The top 10 courses in Liverpool
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.
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.
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Chris Bertram
Chris Bertram is a specialist in all things golf courses.
He was born and brought up in Dumfriesshire and has been a sports journalist since 1996, initially as a junior writer with National Club Golfer magazine.
Chris then spent four years writing about football and rugby union for the Press Association but returned to be Editor and then Publisher of NCG.
He has been freelance since 2010 and spends the majority of his time playing golf and writing about the world’s finest golf courses.
