Golf in Southport

SOUTHPORT They say that Southport is to English golf what Fife is to Scottish golf - and there can't be many who disagree with that comparison. The area is absolutely littered with top-class courses, the likes of Royal Birkdale, Royal Liverpool, Formby, Hesketh, Southport Old Links, Southport & Ainsdale and Hillside providing a veritable feast for the golfing visitor. Birkdale, of course, is one of the venues on the R&A's Open Championship rota and the event's most recent visit there saw Mark O'Meara lift the Claret Jug.

The 1998 Open was also where Justin Rose, a young amateur at the time, sprung to prominence with a stunning performance.

Regarded as England's pre-eminent links, Birkdale has, in fact, hosted eight Opens, as well as the Ryder Cup, Walker Cup and Curtis Cup among hoards of other top amateur tournaments. The course is a touch different compared to other links courses as its fairways are relatively flat compared to most links with only slight undulations.

Yet it's the typically threatening dunes and pot bunkers that best characterise the course. Across the fence from Birkdale is Hillside, reckoned by many to be the best course in Britain never to have hosted the Open Championship. Greg Norman, for one, is a big fan, and it's easy to see why.

The opening few holes are flanked by the railway line before the course twists and turns in every direction, providing a fantastic all round test of golf. In Southport, in fact, you literally go from one outstanding course to another.

Hesketh, for example, is another of the qualifying courses when the Open is held at Birkdale, as are Southport & Ainsdale and Formby. Southport & Ainsdale - better known locally as S&A - was designed by James Braid and was the home of the Ryder Cup from 1933 to 1937. It has been tinkered with in patches without losing its original test and, still to this day, comprises all that is good about links golf.

Despite not capitalising on its lofty ranking in the early 1900s, Southport Old Links still offers a pleasurable round of golf, while other courses in the area well worth a visit include Wallasey, Ormskirk and Hurlston Hall. Hanging in the clubhouse at Wallasey is an oil painting of Bobby Jones, the American star having qualified there for the aforementioned Open in 1930.

Boasting plenty of hotels, pubs, restaurants and shops, Southport is the perfect base for the golfing visitor and with so many top-class courses on the doorstep it's surely worth a visit. Further to the south is Royal Liverpool, a place steeped in even more history than Royal Birkdale. Also known as Hoylake, it was here that the first Walker Cup match was played in 1921. It was also where Bobby Jones won the Open Championship in 1930 - his 'Grand Slam' year.

The Open was last held at Hoylake in 1967 - Roberto de Vicenzo won the event for the one and only time - but, to the delight of many, the event will return there in 2006.