FORMBY: Best Course In Northern England?

[Sean_A]

Well, for folks tired of looking at Birkdale on tv, take a look at the updated tour of the best course in the north of England.  The place was in splendid condition the Monday prior to the Open and there wasn't much wind about.  Holes easy to pooh pooh such as 3 and 17 really shine when conditions are keen.


http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,32146.0.html

Ciao

[Duncan Cheslett]

I was back again at Formby today on a beautiful sunny morning and enjoyed the course and clubhouse as much as ever.


It was very interesting playing Formby in the company of well-known golf arboriculturist John Nicholson. He put the "is it a links or is it a heathland?" argument to bed by pointing out that links and heathland are basically the same eco-culture. Formby is by the sea so it's a links.


John was somewhat thrown by the sheer quantity of pine trees. On the front nine especially he thought they obscured many interesting dune landforms and interfered with play far too much. I am hesitant to agree with him fully - for me Formby IS the trees. In the main part they form a majestic backdrop well away from play and add considerably to the unique character of the place.


I'd almost forgotten how good the bank nine is - the holes on open links land after emerging from the forest on 7 and 8. It's a pity 17 and particularly 18 don't quite live up to the rest - but flat ground is flat ground.


The greens are still a cause for concern however, 15 months on from my visit above. Clear signs of a fuserium outbreak earlier in the winter are visible on most greens, together with bobbly surfaces. Quite why a windy links course should suffer chronically from fuserium is a little puzzling. It surely can't all be down to the trees?


Don't let that put anyone off visiting Formby though. It's a lovely place!

[Thomas Dai]

Played both Formby and Formby Ladies a couple of months ago. Liked them both a lot. I’d heard about the trees on the main course but didn’t realise the extent until reaching the 7th and 8th holes. Both terrific holes incidentally. Before and after 7-8 they didn’t seem to effect things much. As to the greens, well on the Formby GC course were not of the standard that most links greens are in during the winter but they weren’t poor. On the Ladies course they were very soft and sponge like though (to much watering/thatch?). Interestingly the two clubs have two separate greenkeeping crews.

When your there look out for the house of a recent former Liverpool and England football captain located near the rear of the clubhouse. You can’t really miss it for it has 5 lifesize reproduction stone European Cups/Champions League Trophy’s unsubtlely displayed on the roofline.

Atb


Edit. Some photos from 2018 now added.

[Michael Wolf]

I absolutely loved Formby when I visited for the first time in the fall of 2015. In much the same way I favor SFGC over Olympic and Sommerset Hills over Baltusrol, it just had an intangible "feel" that made me wish I was a member. My sense was I'd enjoy playing, walking and drinking at Formby more than the other nearby clubs? Hard to put a finger on exactly why sometimes, as they are all obviously wonderful places.


FWIW, my group consisted of a PGA Tour winner, a scratch club pro, an 18 handicap senior golfer and myself a middle age 8 handicap, and between the 4 of us it was the one course of the 7 we played in the Liverpool area that we all loved. Jimmy Herman our tour pro favored Birkdale, the club pro liked Hillside and our senior favored Hoylake, while I though L&A great. But Formby was the one where we combined to have the most fun, the best match, and walked off 18 trying to figure out how to make room in our schedule to play again on our trip. I thought it was a perfect mix of comfortable landing areas alternated with shots that had to be executed just right.


A question we had - has the predicted erosion that necessitated the rerouting actually come to pass? When we visited it looked like their was still quite a bit of land below the turn that could have still been employed closer to the water?


And one more question, just to be nosey - from the parking lot and surrounding neighborhood it appeared Formby membership the wealthiest of the Liverpool area?


Thanks, Michael

[Duncan Cheslett]

And one more question, just to be nosey - from the parking lot and surrounding neighborhood it appeared Formby membership the wealthiest of the Liverpool area?


Thanks, Michael

Formby is certainly one of the more affluent suburbs of Liverpool - it has more of a "village" feel than a suburb.


The real money however, is to be found on the Wirral in Cheshire, across the River Mersey from Liverpool. On this basis and my own experience I would suspect that the wealthiest golf club membership in the area is at Hoylake.


Given the number of footballers who are members however, maybe Hillside takes the crown.


Birkdale incidentally,  doesn't allow footballers!