Royal Birkdale Golf Club

Southport, England

About

Course Architect: George Lowe, Fred G. Hawtree, J.H Taylor, Fred W. Hawtree
Number of Holes: 18
Par: 72
Distances: Championship Tee’s 7,156 Yards / 6,544 Metres
Course Type: Links
Club Type: Golf Club
Address: Waterloo Rd, Southport PR8 2LX, United Kingdom
Contact Us: [email protected]

Location

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The Royal Birkdale Golf Club is situated on the golden links of the North West coast in Southport. It has held more Championships and International events since the Second World War than any other golf course in the world. These include both men’s and women’s Open Championships, Ryder Cups, Senior Opens, Amateur Championships, Walker Cups & Curtis Cups. The course is on England’s Golf Coast, near Hillside Golf Club and Southport & Ainsdale. The golf course has been voted the best in England, top five in the UK and top 35 in the World by numerous agencies. The last Open Championship played at Royal Birkdale near Liverpool was in 2017 when Jordan Spieth liftedthe Claret Jug. We recommend visiting the Liverpool area and playing both Royal Birkdale and Royal Liverpool Golf Club; both are Open rota courses and some of England’s best links golf courses. Various images supplied by Royal Birkdale and Gary Lisbon.

Golf Course Information

The course winds its way through towering sand-dunes that is not unfair to wayward shots. It is a long golf course for a links course, but where the average golfer is usually penalised by run-offs on fairways, Royal Birkdale has milder fairways that are generally flatter. That being said, the biggest challenge is approaching the greens and putting; the pot bunker placement, combined with the perilous angles golfers’ must approach at, make for a tough time landing it cleanly on the green the entire way around. The next biggest challenge is putting; the greens are incredibly difficult to read so frequent plus rounds can be attributed to Royal Birkdale’s notorious putting surfaces.

The wind is another important factor; when it’s down, big hitters are rewarded on generous fairways, but when it’s up, lower, shorter shots are necessary to get to the green, but distance is sacrificed for accuracy. The view from each tee box is generally fair with a noticeable lack of blind shots or hidden doglegs, but any wayward shot must be played from wild sand dunes that make up the topography of Royal Birkdale. On the 16th hole, a plaque commemorates Arnold Palmer’s great golf-shot in appalling weather conditions, on the way to his Open win in 1961.The last time The Open was held there was in 2017 when Jordan Spieth took the title.

Venue Information

The Royal Birkdale Pro Shop stocks a wide variety of merchandise, from outerwear to shoes, golf clubs, trinkets and accessories featuring both independent labels and Royal Birkdale blazons. The rental clubs are PXG which offers the latest Gen2 series of irons and woods that has a great blend of goof looks to match the unmatched forgiveness they offer your game. The Mizuno Performance Centre is recognised as one of 12 Mizuno Performance Centres including recently becoming a Seemore Putter fitting specialist.

Practice Facilities

The Royal Birkdale golf Club has practice facilities that include a putting green, short-game area and long-range area. The practice facilities are located some distance from the clubhouse and 1st tee so golfers should be aware of the time it takes to get there and back.