Joe Fairey and I had the good fortune to play Royal Birkdale on the Saturday following this year's Buda Cup. We were accompanied by a member who gave us the most glorious tour of the course one could ever want, filled with stories of Johnny Miller, Tom Watson, Arnold Palmer, Trevino, Peter Thompson, and on, and on, and on.

The course might be the best I have ever played. Each hole is an adventure and the dunescape makes for an almost isolated feeling on every hole. Several new bunkers, protection mounds, and tees have been added since the last Open Championship, but they seem to have been in place forever.

Following are a few pictures of our day at Royal Birkdale. We finished just before sunset and the sky was filled with color as we played the 18th, a par five for the members. My birdie on 18, with the sun setting beyond the dunes was a magical end to our golfing holiday in England. It is a moment I will treasure forever!

Approach Shot on #2


Teeshot on #3


Teeshot on Par Three 4th


Greenside Bunker on Par Three 7th


Teeshot on 8th


Blind Teeshot on 9th


Teeshot on 10th


Joe & Mike on Par Three 12th


Par Three 12th


Par Three 14th


This plaque was erected to commemorate an awesome second shot at the 16th by Arnold Palmer during the 1961 Open


The 17th with its controversial new multi-leveled green


Teeshot on 18th


The approach on 18 with the famous Birkdale clubhouse in the backgroud.


Birkdale Sunset

Great pictures Mike. I'm glad Joe and you enjoyed Birkdale and the rest of your trip to the UK.

Birkdale is the only one of the three Lancashire Royals that I haven't played and, as Tony says, it doesn't get a lot of praise on here.  Your comments have encouraged me to get there one day, what did you think its strengths were in comparison with Hoylake and Lytham?

Michael -

How much of Taylor is still there?

Bob

Birkdale is the only one of the three Lancashire Royals that I haven't played and, as Tony says, it doesn't get a lot of praise on here.  Your comments have encouraged me to get there one day, what did you think its strengths were in comparison with Hoylake and Lytham?

Andrew - Birkdale is on very different land than Hoylake and Lytham. Most of the holes are framed with heaving dunes and each feels isolated and in its own world. The holes are routed between and around the dunes (rather than over them) and some complain that the fairways are too flat for a links course... but, I did not find that a negative feature. There is a sameness in the look and feel of Hoylake that is a result of the flatish ground over which a good portion of the course plays. Lytham, to me, was defined mostly by its massive and numerous bunkers. Birkdale was more of an "other world" experience for me than Hoylake or Lytham. We played from the medal tees with a member, so my experience was different than many visitors. I never found myself dissapointed in a hole or let down at any point. All three courses are obviously great tests of golf, but Birkdale has a bold look and feel that appeals to me above the others.

Michael -

How much of Taylor is still there?

Bob

Bob - Short answer... I don't know. My understanding is the course was originally laid out in the late 1800's by George Low, then brought up to "championship standards" by Hawtree & Taylor in the 30's (whatever that means). More "improvements" were done in the 60's, and all 18 greens were rebuilt in the 90's. The latest changes were done by Martin Hawtree... grandson of Fred... fitting. It would be interesting to see a hole-by-hole description of the changes over the years. Do you know if one exists?

I realize that in other threads I have damned Royal Birkdale with faint praise.  However, I certainly wouldn't want to give the impression that I failed to enjoy my day there or that it is somehow beneath the standard of the other Open courses. In discussing it with my playing companion (who has played pretty much all of the current Open Rota with the exception of Royal St. George's) we agreed that the best feature of Royal Birkdale is its lack of any weakness, at least any weakness discernable by handicap golfers playing from the visitor's tees.

To amplify Mike's points about every shot requiring care and the variety of challenges, this is a course that I suspect has been tweaked and re-tweaked to "perfection" by which I mean the filing away of rough edges to create a great venue for contesting stroke-play tournaments on a windy, firm links course. A criticism could be made that the occasional quirkiness one expects to encounter on a venerable links has been smoothed away in the same process that eliminates any indifferent shots or holes.

A note to Bob Crosby...I don't know the answer to your question but I'd be highly surprised if anything about Birkdale is entirely intact in its earliest form. This is a course that has benefitted from continuous updating and accomodation to the changes in the game with the downside being a difficulty in seeing continuity over its history. There is also the downside of "updating" with an occasional monstrosity like the totally misfit seventeenth and eighteenth greens which I was told will be bulldozed by the membership the day after next year's Open.

The course that Birkdale's membership presents is one that offers a very strong test of golf, unrelenting in its demands if one wants to post a good stroke-play score and one that doesn't need a dozen plays (a la TOC) in order to grok the best way to achieve that score. But the best part is that it does so in a lovely setting and with none of the industrial-scale hazards and hardships of a Carnoustie or Oakmont. It is no small thing to challenge the best players in the world while remaining enjoyable for almost any level of player and Birkdale does that thoroughly IMO.

I played several rounds at Formby before and after my morning at Royal Birkdale. For playing a match against one of my buddies, I'd just as soon play at Formby as at its more famous neighbor (especially for half the price) and it also has a bit of quirk here and there to provide interest on repeated plays. For playing a stroke-play tournament there would be no contest, though. I would love to see a strong player like Joe Fairey take on Birkdale, it definitely rewards the golfer who can hit just the right shot in each of a variety of situations.

Mike/Rich

Thanks for those helpful remarks.  Another one to put on the list of must plays!

I must add...in addition to all of the great qualities of Royal Birkdale...I felt more 'welcome' at Birkdale than at any other UK venue I have ever visited...the day that Mike and I experienced was like none I've had before...kudos to Jon Seal who hosted, and all the staff...hopefully, I'll make the Open next year...it should be a great one...

Sean

Methinks you are under the influence of Philip Gawith's stunning recent pics of Sandwich.  Let's get the African Ansel Adams to do his thang at Birkdale and let the chips (and putts) fall where they may.

Rich

Sean
I cannot agree that Sandwich is hands down better than Birkdale, but that is just our opinions...we certainly are in agreement with hole #! though...I cannot think of a more chalenging opening hole anywhere.
I suppose that new equipment certainly makes the left hand route easier than it used to be, but it is still a great tee shot.

After some thought, you are correct that Sandwich does have greater variety but not such spectacular dunes, and not nearly the quality of par 3's.
So I guess we are not in that much of disagreement after all !

Pen me down as another overall fan of Birkdale. I very much like the greens and their surrounds - any weak shot into them is punished.

Michael - pity you didn't have a shot of the 1st as it's one of my favourite on the course ?

One thing I'm not a big fan of are the islands in the bunkers though ? Others here ?

Count me in the St George's camp and by a big margin too.

I even think the par 3s are better at Sandwich.  The 12th at Birkdale is a famous hole but not clearly superior to 3rd and 11th at RSG and there are many links par 3s better than Birkdale's 12th.   I thought Birkdale's 7th and 14th were good but not compelling and the 4th is a snooze.

But it does look like Birkdale's greens have been changed since I last played there;  I remember they were redone after the '91 Open (by Martin Hawtree) but it looks like there has been a lot more work apart from the obvious change to the 17th green.