Golf Courses In England To Play On Your Next Golf Vacation
Posted: Wednesday, July 09, 2008
by Mick Euan Tait
http://howtogolfbetter.org/
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.
Golf Courses In England - The North West
The north west coastline of England runs from Scotland in the north to Wales in the south. This is were three of the Championship golf courses in England are to be found. You will have no problem reaching this area as it is served by flights into both Manchester and Liverpool airports. As a base for playing these three courses you can't go wrong with the home of the Beatles - Liverpool.
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 SE
The three Championship courses in the south-east of England are all situated on the south coast in the county of Kent. For visitors, Kent is easily accessible due to its close proximity to London. The countryside of Kent is considered the most beautiful in England and there are several picturesque villages that you can stay in that makes a good base for playing all three courses.
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.
These are the six Championship golf courses in England that you can play; your only problem might be fitting in the six in one trip as they are at opposite corners of England. Remember that you will have to book tee times in advance and you should visit each course's website to find out about the dress code for each course and clubhouse.
Mick Euan Tait is a golf fan, golfer, and a golf writer. Visit his How to Golf website where you will find Free Golf Tips .
This Article has been viewed 165 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.