Five must-play golfing gems on England’s Golf Coast beyond the Open venues

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The 17th hole at Hillside

The Merseyside and Lancashire coast is one of the greatest stretches of linksland golf in Great Britain.

The R&A knows it because the Open regularly visits Royal Liverpool on the Wirral and Royal Birkdale near Southport.

But there is far more to the region – known as England’s Golf Coast – than those two major championship standard tests.

Here are five of the best…

Hillside

Situated right next to Royal Birkdale, Hillside has twice hosted the British Masters in recent times and it is well-respected for being both a tremendous gem and also a fine test. The front nine plots a route along mostly flat but shrewdly shaped land before introducing a dramatic back nine that flows between huge dunes (the 17th hole is pictured above).

The par-3 10th hole is a superb par-3 that hits uphill to a green that nestles in the sandhills with woodland shaping the shot. Then, from an elevated tee, the 11th is a par-5 that sweeps towards the sea. Greg Norman famously concluded that “the back nine holes are the best in Britain”.

Wallasey

Recent work on upgrading the conditioning of the course has made a fine venue into a wonderful one which sneaks between the dunes on the Wirral coastline close to Hoylake and Royal Liverpool. The club is famous for being the home of Dr Stableford who created the scoring system named after him that is used across the world.

The great golf journalist Bernard Darwin wrote: “Wallasey is another course of mighty hills: indeed I do not think I have ever seen a course on which the contour of the hills and valleys was so infinitely picturesque.”

Southport and Ainsdale

Known to the golf community as S&A, this cracker hosted two Ryder Cups in the 1930s and has also been a host of Open Final Qualifying. With a cute little clubhouse and holes framed by marram grass-fringed dunes it is among the most beautiful courses on this stretch of land.

Like Royal Lytham, S&A starts unusually with a par-3 and it might be a better hole than Lytham’s. The green is protected by finely shaped bunkers and is wonderfully inviting but trouble lurks everywhere.

Formby

Another lovely track and one that includes more trees than the others in this list. But this is very definitely a linksy test. The holes sweep along sandy terrain with tremendous bunkering and cunning greens.

As with Wallasey, Darwin was a fan writing: “It is altogether one of those courses where the player’s fate is entirely in his own hands. If he plays well everything will conspire to help him on his way, but he has got to play really well – good, sterling, honest golf: there is no mistake about that at Formby.”

West Lancashire

A regular host venue for Open Final Qualifying, West Lancs (as it is known to everyone) was formed in 1873 and that makes it among the 10 oldest clubs in England. It’s more open than Hillside’s back nine but it is a glorious treat.

Tommy Fleetwood has said of it: “I always make time to play West Lancs. A proper links which is always in top condition, a must play for any golfer.”

READ MORE: Five must-play courses in Wales – the UK’s hidden golfing gem

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