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NCG visits... some lesser lights on England's Golf Coast
We head to Southport to sample some of the delights on offer
Royal Lytham's 18th
IT is Friday afternoon and the M62 either side of Manchester
is every bit as much fun as you would expect. Only one thought is keeping spirits high and that is of our
destination.
England's Golf Coast, as the seaside stretch of the
north-west is now described, stretches from the Wirral at its southern extreme
to Silloth in the north.
For those who have yet to visit, the sheer wealth of courses
it has to offer is well worth detailing. At the top of the list must come the three Open
Championship-hosting Royals. From north to south, they are Lytham & St
Annes, Birkdale and Liverpool.
Just below them are the highly distinguished likes of
Hillside, Formby, Silloth, West Lancs and Southport & Ainsdale.
So that gives you eight layouts straightaway that most good
judges would recognise as being inside the best 25 or so in the whole of
England.
And that is only the tip of the iceberg, as we
were about to find out. Eventually we left the M62 and most of the traffic, to
turn off towards Southport, a seaside town that is second only to St Andrews in
terms of its appeal to British golfers.
Our first port of call was Formby Ladies and I
don't admitting we were unsure as to exactly what to expect.
We half expected to get laughed out of the pro
shop when we went in to announce ourselves but we were quickly reassured that
what we were about to do was perfectly normal.
Men can and do play this course, which lies
inside the championship course of Formby.
In fact, a round at both is about as agreeable a
day's golf as can be imagined.
The official scorecard shows a course of 5,374
yards and a par of 71. But for us men if you play the three par 5s as par 4s
(they measure 417, 428 and 422 yards respectively) then you have an altogether
stricter par of 68.
The turf is every bit as true as that on the
main course, and the greens just as smooth.
The bunkering is slightly less penal but the
same cannot be said of the heather and rough.
Some will fancy their chances of making a few
birdies but each hole deserves respect, as anyone wielding a driver with
abandon will soon learn the hard way.
Typically, the best way to tackle the majority
of the par fours is with a hybrid or fairway wood from the tee and then a
mid-to-short-iron approach.
If you imagine the standard of a championship
course combined with the length of something more manageable you will get the
idea. It comes recommended.
The ideal base for a golfing trip to the
Southport area is the Formby Hall Hotel and it was here we headed to prepare
for the following day.
Modern, spacious and well-equipped to cater for hungry
and thirsty golfers, it also has its own 18-hole course, 9-hole par-3 course
with plenty of water hazards and a driving range that is home to an academy.
The following morning we headed for Ormskirk, a
traditional parkland course that is a regular host of Regional Open Qualifying.
Only seven miles from Southport, it possesses
one of the longest front nines you will find beyond the Open rota and as
friendly a professional in Jack Hammond as you could wish to meet.
Having been sent on our way, it was straight
down to business and alarm bells were ringing as early as the 2nd, which,
although measuring a modest 371 yards on the card, was playing into a stiff
breeze.
Combined with overnight rain, it called for two solid hits and we knew
the next hole was some 90 yards longer and playing in exactly the same
direction.
Sure enough, it proved unreachable in two. The
first of four par 4s in the outward half of over 400 yards, the solitary 3 is
not much under 200 yards either so by the time you have also factored in a par
5, reaching the turn requires a good deal of work with the longest clubs in the
bag.
Fortunately, the back nine is a completely
different story with three short holes and a collection of more modest par 4s.
It does, however, finish with a sting in its
tail, a 426-yarder with a pond to the right at driving distance meaning you
must find one last solid tee shot before reaching the clubhouse. Well-presented and entirely fair, this is a
solid course.
Hesketh, just outside Southport was the venue
for our afternoon round. The links-style holes you see upon arrival on either
side whet the appetite and this is where this historic course begins and ends.
Founded in 1885, it is the home of the famous
amateur Bentley brothers, Harry and Arnold.
The middle section of the course is on the far
side of the road and is laid out in marshland and parkland surroundings.
Recent efforts have gone a long way into
bringing them into line with the first two and last five, but it is still hard
to escape the feeling that you are playing two different courses.
It is not in any way that the middle holes are
anything less than good, just that the others are of such a high quality they
inevitably suffer by comparison.
Unusually, Hesketh finishes with a pair of par
5s, of which the sinuous 17th is undoubtedly the more testing.
From the 1st at 436 yards, it is clear this is a man-sized course, and a very fair one at that.
We
were first out the following morning at West Lancs, fresh from recent work to
its clubhouse that is a monumental improvement.
This is a course that has never had the respect
it deserves and the biggest single reason was presumably the awful old
clubhouse.
West Lancs has a more homely, down-to-earth,
friendly feel than several of its neighbours - but what a links this is.
With room to stretch almost every hole should
they ever feel the need, this course could be anything you wanted it to be.
Big, rugged, tough and demanding, you get
exactly what you deserve at West Lancs - and nothing more.
From the 1st at 436 yards, it is clear this is a
man-sized course, and a very fair one at that.
Perhaps the only moment of controversy is the
tee shot at the 14th, which would benefit from a marker post. Blind, this hole
doglegs sharply right and if your ball is not immediately in view when you get
to the fairway it is very difficult to work out what line you have hit it on.
A copse to the right also seems out of character
on what is elsewhere a pure links.
Even so, as a whole West Lancs ought to be
recognised as one of the top 50 courses in the British Isles when judged on its
layout alone.
If West Lancs is in the shadow of its neighbours
generally, then Hillside is in a shadow specifically of Royal Birkdale, with
whom it shares a border.
Stretching to over 7,000 yards from the tips,
make no mistake this is, like West Lancs, championship golf.
It is a course of two halves, with the front
nine occupying flatter land and running alongside the railway line that
separates it from Southport & Ainsdale. Scottish in style, you will need to
avoid a stream that repeatedly comes into play and generally plot your way
around.
On the back nine, the golf is on an altogether
grander scale. More open, more undulating and more dramatic, this is more akin
to playing in Ireland.
From various points you can look across to
Birkdale and, beyond it, the Irish Sea.
Popular opinion dictates that the back nine is
the better of the two but I would argue several of the best holes are the
strategic ones on the less spectacular outward half.
As ever in these matters, it depends whether you
are more impressed by the holes themselves or the scenery that may or may not
surround them.
All trips should build towards a climax and
after a day like this that is not an easy thing to do.
Fortunately, our final round was to be at Royal
Lytham, around an hour-and-a-half's drive north from Southport.
To the first-time visitor, Lytham can underwhelm
because there is little to stimulate the senses visually.
Yet anyone fortunate enough to play it more than
once will realise it is the most subtle and strategic of courses.
Brutally bunkered - surely only the Old Course
can rival the number and depth of its hazards - it is a course than cannot be
overpowered.
Time and again you have the choice of laying up
short of the fairway bunkers to leave a 200-yard approach or else aim at a
15-yards-wide channel and risk heavy penalty should you miss it by a matter of
inches.
Generally speaking, the front nine is downwind
and heads for the far end of the course.
Once you turn for home after the short 9th,
there is little respite with the 14th, 15th and 17th representing as
intimidating a trio of long par 4s as can be imagined.
The last green, standing in front of the bay
windows of the famous old clubhouse, is everything it should be and brings back
memories of Seve, Tony Jacklin and Bobby Jones winning Opens here.
The perfect end to a perfect trip.
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