Championship VenueLinks Classic

Southport & Ainsdale Golf Club

Southport, Merseyside · Designed by James Braid (1923 redesign) · Est. 1907

"S&A," as it is universally known, is one of the classic links of the Lancashire Golf Coast, tucked between Royal Birkdale and Hillside on the great belt of duneland south of Southport. Its championship pedigree is real: it hosted the Ryder Cup twice, in 1933 and 1937, and staged Open Final Qualifying for years — this is a links that has tested the very best.

Laid out on classic tumbling links land and substantially redesigned by James Braid in the 1920s, it runs to around 6,600 yards, par 72, through tall marram-covered dunes and firm, rippled fairways. Its most famous feature is the par-5 16th, "Gumbleys," where the drive must carry — or the second must skirt — an enormous sleepered sandhill bunker cut into the face of a dune, one of the most photographed hazards in English golf.

Often overlooked amid its more famous neighbours, S&A is a genuine championship links of great character, and an essential round on any tour of the Southport coast.

Holes worth knowing

116th "Gumbleys" (par-5) — a huge sleepered bunker cut into a dune face guards the hole; carry it or skirt it, it is one of the great hazards in English golf.
2The dune holes — Braid's routing through tall marram-covered sandhills gives firm, rippled links golf every bit the equal of its famous neighbours.

Highlights

Twice a Ryder Cup host (1933 & 1937)
Classic James Braid links redesign
The famous "Gumbleys" sleepered bunker (16th)
On the Southport coast between Birkdale and Hillside

Good to know

→S&A hosted the Ryder Cup twice, in 1933 and 1937 — real championship history, often forgotten beside Birkdale next door.
→The par-5 16th, "Gumbleys," and its vast sleepered sandhill bunker is the signature — one of the most photographed hazards on the coast.
→It sits right on the Southport Golf Coast between Royal Birkdale and Hillside — three great links within a mile or two for a superb links day.
→Southport itself, with its grand Lord Street boulevard, hotels and restaurants, is the perfect base for the whole coast.
→The Merseyrail Northern line runs along the coast (Ainsdale station is close), so the Southport links are unusually reachable without a car.