While the Ryder Cup has long since left the classic courses of Britain as its host, the Walker Cup has not once looked beyond them. In 2019, Royal Liverpool is the stage and is a club and a course with tremendous synergy with the amateur game. It is part of a celebrated portfolio of courses on the coastal outskirts of Liverpool, a city with more world-class venues within an easy drive than anywhere in GB&I other than London. Our best golf courses in Liverpool is headlined by England’s No. 1, but its strength is its depth of quality…
Best golf courses in Liverpool: 10. Formby Hall
A modern course of over 7,000 yards off the blue tees and incorporating links-style pot bunkers, woodland and water hazards.
It has hosted the European Seniors, Challenge Tour and EuroPro Tours.
There is also a nine-hole course here and a fine hotel, making it an ideal base for a golf break in Southport.
Best golf courses in Liverpool: 9. Hesketh
An Open qualifying venue as well as a co-host with Hillside for the Amateur, it dates back to 1885 and is the oldest course in Southport.
A proper links at the north end of the Merseyside sand dune system, the short 16th was described by Henry Cotton as the best short hole in Lancashire.
Found on the north side of Southport, the under-rated George Lowe laid out the course that exists today in 1902.
Best golf courses in Liverpool: 8. Formby Ladies
Ignore the name, for Formby Ladies is certainly not just for female players!
Indeed if you come to Southport and don’t play it, you are making a big mistake.
Entertaining, playable and memorable, it was ranked in the top 30 in our inaugural Fun Top 100 Courses in Britain and Ireland.
Best golf courses in Liverpool: 7. Wallasey
Famously the home to the Stableford scoring system – with Dr Frank inspired by the tough start here that frequently ruined his score – it is also a terrific links cut through dunes with fine views of Liverpool Bay.
Advertisement
The first of two courses in our top 10 from the Wirral, it is a traditional links course with fast-running fairways and firm, slick greens.
A contender for GB&I Top 100s.
Best golf courses in Liverpool: 6. Southport & Ainsdale
A two-time Ryder Cup venue having hosted the 1933 and 1937 matches that largely plays over gently rippling linksland.
Arranged in two loops – with the first third the inner circle – by James Braid in 1906, it is all about interesting green complexes, gorgeous turf, heather, gorse and blind shots.
The 16th, ‘Gumbleys’, is the obvious highlight, where even a strong drive leaves a blind approach to a narrow green over tall sleepers. The short par 4 before it and a tough two-shotter that follows, with the railway line to the right and a bunker in the middle of the fairway, are both excellent too.
So who made the top five in our best golf courses in Liverpool rundown? Find out on the next page…
Best golf courses in Liverpool: 5. West Lancashire
Deserves to be in the elite company of a GB&I Top 100 with its fellow Southport links.
If you like simple but exacting links golf without fuss or pretension, this is for you.
West Lancs is stringent in a breeze off the North Sea, with the opening stretch easily capable of ruining a round barely before it is started.
It is also at least as well presented as its neighbours and is a terrific winter course, and, irrelevant to our ranking, but one of the best-value links in England.
Best golf courses in Liverpool: 4. Hillside
Its most northerly holes sit hard against Birkdale, so it’s hardly surprising that they share the same high-octane dunescape.
The inward half is sited on these holes and they offer a scene rare in England, towering sand hills usually being the preserve of Irish links and indeed Trump Aberdeen.
After playing here in the 1982 PGA Championship, Greg Norman said: “The back nine holes are the best in Britain”.
Changes in elevation amplify the effect and this nine is all about travelling along sheltered natural valleys into the amphitheatre greens.
The first half is often overlooked but while being less dramatic, is classy.
Best golf courses in Liverpool: 3. Royal Liverpool
The 2019 Walker Cup host is steeped in amateur golf, dating back to the days of John Ball and Harold Hilton, and this is the second time it has hosted the matches – the first being in 1983 when the captains were amateur icons Jay Sigel and Charlie Green.
The Wirral course is the host this year to mark its 150th anniversary, making it the second-oldest seaside course in England.
It is a thoroughbred links of consistent excellence rather than explosive highs, literally and metaphorically.
Best golf courses in Liverpool: 2. Formby
Well known for incorporating tall pine trees within its linksland terrain, Formby has stellar architectural pedigree with Park, Colt, Braid, Hawtree and Steel all having worked on the course that we deemed better than a correct Open venue in our English Top 100.
Formby plays in an anti-clockwise direction around the also-outstanding Formby Ladies, and is a pleasing change of pace and scenery when played in an itinerary of otherwise pure links.
Some good judges believe it to be the finest course in Southport, Birkdale and all.
It has hosted the Curtis Cup (Paula Creamer and Michelle Wie being part of the 2004 US team) and Amateur Championship (when Jose Maria Olazabal beat Colin Montgomerie in the 1984 final).
Best golf courses in Liverpool: 1. Royal Birkdale
Our No. 1 in our 2017 Top 100 Courses in England at the end of 2017, and a course that comes close to the rare feat of being universally acclaimed.
Birkdale oozes all-round quality, scoring highly in any criteria you want to assess it on.
It is fair but challenging – as is always noted by the world’s finest players when the Open is staged here.
Advertisement
Birkdale is characterised by flat fairways running like ribbons between tall sand dunes and you will struggle to think of an especially modest hole as you sit in the famous Art Deco clubhouse afterwards.
The two par 5s to finish include a softened two-tier green on 17 and out of bounds on the 18th, which is a par 4 in the Open and thus very reachable for lots of club golfers.
Do you agree with our travel man? Let us know in the comments below, or join the conversation on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Advertisement
