Southport Old Links

Few stretches of English golfing terrain carry the weight of history that the Lancashire coastline does, and Southport sits squarely at its heart. The town is surrounded by some of the finest links land in the world — Royal Birkdale, Hillside, and Formby are all within a short drive — making this one of the most concentrated pockets of serious golf anywhere in the country. Southport Old Links occupies that same sandy, wind-scoured landscape, where fescue grasses, gorse, and dune ridges define the character of the game as much as the holes themselves.

As its name suggests, this is a course with age and heritage behind it. Old links layouts in this part of Lancashire tend to be honest, unspectacular in presentation but demanding in practice — courses where local knowledge and an understanding of the wind matter more than raw power.

For visiting golfers, the appeal is as much about the broader pilgrimage as the round itself. Playing Southport Old Links means stepping into a region where golf has been woven into everyday life for well over a century.