An early start saw us head to the home of the Beatles – Liverpool. It was a long and winding road to Hoylake….

When our friend and Royal Liverpool member Jim Saunders said “The rain usually bypasses this course, this is unusual” we knew we were in trouble.

Armed with our “impervious to water” Wilson wet weather gear, a positive attitude and nervous excitement we headed into the cool, wet and windy weather that “rarely happens at Royal Liverpool”. By way of geography Royal Liverpool is located on the North Western corner of England, a four hour drive west from where we had been the night before. Across the water lies Wales.

As you enter the car park the facade of the clubhouse is striking. Over a hundred years old, this building, covered in vines, exudes charm, tradition and character. The inside is even more impressive with a collection of photographic history and trophies that would rival any club in the world. This collection seen throughout the clubhouse reminds you of how special Royal Liverpool is and just how much history it has had of hosting major events including multiple Open Championships. It was great to see Aussies Peter Thomson and Graham Marsh featured in the collection of images adorning the walls.

The club championships were held the previous day (36 holes stroke) and the eventual winner started with a 10 on the first hole (he bounced back to shoot 74). A tight out of bounds running down the right hand side of the hole and finishing 2 metres to the right of the green strikes fear into you from the first tee shot. Our combined score equalled that of the cllub champion so we were happy with our start.

The course gets exciting as you play out to the water and driving accuracy is a must for any reasonable attempt at hitting the green in regulation. It was great to have Jim, a member for 27 years, help us with our target landing areas, many of which were not overly apparent.

The ocean side holes running over the dunes from the 9th to the 13th provide real excitement and reaffirms the challenge of links golf.
What is even more impressive about this 100 plus year old design is that it uses the relatively flat land to to its advantage carving interesting and diverse holes through these areas.

Notwithstanding the inclement weather, the conditioning of the course was the best we have seen to date. The well presented fairways, surrounds and greens were complemented by the well constructed and maintained revetted bunkers.

David’s putting was dialed in from the start with a number of long bombs helping his score of 31 points, far ahead of his playing partners. However no birdies for any of the golfers today. Sorry to the Door of Hope!

Shot of the Day: Completing a miserable day for Gary was his last putt for the day – a 35 foot snake on the final green for a working man’s par.

Tomorrow Gary hopes to be singing “Yesterday, all my troubles (bad driving, putting, bunker shots) seemed to be so far away!” and both Gary and David hope to be singing “Here comes the Sun”.

Overall Birdie Tally

David (0 birdies, cumulative 5)
Gary (0 birdies, cumulative 10)

This golf course deserves its World Top 100 ranking. Although drenched, we loved it. A one hour drive north to the seaside town of Southport and a comfortable overnight stay at the lovely boutique Vincent Hotel will see us tackle Royal Birkdale – close to many Aussies’ hearts with Ian Baker-Finch winning the Open Championship in 1991 on this course. Stay tuned.

After a reasonable nights sleep (in separate beds after our room was initially booked as a double!) we departed Sandwich in misty rain for the 4 hour trek north to Woodhall Spa.

This weekend is The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebration and the whole country is excited. English flags line the roadways and hang from the telegraph poles on the main streets – all in memory of the Queen’s 60 years as the reigning monarch.

We were actually invited to be on the Queen’s barge on the Thames but had to turn this kind offer down due to a pressing tee time at Woodhall Spa. It is not every day you get to play the one of the finest inland golf courses in the UK!

Woodhall Spa is renowned for two things – its pensioners and golf. A large pensioner population ensures the local chiropractor and chemist are kept busy although David also gave the chemist business with his blister issues on his left foot.

As we sit in the local pub “The Mall” sampling the best of English cuisine (David – Beef Stroganoff, Gary – Chicken Calypso) we are dumbfounded by the country’s obsessions with peas… Every food order comes with peas which would be ok if it were with steak and veggies but you have to draw the line when the strawberry crepes comes with a side order of peas!

But back to the golf. Woodhall Spa is the home of the English Golf Union and also two 18 hole golf courses – the Hotchkin and the Bracken.

The Hotchkin is rated in the top 50 courses in the world so we were both excited to be playing this course. And we were not disappointed. It is the kind of golf course you could play every day and not be bored. It presents different challenges depending on wind conditions and where you are hitting the ball.

But make sure you don’t hit into one of the hundred or so bunkers. These bunkers are deep! It often takes more than one shot to extricate yourself from the sand and the escape route is often sideways or backwards. The Australian bravado ensured we went straight for the pin in ALL cases and paid the price (both of us had multiple bunker shots from the same bunker).

The landing areas off the tee are generally tight and the fear of landing in a fairway bunker is part of your thinking the whole way round. Longer hitters are faced with narrower landing areas – a sound design characteristic that provided defence for the course with today’s technology.

Woodhall Spa is most enjoyable to walk and laid out over relatively flat terrain. The layout is peppered with heather, bunkers, grassy hollows and trees all of which combine to force you to hit precise shots to score well.

If you are even in this part of England this is a must stop on your golfing calendar.

Shot of the day – Has to go to Gary’s second birdie on 16 – a putt of 20 feet which never looked like missing. Combined with his birdie the previous hole it was a good close to the round.

Dave’s three lipouts and a near chip in which hit the flagstick left him with no birdies to add to his tally.

Overall Birdie Tally

David (0 birdies, cumulative 5)
Gary (2 birdies, cumulative 10)

Another big drive tomorrow morning but an exciting round ahead at an Open venue – Royal Liverpool (Hoylake) with a mate of ours Jim Saunders. Stay tuned.

After experiencing a number of England’s finest inland courses over the last 4 days we were excited to be heading east – to Sandwich – home of multiple Open Championship courses Royal St Georges and Royal Cinques Ports.

A wonderful previous night with Anne and Steve at their country farmhouse (with talented cricketer son Sam also providing much amusement) saw us up bright and early for the one hour drive to Royal St Georges.

Our modest rental vehicle struggled to keep up with Steve’s Maserati and it was the only with the aid of a police car keeping Steve’s speed in check that we were able to arrive at the golf club at the same time.

Our fourth playing partner Peter (R & A member and head of greens at Royal St Georges) had his first ride in the Maserati convertible and soon became one of the finest gentleman we have met on this trip.

Peter’s precision driving off the tee (compared to Steves precision driving to get to the course!) was a treat to watch. Steve and Peter were the ulimate hosts providing invaluable advice on everything from the history of the course to the driving lines off the tee and the lines of putts.

We loved Peter’s quote – “Yes, this is a relatively new hole – it was built only 40 years ago!”.

The course delivers a seamless integration with its natural surrounds. Bunkers look like they have been there since time began and greens are positioned perfectly amongst the naturally undulating landscape.

Hitting the fairway at Royal St Georges is no guarantee of a flat lie for your approach shot. In fact be prepared for a stance that may see your ball above or below your feet – such is the nature of the land the course is laid out on.

Playing so many Open Championship courses in our links4032 quest has us reaching into the history books to recount highlights of their Opens.

Unlike Dustin Johnson during the 2011 Open (out of bounds right, made 7 and lost the Open by a couple of shots) and Thomas Bjorn (in the greenside bunker on 16, 2 to get out, made 5) David took this challenge on with both hands and birdied the 14th and got up on down from Bjorn’s bunker on 16 to par the hole.

Gary meanwhile was quietly compiling a sequence of 14 pars, a sole birdie, one bogey and a double bogey (arghhh) on the last for a great 40 stableford points.

A relaxing lunch followed the round and David caught up with dual NSW Golf Club/Royal St Georges member Chris who happened to also be playing on the same day.

Royal Cinques Ports is located a short 5 minute drive away and our 3:30pm tee time was perfect after a quick chat with David (Captain), Martin (Secretary), Chris (Course Manager) and Laura (in the office and the one who makes it all happen!). We met the team at Royal Cinque Ports in their historic clubhouse which has a maritime feel to it including a mast style flag pole at the front of the building, which was only hundreds of metres from the water.

The course starts with some wildly rolling fairways that direct your golf ball to where the land natuaraly flows. These fairways make a corrugated roof look flat. The beachfront seawall does provide some wind protection but it obscures a direct view of the water on most holes. They say you make your score going out before trying to protect it coming home. Our problem was that we did not make our scores early.

This gem would be a great model for any architectural student. It exemplifies that some of the best golf terrain in the world is natural. This course forces you to think about wind, lie, stance, landing area and run on every shot. This is not a course for the faint hearted but every golfing purist would love it. Having hosted two Opens, Luke Donald practiced here last year to hone his game before playing next door at Royal St George’s.

Having played these two golf courses will make you want to come back to Sandwhich again.

Shot of the Day – 3rd hole, Royal St Georges, par 3, 190 yards into the breeze saw Dave’s tee shot finish 3 feet from the hole, duly converted for another birdie for the Door of Hope Childrens Charity.

Overall birdie tally

David (2 birdies, cumulative 5)
Gary (2 birdies, cumulative 8)

With less sleep than we would like, we head out at 6:30 am in our 4.5 hour drive north west to Woodhall Spa. Stay tuned.