Royal Liverpool (Hoylake)

England's north-west coastline is one of the world's great stretches of links golf, and Royal Liverpool sits at the heart of it. The Wirral Peninsula course may lack the towering dunes of some of its neighbours, but it compensates with an intricate routing and a subtlety that reveals itself slowly over multiple rounds. The links runs across ground that was once a horse-racing track, and the old racecourse's flat profile remains part of the course's identity, creating wide corridors where the wind, the cop, and the position of the pin become the primary hazards.

The club's Open Championship history stretches back to 1897, and the 2023 edition brought Hoylake back into the spotlight after a gap of seventeen years. Brian Harman's commanding wire-to-wire victory reminded a new generation of viewers why the course is held in such high regard. The ghost of Tiger Woods's 2006 victory still haunts the layout, his decision to hit three-wood and long iron all week in the heat of July reducing the course to a precise tactical exercise and demonstrating the kind of strategic thinking that sets elite players apart.

For visitors, a round at Hoylake is a rare chance to walk fairways that have witnessed over a century of Open history. The closing stretch along the far boundary of the course, with the town of Hoylake visible beyond the hedgerows, builds to a finish that is as demanding as any in links golf.