JH Taylor, Walter Hagen, Bobby Jones, Peter Thompson, Roberto Di Vicenzo and Tiger Woods. As a venue for the Open the Royal Liverpool Golf Club - Hoylake as it popularly known - has a habit of producing the world's greatest players as Open champions. The course is everything you would expect from a venue that has such a rich heritage as an Open championship course. As that great golf journalist Bernard Darwin wrote: "Hoylake, blown upon by might winds, breeder of mighty champions." The club opened in 1869 making it one of the oldest in England and was granted Royal Patronage in 1871. In those early days the course doubled up as a racecourse for horses - although that is one hazard today's golfer will be able to avoid. Royal Liverpool Golf Club Hoylake may look benign but it remains one of the fiercest tests in world golf.

Royal Liverpool Golf Club, or Hoylake as it is sometimes known, is one of the great tests of golf. You start in front of the clubhouse and a tough tee shot sees you play around the right angled dogleg of the internal out of bounds that is the The practice area. From there the course continues out towards the sea with some excellent holes. After the turn, there are some great holes, particularly the 11th and 12th next to the shore before you head back to the clubhouse. The par-5 16th was used as the 18th in the 2006 Open with the 17th and 18th becoming the 1st and 2nd. You can see why as you play over the out of bounds again. The last two holes are a bit of an anti-climax but that is not to detract from the quality of Royal Liverpool and the welcome in the clubhouse, which in the tradition of classic links courses is everything you would expect.