West Lancashire Golf Club

West Lancashire Golf Club is one of the best examples of a traditional seaside links you could hope to find.

We elevated West Lancs to our Great Britain and Ireland Top 100 in 2012 and it has comfortably kept its place in the elite list ever since.

In our opinion it is at least the equal of many more illustrious names and is very likely to retain its place in future rankings.

Other judges don’t seem to rate it so highly, but if you like straightforward links golf, you need to ink this into your schedule when visiting Southport.

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West Lancs is a traditional seaside golf club with a commendable lack of fuss at the (in our view) superfluous aspects of a golf club that seem to be gaining in importance these days.

Do not mistake that for a lack of attention to detail with the course though; it is very well presented. The opening stretch can be brutal into the wind and a scorecard can be ruined with two or three wild blows early on.

It is a pure links, and in the winter the club has been known to offer your money back if you play here and return with muddy shoes – that’s how sandy and free-draining West Lancs is.

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Founded in 1873, it is among the ten oldest clubs in England. It was designed by C K Cotton on 200 acres of linksland, with both nines returning to the clubhouse.

Highlights include the three-hole run to finish the back nine and then the short 12th, which is followed by a scenic elevated tee shot off the next.

It is a real championship test right from the exacting opening dog-leg par4 and not a venue to pitch up expecting an easy day. When it is blustery, this natural links is one of the most unforgiving links in Britain.

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There are a couple of slightly weaker holes on the back nine but that is only relative and, pound for pound, this is one of the best-value links in Britain. 

“There are humps and hollows, greens on plateaux and greens in dells, contrast and comparative shelter in the inland holes and everywhere a sea of rough and wilderness to punish the wrongdoer,” wrote Donald Steel.