XLIV: Southport & Ainsdale
Across the golfing world, noisy neighbours are far from uncommon. Many of the world’s great courses congregate in certain sandy neighbourhoods where the land is primed for the finest versions of the game, each jostling for travellers’ footsteps, divots and cash. Golfing clusters can go one of two ways; in some cases, rising tides lifting all boats and all courses benefit from the postcode’s lofty reputation, or there’s the case of the understated sibling – where the perception of a course is unjustly diminished on account of its neighbours’ fame.
Few corners of the world could smother golf this excellent
There aren’t many boroughs in the game which could understate a wonderful links which has hosted pairs of Ryder Cups and Amateur Championships, but with Southport and Ainsdale sharing a coastline with the likes of Hoylake, Hillside, Formby, Birkdale and West Lancs, far too many golfing pilgrims make the mistake of foregoing its relentless joys.
The wonderful textures of S&A
Much like the Lytham’s and the Paraparaumu’s of the world, S&A’s firm, sandy turf is set far enough back from the coastline that there are no glimpses of the sea, yet the elements of its proximity are felt in full flight. The wind blows and the ball tumbles here, the peaks and shallows of the land delivering the haphazard bounces over which the travelling golfer muses - make no bones about it, this is proper links golf of the highest accord.
Traversing a tight property hemmed by houses and a railway line, its peripheral views hardly scream aesthetic golf, but S&A finds beauty in its variety of textures as wispy rough and sheets of heather carve the playing lines, and layers of sporadic sandhills and beautifully micro-contoured fairways stamp an utter golfy-ness across its setting.
Proper, honest golfing land
There is a unique balance of golf to be found at S&A, as the eccentric quirks of an old school links tastefully collide with the brushstrokes of a scattering of modern touches. At times tee shots and approaches are blinded by dunes- guided only by posts and bunkers are clad with sleepers, whilst at others, putting surfaces don some of the more modern slopes and run-offs. It’s this hybrid layout what makes S&A so compelling- its traditional ethos and experience retained, whilst remaining an engaging test of golf amidst the ever-evolving nature of the game.
A handful of marker posts - remnants of a traditional golfing ethos
The First 7
Punchy, stimulating and diverse, no stretch of holes better sums up the wide-reaching variety of golf on offer at S&A more than the opening seven
Number One
A handful of links commence unconventionally with a one-shotter, but few are as classy as S&A’s first act. As the practice green bleeds into the first tee golfers are faced with a daunting 200-yards between them and a lovely sloping surface suffocated by the grip of five pots. With kicking slopes on both flanks, the green plays larger than it appears.
A nervy iron awaits at the first
Number Two
An early flash of S&A’s modern advances, the fairway of the par five second cuts through the heather and rises handsomely to an elevated green. The large, boldly sloping putting surface makes a friendly target but stands primed for a testing two-putt from distance.
The gradual rise of the second
Number Three
Across a layout with a good number of strong two-shotters, the third may rest atop the heap. Although the tee shot is appealing as it slides downhill from atop a dune, its tabletop green site fronted by a deceptive dip and the front to back tilt of the green combine to make it the most exacting shot of the day.
Bunkers and a false front protect the third
Number Four
Whilst the third plays downhill from the tee, the fourth rises gently – avoiding the sea of pot bunkers the art of the tee shot’s test. At such an early stage in the round, it becomes clear just how diverse S&A’s approach shots are, with the false-fronted fourth green parked atop a ridge and feeding balls right presenting a completely new test.
The nifty fourth green
Number Six
Opening a corner of quirk, the sixth tees blindly between the hillocks towards a marker post. With the fairway bending at a near right angle the brave and long have the option to take on the trees, giving them a much shorter short into the green tilted away from the line of play.
A confusing view from the sixth tee
Number Seven
It’s not unusual for golfers visitors to find themselves dumbfounded playing an old links, but few stand to disorient more than S&A’s par five seventh. Bending left beyond a row of dunes with little visual aid, choosing a teeing line is a mystery, whilst the second shot is entirely blinded, it presents more bark than bite with a sea of short grass lying in wait. S&A’s old school roots remain joyfully in the ground.
More blindness into the 7th
The Subtleties of the Middle
For the first half-dozen, S&A’s back nine welcomes a stretch of more subtle golf which is oftentimes overlooked by visitors. In truth it presents plenty of good golf with a pair of sweet one-shotters and a couple of par fours where strategy is directed by creeping heather, well placed bunkers and the encroaching boundary. Although these holes don’t make the postcards home, they are a welcome change of pace before the dial is turned up dramatically once more….
Approaching the 15th
Gumbleys
Golfers travel the world clubs in tow to experience the shots and holes which can’t be found anywhere else, the ones which imprint themselves on players. S&A’s poster-child for one-in-a-million golf arrives at the par-five 16th ‘Gumbleys’ with a scene which defies all of modern golf’s idealisms– its railway adjacent fairway abruptly cut off by a towering bunker carved into the face of an overbearing dune. With the tee shot played short of the hazard, the second must be hoisted blindly above the trouble, S&A’s penultimate marker post the guiding light. Flying in the face of fairness, Gumbleys marks golf in its oldest and most endearing form – the opportunity to experience it worth the trip alone.
Up and over one of golf's great hazards at the 16th
A place that’s so incredibly easy to love, Southport & Ainsdale is a club which feels like it gets a lot of things very right with a loop of holes which are consistently engaging, varied, memorable and above all else, a heap of fun to play. Few courses have seamlessly interwoven the challenges of modern golf and those of a bygone era and nobody could blame the travelling golfer for feeling more endeared and charmed by S&A than its more revered neighbours.