Ahhh Royal Birkdale. After about an hour's drive out of Liverpool, we made our way to the little town of Southport and Royal Birkdale Golf Club. The first thing we noticed when we arrived was how different the clubhouse looks relative to all of the other clubs we have visited thus far in the UK. The clubhouse was actually designed to look like a cruise ship. From the angle I took this picture, you can certainly see they succeeded in doing so. The club has hosted 9 Open Championships over the years, most recently in 2008 when Padraig Harrington won. The sun was out so there was only the strong wind to contend with. After Ms Sheila served us up some delightful butternut squash and rosemary soup along with some fish and chips for lunch in the clubhouse bar it was time to play some golf.
The golf course looked to be in great shape. The UK had the wettest summer on record so the rough was particularly lush and not to be messed with. Easier said than done on the front nine. With Kristen and my caddy Terry on the bag we set out. The bunkering on this course was beautiful. While not as many as the 206 bunkers at Royal Lytham, they offered plenty of challenge. Some of the bunkers had some interesting features like the doughnut bunker on the 7th.
The winds offered a stern test for me on the front nine and I didn't fair well. On several holes I found the aforementioned rough off the tee which meant I didn't find my ball. Kristen walked the front nine with us before heading back into the clubhouse to hang out with Ms. Sheila. Take a look below at some of our favorite holes from the front nine.
The back nine proved to be a different story for me. I "let the nothingness into my shots" and was able to play very well. A lot of the holes really suited my eye off of the tee as well. The 12th and 14th were two beautiful par threes with a lot of bunkering to be avoided. Happily I was able to do just that in making pars on both.
The16th hole at Royal Birkdale has a lot of history. In the 1961 Open Championship, Arnold Palmer was in contention for the championship. He drove it into the right rough off the tee and his ball ended up in a bush. Palmer being a very strong player with a go for broke attitude decided to lash his ball out of the bush. With a mighty lash he extricated his ball from the bush and the bush from the ground. Arnold Palmer went on to hoist the Claret Jug as the Champion Golfer of the Year. There is now a plaque marking the spot where the shot took place. Great hole and story!
The last two holes are really fun par 5's. With the right wind, both are reachable from the tee. You had better be in the fairway though. I am pleased to say that I saved some of my best drives for these last few holes. Hitting both over 300 yds off the tee, I put my 2nd shot in the bunker on the 17th but got up and down for par. Tricky green with a lot of undulation. This is the hole where Padraig hit that beautiful 5 wood into the green, made eagle and went on to win the Claret Jug in 2008.
I loved the view off of the tee on the 18th. Daunting tee shot with bunkering and out of bounds down the right side. I wanted to finish well as I knew Kristen would be sitting in the clubhouse watching me play the 18th. I split the fairway, leaving myself a long iron into the green. I found the right green side bunker and was able to get up and down for birdie to finish off what ended up being a very nice back nine. My gallery of two, Kristen and Terry, did their best golf claps as my final putt found the bottom of the cup. Finishing like that always makes me look forward to my next round. Up next is Royal Lytham & St Annes, site of the 2012 Open Championship.......
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