Short on holes, but long on challenge

Jun 5 2007 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

THE great links courses along the coast served by Golfnorthwest are famous around the country and indeed far beyond, with the two royals – Birkdale and Liverpool – the jewels in the crown.

But small is beautiful, too. Turn inland from the coast at Southport and in a few minutes drive from fashionable Lord Street there is a real little gem of a course, the nine-hole Southport Old Links.

While it is not the biggest club in the surrounding golf land, the best known or the oldest golf club in town, the game was actually played on the land here before anywhere else in the area.

Nine-hole courses have become increasingly popular. If time is short then there is the opportunity of playing only a few holes on the traditional 18-hole course.

The nine-hole course does bring the sense of satisfaction of having played “a round of golf” even without going round the second time for the full 18.

So when there are other demands on your time, you will enjoy the round of golf and still be home in time to do the garden, attend to the waiting DIY jobs, go shopping or take the children to the park.

Also it is an attractive way of introducing youngsters to the game, a place where they, too, can “play a round” without the demands on little legs imposed by those who struggle to play the full 18 holes elsewhere. Not surprisingly, Southport Old Links has a thriving junior section, a nursery for youngsters and, played as the full 18-holes, a graduation school for boys and girls.

The roots of SOL go back to the early 1890s when the Southport Golf Club moved to Moss Lane, the present home of Old Links and when, for an annual subscription of one guinea, members could play on a course claimed to be one of the longest in the country at 5,397 yards.

The SOL status in the past was such that some of the great names in golf played here including JH Taylor and James Braid, two of golf’s famous triumvirate that included also six-times Open champion Harry Vardon.

Newcomers should not imagine that nine holes means a gentle test of golf.

SOL is a big golf challenge both by its design and location, on the western edge of the great Lancashire plain.

It is an open layout, with the test laid out honestly and openly from the tees. But it is often a tight course.

Fortune may indeed favour the brave but if you are inclined to over-hit the bold approach shots to the green, beware: usually there is little space beyond the putting surfaces.

Even more importantly, those likely to hit the wayward hook will be punished at Old Links. On every hole there is trouble on the left.

These potential hazards come into play immediately on the first, a long par five dog-leg facing the open country with the hills beyond. Trees on the left will catch an erratic drive and beyond the green there are just a few paces before the golf course ends at the lane.