Royal Liverpool

The Verdict

You start at Royal Liverpool because of what happened in 1963. Bob Charles — the first left-hander to win a major — did it here. Standing on the first tee at Hoylake as a lefty is a specific feeling. You're not just playing a course. You're playing a place where your side of the game was finally allowed in.

The course itself doesn't care. Hoylake is a flat, exposed, ruthless piece of ground that has been swallowing pretensions since the 1860s. Wind isn't weather here — wind is the second architect. It decides which holes play long and which play short, whether your knockdown seven iron is now a five. The ground is a club. Play it.

What to Expect

• Flat and exposed — no dunes to hide behind. Every shot is visible, every mistake is visible, and the wind gets a vote on everything.
• 15th — Little Eye — redeveloped in 2020. Elevated par-3, set into dunes, run-offs on three sides, Dee Estuary view that makes you forget what club you're holding.
• 18th — Stand — the best driving hole I've played. Bunkers right and left, an undulating green where the wrong slope feeds a perfectly good shot back to your feet.
• Tiger 2006 — he hit two drivers the whole Championship and won by two. That tells you what Hoylake will accept and what it won't.

Scorecard

Logistics

Private club. Visitor tee times through the pro shop — book well in advance, especially ahead of Open years. ~30 minutes from Liverpool, part of England's Golf Coast. Play it paired with Formby and Southport & Ainsdale. The clubhouse serves a proper post-round pint, and after four hours in the wind, you'll earn it.

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