With spring looking to finally have sprung, we head to Leasowe on the Wirral, 8 miles across the River Mersey from Liverpool, and just 5 miles up the coast from The Open’s 2023 venue of Hoylake. Mercifully, the weather is much brighter and calmer than our last visit to the peninsula, when Brian Harman battled the driving rain to lift the Claret Jug. On this late April morning, we’re blessed with long-awaited blue skies above, and some kind of mysterious yellow ball appearing intermittently from behind the clouds.
But still, this is links golf; a variation of the sport that us inlanders are almost entirely unaccustomed to, so it’s with some trepidation that we await our allotted tee time. Thankfully, nerves are soon settled by interactions with some friendly and helpful club members, combined with the chance to gaze from the clubhouse’s first floor vantage point, across the beautiful green course, the golden beach and Liverpool Bay beyond.
The club can trace its roots back to 1891, when a 9 hole course was built on Leasowe Common, with golf played only on Saturdays, and the country’s last female lighthouse keeper supplying tea and buns for members. The course was later extended to 18 holes, and has evolved through a number of design iterations, with the sea claiming several holes, before land was acquired from the adjoining Leasowe Castle to complete the 18 hole setup found today.
It’s a design that ensures that rounds start in spectacular fashion, with a tee shot over the driveway and towards the first green in front of the pretty castle walls (see main picture above). From there, two further holes head out to the course’s western extremity, with the tee box at the third offering a vista that extends across the Dee Estuary to the distant hills of Snowdonia beyond. It’s timely inspiration, for the required gutsy shot across water that immediately follows.
As we turn back to the east, we enjoy a quartet of holes alongside the coastline, with the busy elevated promenade adding the pressure of an audience, and – on our visit at least – some playful critique! The remaining holes, whilst perhaps less breathtaking, feature an array of hazards in the form of ditches, ponds, gorse rough and unforgiving pot bunkers. But for all the cruelty dished out by those deep and tiny sandpits, the greens are kind; being beautifully kept, not too fast and running sublimely true.
Key Info
Holes: 18
Par: White / Yellow: 71. Red: 74
Yards: White: 6,282. Yellow: 6,070. Red: 5,348
Slope: White: 129. Yellow: 131. Red: 129
Visitor Green Fees: £32
Website: https://www.leasowegolfclub.co.uk/
Location
Prices correct at time of writing (May 2024).
Find out where this course ranks on the list of toughest courses in Cheshire here, see all of the county’s courses plotted onto a Google Map here, and try our fun quiz to find your perfect course here!
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