Play Competitive Golf in the North West of England

North West England hosts one of the country's strongest schedules of amateur open competitions, with singles, pairs, and team events running across championship links and well-established parkland venues from March through to October. The Sefton Coast — a four-mile stretch between Liverpool and Southport — alone contains more world-ranked links than most countries, while inland Lancashire, Cheshire, and Cumbria add depth with welcoming member clubs that host competitive but accessible fields. Whether you're chasing your first open win, building an order-of-merit campaign across several counties, or simply planning a golfing trip, our 2026 calendar makes it straightforward to find the right event in the North West.

2026 brings two genuinely historic championships to the region within a few weeks of one another. From 15-20 June, Royal Liverpool and West Lancashire jointly host the 131st Amateur Championship, with stroke-play qualifying split across both venues, matchplay at Hoylake and pre-qualifying at West Lancashire on 12 June; the winner earns invitations to The Masters, The Open, and the U.S. Open. Then on 16-19 July, The 154th Open Championship returns to Royal Birkdale for the 11th time, nine years on from Jordan Spieth's dramatic 2017 victory. For amateur golfers entering opens elsewhere in the region during the summer of 2026, the standard of the courses, the buzz around the area, and the quality of the fields will all reflect a North West season unlike any in recent memory.

The Sefton Coast is, by almost any measure, the densest concentration of championship links golf in England. Within a few miles of one another sit Royal Birkdale, Hillside, Formby, Southport & Ainsdale, Hesketh, West Lancashire, and Royal Liverpool just across the Mersey — half of which feature in most credible Top 100 GB&I rankings. Firm fairways, wind-blown dunes, and the constant influence of the Irish Sea define the experience, and amateurs who time their entries well can play several of these courses in a single open-competition season at a fraction of green-fee cost. For visitors building a trip, basing yourself in Southport gives walkable or short-drive access to most of the region's major links.

Royal Birkdale Golf Club, founded in 1889 and redesigned to its current routing in 1922, hosts The 154th Open Championship from 16-19 July 2026 — its eleventh staging of the event, more than any other course outside Scotland. Past Birkdale champions include Peter Thomson, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Tom Watson, Ian Baker-Finch, Mark O'Meara, Padraig Harrington and Jordan Spieth, whose 2017 victory featured the now-legendary unplayable drop on the 13th hole that took him into the practice ground — from where he played his way to a bogey, then birdied 14, eagled 15, and birdied 16 and 17 to beat Matt Kuchar by three. Birkdale's reputation rests on a routing that places almost every fairway in a sheltered valley between towering sandhills, asking for precision driving and disciplined iron play rather than raw power. The course is closed to visitors during Championship week, but opens at neighbouring clubs that fortnight are likely to be in particularly high demand.

Hillside Golf Club, separated from Royal Birkdale by little more than a railway boundary, is widely regarded as the finest course in Britain never to have hosted The Open. The current routing — particularly the back nine — was overhauled by Fred Hawtree in 1961, and runs through some of the highest and wildest dunes anywhere in English golf. After winning the 1982 PGA Championship here (in a playoff over Bernhard Langer, his last professional win), Tony Jacklin returned the trophy; that same year Greg Norman wrote unprompted to the club after his round to declare that "the back nine holes are the best in Britain" — a quote the club has worn proudly ever since. Jack Nicklaus added that "within the second nine are some of my favourite holes." Hillside has hosted The Amateur Championship twice (1979 and 2011), the Curtis Cup, the 2019 British Masters (with Tommy Fleetwood as host) and is a regular Open Final Qualifying venue. Opens here are some of the strongest on the Sefton Coast.

Formby Golf Club, founded in 1884 by John Bushby, occupies a unique 470-acre site of links, pine woodland and SSSI-protected dunes — and uniquely in British golf, its anti-clockwise routing encircles the entirely separate Formby Ladies Golf Club (founded 1896) in its centre. The course has been worked on by Willie Park Jr (1912), James Braid (1922), Harry Colt (1933), Donald Steel and most recently Mackenzie & Ebert, who are also planning Formby's response to coastal erosion through to 2085. The Amateur Championship has been held here four times — 1957, 1967, 2009 (Matteo Manassero) and most famously in 1984 when, in the club's centenary year, José María Olazábal beat Colin Montgomerie 5&4 in the final — two future Ryder Cup captains in their teenage prime. Formby has also staged the 2004 Curtis Cup and three Open qualifiers (1924, 1971, 1996), and the Bobby Jones honours and trophies in the clubhouse reflect a long-standing relationship with the Atlanta Athletic Club where he grew up playing.

Pleasington Golf Club, founded in 1891 on the western edge of Blackburn, is far more architecturally pedigreed than its hidden-gem status suggests. The original 18 was laid out by George Lowe Snr and extended by 1902 Open Champion Sandy Herd in 1909, with James Braid adding three new holes and reworking others in 1925 ahead of the Northern PGA Championship. The 142-acre site is split by a railway line — 12 holes of mature parkland on the south side and six of true heathland with heather and gorse on the north, an unusual hybrid character that's now being actively restored by Ken Moodie of Creative Golf Design under a long-term tree management and bunker renovation plan to return the course to its heathland origins. Pleasington has hosted Open Regional Qualifying twelve times, and opens here continue to attract strong county fields. The views across the West Pennine Moors are a bonus.

Ormskirk Golf Club, founded in 1899 and extended to 18 holes in 1903 by Harold Hilton — two-time Open Champion (1892, 1897) and two-time Amateur Champion (1900, 1901) — sits on 125 acres that once formed part of Lord Derby's deer park at Lathom House. The history runs deeper than the golf: a crescent-shaped hollow beside the 16th is reputed to mark a Parliamentary mortar emplacement used by Cromwell's forces during the 1644 siege of Lathom House, the Royalist stronghold defended by Charlotte de la Tremoille, Countess of Derby. The 6,533-yard par-70 course has been further refined since Hilton's day, most notably by Charles MacKenzie (Alister's brother) in 1937. It hosts the Lancashire Amateur and Lancashire PGA championships regularly, has been used for Open Regional Qualifying, and is particularly noted for its set of par-3s. Just ten miles from Southport, it remains one of the finest inland alternatives on the Sefton coast.

Crewe Golf Club at Haslington, founded in 1911, is another James Braid design — the five-time Open Champion laid out the original course, with the Marquess of Crewe among the founding members and the lease of land providing the club its name. The 6,424-yard par-71 parkland course makes the most of natural undulations across 150 acres of Cheshire countryside, with stately oaks framing several holes, well-placed ponds in approach areas, and a set of demanding long par 4s that punish anything less than committed second shots. It's a course whose challenge sneaks up on visitors — the bunkering rewards thinking play from the tee, and the greens are well protected on every side. Combined with sensible green fees, a long-running open programme, and a friendly clubhouse, Crewe is one of the best entry points into Cheshire tournament golf.

The North West blends championship golf with vibrant culture and scenic coastline as well as any region in England. Golfing visitors can pair their rounds with the lively waterfront of Liverpool — a UNESCO Maritime Mercantile City — the Victorian seaside charm and tree-lined Lord Street of Southport, the historic Roman walls of Chester, or the rural quiet of the Cheshire Plain and the Forest of Bowland. Cumbria adds the Lake District to the mix, where less-celebrated but genuinely characterful courses sit beneath some of England's most dramatic scenery.

Whether you're pairing competitive links golf with coastal walks, a city break, or a countryside escape, playing open competitions in North West England delivers more than just a round — it's a combination of heritage, challenge, and unforgettable sporting atmosphere that few other regions can match.