The Top 6 Golf Courses In England

By: Mick Euan Tait

If you are planning your European golf vacations then you should consider playing some of the golf courses in England. Although, as a Scotsman, I would recommend that you start of by playing the historically famous courses in Scotland first. The courses in England are nearly as famous nowadays because of their exposure as venues of The Open. So, here are the championship courses that have held the event over the years.

I am not sure why, but The Open golf championship is held in golf courses in England that are sited in two distinct regions of the country. There are three in the south east corner of England in the county of Kent, to the south of London. Then there are another three that are located on the north west coast, between Liverpool and Blackpool.

Golf Courses In England - The North-West

Between Scotland in the north and Wales in the south is the coastline of the northwest region of England. The links of three of The Open golf courses are to be found here. You can easily reach this area by flying to either Manchester or Liverpool airports, which are both about an hours drive from the golf courses. Why not make Liverpool a base for playing the three courses as it is a beautiful city - as well as being home to The Beatles.

Royal Liverpool, or Hoylake, has the honor of being the first in the northwest to host The Open and is also the second oldest of the links golf courses in England. It has now held the event 11 times, starting from 1897 and has regularly held the event every decade until 1967. It was not held again until 2006, the year that Tiger Woods won. In 1930, Bobby Jones won here on his historic way to winning the grand slam of golf.

Royal Lytham & St. Annes was established in 1897 but had to wait until 1926 to host its first Open. You will find that it is a fantastic and very challenging links course with its more than 200 bunkers to navigate. Several golfing legends have won here: The US amateur Bobby Jones in 1926, the Englishman Tony Jacklin in 1969, the South African Gary Player in 1974, the Spaniard Seve Ballesteros in 1979 and 1988, and others.

Royal Birkdale is the newest English course to host The Open; starting in 1954 it has held the event almost twice a decade since with 2008 being the latest. The course features towering sand dunes and has been a popular venue and a lucky course for American golfers. Apart from Australian golfers, Peter Thompson who won here in 1954 and 1965, and Ian Baker-Finch in 1991, Americans have dominated here with 5 wins out of 8.

Golf Courses In England - The South-East

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 has held The Open a total of thirteen times and was the first course in England to host the event back in 1894. I would make this course a priority when enjoying your European golf vacations. In the early days, this course witnessed two wins each by legendary golfers Harry Vardon and Walter Hagan. There have been many closely fought Opens here, including the 1993 event which saw Greg Norman shooting a brilliant 64 to beat 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.