Birkdale

[Bill Gayne]

The how would you split ten rounds between the English rota courses (Birkdale, Lytham, Hoylake, Deal, Sandwich)?


I would go four Sandwich, two Hoylake, two Birkdale, and two Deal.


I've played Lytham three times and it's a fine course especially for an Open championship but it hasn't left me wanting more. 

[Dónal Ó Ceallaigh]

For value for money, I'd go for the Lytham package deal over a single round green fee at Birkdale. When we played in the Buda at Silloth, we played Lytham and Birkdale on the way back to Manchester. The Lytham deal was £257 and included a night in the dormy house (which overlooks the first tee), evening dinner, breakfast, one round of golf, soup & sandwiches lunch. Birkdale was £180. For the extra £77, the Lytham deal was so much better. It was a very special experience I will never forget, especially the display cabinets in the clubhouse.

While it might seem strange to some, I perfer Lytham to Birkdale. I think you really need to think your way around Lytham. Maybe it's the penal nature of Lytham that appeals to me. It doesn't matter to me that you can't see the sea or that the ground may not be as true a links as Birkdale; I prefer to look at the holes themselves and not the surrounding hills and scenery.

Duncan, treat yourself (or rather, get someone else (children?) to treat you  ) to the Lytham deal for your 60th birthday.

[Bill Gayne]

The middle holes at Lytham were really fantastic but the holes to get there and back on relatively flat land with extreme bunkering were blasé. It is a penal golf course. The Dormie House was a great experience and it's a club with some neat traditions.

[Mark Pearce]

Donal,


You're not alone.  I much prefer Lytham to Birkdale based on just a couple of rounds on both.  Splitting ten rounds between the four English rota courses, I'd play three each at Sandwich, Lytham and Hoylake and one at Birkdale.

[Sean_A]

Sandwich 5

Deal 2

Birkdale 1

Lytham 1

Hoylake 1

Ciao

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

Michael -- you are, of course, perfectly at liberty to love Birkdale as much as you like. But your comparison to Woking and NZ is thoroughly screwy -- no-one is suggesting that either of those courses is the best in the UK, as many people will claim re. Birkdale.


Is Birkdale natural or is it the product of substantial earthmoving? At this distance that is almost impossible to answer, but the simple fact is that the course lacks the rumple that makes the greatest links great. That is why the pros love it, but it's also why those of us with a more refined sense of quality feel that it lacks. Sean is right about the 17th -- despite all the whining, it was the best green out there (I said this once to Martin Hawtree, who laughed). You're right about the first -- great hole. But it doesn't get any better.
[/quot


I apologize for not having your “refined sense of quality” or for that matter your sheer arrogance!!