This week, the golf world descends on a seaside town in northwest England to watch the 154th Open Championship. Royal Birkdale is hosting for the 11th time, and since first staging the Open in 1954, no venue other than St Andrews has hosted it more often. Arnold Palmer won here. So did Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Tom Watson, and Padraig Harrington. Jordan Spieth lifted his first Claret Jug here in 2017, the same week Branden Grace shot the first 62 in men's major championship history.
Here's the part that matters for you: unlike Augusta, you can actually play it. Birkdale welcomes visitors, and it anchors a stretch of coastline so dense with championship links that locals just call it England's Golf Coast. Three Open venues and a half dozen supporting courses sit within about twenty miles of each other. You could build a week here and never repeat a dune.
Where to Play
Royal Birkdale
The club dates to 1889, but the course you see on television is essentially the 1922 redesign, fairways threading through valleys between some of the biggest dunes in English golf. That routing is Birkdale's genius. You play most holes in your own private amphitheater, and the wind does something different in every one of them.
The course has been reworked since the 2017 Open. The old par-3 14th is gone, the par-5 15th slid down to become the new 14th, and a brand new par-3 15th was inserted. The short par-4 5th was completely rebuilt as a risk-reward hole where the green is finally visible from the tee, and the smart play is a layup to around 200 yards and a wedge in. Long is dead. The run-off behind the green is severe. I would not test it.
The hole everyone talks about is the 6th. It played to a 4.77 scoring average in 2008, making it the second-hardest hole in any Open from 1982 through 2025. And the finish is one of the great walks in golf: the 18th now plays 508 yards as a straight par 4 up to that famous art deco clubhouse, with fairway bunkers repositioned to stare down anyone pulling driver. This is where Harrington hit his legendary 5-wood into 17 in 2008, and where Spieth closed out 2017 after his famous detour to the practice range on 13.
Getting on: visitors are welcome Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, with 2026 green fees at 450 pounds in March and April and 495 pounds from May through October. A handicap certificate is expected, full payment is due 60 days out, and demand in an Open year is exactly what you think it is. Book early or book disappointment. One heads-up for this summer: the course is closed to visitors from June 22 through July 26 for the championship, so post-Open pilgrims should target late summer and fall.
Hillside
Hillside shares a boundary fence with Birkdale, and this is not a warm-up round. Greg Norman famously rated its back nine the best in Britain, and plenty of golfers who play both courses in the same trip walk off arguing Hillside is the better day. It hosted the 2019 British Masters, it regularly serves as final qualifying when the Open comes to town, and Mackenzie and Ebert recently upgraded the front nine to bring balance to the two sides. The stretch from 10 through 12 through the big dunes is worth the green fee by itself.
Formby
Formby is the change of pace. Willie Park Jr. laid out the original 18 in 1912, with James Braid and Harry Colt both leaving fingerprints later, and the course runs through a corridor of towering pines that makes it feel like a secret compared to the exposed links around it. The routing is a giant loop around Formby Ladies, a separate club sitting smack in the middle of the men's course, which is one of the more charming quirks in golf. It hosted the 2004 Curtis Cup and the Amateur Championship three times. Play it on the day the wind is howling. You will thank the pines.
Southport and Ainsdale
S&A, as everyone calls it, is the history play. It hosted the Ryder Cup in 1933 and 1937, and the 1937 matches were where the Americans first won on foreign soil. It is a James Braid design from 1925 that opens with a par 3 of nearly 200 yards, which tells you everything about how much Braid cared about easing you in. Green fees run roughly 65 to 100 pounds and include a meal, which makes it the best value on the coast by a comfortable margin.
West Lancashire
Founded in 1873, West Lancs is among the oldest clubs in England and the rawest links on this coast, fully exposed to the Irish Sea wind. It gets skipped because it sits a little south of the Southport cluster, and that is exactly why you should go. No frills, fast greens, honest golf.
Want to go full Open rota? Royal Liverpool at Hoylake and Royal Lytham and St Annes are each within about an hour, which means one trip can bag three Open venues. That is a story you get to tell forever.
Where to Stay
There is no on-property lodging at Birkdale, so you have two smart bases.
Southport puts you ten to fifteen minutes from Birkdale, Hillside, S&A, and Formby. The Vincent offers stylish rooms steps from the town's pub scene, and the Bliss Hotel is the standby for golf groups. Lord Street, the town's grand Victorian boulevard, gives you dinner and a pint without ever touching the car keys.
Liverpool is the play for groups who want nightlife and sightseeing with their golf. It has better dining, more to see, and genuine five-star hotels, and it puts you about 20 minutes from Royal Liverpool, with the trade-off that Birkdale, Hillside, and Formby run 30 to 40 minutes in the other direction. For a buddies trip that wants a proper 19th hole every night, Liverpool wins.
What to Do Along the Way
Liverpool is the obvious anchor. Beatles history at the Cavern Club and the museums on the Albert Dock, plus stadium tours at Anfield and Goodison for anyone in your group who follows the other kind of football. The city's pub scene needs no coaching from me.
Aintree Racecourse, home of the Grand National, sits between Southport and Liverpool, and horse racing fans should check the fixture list. Closer to the courses, Birkdale Village has a walkable cluster of restaurants and bars five minutes from the club gates, and Southport's seafront and Victorian arcades handle the low-key evenings. For couples, Formby's National Trust coastline offers pine woods, red squirrels, and miles of beach walking that make the non-golf afternoon an easy sell.
How to Get There
Manchester Airport and Liverpool John Lennon Airport are the two gateways, with Liverpool sitting 28 miles from Birkdale. From Manchester, the drive is about 52 minutes. Most Americans will find more direct flights into Manchester.
Here is the beautiful part: you barely need a car. Merseyrail trains run to Hillside station, roughly a four minute walk from Birkdale's entrance, and the same line connects Southport, Formby, and Liverpool Central. Southport to Hillside is a six minute ride. Base in Southport or Liverpool, ride the train to your tee times, and let everyone in the group drink at dinner. Try doing that in the Sand Hills of Nebraska.
Things to Consider
July through September gives you the best weather odds, but pack for all of it anyway. This is Irish Sea links golf, and the wind is the whole point. Book Birkdale first, since visitor days are limited to three per week, then build the rest around it. Carry a handicap certificate. And budget honestly: Birkdale at 495 pounds is one of the priciest tee times in Britain, but S&A, West Lancs, and Formby ballast the trip so the total damage stays reasonable for what may be the densest stretch of true links golf anywhere in England.-dont chnge any words or letter, just make it right to post
