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The course has a slightly different feel to other Open venues as a result of the large practice area just across the 3rd fairway on The Open routing, and the generally flat landscape you look out over from the suitably grand clubhouse. The beauty in these holes lies within, with subtlety and some very clever bunkering providing the test. But as the links moves away towards the Dee estuary from the 5th hole onwards, the outlook becomes more dramatic as the course enters some classic and intriguing linksland, more than capable of forming a formidable adversary when the wind is blowing in unfettered off the Irish Sea. The stretch from the 11th to the 14th during Open week is one of the finest on the rota, and anyone coming through here unscathed will be eyeing up the final run’s two par 5s with optimism. Indeed, Hoylake is the only Open rota course to finish with a par 5, bringing the prospect of a dramatic closing eagle into the equation if the wind is favourable. Last time, players got away lightly on the weather front, and many golf followers will be hoping that a decent breeze blowing in off the Dee estuary will give the world’s best a little more to think about this time round...
Photography kindly supplied by Kevin Murray