Lost Links: England’s Secret Golf Coast
The eternal Bucket List question for golf travelers is: Scotland or Ireland? Both are chock full of fantastic courses and worthy of pilgrimage, but they are also geographically spread out, logistically cumbersome and, since the pandemic, victims of their own success with advance tee times scarce and very hard to come by.
England, on the other hand, offers one of the simplest and most convenient epic golf vacations you can imagine, with no less than 14 exceptional courses on a very manageable 50-mile stretch of coastline on its west, including the country’s highest ranked layout, and three of its top five. It is home to courses that have hosted 34 Open Championships, a slew of Ryder Cups, Women’s Opens, Senior Opens and British Amateurs and have seen the Claret Jug hoisted in victory by everyone from Bobby Jones to Tom Watson to Tiger Woods. They are close to one another, near a major international airport and easily accessed from the charming city of Liverpool, making it one of the few great urban golf trips on the planet.
“England’s golf coast is often seen by golfers as a third or fourth trip destination, after they’ve checked the marquee spots in Scotland and Ireland off their list,” says Sam Baker, founder of top golf travel tour operator Haversham & Baker. “But it really deserves more attention for its outstanding collection of links courses, including three hosts of The Open. Even better, the region provides significant value compared to other areas in the U.K. and Ireland, requires less advance planning and allows you to play its top courses without the hassle of changing hotels.” For most top tour operators, weeklong packages here with golf, lodging and transport run about two-thirds the price of similar courses in Scotland.
In the world’s greatest golf destinations, history is inextricably connected to the quality of the courses, and playing Pebble Beach, Pinehurst or St Andrews is as much a walk in the footsteps of legends as a round of golf. England’s golf coast is no different, and the sheer quantity of history here is overwhelming.
Royal Birkdale, founded in 1889, has hosted the Open Championship 10 times—more than any American course has hosted the U.S. Open. Ranked in the World’s Top 20 by Golf Digest, Birkdale has also been home to seven Women’s Opens, two Ryder Cups, the Senior Open, British Amateur, Walker Cup and Curtis Cup. Arnold Palmer won the Open here in 1961 and returned four years later to secure the Ryder Cup for Team USA in dramatic fashion, on the last hole of the last match, hitting a three-wood to four feet on 18. Jack Nicklaus led the American team here in the 1969 Ryder Cup, Tom Watson won his fifth and final Claret Jug here in 1983 and the Open Championship is returning for the eleventh time in 2026.
There are a lot of variations on links golf, but Birkdale is cut from the most iconic cloth, its fairways isolated and set between high ridges of rough covered dunes, but with a fairness often absent in British Isles bounces—if you hit the fairway here, your shot will likely stay there. The amount of bunkering is moderate, but if you do go in, many are deep and penal, while the greens, completely rebuilt for the 1998 Open, are tricky but in excellent condition year-round, even in winter (the course is closing for pre-Open renovations in the winters of 2024 and 2025). Even if you’ve played it before there will be some surprises after two years of substantial upgrades ahead of the Claret Jug’s 2026 return, including an all-new standout par-3 15th playing back toward the acclaimed art deco clubhouse.
Royal Birkdale alone would be reason enough to make the trip, but there is a lot more. “As the crow flies, just 25 miles separate the three Open Championship venues,” says Baker. “But despite their proximity, each course offers its own distinct challenge. Royal Liverpool tests you with a flat layout that’s all about subtlety and strategy. Royal Birkdale’s sandhills create a more dramatic setting, and then there’s Royal Lytham & St. Annes, known for being the most challenging of the trio, thanks in part to an abundance of unmerciful bunkers.”
Lytham & St. Annes has hosted 11 Opens, five Women’s Opens, five Senior Opens, two Ryder Cups, the Curtis Cup and the Walker Cup. Annika Sorenstam capped her career Grand Slam here; the winningest player in senior golf history, Bernhard Langer, won the Senior Open; Nicklaus, Watson and Raymond Floyd were Ryder Cup teammates; and Open Champions included Bobby Jones, Gary Player, and Seve Ballesteros, who famously saved par from the parking lot in 1979. Known as the most challenging test in the region, it is coveted by single-digit players. “At one time, Royal Lytham featured just over 200 bunkers,” notes Baker. “They’ve removed some in recent years—leaving just 174 potential card-wreckers to navigate now.”
Jones also won the Open at nearby Royal Liverpool, in his famous 1930 Grand Slam season—a feat no one has equaled since, and the reason why the Open is expected to return to the course in 2030—for the 14th time. Royal Liverpool is England’s second-oldest course, and originally did double duty as a horse racing circuit when it opened in 1869, with the finish line near today’s first tee box. Some critics deride it as flat, but it is very similar to the Old Course at St Andrews, which no one complains about, set between town and the sea, and it is actually a great layout and very fair test of golf, with lots of exposure to wind but little in the way of blind shots or trickery. All three Open venues have extremely well-trained caddies available, worth a splurge for both course management and history lessons. Liverpool is another top-ranked course that has hosted 13 Opens, as recently as 2023, the Women’s Open, British Amateur, Walker Cup and Curtis Cup. Famous winners ing Bobby Jones here include Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
These three vaunted courses are the main attraction, but there is a lot more exceptional links golf, two weeks’ worth. “Hidden gem” is a much-used description in these parts, but the true unsung hero of the Lancashire Coast is Wallasey, seemingly the second favorite of every local you meet at every other course in the area. It’s a beautiful, quirky and charming seaside links with a little bit of everything, including exposed coastal holes, substantial elevation changes, dunes and blind shots. It runs right down the sea on the second, and from the course’s high point, the fourth tee box, you can see across the water to Wales. Wallasey was laid out in 1891 by Old Tom Morris himself, updated by the legendary James Braid. In his seminal book The Golf Courses of the British Isles, Bernard Darwin wrote, “I do not think I have ever seen a course on which the contour of the hills and valleys was so infinitely picturesque.” Wallasey is an unpretentious, welcoming local club that has not hosted any majors or Ryder Cups, yet its place in golf history is secure. It is the birthplace of Stableford scoring, a system invented by a member, Dr. Frank Stableford, and host of the first match ever scored with the system, before it spread worldwide and onto the PGA Tour.
Southport & Ainsdale (or “S and A” as locals call it) is another standout links by James Braid that would be a high-profile star anyplace else. It was the first course to host the Ryder Cup twice, and the first place the United States ever won on foreign soil. It has also held the British Amateur and Open qualifying. Reminiscent of Scotland’s quirky Prestwick, it is the most “natural” and least changed routing in these parts, with unusual par-three holes to open both nines, and one of the world’s most memorable blind shot holes, the par-5 16th, with a second shot over an enormous, mountain-like dune blocking the fairway.
Another overlooked local star is Formby, also a British Amateur and Open qualifying venue, and the only club with two 18s. The now unsegregated Formby’s Women’s Golf Club, originally a sperate routing only for ladies, is often described by locals as “5,500 yards long and five yards wide,” and on paper its par-71 routing looks deceptively easy. In practice, many find it tougher than the longer championship course, especially when the wind blows and the rough swallows even slightly errant shots. Even the short par-3s are penal designs with greens you cannot afford to miss. But the beauty of both layouts at Formby is the unique juxtaposition of sandy linksland with ample heather usually found in heathland regions and impressive stands of pines, absent on almost all the other local routing. It’s a very different atmosphere for links golf.
Charming Hillside is another star on most local itineraries, and its 18th abuts the first at Royal Birkdale. It boasts one of the best practice facilities in English golf, because there was no room for one at the Open venue next door, so the Royal & Ancient sprung for the construction, to the joy of Hillside . Most appealing here is the dramatically different back nine that mirrors Birkdale and evokes the most famous links of Scotland and Ireland with fairways set between towering, framed dunes, separating each hole as they climb and drop along the sea. Two-time Open Champion Greg Norman called the backside the best nine in golf. Hillside is one of the tougher tracks on the coast, long and wind affected with blind shots and a surprising number of burns and water hazards, unlike many of its neighbors.
The three Royal clubs, Wallasey, Hillside, Formby, Southport & Ainsdale, as well as West Lancashire and St. Annes Links, are all highly ranked. Hesketh is another standout overlooked local links and inland Delamere Forest is an excellent heathland course evoking the likes of Sunningdale and Walton Heath. Close to Formby and Lytham, Formby Hall is the region’s only modern full-service golf resort, with a U.S.-style parkland 18 that stretches to 7,000-yards, features an island green and has hosted the European Tour. The resort also has a PGA Golf Academy, TopTracer equipped range and nine-hole par-3 course.
The quantity, quality and proximity of golf here is impressive, but so are the other aspects of a great golf vacation. Manchester’s large airport is a straightforward drive of less than an hour to most of the golf courses, and Liverpool is a non-stop two-and-a-half-hour train ride from London. You have the option of staying in the city and enjoying its urban charms or staying near the golf courses, but in a perfect world, you should do both. Royal Liverpool and Wallasey are both quite close to the city, with Wallasey less than seven miles from downtown.
Hillside, Southport & Ainsdale and Royal Birkdale are all adjacent, and this impressive trio sits less than two miles from downtown Southport, a charming coastal resort town popular in summer for its beach, promenade and waterfront attractions, amusement pier, rides, arcades and endless fish-and-chip stands. Staying in Southport gives you pedestrian access to shopping, dining and drinking, all within five minutes’ drive of the three courses. Formby and Royal Lytham & St. Annes are nearby, and you can play them from Southport, stay even closer at Formby Hall golf resort or make the commute from Liverpool.
Liverpool has a reputation as the friendliest city in the United Kingdom, and lives up to this with smiling staff at just about every hotel, pub and restaurant. This warm welcome extends to even the most prestigious golf clubs. While they have grand clubhouses full of trophies and historic paintings, the atmosphere is much less formal and pretentious than many other storied clubs. Royal Liverpool has no designated parking spots for its Captain or champion, and and guests are treated alike. embrace visitors, are quick to thank you for making the trip, and to share their history and local advice. There’s a very real argument to be made that this region should be better known and more coveted for golf travel, and the locals seem to share that sentiment.
The appeals of staying in Liverpool are its superior hotels, food, drink and cultural scene. As the birthplace of The Beatles, it has always had a music background, and the city underwent a renaissance in recent years, transitioning from a maritime, dock-based economy to an artistic and creative hub. It has pedestrianized areas downtown, a revitalized waterfront, and several standout contemporary restaurants. The city’s top steakhouse is the standout Hawksmoor, a branch of a famous London spot that champions drug-free grass-fed heirloom beef from small British farms and dry ages it in-house. It has become so popular that it now has several branches in the British Isles, New York and Chicago. There is also an upscale English restaurant, the London Carriage Works, in one of the city’s best places to stay, the Hope Street Hotel. Located northeast of the city center across from the Liverpool Philharmonic and near the nexus of lively pedestrianized streets, it’s a contemporary boutique hotel in an architecturally significant renovation of an old carriage factory that has preserved the vaulted brick arches and footprint while updating the interior.
In the heart of downtown, the standout hotel is the Municipal, a dramatic reimagining of an ornate former government building with a grand lobby and its own lavish spa. The central location is convenient for the best restaurants, as well as Liverpool’s preeminent cigar lounge and bar, the Puffin Rooms, with more than 300 whiskies. On the redeveloped waterfront, the best option is the modern Malmaison hotel, part of a prominent British group. The waterfront is home to an assortment of shops and eateries, as well as Liverpool’s top cultural attractions. There’s plenty to do here after golf, including live music at the Cavern Club and tableside magicians at classy cocktail parlor The Oracle.
Out in Southport, a relatively new upscale boutique hotel, The Vincent, has quickly become a go-to choice for visiting golfers. It sits on the heart of the town’s main street, close to many dining options and has its own very good restaurant, lively cocktail bar and spa. The Formby Hall golf resort is a modern full-service resort with a large spa and multiple dining outlets, and the only course in the region with onsite lodging.
