The Insider’s Guide to England’s Royal Liverpool Golf Club

[Editor’s Note:  Our Indomitable Sportsman, Jay Flemma, has returned from northwest England’s fabled Golf Coast with stories from their Open Championship venues and more. In this column, he analyzes the golf architecture of Royal Liverpool Golf Club, perennial Open Championship venue since 1897.]

The tang of the salty sea air, the soft singing of the birds, the sun a cheery, cherry-red ember setting the clouds aflame – it was as idyllic a setting as one could wish for as I stood on the ninth tee at Royal Liverpool Golf Club looking out over the River Mersey to the pastoral hills of Wales. And with the right kind of eyes, I could see what they’ve seen and heard here at Hoylake for over a sesquicentennial.

I had been transported back in time, to a more civilized age. Is that Tiger Woods hoisting that Claret Jug in the shadow of the clubhouse or Peter Thomson? It’s both! There’s Walter Hagen having a chat with Rory McIlroy in the snooker room. And there’s Harold Hilton himself having a game of “Chip the Golf Ball Up the Stairs” with Roberto DeVicenzo.

That’s the game members and guests play in the clubhouse hallway most likely to break priceless trophy cabinets. And at a club over 150 years old, there are quite a lot of those.

Royal Liverpool Golf Club, founded in 1869, is ancient and storied, majestic and inspiring, an experience to be savored like the finest of libations. Not merely an historic club, but a hallowed museum of the game, its Royal patronage originated in 1871, conferred by Queen Victoria’s son, Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught, who was also an honorary member of the club. Built atop sand dunes deposited by the River Dee where it meets the River Mersey, Royal Liverpool has hosted 14 Open Championships and 18 Amateur Championships, along with dozens of other notable contests, including European Tour events. It is nicknamed “Hoylake,” because it is located in that beachside town, less than 10 miles from Liverpool city center.

A trip to Hoylake is a chance to genuflect at one of golf’s most holy altars. Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy won Open Championships at Royal Liverpool, (in 2006 and 2014 respectively); so did Walter Hagen, (1924), Fred Daly, (1947), and Peter Thomson, (1956), all professional golf immortals. Better still, the amateur game is also still held in the highest honor, and Bobby Jones and Harold Hilton were members, the former winning the Open in 1930, his Grand slam year, and the latter winning the first Open contested at Hoylake in 1897. Legendary and well-decorated amateur John Ball also called Hoylake home.

ON THE COURSE

[Author’s Note:  Since 2006, the Open Championship routing for the golf course differs from the sequence of holes members and guests use for ordinary play. Instead of starting on Hole 1 and finishing on Hole 18, the Open competitors begin on Hole 17 and proceed in sequence from there. This article will NOT follow the Open routing; instead, we employ the sequencing any readers might play while visiting. Ours also matches the club scorecard.] 

Happily, one place a golfer need not genuflect is on the course. Of all the Open Rota courses, Hoylake is the most accessible to average golfers. Yes, the use of internal out-of-bounds is a worrying annoyance at most inconvenient times. And yes, the riveted bunkers are penal. But the fairways are wide, the course is not overly long, and the greens run at reasonable speeds, usually slower than 9 on the Stimpmeter. Gone are the cloak-and-dagger terror of Lytham’s bunkering, or the endless quirky bounces of St. George’s, and no Barry Burn meanders drunkenly across seemingly every fairway. Hoylake has excellent sight lines and doesn’t take the driver out of an average golfer’s hand, while expert golfers think twice about hauling it out for fear of hitting too far or too far off line. As such, Hoylake is universally considered as eminently fair.

Part of the reason is that much of the course traverses the flat grounds of the old Liverpool Hunt Club Racetrack. The rest bounds around, over and through the dunescape, giving the two sections of the course a different feel at present. Much of Hoylake’s design stems from a Harry Colt heritage, but several holes were revised or removed altogether. Intermittent architects include Cameron Sinclair, Fred Hawtree, and Donald Steele, but now a long master plan by the architectural firm of Martin Ebert and Tom Mackenzie has helped bring this ever-evolving course into the 21^st century while preserving Golden Age architectural principles and natural links elements.

Part of Ebert’s work at Hoylake involves new sand scrapes – exposed areas of sand within the dunes that are both decorative, and a hazard. The first of these debuted to great acclaim at the 2023 Open Championship as the newly designed par-3 15^th looked fantastic, and played even better. This theme is being repeated along the dunescape holes, creating a unified theme throughout. Indeed, the course gets better every year, as Ebert tinkers on.

Royal Liverpool Golf Club can be broken down into the following components:  Holes 1-3, Holes 4-8, Holes 9-12, Holes 13-15, and Holes 16-18.

Royal Liverpool Golf Club HOLES 1-3

Precision, not power is the key to a good start at Hoylake. Few opening holes feature as much in-your-face terror as the par-4 first hole at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, with its awkwardly placed sharply-angled dog-leg and out-of-bounds extending the entire length of the hole on the right – a slicer’s nightmare, in full view of the clubhouse and visiting players, no less. Intimidating, challenging, and while not the absolute end to your round at the outset, Hoylake demands precision in game plan and execution at the start. This throwback to the 19^th century is just the beginning of a golf journey worthy of Dr., Who and his TARDIS.

While the players are clearing their heads and seeking soothing after the stress of the opening hole, this is not the time for it:  Hoylake’s short par-4 second hole is sneaky-hard, so stay focused. The right half of the fairway will be blocked out from a clear view of the green and the fairway tilts to the right as well, so challenging the left fairway bunker gives the golfer the best angle of attack.

“This is the direction the hole is meant to be played from,” stated Links Manager James Bledge in a sterling YouTube video from Easter of this year. “Anyone playing up the right-hand side is really quite dead.” However, don’t hook your tee shot as OB lurks 20 yards left of the end of the rough. Long hitters trying to drive the green must avoid perhaps the deepest pot bunker on the course, a huge pit 40 yards of the green lurking along the right edge of the fairway. Here the green is raised above the surrounds, a common theme at Hoylake.

Bunkers on the outside of the dogleg is another theme at Hoylake, and you’ll find them at the sweeping dog-leg, par-5 third. With a wide fairway, and large green, this hole serves out birdies and pars like biscuits at afternoon tea.

Royal Liverpool HOLES 4-8

Now begins Your Author’s favorite stretch on the golf course and where the true battle against Hoylake begins.

Hoylake’s par-3s are a string of pearls, each more gorgeous and unforgettable than the last. Both the golf course’s beauty and Ebert’s creative vision are on full display as we first enter the dunesland. Best of all, none of the par-3s exceed 200 yards for ordinary play, proving again that terrain, not Brobdingnagian length, are the key to superlative golf design.

At four we see the newest of the sand scrapes from Ebert; they immediately pat dividends visually and strategically. All the trouble is short and left, and the pedestal green falls off in all directions. Hit two extra clubs for this uphill shot, and play for the center of the green no matter the hole location.

Five shows Bedge’s favorite new sand scrapes and is likely the most interesting par-4 on the course, with its cross hazard splitting the hole at an awkward distance, and sight lines blocked by more towering dunes. The left fairway bunker has been moved about 30-40 yards further down the left side. The left side of the green falls away into three hollows, but the green is not set above the surrounds, though difficult to hit with any sort of running approach.

At the long par-4 sixth, OB posts were brought closer to the tee box, “to be less intrusive,” as Bladge says, but only goofy duck hooks run the risk of a penalty. Instead, the longer the drive the tighter the landing zone – pinching at the 270 mark for pros, 240-ish for amateurs. The long ridge that bisects this fairway will filter balls hard left, and the prevailing wind in your face. And after that, the large but segmented green slopes dangerously away from you.

The seventh – as sparkling a hole as all its par-3 sisters – is considered a breather hole with its green wide open in front, but the dunescape appears again at the par-5 eighth. The fairway was recently widened and moved to the right to take the houses out of play. However shaggy mounds and gorse intrude well into the fairway, making shots from the right blind over the mounding. The green is also the smallest at Hoylake. This hole even flustered the legendary Bobby Jones, who on his way to his Grand Slam victory in 1930, carded double bogey seven.

Royal Liverpool Golf Club HOLES 9-12

Your heart will break a wee bit as you turn around and begin the journey back to the clubhouse. The edge of the River Mersey with the mountains of Wales laying serenely on the other side are an elixir to rejuvenate you through the closing ten holes.

At nine the narrowest fairway on the course slithers amidst a heaving sea of dunes. A fairway extension on the left at the end of the fairway helps access the green more easily for the members.  The hole is called punchbowl, but that describes the surrounds; the green is inverted, shedding shots into marram grass and bunkers. Equally tricky, the par-4 10^th, a hard dog-leg left, has reverse camber on its fairway shedding balls right. The green sits well above level of fairway with tough pitches or chips facing those who miss the green

The par-3 11^th should be called “The Emerald” because it sits like a scintillating jewel, radiant amidst a sapphire sky. This Colt original green is guarded by a most sinister front right bunker, so deep you cannot see anything but the bunker face if you get in it.

Bunkers inside the fairway edges pinch both sides the knee of the dogleg at 12, another colt design. The front left of green is hidden by two bunkers 40 yards short. The right looks safe, but deep hollows guard that side. Back of the green is highest percentage shot.

Royal Liverpool HOLES 13-15

Avoiding the bunkers is key in this stretch of holes. At the par-5 13^th, eight bunkers line the left of the fairway off the tee, while the second shot landing area pinches tightly. At 14  a new bunker moved further form the tee box replaces one removed. Shaped like a coffin, “You definitely don’t want to be in that,” Bledge advises. Five bunkers guard the front of the green.

If 11 is “the Emerald,” then 15 is “the Diamond,” sparkling with a fiery heart, flag silhouetted proudly against the sky. A pint-sized terror that can wreck your scorecard, there are several imperatives. Do NOT go long. That’s a Horror Show. Right is jail with no key to get out. And short features a bunker so deep and steep, you’re best off re-teeing. A 2021 creation of Ebert. The hole against proves shorter is sexier.

Royal Liverpool Golf Club 16-18

The denouement from a most dizzying climax, the final holes return us to the racetrack grounds. At 16 OB on right returns, but with a newly extended left portion of the fairway, just don’t slice. Three diagonal bunkers guard front left and back right along the green’s axis. 17 sets up similarly, its green surrounded by hollows on all sides. The repositioning of this hole will be more fully explored in the companion article to be published shortly. At 18c, the green slopes dangerously away from the player, while the front bunkers safely guard forward hole locations.

Since its reemergence like a phoenix in 2006, the golf world at large’s fascination with and reverence for Royal Liverpool was rekindled, and rightfully so. Reasonable for bogey golfers while challenging for experts – Hoylake sets a perfect balance between the interests of those playing for fun and those playing for fame, fortune, and glory.

For the pros, it plays like Augusta National – you must keep going forward and pressing for birdies. Unless a Bernard Darwin-ish mighty wind blows, tournament players will go low, and more birdies means more excitement. Moreover, the R&A is right:  the resequencing to finish 5-4-3-5 does create the chance for wild swings.

For average players, Hoylake is likely your best chance for a personal best score in the UK. Not quite as much danger as Lytham, as much rough as Birkdale, or as many tough sight lines as St. George’s, Hoylake gives you a nice mix of everything without forcing you to play overly defensive golf. And every step of the way, you walk among the titans of the game. That’s a Claret Jug every one of us can take home.

When not reporting live from major sports championships or researching golf courses for design, value, and excitement, multiple award-winning sportswriter Jay Flemma is an entertainment, Internet, trademark, and banking lawyer from New York. His clients have been nominated for Grammy and Emmy awards, won a Sundance Film Festival Best Director award, performed on stage and screen, and designed pop art for museums and collectors. Twitter @JayGolfUSA