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Royal Birkdale is one of three NW English coastal links courses to regularly host the British Open. Along with local linkses at nearby Royal Lytham & Saint Annes and Royal Liverpool (better known as HOYLAKE) the Blackpool-to-Liverpool coast will have hosted three of the last eight Open Championships: 2001, 2006, 2008, putting this thirty miles of coast lining the Irish Sea on a par with the three classic Open host courses similarly placed over thirty miles of Scotlands North Sea coast: MUIRFIELD, ST. ANDREWS, and CARNOUSTIE (2002, 2005, 2007). |
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For the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of Saint Andrews, the Opens sanctioning body, to award this otherwise unremarked coastal region of Britain with such Open Championship frequency suggests the setting and these three courses especially offer the game something special. In the case of Royal Birkdale, currently ranked by GolfDigest.com as the 18th best course in the world (outside of the U.S.), the special something is the Sefton Coast, almost 5,000 acres of dunesland, the largest such environment in the United Kingdom. Royal Birkdale shares these extensive dunes with five other golf courses and several nature reserves and recreation areas. The course takes its stewardship of this fragile habitat quite seriously. A hole-by-hole guide to the flora and fauna of Royal Birkdale makes for interesting reading, especially in light of the inherent conflict of maintaining an exclusive, irrigated golf course on land belonging to an ecosystem dependent upon the changeability of its composition due to tides, wind, sun and rain. |
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HISTORY: It wasnt always this way at Royal Birkdale, of
course. The club, originally building a locally organized 9-hole course,
first came together in 1889. Eight years on the club moved to a new
18-hole course spread among the dunes of the Birkdale Hills. Over the
ensuing 110+ years, evolution has remained active at Royal Birkdale.
Looking to upgrade to championship course standards the club hired
five-time British Open champion J. H. Taylor and British course
architecture firm Hawtree to redesign Birkdale. In 1935 as the new
course design was underway, Birkdale built a grand new clubhouse in a
modern, 1930s rectilinear style, a form that has been faithfully
maintained despite several subsequent changes and additions. Birkdales
unusual clubhouse has become the iconic image of the course, but
tournament play has put the course on the map of world golf. Starting
with the British Amateur Championship (at the time still a major
tournament) in 1946, the revamped Birkdale Golf Club became the venue
for numerous top-echelon golf tournaments. Once it was awarded Royal
status bestowed on the course by Queen Elizabeth IIs father King
George VI in 1951 Royal Birkdale caught the greatest prize in UK golf:
joining the rotation of courses hosting the annual British Open
Championship. |
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- The Hawtree/Taylor design created a course among the dunes, not atop them. The fairways and greens stretch along the valleys between the uplifted sand banks, following the natural contours of the rills. To some extent, the wind is kept less a major factor than at other true links courses, as long as golfers keep the ball low and play the fairways. But, errant shots will find major trouble in the scrub of willow and buckthorn that makes up the dense rough covering of the dunes. The championship course yardage is long and par relatively low for a true links at 7,170 yards, par-70. The dunes also serve as excellent perches for onlookers to watch the tournament progress in the fairways and greens below. There are only two par-5s at Royal Birkdale, and those can be birdie opportunities on the back nine. However, there are several long par-4s, including six of 450-499 yards distance, that provide the great test at Royal Birkdale. Some key holes on the course are: |
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HOLE 9 411 yards, Par-4: Not one of the long par-4s at Royal Birkdale, but certainly among the trickiest. A blind tee shot must find a plateau in the narrow fairway before the dogleg right. A second shot requires hitting a rounded, elevated green protected in front by bunkers and in back and to the right by dense scrub.
The 9th hole leads to
an elevated green guarded |
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HOLE 12 183 yards, Par-3: In the absence of wind, this long par-3 from elevated tee to elevated green requires correct club selection and an accurate shot. Windy conditions greatly increase the odds of the first shot finding on of the four pot bunkers protecting the front of the green or of flying the green and reaching deep depressions or hillside scrub behind the green.
An elevated green
protected by dense rough and |
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HOLE 15544 yards, Par-5: If a birdie is to be earned on this long, narrow hole, no fewer than 15 bunkers (13 lining the slender fairway) must be avoided. The challenge is daunting enough on a calm day, but magnified by any wind.
The fairways at Royal
Birkdale may be flatter than those |
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| HOLE 18472
yards, Par-4/5: A long par-4 from the championship tees is a
reasonable par-5 for mortal golfers. Still, this last dance at Royal
Birkdale requires avoiding four strategically placed fairway bunkers and
negotiating the thinnest of aprons to the green. Pars are readily
available here, but birdies usually require some risk-taking.
The 18th green can
reward long-hitters and |
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THE REGION: Englands Golf Coast offers a wealth of golf courses for golfers of all levels of skill and wealth. But if the golf is great here it is not the principal claim-to-fame for this diverse region of northwestern England. Not far south of Southport (Birkdale) is the classic, quirky English seaside resort of Blackpoolknown for its electric excesses and unkind climateeclectic enough to amuse and confuse Americans with a glimpse of English masochistic eccentricity. A few miles further south is the port city of Liverpool. For most Americans under the age of 65, Liverpool & Merseyside are much better known for their great musical contributions of the 1960s, collectively known in the USA as the British Invasion. Leading the charge, of course, were the Beatles, whose hometown of Liverpool now courts American tourists with attractions including the Magical Mystery Tour, Cavern Club, and The Beatles Story. South of Liverpool is the small city of Chester, gateway to North Wales, and proud conserver of one of the great walled medieval city centers still extant in Britain. |
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GREENS FEES:
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VISITORS:
Welcomed Su, Mo, We, Th, Tu PM, HANDICAP CERTIFICATE REQUIRED.
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DRESS CODE:
Proper golf attire |
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LOCATION: Royal Birkdale is within 150 minutes drive time or less from HOME AT FIRST locations in THE LAKE DISTRICT, NORTH YORKSHIRE, SHROPSHIRE/CHESHIRE, and NORTHWESTERN WALES. DIRECTIONS TO SOUTHPORT & BIRKDALE:
Let Home At First make your advance tee-times at Royal Birkdale and many other British golf courses as part of your pre-reserved independent fly/drive trip itinerary. Theres no extra charge for this service.
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