Formby Golf Club – Hole by Hole
This is my fifth post from the fall 2024 trip to England’s Golf Coast organized by Platinum Golf Scotland. In the last post I took a day off from golf and spent the time exploring Liverpool’s wonderful waterfront. Today we will return to the links at a course that has never hosted The Open, but still has a history steeped in tradition including multiple men’s and women’s Amateur championships, the Curtis Cup, the Senior PGA and more. Welcome to Formby Golf Course, one of the elite eight on England’s Golf Coast and perhaps the most fun to play.
History of Formby Golf Club
Formby is another of the relative newcomers to the collection of English links course, only founded in 1884, but not really until laid out in something like the current routing by Willie Park in 1912. Park had one of the most complete golf resumes ever put together by one man. He won The Open twice, wrote the first ever book on golf by a professional, The Game of Golf, designed golf clubs and was the architect of dozens of courses around the world including five in the Top 100 Canadian courses. One of these, Weston in Toronto was the site of Arnold Palmer’s first PGA tour win, the 1954 Canadian Open. One of the things I’m really enjoying about this trip is that we are playing courses that were designed by the legends of the game.
As early as 1887 members began planting the pine trees that are the signature feature of this course and you’ll find one on every flag on every green.
The current clubhouse dates from 1901 with the addition of the clock tower in 1909, a gift from member Bruce Ismay who just happened to be the owner of the White Star Line which would go on to build the Titanic. It was Ismay who ordered the number of lifeboats reduced from the original 48 to 16, the legal minimum limit. It was also Ismay who found his way into one of those 16 lifeboats while almost all other members of the crew went down with the ship. Needless to say he was not a popular guy after that.
Two more of the greats of golf architecture made adjustments to the course; James Braid in 1922 and Harry Colt in 1933. We’ve already met these two gentlemen at a number of the courses we have played on this tour. The course took its present configuration in 1980 when coastal erosion forced the relocation of a number of holes. These were designed by Donald Steel who also did the final work on Wallasey in 2003.
As noted, many prestigious championships have been contested over the years at Formby with perhaps the most notable being Jose Maria Olazabal’s triumph over Colin Montgomerie in the 1984 Amateur played on the club’s centenary. Also of note was Matteo Manassero’s win at The Amateur here in 2009 at only age 16, the youngest winner ever.
While the Formby clubhouse has a lot of interesting golf memorabilia as do all the clubs we have visited this one has something unique – the Hippo. It’s tucked away in a corner between the two bars and coming upon it unexpectedly I had to do a double take. It was a gift to the club in 1909 and at one point was kidnapped and played a role in the WWII Battle of Narvik. Now it’s back home and resting on its laurels.
There is a driving range at Formby, but it’s quite a trek from the clubhouse. On the way there you pass the first tee of the Formby Ladies Course which is entirely encircled by the course we are going to play. BTW it’s not just for women golfers and is a great little links course in its own right.
When we played Royal Lytham & St. Annes two days ago we caught up to the group in front of us at the halfway house and our caddie Alan Bolton introduced us to the caddie with that group, John Rhall who he said was the caddie master at Formby. Without missing a beat John said he would be caddying for us at Formby in two days time. Considering that Royal Lytham and Formby are 56 miles distance from each other it seemed quite a coincidence that we should meet in this fashion.
Fast forward two days and John is waiting for our foursome on the first tee.
Formby has five sets of tee boxes that stretch from 7,128 yards and a slope rating of 146 to as short as 5,263 yards. We are going to play the men’s forward tees at 6,064 yards with a slope rating of 133 which is still well above the average of 120. OK, let’s tee it up.
Formby #1 – 369 Yard Par Four
As mentioned, Formby completely encircles the smaller Ladies’ course which makes it into a giant U-shape with the first three holes forming the right side of the U. Like Royal Lytham there is a railway running down the right side of the fairway for these three holes. The two bunkers on the right are not a problem, but the natural tendency to stay away from the OB on the right brings the two on the left into play. Even if you do avoid them there is a chance of a crappy lie in the rough.
And oh, did you notice we have some blue sky? What a difference it will make if we don’t get rained on again.
If you do stay in the fairway off the tee there is still a daunting approach to a fairly narrow green. The greens at Formby are absolute top quality, but can be tricky to read as I find out when John gives me a line completely the opposite to what I would have chosen. He’s right of course.
This is a great starting hole. Not a pushover by any means, but not a ball buster either.
#2 – 330 Yard Par Four
This short par four introduces you to the 100+ year old pines that give Formby a completely different look than any other links course I have played. It’s almost like Carolina meets the Irish Sea.
As you can see there is zero room to go wrong on the right and you don’t need a driver. You just need to stay left with a wood and have something like this for your approach. The foreshortening makes the green look a lot closer than it is, but isn’t that a beautiful looking fairway leading to a slightly uphill green?
There is only one bunker guarding this green and it’s typical of the Formby pot bunkers. If you ended up near the face you would have no choice but to go out sideways. That’s a situation you can probably expect at least once during your round here so don’t sweat it. As with the other links courses we have played, the sand is lovely and fluffy and if you know how to play a sand shot they are not the menace they at first sight appear to be. There are few things more satisfying in golf than to hear the whump of a well played sand shot.
Formby #3 – 484 Yard Par Five
Unlike Royal Lytham, we are not going to get any whimpy par fives at Formby. For us these will be three shot holes which means playing strategically starting with staying well right off the tee to avoid the five fairway bunkers on the left. However, if you hit a short drive as I have here you won’t reach them.
The second shot on this third rated stroke hole has only one objective. Don’t go into that bunker that sits in the middle of the fairway about 100 yards from the green. Either lay up or take enough club to clear it.
You can see I chose to take it out of play by laying up leaving this short iron approach. You can also see a ball just short of the green which was the result of a good drive followed by a second that easily took the fairway bunker out of play. Guess who got an easy par and who didn’t?
#4 – 308 Yard Par Four
On #4 Formby makes a short detour back toward the clubhouse with this very short par four. Interestingly it’s only 313 yards from the back tees so definitely driveable by the pros. For the average player, a well struck drive should leave you sitting about a hundred yards out or less with this approach to a very small green. Again though, isn’t this a gorgeous looking combination of fairway, green bunkers and fescue with a few trees and shrubs thrown in for good measure?
Formby #5 – 148 Yard Par Three
The first par three at Formby plays a lot longer than its stated yardage to an uphill green that slopes off to the left. Anything that comes up just a bit short will almost certainly funnel back down into one of the bunkers or almost as bad, roll back down into the rough. Thanks to John’s advice we took way more club that we would have without a caddie and some actually managed to stay on the green and secure a par.
#6 – 374 Yard Par Four
This first dogleg at Formby presents a formidable challenge. You can try to cut off some distance by going over the mound on the left, but if you fail the rough is deep and steep. You might even have an unplayable lie. On the other hand if you stray to the right those two bunkers are in the perfect position to snag you ball.
Assuming you have avoided trouble off the tee, you then have to navigate this no man’s land that lies between you and the green. You can see that two of our group have decided to lay up. I’m going to have a go at it because John tells me that there are no bunkers to worry about and if I stay right the ball should makes its way to the green.
This is the result of one second shot and two third shots. This green has a severe slope downward from right to left making these putts quite tricky. Just a little too much and you’ll find yourself with a longer putt coming back than you started out with. Don’t ask me how I know this. Still this is a world class par four with all the elements that make for a great links hole.
Formby #7 – 350 Yard Par Four
You are now about to enter a series of holes that at least one one noted golf writer has described as the best on the planet. After having played them I can say unequivocally that these were the most memorable holes we played on this trip.
This is an almost impossible looking tee shot and it really is. You have a choice of trying to reach the extremely narrow fairway past the left side bunker by going down the right side which will give a chance to reach the green in two or just hitting an iron to the wider fairway before the bunker. I did the latter and couldn’t see the green so just had to follow John’s advice and hit another iron directly at the dunes on the left.
That left me this third shot to an uphill green where you cannot afford to be above the hole. The two balls closer to the green were from those who had hit driver, but still came up short on the second. Even though this is only the 13 stroke hole playing for a bogey makes sense because if you are off the fairway on this hole you are screwed.
No. 7 really is a hole of a different magnitude to any we have played since Wallasey.
#8 – 424 Yard Par Five
I said we weren’t going to have any wimpy par fives at Formby and distance wise this might seem like one, but in fact it’s the #1 stroke hole on the course. Even for the pros it plays only 481 yards and there aren’t even any bunkers. So what’s the catch? Well for starters the way this fairway slants right to left which makes it very difficult to stay on which only one of our foursome managed.
This is where you are likely to be in two if things have gone according to plan with this pitch shot to a two-tiered green. It’s really a quite dynamic scene with what John described as ‘the Formby pine’ to the right.
Once you are on the green take a look back at the hole to really appreciate the serpentine nature of this hole. One of the best par fives I have ever played.
Formby #9 – 415 Yard Par Five
This is the view of #9 from the championship tees and you can see where the Irish Sea blew a hole through the dunes in the 1980’s and destroyed what had been the 9th and 10th holes. Instead of trying to defeat Mother Nature Donald Steel opted to build two completely new holes and let the old holes revert to their natural state.
This is the best place on the course for a group photo.
While once again the distance is minimal for a par five John tells us that normally there would be a strong wind in our faces on this hole making it usually play over 100 yards longer. Thank God there isn’t today. I love links courses, but can do without typical links winds, thank you.
This is the same hole from the forward tees. Without wind we don’t need driver today, staying on the fairway is the priority, not length.
Two woods leaves this modest approach shot and the best birdie opportunity of the day. After #8 this hole is a nice breather.
#10 – 171 Yard Par Three
The tee on this longish par three is much more elevated than this photo depicts and if you can avoid those traps on the right the ball will feed from the right side down to the pin. A couple of us were surprised how well our shots ended up after looking like they might end up in the far bunker. While the wind definitely was not howling, it was blowing enough right off the Irish Sea directly behind this hole to be off significant assistance.
Formby #11 – 367 Yard Par Four
This is a another tough driving hole with traps on both sides of the narrow fairway right about where your drive might land. As you can see the fescue here is quite thick and advancing the ball will be difficult, assuming you can even find it. I can’t imagine what it would be like in a strong crosswind.
By now you’ll be glad to see this smiling face at the halfway house that in the tradition of these English links courses seems to be after the 11th and not the 9th hole. Good sausage rolls, but not as good as Royal Lytham.
#12 – 317 Yard Par Four
Jack Nicklaus called this one of the greatest par fours he has ever played. The tee is quite elevated and distance isn’t the problem as it plays downhill. The issue is that the fairway becomes so narrow at just about driver distance that you have a choice – try to clear it and have a great birdie opportunity or lay up. John strongly advises the latter and even then a couple of us are in trouble off the tee.
This is a much better looking hole in person than you would guess from the photo.
Formby #13 – 356 Yard Par Four
This is another tricky tee shot with a lot of bunkers you can’t see from the tee box. By now anyone who cannot hit a straight tee shot might be pulling their hair out because when your fades become slices and your draws a hook those bunkers will eat you alive. And if they don’t, the fescue will.
Having stayed out of trouble off the tee you are definitely not out of the woods as the fairway tapers to the width of the very narrow green. After #7 this was probably the toughest second shot on a par four at Formby. Just looking at it as I write this gives me the willies.
#14 – 339 Yard Par Four
Make sure you take the time to climb up to the championship tee on #14 to get this panoramic view of the hole with the clubhouse in the background. You can see my companions down at the forward tees from where the drive is much more comfortable although a wayward drive to the right might find one of the few spots on the course with gorse.
Also turn the other way from the tee box for this view back to the gap with the Irish Sea in the background.
Even though #14 is rated as the #6 stroke hole I found it much less difficult than #13 which is only the #10 stoke hole.
Formby #15 – 381 Yard Four
This is the only true blind tee shot at Formby and for that I am grateful as I really don’t like blind tee shots, but this photo does give a good idea of the great shape these fairways are in and the undulations that have been a constant since about the sixth hole. John tells us to stay right on the drive and don’t worry about getting into trouble because there is nary a bunker on this hole.
He’s right and a good drive leaves this second shot which requires threading the needle to this two tiered green. By some miracle I did it and left this toughest ranked hole on the back in a great frame of mind. Or maybe it was just the fact that we have played 15 holes with sunshine and a gentle wind on one of the best courses I have ever played.
#16 – 115 Par Three
The final par three at Formby is by far the shortest and the #18 stroke hole so it shouldn’t be that difficult right? If you pick the right club and stay on this small crowned green then no. But you can see from the flag that the wind here is not the gentle one I mused about on the last hole making club selection that much harder. If you don’t stay on the green then a double is as likely as a par. One of our foursome had the dreaded bunker face lie and had to go out backwards and ended up 30 yards away from the green in two.
Formby #17 – 446 Yard Par Five
This last par five at Formby is not as tricky as any of the other three. The fairway is decently wide and with two good shots you should be fairly close to the green which is where the difficulty begins. The green is severely sloped upward from front to back. That ball you see is mine and I struck it from where this photo was taken and you can see it is not on the green. However, it did land well onto the green and I actually thought I might have a birdie putt, but then it started rolling backward and suddenly I had a tricky two putt for par.
#18 – 370 Yard Par Four
The final hole at Formby is oner of the tamer par fours on the course. The traps you can see don’t really come into play and there’s a lot of fairway past them. The real difficulty is the approach shot that has to deal with six traps that almost completely guard a long narrow green. Rather than think about that, John took us to this spot on the fairway to get a photo with him and the clubhouse.
Thus we concluded the most enjoyable round of golf on this trip. If you are planning a trip to England’s Golf Coast don’t just focus on the three Open venues, but include Formby on the itinerary as well. You won’t regret it.
In the next post we’ll visit Royal Birkdale. Hope you’ll join us.