Royal Liverpool Golf Club – Hoylake, played on 21 September 2020

Dear folks,

As most of you probably already know, Hoylake is one of these iconic Open golf courses.

When you enter the clubhouse you will see all kinds of memorabilia and photos of some of the great golfers who have played the course, and – of course – all the winners of the Open, when it has been played at Royal Liverpool.

And there is room for a lot more of memorabilia in this club house. It is huge.

The last time The Open was played on this course was in 2014 when Rory McIlroy won.

The above picture reflects a tradition. The Open winner at RLGC is signing for memorabilia and below – of course – Tiger Woods too, the winner of the Open at Hoylake 2006.

Some of the players have donated some of their golf clubs to the club.

Ready to play

And now, here we are, ready to play. Though Eza decided not to play but to caddie for me.

Spending £220 for a round of golf, she found was a bit too much.

I don’t disagree, but getting the chance to play it and finding out the difference between such a famous course and a course like Reay up in the very north of Scotland was too much of a temptation.

Interestingly, for the money I paid to play Liverpool, I could have played 9 rounds at Reay golf course. And of course there are differences. Though, to really get to appreciate the differences, you would need to  play Royal Liverpool at least 3 times.

So here we are. When you enter into a club and a course like Royal Liverpool for the first time you are full of expectations.

I remember watching both when Tiger and when Rory won the championship at Hoylake. Also having in mind that the green fee is £220, your expectations are not getting lower.

The course was in great condition and our reception was very personal.

The starter was ready with a little bag with tees, scorecard, marker and the like. Also he followed us to the first tee telling us about the course layout, offering his recommendation as to the line for the first drive and if we liked him to take a photo of us. He did. A good photo, as you can see above.

Unfortunately, because of the Corona, most of the club house was closed, inclusive the restaurant.

But the starter offered to take some of the pictures from the clubhouse that we are now publishing on this blog. Great service.

We also had a good chat with the Professional in the shop. Who, when we were back after the round politely asked to my game and my thoughts about the course.

I wasn’t very clear in my answer, so I hope he will read the following.

And what about the course

Sorry, I must say that I was a bit disappointed.

Maybe my expectations were too high.

Compared to many of the other links courses we have played – from North Berwick to Machrihanish Dunes – the Hoylake course is very flat and have very few, if any, really visual/scenic dramatic holes.

I mean, not that it is an easy course.

You need to know your game, and you need to know the course, and form the right strategy to make a good round – and that is surely going to be a round somewhat higher than your handicap.

The first time you need to play it safe, just to find your way around.

I know it is difficult – mentally wise – but to stay on the fairway you have to accept at least one extra shot to get to the green than you normally would.

That strategy is a good illustration of what I mean when using the phrase:

Play the course, not your handicap.

You need to play the course more than once to form the right strategy and to follow that strategy with confidence, just to get close to your handicap.

Let me give an example of why it is so difficult.

Comparing Royal Liverpool to a course like the Erskine golf course north of Glasgow. See the blog post.

The Erskine course is a wood- or parkland course. Even if you have a downhill blind shot, by following and visually extending the contours of the fairway and the line of trees that are framing the fairway, you are getting a good idea as to the line and needed length of your shot.

That you cannot do on a course as Royal Liverpool.

As said – it is basically flat – and you do not have trees or high dunes or visible swales or depressions to give you a clear vision of what’s ahead of you.

You have to try it out, play maybe 2 balls to find the right strategy for you. Which is only possible if you play for fun and have no group of players behind you.

You can of course purchase a course guide and follow the advice that the professional have written.

But – unfortunately – the pro’s advices are often best for the low handicapper and long hitters. Often not for the average golfer.

As said; standing on the first tee, the starter was extremely friendly telling me about the line and the dogleg right about 200 and some yards ahead. The problem was that it is / was very difficult to see that there – out there – was a dogleg. The landscape doesn’t give you a clear indication.

Now, just imagine that you are so good (or lucky) that you are hitting your ball to the ideal position on the dogleg and, from there, have a clear shot to the green. Then read the course guide:

“The second shot is some 160 yards to a green protected by a swale on the safer left side away from the out of bounds close on the right.”

Unless you go “out of body” and hover over the green, you wouldn’t have a clue. I mean, just stay away from the out of bounds.

As you can see from our picture of hole 15 that day there was no wind, sunny with no clouds. Also that we had a late tee time.

It looks like an easy hole – that is – if you hit the green and the ball is staying on it. You have depressions and swales all around the green. Also – if you have a strong wind from the Atlantic ocean straight into your face a par is not a given thing.

We or I played behind 2 four balls – that was a little slow.

The rough wasn’t that high or thick, but when I got into it, we spend a good time searching. Then in some of this searching-situations we found that there were sprinklers deep in the rough. As you can see on the next picture.

I didn’t ask why, but my guess is that when they are hosting big tournaments or championships at a period where the rough is dry and short due to lack of rain, it will be (too) easy to find the ball and, maybe more important, to get a good shot at it.

In that case the course would be too easy for the top world players.

Conclusion

Yes, I was a bit disappointed with the course – but maybe mostly, because the chances of getting to play the course a second or third time are slim. 

Facts about the course

Course record:

Tiger Woods. Round 2 of the Open Championship in 2006, he played 65 strokes

My game

As said, I was a bit disappointed by the course.

It was not easy to find the right line, when to play safe or to take a risk. Therefore I often played 2 balls from the tee and also from the fairway to the green. So no legal score for me will be handed to my home club

Evaluation Royal Liverpool golf course

Your comments, questions and recommendations are welcome !