Royal Birkdale Golf Club Course Review

Royal Birkdale Golf Club Fact File:

• Location: Birkdale is less than 20 miles directly north of Liverpool and next door to Hillside and Southport & Ainsdale
• Year Established: It was founded in 1889, decided to move to its current site three years later and given royal status in 1951
• Par: 70
• Length (yards): 7,156
• Green Fees (weekdays): £370
• Signature Hole: The 12th is an absolute world-class short hole and forms a brilliant back-to-back combo with the 13th.
• Website: royalbirkdale.com

It wasn't until 1954 that Royal Birkdake hosted its first Open and the roll call of winners reads as follows: Thomson (2), Palmer, Trevino, Miller, Watson, Baker-Finch, O'Meara, Harrington and Spieth. For all the talk of Muirfield's champions Birkdale at least runs it very close.

The club was founded in 1889, moved to its current site in 1894 and the iconic art deco clubhouse came in 1935. The club was set to host The Open in 1940 but the Championship was cancelled due to the war.

Back in the day Open venues would often host the Ryder Cup and Birkdale staged two cups, the second the scene of Jack Nicklaus' famous concession to Tony Jacklin.

One family has played a huge role in the course's development. Frederick G Hawtree and JH Taylor laid out the course as we know it today, Hawtree's son Frederick W made some changes in the 60s, including creating the brilliant par-3 12th hole, and his son, Martin, rebuilt all the greens following the '91 Open. Ahead of the 2008 Open he also re-modelled the par-5 17th, using the back half of the old green to sit as the front of the new one. Cast your mind back to Padraig Harrington's approach in 2008 for how a back pin plays there. Jordan Spieth's ridiculous finish of bogey-birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie-par will be replayed countless times ahead of next year's Open but it will look very different.

Royal Birkdale Course Review

The par-3 14th where Spieth almost slam-dunked it in before rolling in the birdie? Well, that's gone. The 15th where he hollered 'Go get that!' to his caddy, Michael Greller, after making an eagle. Well, that's now the 14th and has shifted a fairway's width to the right of the old hole with a green now set on higher ground and with more variety of pin positions. Which means there is a new par-3 15th which plays in a different direction to the other short holes. Here you can run your ball in, unlike the other one-shotters, and with the 7th now shortened to 150 yards the par 3s range from 150-240 yards. The 5th is another which has seen sweeping changes, with new bunkering protecting the short par 4.

Birkdale is recognised for its fairness. The land runs through the towering dunes and you won't get the quirky bounces into troubles that links golf can so often thrown up. The opening hole is certainly the toughest on the Open rota, a snaking par 4 where the wind can blow your tee shot further right and the green is then angled away from you to make it almost impossible to get the ball close. The next is a magnificent par 4 and you may well have to wait until the new 14th for your first chance of a par 5, only to be greeted by a stiff headwind.

It's hard to fathom that the short 12th, where the green sits on a plateau, is relatively young and this makes up a brilliant combo with the brutish 13th, for my money the best back-to-back holes on the rota. We barely got to see the latter as Spieth took ages to take his penalty drop but it's a brilliant corner of the course and sums up perfectly what Birkdale requires; rock-solid ball striking and nous to keep it out of the sand.

For context, Royal Portrush has 62 bunkers, Birkdale has something like 123.

In the past Rory McIlroy has described Birkdale as being one of the best on The Open rota. 

"What a fantastic golf course. I'd definitely rate it among the top three in The Open rotation, if not the best course that we play out of the rotation. It tests all aspects of your game. You have to drive it well. You have to be smart. Everything sort of challenges every aspect of your game."

Birdkale is also home to the only 62 in Open history after Branden Grace pocketed eight birdies in the third round of the 2017 Championship. The South African actually birdied the 1st, added four more on the front nine and a par at the last was good enough to make Open history.

Final Verdict

What's it like to play Birkdale? This has always stuck with me. Years ago I spent a day with half a dozen senior pros, including Costantino Rocca and Barry Lane, and they were asked what the best Open course was – and they weren't allowed to say the Old Course. All six of them replied, without any hesitation, Birkdale.

They loved the fact that they could, almost without exception, see their ball land, the straight bounces and the greens are generally pretty large. There are more elevated tees than a typical Open layout and it at least gives you an idea of what shot is required, even if you are unable to pull it off.

A good example is the 8th where, with the right wind, all you can picture is swinging a tee shot from right to left and getting within a wedge of the green. Then you play it and you're chipping out sideways from sand. I've bizarrely been going down the 15th at level par, with three 5s to come (I blew up, needless to say), and I've also struggled terribly in the wind.

Every time has been special. You don't maybe feel the history of other Open venues but there's more than enough to savour in the build-up, with plenty of memorabilia and the view of the brilliant 18th to drink in before missing the opening fairway.

The last two holes, both 5s for you and I, at least gives you a chance to claw back a shot or two though the 17th has flummoxed me on every occasion though the green really is something else in shape and appearance. And one of my greatest thrills was managing an eagle at the 18th in what is a setting worthy of the greatest tournament in the game.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

For more information, please visit the club's website here