Royal Birkdale remains a staple of the top three in our new and updated NCG Top 100s: England list for 2025.
The club was formed in 1889 and, eight years later, moved location to its current site. However, it would be a further six decades before the Open Championship would make its first visit to Birkdale.
RELATED: Check out the new NCG Top 100s: England list
What makes Royal Birkdale such a special venue?
Birkdale was something of a late bloomer when it comes to the Open. It wasn’t until 1954 that it first held the competition, almost a century into the history of the tournament. Only three years earlier had it been granted ‘Royal’ status.
As though making up for lost time, it has since held the Curtis, Walker and Ryder Cups, as well as the AIG Women’s Open and any number of prestigious amateur events.
The Ryder Cup in 1969 gave the world one of the most celebrated moments in all of golf. Tony Jacklin had levelled his singles match against the great Jack Nicklaus to take them down the 18th – in what was the decisive match of the competition. Nicklaus rolled his ball into the hole for his par and promptly conceded Jacklin’s eminently missable putt to match it. It was a gesture in the grandest traditions of the game; and it belongs to one of its grandest venues.
Royal Birkdale is just a few miles down the coast from the town of Southport, with and flanking it on either side, and beyond the former, on the other side of the train tracks. It is a links-lover’s paradise.
