Southport Golf Capital of England

Southport is home to the UK's highest concentration of championship links courses and is widely regarded as "England's Golfing Capital".

Royal Birkdale in Southport regularly hosts the The Open Championship with the last one being in July 2008. The club has also been the venue for the Womens Open in both 2005 and 2010.

But Southport's reputation for being England's Golfing Capital is not just based on Royal Birkdale it boasts another five championship courses within 15 minutes drive from the town centre and a sixth only half an hour away.

Hillside, Formby, Hesketh, Southport & Ainsdale, Formby Hall and West Lancashire Golf Clubs are all superb courses providing a challenge to the most accomplished golfer.

Royal Birkdale

The Club was formed in 1889, starting life as a nine hole course. In 1897 the decision was taken to move to Birkdale Hills where an 18 hole course was constructed. The course underwent considerable changes in the mid 1930's when the current Clubhouse was built. There was further restructuring in the 1960's and in the early 1990's all of the greens were reconstructed and redesigned. In preparation for the Open Championship in 2008 and as a part of the Club's on going improvement there have been some significant alterations carried out from 2005 to 2007 which have enabled the Club to retain its position as one of the finest links courses.

Hesketh

Nearest to 'The Leicester', the Hesketh is the oldest golf club in Southport, established in 1885.

Among the famous names to play at Hesketh is Henry Cotton, who set a course record of 68 in 1932 and not forgetting the Bentley brothers, Harry and Arnold, often described as the most illustrious pair of brothers in the history of the amateur game. In fact Arnold went on to lead the British triumph at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, leaving Hitler decidedly unimpressed that the Germans could not demonstrate their superiority. Unusually, Arnold was presented with a fir tree along with his prize, and to this day, it sits outside the clubhouse, part of the folklore of the club.

The Amateur Course Record of 67 by Mike Kanski (Hesketh) 6th July 2002. The distinctive challenge of the course is that half of the holes meander through tall sand dunes, while the others border the Ribble estuary. Some of the best holes lie between the sandhills and the clubhouse, particularly the eighteenth which is long and a great finishing hole.

Hillside

The back nine holes were redesigned in the 1960's and are outstanding, making the homeward journey a challenging one for golfers of all standards. It is no wonder that Hillside treasures a letter from Greg Norman, twice a winner of The Open, which describes the back nine holes as the best in Britain.

Since 1967, Hillside has hosted several prestigious championships. In the late 1970's, the British Ladies Championship and Amateur Championship were held; in the 1980's the European PGA Championship and The Amateur Championship; in the 1990's the English Open Amateur and the International European Amateur.

The course is a highly regarded Qualifying venue for The Open, in fact some would say it is one of the best links courses never to have hosted The Open!

Southport & Ainsdale

The course was designed by James Braid, who alongside Henry Varden and J H Taylor, dominated British professional golf in the first half of the 20th Century. Much of Braid's original layout survives to this day and the fine par four, third hole, is named in his honour.

The traditional feel of the links has been retained through the years, with S&A making the worthwhile effort to control the spread of trees and bushes and keep the character of the course. So impressive is the course that one golf magazine named it amoung the top 50 golf courses in Great Britain.

The course deservedly gained a good reputation in the early years, hosting two Ryder Cup matches in 1933 and 1937. Great Britain and Ireland were victors in the first encounter, with the outcome decided by the last putt on the final green, while the United States were convincing winners in 1937.

Since then the S&A has hosted countless top events including the Ladies British Open and remains a Qualifying venue for The Open whenever it is staged in the region. In 2005 the club co-hosted the Amateur Championship with Royal Birkdale.

Formby Golf Club

The club is unique in Britain for within the boundary of its own course is the completely independent Formby Ladies Golf Club, which was founded in 1896.

Formby Golf Club, founded two years earlier in 1884, are proud to have an outstanding amateur championship course with par 3s amongst the most challenging to be found anywhere. Visitors are most welcome throughout the year on non-competition days.

Formby has hosted many important national and regional amateur golf events, particularly three Amateur Championships. It was on this course that Jose-Maria Olazabal beat Colin Montgomerie to win the final of The Amateur Championship in 1984. The excellence of the course was underlined once again in 2004, when the Club had the honour to host the Curtis Cup - the world's greatest team event in Ladies Amateur Golf, a match between Great Britain and Ireland against the USA.

Formby is at the forefront of amateur championship golf in the U.K. and has again been invited to be one of the three final qualifying courses for The Open in 2006.

 

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