Andy Mossack plays at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club and despite the giant bunkers and fierce winds finds it a glorious experience.
Just a couple of miles from Blackpool, the coastal towns of Lytham and St Annes couldn’t be more different from the home of the famous ballroom. Twinned since 1922, they are unashamedly well to do. The most notable thing other than a lack of an apostrophe in St Annes is that it was the original home of the Premium Bonds and Ernie the computer that selected the winning numbers. Lytham on the other hand had the Clifton family to thank for its noble standing with the family estate at Lytham Hall.
So it’s little wonder I found the storied golf links that is Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club tucked away at the end of a small unassuming road. It just added to that sense of exclusivity of it being in a select group of the world’s best courses with a list of hosting achievements that included eleven Open Championships and two Ryder Cups.
Walking into that iconic Victorian clubhouse, the corridors lined with photos of past Open winners, I knew I was walking in the footsteps of golfing legends.
I can’t deny I was having a moment.
Sadly for me the golfing gods picked a bad weather day with gale force winds coming in off the sea. “Any tips on how to play the course?” I asked the starter as he handed me a little visitor keepsake “stay out of the bunkers if I were you”.
Given there are 162 of them, that was highly unlikely.
Royal Lytham & St Annes is a links course, although unlike most links courses it’s not directly next to the sea. The very nature of links is they are the area linking the sea to the land, so the landscape is quite different from parkland. There’s very little in the way of trees, just open ground with plenty of humps, dips and hollows, gorse shrub and very long grass.
It’s also notoriously difficult to gauge distance easily due to the lack of noticeable landmarks. Add to this mix those 162 bunkers, many of which are monsters, seemingly almost twice my height, (and I’m over six feet tall) plus the gale force wind and you understand why you need to give it your full attention.
Unusually for an Open course, the first hole is a par 3, a testing 205 yards from the back tee. With the wind blowing right to left, my gentle fade may have been nullified but I still managed to drop into one of the five bunkers guarding the front of the green. Talking of which, the greens on top courses are always like billiard tables, particularly when they flow down towards bunkers. Hit your ball on the right line and it stays there, unless of course you’re putting through a borrow.
But I was off and running.
The second, a 420-yard par 4, had a railway line running down its entire length so an out of bounds drive was a real possibility. But now with gale right behind me I was delighted to see it sailing down the middle. The third still hugged the railway and there was deep jungle on the left side and bunkers everywhere I looked, no wonder this long par 4 was deemed the toughest hole at stroke index 1. Sadly, I missed the fairway to the left and paid the penalty.
I was now delving into the belly of the beast and beginning to understand how tough a test this was going to be. The fourth hole was a dog leg left and straight into the wind. Not a hope of getting to a corner littered with bunkers and no chance to see the flag either.
By the time I reached the par 5 sixth rain had joined the wind in providing an even sterner test. The green here was crowned and the wind pushed my ball straight off the green. Hey ho.
By the time I arrived at the eighth and ninth the rain had stopped thankfully giving me a perfect opportunity to enjoy these last two on the front nine. Three massive bunkers ran across the fairway three quarters of the way up the eighth hole making the approach a real knee trembler. Perhaps even worse, the bunker on the left of the green was the deepest on the course. It was a wow moment. Luckily a thinned iron missed everything, and I got away with a 5.
I was very proud of myself on the par 3 ninth, the shortest hole at 155 yards but surrounded by seven bunkers. I missed a birdie by a hair.
The back nine began with a par 4 blind drive between two huge mounds against the wind. The narrow fairway was lined on each side by long grass. Terrifying.
The 11th 583 yards off the back tees was straight into the gale and way too far for me to reach in 3. It actually took me 5 shots to get on and another three to finish. What a hole.
The 13th was with the wind and I nearly drove the green! In the end I settled for a par 4.
Mighty 16 proved to be my downfall. Seve’s famous shot from the car park might have won him the Open in 1979, but I hit just about every bunker and there are ten of them!
The 17th 425-yard dog leg (known as the Bobby Jones Hole) has 13 bunkers to navigate and was very special indeed. As I walked towards the green, I spotted the famous clubhouse in the distance. Another moment.
Then, standing on the 18th tee the view is magnificent. What a closing hole. Practically no place to land the drive, 17 bunkers line the entire hole right up to the Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club clubhouse waiting patiently for you to finish.
Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club has it all and is well worth its premier status as one of the world’s best courses. It was certainly the best and toughest I have played. Come with plenty of balls and perhaps a bucket and spade.
Golf course images (C) Gary Lisbon Golf Photography.
Tell Me more about playing at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club
Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, Links Gate, Lytham St. Annes, Lancashire, FY8 3LQ
T:+44 (0)1253 724206 E: enquiries@royallytham.org bookings@royallytham.org
Green Fee Rates at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club
6 May 2025 to 30 September 2025
18 Holes (Monday to Friday) £350.00
18 Holes (Weekends & Bank Holidays) £410.00
There is accommodation and golf packages at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club at the Dormy House if you want to stay overnight. May to September 2025 example: 1 Night, 1 Round, Dinner Bed & Breakfast is £478 per person.
