Hillside Golf Club

Few stretches of English links golf carry the quiet authority of the Southport coastline. Hillside Golf Club shares that celebrated corridor with Royal Birkdale — its boundary fence running alongside one of the game's most storied championship venues — yet Hillside has long held its own reputation among serious golfers rather than simply basking in its neighbour's shadow. The back 9 in particular is widely regarded as among the finest in England, winding through towering sandhills and natural duneland that feels entirely removed from the outside world.

The club has a legitimate championship pedigree of its own, having hosted European Tour events and significant amateur competitions over the decades. Donald Steel's redesign work helped elevate the course to its current standing, shaping holes that demand proper links thinking — trajectory, wind management, ground game — over brute force.

Southport itself is a classic English seaside town, and the golf on offer here, between Hillside, Birkdale, and Formby nearby, makes the area one of the most compelling links destinations anywhere in Britain.