Best laid plans
I spent a *long* time over last Christmas planning my golf for the first half of 2020. As I have mentioned other posts, I want to play as many of the Top 100 courses with friends and as most of us are based in or around London that takes some organising. The first on the list was a trip to the North West, taking in two cracking courses on stretch of coast from Liverpool to Blackpool which must rank as one of the finest golfing areas in the world. There are three courses on the Open roster (Hoylake, Birkdale and Lytham), all of which are in the World Top 100 and another six the Top 100 in England (Wallasey, West Lancashire, Formby, Southport & Ainsdale, Hillside and Fairhaven).
Saturday
For this trip, we would play West Lancashire and then Royal Lytham & St. Anne’s. The Saturday afternoon at West Lancs was one of the windiest that I have experienced. The 40-50mph right to left wind did not help my wipey-fade and I was usually 50-100 yards behind my playing partner (Blair). Blair hits a low draw and so absolutely loved the conditions, starting his tee shots well right and riding the wind with expert precision. This was as far away from our home course at Ealing GC as we could get!
We finished our round at West Lancs (for more thoughts on the course click here) and headed back out to the M6 for the journey north to Lytham. We had booked to stay in the Dormy House on site but sadly were too late to take advantage of dinner in the clubhouse. One of the issues in playing good courses on a Saturday is that it is difficult to get a tee time before, say 2pm, and understandably Lytham require you to check-in and be ready to eat by 7:30pm. With our 2:30pm tee time at West Lancs, and an expected 75minute drive afterwards, neither of us wanted to have to rush.
Dinner
Anyway, next time, I will make sure we organise it differently. For this occasion, we arrived, found our rooms and headed into St. Anne’s to find some dinner. I had tried to do a little web-based research into local restaurants, but the information was unexpectedly sketchy. Fortunately, the first place that we came to looked good. It was an Italian restaurant called Cicchetti. It was reassuringly busy, but we spotted a couple of empty tables. The food was terrific – based around small portions (cicchetti being the Italian for “small dishes”), we had a mix of pasta, fish and meat dishes. Absolutely what was required. On this occasion, we stuck to beers which was probably a good plan given my propensity to get through a bottle of red wine …
Sunday
Our tee time on the Sunday morning was 0830, so we agreed to meet for breakfast at 0730. Blair had warned me that he was not great in the morning, so it wasn’t a huge surprise when I was still waiting for him ten minutes after our agreed time. It did, however, give me the opportunity to get out and take a few early morning pictures. The rain through which we had walked back the previous night had passed and the wind was almost non-existent.
This was going to be a good day for golf. We had the dining room to ourselves for breakfast and a great view out across the 18th. We wanted to maximise time on the range and the putting green, however, so we finished up and headed straight out. Time to investigate the clubhouse further once we had finished!
Practice facilities
Just to the left of the clubhouse there is a short game area and driving range. Given the number of bunkers on the course (174 in total!), it seemed sensible to give them a try before we started. Having blown away some cobwebs, and covered the chipping green with sand, we headed back to the putting green immediately behind the 1st tee. We had seen a couple of groups tee-off whilst we were eating breakfast, but there had been no one else in the last 30mins. Admittedly, this was the first weekend in March, but I would have thought that a few more people would have taken advantage of these wonderful conditions.
The Championship Course at Royal Lytham
The Opening: Hole 1
And so, the quest begins at Royal Lytham.
Lytham is the only course on the Open roster which starts with a Par 3. We had decided to play from the Medal Tees, which today were located directly in front of the Pro Shop. Out of bounds runs all along the right side, but this was (hopefully) less of an issue from these tees. Professional tournaments are usually set-up with the first tee behind the Pro Shop. It’s a great challenge as a first hole. Today it was playing just over 200 yards. I just carried the bunkers protecting the left of the green and was delighted to be away (and on the green). Blair had bailed out left, and was left with a tricky chip over the bunkers. He produced some short-game magic to get up and down, and I 3-putted … Very frustrating!
Holes 2-5
The next two holes are strong par-4s, measuring 879 in aggregate and with numerous bunkers left and right. The tee shot on the 2nd is particularly daunting, as it looks like there are bunkers everywhere:
I was unusually straight off the tee and was doing a good job avoiding the bunkers. Blair was not so fortunate. Having parred the first two holes, he found the bunker just short of the green on the third … That got me on the board and the match back to one down. The 4th is a comparatively short par 4 with a dog-leg from right to left. 5 bunkers protect the green. Halved in bogeys.
The 5th is the second par 3 on the course. Both this and the 1st are ranked in the “1001 Golf Holes You Must Play Before You Die”. Again, being straight is key – there are four bunkers on the left and two on the right. The approach into the green makes the hole seem shorter than it is. A bogey 4 was good enough to win the hole and bring the match to all-square.
Holes 6-9
The par 5 6th gently turns from right to left. It is short enough to suggest it is a good scoring opportunity, but beware of the bunkers. There are 2 to collect an errant drive, 4 for the lay-up and 5 around the green. The straight driving continued, but another 3-putt handed the lead back to Blair.
The stretch from 7 to 9 was one of the most enjoyable on the round. The 7th is another par 5, but this time straight and longer. 15 more bunkers await. The green is slightly raised and enclosed by dunes. I hit a good drive, but a poor 2nd left me with 200 to the green. A drilled 3-wood never left the pin and from our position it looked to be close. Sadly the pin was at the back of the green, so I still had 40-feet to go. A good 2-putt for my first par and that was good enough to level the match.
The 8th plays from a raised tee box, with a public footpath running between the tee and fairway. Out of bounds right (again). Two good drives, but both left daunting second shots. The green is raised and has a line of bunkers which hide the 20 yards of dead ground before you actually get to the putting surface. I thought I had hit a stellar approach, only to find it had clung onto the up slope. Blair had a little trouble in the trees, so my bogey was good enough for the hole.
The 9th is a gorgeous short par 3. It plays over a hollow to a green protected by nine bunkers! I went long-left and Blair short-left. It is still a mystery where his ball ended up. Another bogey for me: two-up through the front 9.
Holes 10-13
Hole 10 is a par 4 that plays between two steep mounds, giving a semi-blind approach shot. Blair quickly got back on the board with two good shots and a 2-putt par.
Back over the footpath to the 11th, which is a cracking par 5. There is plenty of space to the right, but the hole curls round from right to left. If you want to go for the green in two, you need to take the tiger line up the left. Get that wrong and jungle awaits. Oh, and you have to carry the two bunkers (230 yards from the reds). Inevitably, both of us went right. I was lucky to avoid the fairway bunker, but inexplicably then hit my next shot even further right! I think we would both like to have a go at this hole again … halved in bogey 6s.
A deceptively long par 3 follows. We both missed the green, but a good chip and solid putt (my only 1-putt of the day) gave me the hole.
The 13th is a short, straight, innocuous-looking par 4 and has stroke index 18. Some more solid golf from Blair and my inability to find the putting surface reduced the margin to one.
Holes 14-16
You have to take advantage of 10-13, as scoring opportunities are scarce over the closing five holes.
The 14th is a beast at 436 yards. We were fortunate to have some help from the wind, but both came up just short of the green. Blair putted to 4 feet from 30 yards short of the green and made par. I came up short with my chip and 3-putted, so we were back to all square.
The 15th is the longest par 4 on the back nine and played all of its 455 yards into the wind (which was now gusting at 15-20mph). Driver, driver and 8-iron from me left 15-feet for par. Two putts and a bogey good enough for the hole.
16 is a scoring opportunity, playing with the prevailing wind and only 351 yards. There are 15 bunkers, however, including 6 around the green. A bogey from me won the hole and took the match to dormie-2.
The closing stretch: Hole 17
What a finishing stretch this is! The clubhouse comes back into view from the 17th tee box, but you know there are two tough holes before a well-deserved pint.
The 17th is a proper 2-shot hole (or in our case 3!). It takes a sharp dog-leg from right to left and has a split fairway. The first half has 10 bunkers, including 7 on the left hand side which create an effective sandy waste-land. I went left and was not far from the green plaque that commemorates an amazing 2nd shot hit by Bobby Jones in the 1926 Open. I didn’t try to replicate this and sensibly laid up (rather than attempting a bunker shot from 180 yards into the wind over a steep mound into a green protected by 5 bunkers). Blair was also having a bit of trouble and ended up coming up just short with his approach …
A two-putt bogey was good enough for me to close out the match with a 3&1 victory.
The closing stretch: Hole 18
The closing hole is one of the best there is. It plays back to the magnificent clubhouse and is a par 4 stretching to 393 yards. Two strings of diagonal fairway bunkers (3 on the left and 4 on the right) await the tee shot.
I went right of the right hand set but Blair split them with a cracking drive. From there, we stuck to routine: I went right and he went left. Both bunkered – I splashed out to 4-feet, but left the par putt short! I am still replaying this in my head nearly 3 months later.
Post-match debrief
We returned to the clubhouse with a sense of achievement and thoroughly happy. We wanted to play the course again and if it hadn’t been for the 4hr journey back to London that awaited us, I reckon we would have done!
The entrance to the clubhouse is a slightly incongruous old-style wooden revolving door. In the lobby there is the original reception desk, hidden behind oak and glass panelling and an open log fire. A sweeping staircase takes you up to the bars, dining room and snooker room. We headed to the bar, overlooking the practice ground, and started our debrief of the course.
I was very impressed with the course and the whole set-up (accommodation, food, drink & facilities) at Royal Lytham.
The main thing that sticks with me is that there are no weak holes. There is huge variety and whilst the main protection is through the bunkering, no two holes feel the same. Despite my failure to get the ball to the hole on the 18th, I have selected that hole as the best finishing hole that I have played. I can’t give more praise than that!