XXXXII: Royal Liverpool
Rolling through a list of Open Venues, most possess an identifying trait which golfers can attach to them; Lytham’s bunkering, St George’s heaving dunes and blindness, Carnoustie’s brutal closing stretch, Turnberry’s coastal drama and The Old Course’s double greens and history all spring immediately to mind. These famous qualities make them easy to understand, romanticise and discuss.
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Despite its place as one of links golf’s great cathedrals where the amateur game has flourished, the world’s finest have been thoroughly examined and a lineage of winners of which most courses could only dream of has been produced, for most, Hoylake’s defining feature is hard to put their finger on. People too often don’t grasp or gravitate towards something which they can’t easily understand or explain and the brilliant complexities of Hoylake’s strategy, angles and risk-reward balance go straight over heads, but those who understand the subtleties of Hoylake will find themselves yearning for the midst of its chess match.
Few venues have produced a lineage of winners which can match Hoylake's
The Joys of the Flats
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Unlike the majority of world class courses, Hoylake’s standing is stamped by the character and intrigue of the holes across the flat sections of the property. Holes on the more dormant land find appeal in doglegs and an array of strategic angles enforced with the heavy hand of some of links golf’s finest bunkering.
Born from a racecourse, the opening seven holes at Hoylake cut across flatter land and in many ways these holes and their ethos remind me fondly of the Melbourne Sandbelt, where bunkering and tilted greens work against the player approaching from the wrong angle, but embrace the thinking golfer who found the line of charm.
The Subtle land and long views of Hoylake
Notoriously one of Britain’s most exacting tests of links golf, Hoylake’s infamous out of bounds litters thirteen holes (internally on three) – nothing strikes fear in golfers quite like a row of little white posts. It begins at the unconventionally scary opening shot- the internal boundary shielding the inside of the dogleg and straddling the edge of the green manufactures one of the scariest openers in golf from a featureless field. A polarizing concept, many may view the internal OB as an unnecessary and artificial challenge, but at Hoylake it felt right at home and only added to the sense of occasion.
The first fairway wrapping round the OB line
The diversity and complexity of shots which Hoylake curates from gentle topography over the next half-dozen holes is what makes Hoylake. Golfers find themselves in a chess match as they search for the angle to split the cluster of traps fronting the second green, pick a line off the tee at the hooking dogleg third and navigate the jumbled row of choppy ground which cuts through the fifth fairway. Subtly, the out of position bomb and gouge golfer finds themselves in the midst of a death by a thousand cuts as Hoylake methodically picks them apart.
Hoylake's flat land predicament at the second
A Wander Through the Dunes
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In a similar ilk to Troon & Lytham, Hoylake’s most coveted holes arrive in the middle of the routing as they tackle the most dynamic land through the sandhills. From the eighth to the twelfth golfers make their way into the dunes for the first time, presented with a remarkable change of pace and Hoylake’s most compelling visual tests – perhaps unsurprisingly this is where Harry Colt spent most of his time altering the course in the 1920’s.
Hoylake finds another gear in the dunes at the 9th tee
The 9th
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In a rare flash of eccentricity, Hoylake’s ninth bumbles between the choppy dunes, its fairway flooded with the wonderful waves and rumples of proper linksland. With its putting surface nestled beautifully into a dell below the fairway, the unsighted approach from a funky lie is the peak of Hoylake’s creative demands.
The choppy rolls of the 9th, the flag peaking in the distance
The 11th
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There is an elegance about the 200-yard 11th, playing towards town in the heart of the sandhills to a slightly picked up green. With its surface tilted left to right, a lone bunker lurks right of the green ready to catch any pushed approaches. Like much of Hoylake, the 11th is simple, interesting and demanding.
The tilted green and lone bunker work perfectly at 11
The 12th
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Another beautifully bunkered dogleg, the twelfth swoops left between the dunes over a series of cross-bunkers. The star of the show however, is the hazardless green complex tucked amongst the sandhills ensconced by steep drop-offs of short grass.
Greenside humps and hollows of the 12th
Hoylake's Brawny Finish
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A relentless test of golf, Hoylake’s closing stretch is long, difficult and rife with opportunities to ruin a scorecard. Born into infamy to deliver a late moment in the 2023 Open, the newly constructed 15th 'Little Eye' is short, steep and encircled by trouble – its tabletop green plummeting on all sides to various causes of death. Loathed by the GCA world for being out of character and its distortion of the routing flow, but loved by the one timer for its sheer moment of thrill - Love it or loathe it, the 15th stamps its mark on a round.
'Little Eye' - Hoylake's shortest and scariest
Across a second section of flatter land, Hoylake’s final trio spans a gruelling 1,500 yards from the tips. Much like the early run of holes across similar topography it carves strategy and fear through the excellence of its man-made conundrums. The sharp dogleg three-shotter at 16 straddles the internal out of bounds once more and clusters of bunkers crowd the final fairway and green – like much of Hoylake, precision and planning are the only accepted currency.
The 18th green
Hoylake compels, intrigues, frustrates and endears itself in, for the most part, an entirely unremarkable way – it may lack the hair-raising thrills, but moments of panic are never too far away when golfers colour a little too far outside the lines. The dozen workingman’s holes on the flatter portions of the property are painstaking chess matches where the better angle is obtained only by proper execution of a well-considered plan – the essence of links golf best encompassed by Tom Doak’s quote "Hoylake separates the true lovers of links golf from those who only sort of understand it."