YOUR COMPLETE GUIDE TO GOLF COURSES IN WALES

Click the banners to view
great golfing deals

Welsh Golf Courses - Holiday Pages

Golf in Blackpool

Advertisers

The majority of people who head for Blackpool may have rollercoasters or a trip up the famous Tower on their agenda but the area is also a golfers' paradise. Within a 15-mile arc of Blackpool there's a choice of 12 courses, the best known of which is Royal Lytham & St Annes, where a swashbuckling Seve Ballesteros conjured up all sorts of magic to win the Open Championship in 1979, a feat the Spaniard duly repeated over the Lancashire links nine years later.

Royal Lytham is actually in St Annes. It got a Lytham prefix as a sop to the Squire in 1886, and transferred to the present links in 1897. The course was first laid out by the club's Scottish professional, George Lowe, and Royal recognition was given to Lytham and St Annes when the course staged the 1926 Open. Harry Colt had a big influence on the course's elevation to championship status and, in addition to the Open, Royal Lytham & St Annes has played host to the Ryder Cup, British Seniors' Open and British Women's Open over the years.

While the other courses on the R&A's Open rota are all on the seaside, Royal Lytham & St Annes is surrounded by suburbia. What also makes it different from St Andrews, Carnoustie, Muirfield, Royal Troon, Turnberry, Royal Birkdale and Royal St George's is that it starts with a par-3. Not far from Royal Lytham & St Annes is Fairhaven Golf Club, widely regarded as a challenging - it has six par-5s - but fair course.

Being an Open qualifying course, it is always very popular with lots of visitors being tempted to make returns trips. Another Open qualifying venue is St Annes Old Links, a segment of which was where golf was first played on the Fylde Coast more than a hundred years ago. The Old Links is a tough course with springy turf, superb greens and fairways lined by low dunes with hardly a tree in sight.

A different type of game is available at Lytham Green Drive, a wooded parkland layout. Situated a mile inland of Lytham town centre, it is very popular with holidaymakers. Much nearer to the hustle and bustle of the famous Blackpool 'Golden Mile' is Heron's Reach, which is part of the De Vere stable.

This pay-and-play course was designed by BBC golf commentator Peter Alliss along with Clive Clark and sits close to Blackpool Park, a busy public parkland layout which was designed in 1926 by Dr Alister Mackenzie. About half a mile east of Queens Promenade is North Shore, reckoned by many to be Blackpool's best course - it hosted an unofficial Britain v The World match involving the likes of Palmer, Nicklaus and Player in 1963 - while an entirely different day's golf can be found at courses such as Fleetwood and Knott End.

Yes, the Lancashire town may be known around the world for its Pleasure Beach and Tower in particular but it's a winner when it comes to golf, too.