Royal Birkdale Golf Club

Royal Birkdale, part of England’s Golf Coast, has spent the past decade within the upper echelons of the Golf World Top 100 Courses rankings and The Open-hosting Southport course is among finest links in the world. Chris Bertram explains why it’s so highly regarded.

Inevitably, there aren’t any courses in Britain and Ireland that engender universal affection, but Royal Birkdale is one that comes closer than most.

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Few would argue with it being a fixture in our GB&I top 10 for the past decade and any dissenters are far fewer in number than for almost any other venue. This widespread affection is surely due to the all-round quality of Birkdale. It is not as pretty as Turnberry or perhaps as strategic as Lytham. It is not as clever as Muirfield or as beguiling as St George’s, but it does not fail in any of these categories.

It is fair and challenging, inspiring and immaculate. When we mark Birkdale out of 10 in our various categories, it never creeps below an eight and often receives a nine.

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So it is with good reason it is one of the most popular venues for The Open and during Padraig Harrington’s victory here, the early evening weekend sunshine helped encapsulate all its finery beautifully. 

Royal Birkdale’s championship layout begins with one of the most demanding 1st holes on the rota.

Shaped almost like a double dog-leg, it is fully 450 yards off the backs with an infuriating bunker on the left of the fairway. Even if you start with a good drive, you then have to feather a hybrid or fairway wood onto a green guarded by three traps and a large mound front right which hides much of your target.

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The 1st hole takes you among dunes which you cut through for much of the opening 14 holes and the best of Birkdale is arguably the next two. These are two wonderful par 4s, shorter than the 1st but by no means straightforward. The 2nd is a slight dog-leg to the left that plays into the prevailing wind. You notice two bunkers peering back at you from the right of the fairway as you stand on the tee but mostly you are drinking in the crumpled fairway that stretches before you. Six more traps await at a green encircled by rough-strewn banks.

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Lytham, further up the coast, is famed for its bunkering, but it is not the only course in Lancashire with plenty of pits, for more sand awaits on the 3rd, with drive bunkers either side of a fairway that you want to favour on its left side to gain a ‘look’ at the angled green whose surrounds were re-contoured for the 2008 Open. It is a ‘mere’ 373 yards, but a par is always an achievement.

Coming home, many will point to the 12th as a highlight. It is indubitably a classic par 3 but it is not a lone star. Even with the last four occupying more open terrain, there is no drop in quality.

The short 14th is broadly the equal of the 12th while the 15-bunker 15th starts a 5, 4, 5, 5 finish that gives amateurs the chance of a climax to reflect on satisfyingly for years after.

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The two-tier green on 17 attracted criticism in 2008 but has been softened, while the 18th (par 4 in The Open) has out of bounds up the right but is reachable at 441 yards for many visitors in calm conditions.

Having a run at a birdie putt under the nose of the iconic art deco clubhouse is one of the joys of the well-rounded Birkdale experience.

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