St Annes Old Links: Perfect for links golf lovers
Why we’d rather be playing one of the finest championship links courses of England’s north-west coast
St Annes Old Links was founded in 1901 and is one of the finest championship links courses of England’s north-west coast.
It has hosted Final Qualifying for The Open Championship on several occasions most recently from 2018 to 2022, as well as qualifying for the Women’s British Open and the Senior Open. In addition in 2022 they co-hosted The Amateur Championship with their neighbours Royal Lytham & St Annes.
The Old Links is regularly voted in the Top 100 courses in England. The great Bobby Jones said ‘’it’s difficult to see how you could improve on this’’.
If you like links golf, you will love the Old Links.
History
St Anne’s Old Links Golf Club was established in 1901 on land that since 1886 had previously been the home of the Lytham & St. Anne’s Golf Club. The Lytham and St. Anne’s Golf Club had relocated two miles away to the south side of the town to what is now the present championship course of the Royal Lytham and St. Anne’s in 1897, after failing to obtain an assurance from their landlord regarding the future tenure of their course.
However, by 1901 the entrance fee to be a member of the newly located Lytham and St. Anne’s Golf Club had risen to 5 guineas and according to the Lytham Times, ‘The Club had become too exclusive for many of the shopkeepers and traders who desired to play the game.’
On the 24th June 1901, a meeting was attended by 22 local businessmen who agreed to establish a golf course on part of the remaining land that had been left tenantless by the departure of the Lytham and St. Anne’s Golf Club and that the entrance fee should be one guinea. George Lowe informed the meeting that two men in a fortnight could make the ground into fair condition and that he himself would give his services to assist in laying out the course free of charge.
It was also proposed that considering that the club was to be formed on the old links vacated by the Lytham & St. Anne’s Club that the name of the club should be “The Old Links Golf Club, St. Anne’s on the Sea.” The weakness of the club’s position remained in the fact that they did not have security of tenure and as the town flourished and developed, land was swallowed up and the course constantly modified. In 1909 the club secured a 40 year lease for 90 acres of land to what is the club’s present location and with this prospect of security of tenure, commenced to re-design the course.
Alex (Sandy) Herd, the 1902 Open Championship winner and George Lowe, who was now the Old Links professional, submitted joint schemes to the Council. The layout of the course included the original 10th and 11th greens of the old Lytham & St Anne’s Golf Club, which are now the 17th and 10th greens respectively and can justifiably lay claim to be the oldest in the locality.
What makes St Annes Old Links special?
The hallmark of the Old Links is its fantastic greens all year round. They drain superbly well and putt true and fast whatever the weather. Many a visiting golfer has bemoaned the fact that the Old Links has far better greens in the winter than their home club does in the summer!
Where does it rank?
157th in GB&I, 69th in England, 9th in North West Coast
Where is it?
St Annes Old Links is less than four miles from the end of the M55, which runs from Blackpool to the M6 at Preston. The club is located right next to Blackpool Airport, and just down the road from Royal Lytham & St Annes.
Get in touch with St Annes Old Links
For more information about the club and course, visit their website or call them on 01253 723597.
You can play St Annes Old Links on the NCG Top 100s Tour this year!
- Register now to play in our 2024 St Annes Old Links event on July 5th here.
Now have your say
Have you ever had the pleasure of playing at St Annes Old Links? Let us know your thoughts with a post on X, formerly Twitter!
Matt Coles
Mention a European country, and Matt will tell you which resorts make the National Club Golfer Top 100s: European Resorts list. He might even throw in who designed the golf course and how many rooms the hotel has got at each one…
Matt got into the game of golf from a young age, following his old man to the local golf club. He fell for the sport, and now can’t seem to go a day without thinking about how to improve his game (Thanks Dad!). Matt has been a member of Howley Hall GC in Leeds since 2020, and is just about managing to maintain a single-figure handicap. He likes to remind people that he once broke 75, but won’t tell people that it was on a shortened course during the winter.
He moved to Leeds after graduating from the University of Central Lancashire with a First Class Honours degree in Sports Journalism. Matt joined NCG after almost five years travelling the world with the Professional Squash Association, working on events in all four corners of the globe.
Matt currently plays a Cobra King LTDx driver and RadSpeed 3-wood. TaylorMade monopolise the rest of his bag, with a SIM UDI, M5 irons and both Milled Grind and HI-TOE wedges, along with a Monza Redline putter. He uses a Vice Pro Plus golf ball, because he’s a bit different…
Away from golf, Matt is a Manchester United fan, and a keen runner, having ran the Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon (his first and possibly last), in May 2023.
