Malaysia Golf Guide

There are several great golf courses in England that you should play when enjoying your European golf vacations. Being a Scot, I would propose that you first play the historic golf courses from the home of golf – Scotland. Due to the coverage of The Open, the golf courses in England are becoming famous and worth playing. Following is a list of the six championship courses that have held the event through the years.

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 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 held its first Open in 1926 even though it was founded in 1897. It is considered to be one of the best and most taxing links courses in Great Britain with over 200 bunkers to avoid. Many legends of golf have enjoyed success here including Bobby Jones in 1926, Tony Jacklin in 1969, Gary Player in 1974, and Seve Ballesteros in 1979 and 1988.

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

On the south coast of the county of Kent, just south of London, you will find the other three Championship courses. When visiting the area you will have easy access as it is close to London. If you are staying to play the three courses here, you will be better of finding a picturesque village to stay at surrounded by the beautiful scenery of Kent.

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 golf course only held The Open once in 1932; Gene Sarazen played impeccable golf to win with a score of 283, a Championship record which stood for 18 years. Unfortunately, the beautiful course was used for bombing practice by the RAF in WWII. Restoration was carried out in the 50’s which re-routed much of the course, and integrated 17 of the original greens which had amazingly escaped damage.

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.