Southport Old Links Golf Club

Southport Old Links is not the biggest or indeed the best-known golf course in town, but it is among the oldest. Golf was first played here in the late 1800s, before many big and famous clubs had their first monthly medal or cut the fairways with the horse-drawn mowers for the first time.

It is small only in being 9-holes. But in the length of its holes it is king-sized, a truly demanding test of golf and a delightful golfing experience. SOL, as it is often conveniently labelled, is truly at the heart of golf in Southport, not just by tradition, but also by its location. For the really energetic it is within an hour's walk of fashionable Lord Street and the town centre, on the edge of the old world village of Churchtown, the original Southport, still with the charming white washed, thatched cottages, village square, and old stone stocks.

SOL status in the past was such that legend reveals that some of golf's greatest names played here including J.H. Taylor and James Braid, two of golf's famous triumvirates that included also six times Open champion Harry Vardon.
SOL might have moved to bigger surrounding but then, of course, the roots here are long established and such temptations were resisted. Instead, SOL settled in its old, lovely intimate links-parkland, surrounded by the birch trees with the views eastwards across the Lancashire plain to distant hills, and planned for the future.

The club has built a new clubhouse, invested in its fairways and greens and, well, changed a few things to make a great golf challenge.

Newcomers in town should not imagine 9-holes means a gentle golf test. The 2nd, for instance, is a short par-4 but now with a ditch cunningly slanted across in front of the green - quite likely to catch the ball running left down the fairway, less likely on the right. But there is always the challenge of aiming to 'carry' the water.

Throughout the course, alternate tees give a genuine feeling of playing an 18-hole course. Added to that, the length of almost 6400 yards, surprisingly tight fairways and greens, out-of-bounds on the left on more than half the holes, lots of trees and water make this a golf test as demanding as those of any of its big neighbours.

Enjoy the SOL golf day - and the club's well-known reputation as a friendly place to visit.