Golf Courses In England
When you are planning your European golf vacations, take a moment to think about playing golf at some world renowned golf courses in England. As Scotland is the home of golf, and me being Scottish, I would advocate that you try the famous and historic courses in Scotland first. Because of the world wide coverage of The Open, the Championship golf courses in England are becoming almost as famous as the like of St. Andrews. Below is a resume of the Championship courses that hold or have held the event.
For some reason, the golf courses in England that have held The Open golf tournament are situated in only two locations of England. First, is the area in the north-west of the country between Liverpool and Blackpool. Second, is the south eastern county of Kent situated below London.
Golf Courses In England - The NW
The north west coastline of England runs from Scotland in the north to Wales in the south. This is were three of the Championship golf courses in England are to be found. You will have no problem reaching this area as it is served by flights into both Manchester and Liverpool airports. As a base for playing these three courses you can’t go wrong with the home of the Beatles - Liverpool.
Royal Liverpool, or Hoylake, is the second oldest links course in England and the first in the north-west to hold The Open and has held 11 in total. Starting from 1897, the event has been held here regularly every decade up to 1967, but wasn’t held again until 2006 when Tiger Woods won the event. Bobby Jones won here in 1930 on his way to winning the unmatched Grand Slam of golf.
Royal Lytham & St. Annes was founded in 1897 but didn’t hold its first Open until 1926. It is one of the finest and most challenging links courses in Britain with over 200 bunkers to negotiate. It has seen its share of legendary golfers winning the Championship; Bobby Jones in 1926, Englishman Tony Jacklin in 1969, South African Gary Player in 1974, Spaniard Seve Ballesteros in 1979 and 1988, amongst others.
Royal Birkdale is the newest of the courses in England to hold The Open. Since 1954 it has held the event regularly, nearly twice a decade, up to 2008. With its towering sand dunes, it is a popular golf course and, you could say, a lucky golf course for the US golfers. Even though Peter Thompson won here in 1954 and 1965, and Ian Baker-Finch in 1991, Americans have taken top spots in the other 5 events.
Golf Courses In England - The SE
The southeast of the country is home to three Championship courses all located on the south coast of Kent, just to the south of London. This close proximity to London makes the area easy to reach for the visitor. To enjoy playing the three courses here, you would do well to stay in one of the charming villages and make the beautiful countryside of Kent as your base.
Royal St. Georges, as I said, was the first English course to hold The Open in 1894 and has held it 13 times in total. As such, this course should be on your priority list when on your European golf vacations. The course has had legendary golfers Harry Vardon and Walter Hagan win here twice each. More recently, Greg Norman won in 1993 with a perfect final round of 64, fighting off Nick Faldo and Bernhard Langer.
Royal Cinque Ports or Deal is less well known as it as only held The Open twice, in 1909 and 1920. Other events were planned, but due to bad luck, the events were canceled in 1915 due to the War and in 1938 and 1949 due to storms and high tides. As it is a very challenging golf course it is still worth playing though.
Prince’s is a Championship course which you have probably not heard of before because it was only used once in 1932 to hold The Open. Golf legend Gene Sarazen won that year with a faultless display of golf and scored 283, which was a Championship record that was unbeaten for 18 years. Incredibly, the beautiful Prince’s course was used by the Royal Air Force for bombing practice during WW II. Renovation of the course was carried out in the 50’s which managed to include the use of 17 of the original greens which stood undamaged by the bombs.
There you have the only six Championship courses in England that you should consider playing - the only difficulty might be playing all six as the north west is quite far from the south east. You will need to book your tee times in advance and you should check each of their websites for information on dress code for the golf courses and the clubhouses.
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