Formby Hall - Lancashire - England

I've played Formby Hall a few times as part of Society tours to the many standout local links - Formby, West Lancs, Birkdale etc. However, it's a great place for a day of golf - good practice facilities, value food and drink and the par 3 course is a good laugh for a warm up betting match. The course itself is quite tough with typically fast greens, plenty of water, and the holes "out in the country" allow you to open your shoulders and give it a go. Slightly weak start, but nice par 3's and everyone I have played with there has enjoyed it much more than they thought they would what with its being "the wrong side" of the main road, if that's a slightly backhanded compliment !

Last July I was able to play the 3 Royals near Formby, but the day of arrival and after 2 long flights from Buenos Aires, we shared a round here and it was fantastic. It is not the typical links course you expect to play in the UK, but it is the perfect "warm up" before facing the "Big 5" you can play near it: Royal Lytham & St Annes, Hoylake, Birkdale, Formby and Hillside. The course can be considered a parkland, easy to walk with short distances from green to next tee. Greens rolled pretty fast and true and I was suprised by some very challenging shots and also some reachable short par 4s like 9 & 10. Par 5s are reachable, usually needing to face some danger when going for them but if you hit a good shot it pays the price. A very nice Club House, a great hotel where you can make base to play the other ones and stay for a week. I really recommend this place for staying and the course to be played. A special note to final par 5: tough tee shot and even tougher second one, if you are not 100% confident do not take more risk, it is the final hole and a bad score will leave you with bad taste after a great round of golf.

The Formby Hall resort is a super place to stay and play and ideal to use as a base to visit the courses along England’s Golf Coast. The course starts slowly for me and being honest some of the early holes are a little predictable and un-inspiring – the par-5 7th stands out; certainly reachable in two for some but a huge lake short of the green provides plenty of protection. Without a doubt the back-9 is considerably superior; better design, stronger variation and water involved on nearly every hole. I like the 11th a lot; under 400 yards with a slight dog-leg to the left and water at the green. The 17th is another one of my ‘picks’ another par-4 of mid length with a really tough approach to a well-protected green. As mentioned at the start, I would always choose Formby Hall as the place to stay when golfing in this area – a resort perfect for golfers – but remember that the course here should be used as a warm-up before playing the local big guns at Royal Birkdale, Hillside and Formby and also a little further away at Royal Lytham and Royal Liverpool.