West. Regular hosts to the Open Championships, the Royals Birkdale, Lytham & St Annes and Royal Liverpool stand as three of the UK's finest links courses and Royal Birkdale is again to host the Open in Liverpool's Capital of Culture year 2008. The North West's golf coast is easily accessed by international visitors courtesy of excellent transport links into the area. Airports serving the North West include Manchester Airport, Liverpool John Lennon Airport and Blackpool International Airport. Direct ferry services run regularly into the Liverpool area from Dublin, Belfast and the Isle of Man. See Norfolkline's ferry link service from Belfast and Dublin to Birkenhead and P&O's ferry service from Dublin to Liverpool North Quay at Bootle.

Southport sits right in the heart of golf action in the North West. Royal Birkdale borders the town and numerous championship courses are within easy reach including Southport & Ainsdale, Formby Hall, Hesketh and Hillside.

England's Golf Coast in the North West

Southport sits at the very centre of England's golf coast in the North West. Some of the UK's finest golf courses are here along the Wirral, Lancashire and Mersey coastline inclusive of three famous Royals - Royal Birkdale, Royal Liverpool and Royal Lytham & St Annes. These three historic British golf courses have regularly played host to the Open Championships, and in 2008 Royal Birkdale is to host the Open Championships again.

The Royals attract a huge international audience and are complimented by a host of other premier private and municipal golf courses in the region including Formby Hall, Southport & Ainsdale, Hesketh and Hillside Golf Club. Southport and the Wirral combined boast 7 championship courses. Golf choice is huge in the area and from Southport 27 golf courses are within a 30 minute drive, whilst a further 160 golf courses are within a one hour drive. Southport can justifiably claim to be one of the UK's golf capitals!

Many of the courses around the Royals on the North West Golf Coast play host to other major golf competitions such as the Ryder Cup and other amateur events. The Ryder Cup has been at Southport & Ainsdale and Royal Birkdale twice. They also serve as qualifier courses for the Open.

The history of golf in the North West is as rich as Scotland's Ayrshire and Angus Golf Coasts. One of the oldest historic seaside golf courses is Royal Liverpool which dates from 1869 and lays claim to being the first to host the Amateur in 1885. The North West coastline offered the perfect territory for the expansion of golf links courses, many of which are bordered by the distinctive sand dunes, as the popularity of golf grew. Historic golf facts pertaining to the region include the use of the first rubber-cored ball in 1902 at Royal Liverpool and the origins of the English Golf Union at Hesketh.

The Royals on the North West Golf Coast

The North West's three famous Royals - Birkdale, Lytham St Annes and Royal Liverpool stand as three of the UK's most famous and popular golf courses. Each sits within their own hub of numerous other championship courses. Royal Birkdale is situated on the stunning Sefton Coast near Southport, Royal Liverpool sits on the Wirral Coast near Hoylake and to the north Royal Lytham & St Annes sits on the Lancashire Coast. International visitors are well served by UK airports in the area including Liverpool John Lennon Airport for the Wirral and Southport, Blackpool International Airport for Lytham St Annes and indeed Southport and Manchester Airport for access to all.

Royal Birkdale near Southport, with its spectacular art deco clubhouse overlooking the 18th green, dates from 1889 when the club was formed. The course here began life as a 9 hole course but by 1897 the club had shifted to the Birkdale Hills with an 18 hole course. Birkdale has consistently evolved with the times incorporating new challenges alongside the always present challenge of the sea breezes blowing down the fairways. The course was awarded the prestigious Royal title in 1951 and in the early 1990s the greens were completely redesigned. You're treading in the footsteps of some golf legends indeed here at Royal Birkdale including Anrnold Palmer and Peter Thomson who won the Open twice here at Birkdale.

A regular host of the Open (most recently in 2006), Royal Liverpool at Hoylake actually began life as a racecourse. The golf course dates from 1869 and second only to the smaller Westward Ho! course on the Devon coast, Royal Liverpool is the oldest seaside golf course in the country. Closely connected to the Amateur game (the first Amateur was held here), Royal Liverpool has boasted a selection of local golfing greats including John Ball. Renowned as a great challenging course at 6240 yards with the added pressure of the sea breezes, Royal Liverpool was revamped to great effect in recent times by the architect Donald Steel.

Royal Lytham & St Annes golf course is ideally placed between two classic English seaside resorts on the Lancashire coast. Receiving the Royal stamp in 1926, in that same year Royal Lytham & St Annes also hosted the first Open! A challenge indeed, the course faces the elements of the Irish Sea - the trees have a distinctive lean. Royal Lytham & St Annes is the only big championship course to open with a Par 3, and the course's first four holes and last five are widely regarded as the hardest golf challenge in the UK. The classic Victorian clubhouse overlooks the 18th green.

Southport Golf Coast Club Listings

Royal Birkdale Golf Club, Waterloo Road, Southport, PR8 2LX. Tel. 01704 552020. The Royal Birkdale plays host to the Open Championships July 2008.

Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club, Bradshaws Lane, Ainsdale, Southport, Merseyside, PR8 3LG. Tel Club House & Secretary 01704 578000.

Formby Hall Golf Resort & Spa, Southport Old Road, Formby, Southport, L37 0AB. Tel. 01704 875699. Formby Golf Club, Golf Road, Formby L37 1LQ. Tel. 01704 872164.

Hesketh Golf Club, Cockle Dick's Lane, Southport PR9 9QQ. Tel. Secretary 01704 536897, Course Information 01704 501209. Hillside Golf Club, The Clubhouse, Hastings Road, Hillside, Southport, PR8 2LU. Tel. 01704 567169. See also Southport's central historic Old Links course just to the north of the Marine Lake. Golf play was first here in the late 1800s. The course is a 9 hole, but with large lengths to its holes. Southport Old Links Golf Club, Moss Lane, Churchtown, Southport, Merseyside PR9 7QS. Tel. 01704 228207.

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