Hesketh Golf Club

Where Southport’s golf began.

Hesketh is the oldest golf club in Southport, founded in 1885, and it sits at the quiet northern end of town at Marshside, where the dunes meet the salt marsh of the Ribble estuary. It is a good deal cheaper than the championship links further south, especially in winter, and it books visitors online a week ahead. The English Golf Union was founded here, and the club is a regional qualifying venue for The Open. If you are building a Southport trip, it gives you a different landscape: estuary and marsh rather than tall coastal dunes.

Hesketh Golf Club green fees and tee times.

Visitor tee times open online seven days ahead, at 7.15pm, through the club’s Intelligent Golf booking page. For dates further ahead, which is what most travelling groups need, contact the bookings team by phone on +44 1704 536897 or by email. If no times show within the seven-day window, the tee sheet is full. Groups and societies can add catering packages through the office. The club does not publish a handicap limit or certificate rule on its visitor pages, so ask when you book. Five buggies are available at £40 and must be booked in advance through the club office.

The round, in perspective.

The club credits the course to George Lowe, who also laid out the first Royal Birkdale and Royal Lytham courses, and James Braid; Top 100 Golf Courses also names J. O. F. Morris, Old Tom’s son. Henry Cotton set a course record of 68 here in 1932. Half the holes wind through hummocky dunes; the back nine borders salt marsh and a nature reserve, with views over the estuary, and the sea breeze there favours a low ball flight. The best-known hole is the 16th, a 182-yard par three that usually plays into the prevailing wind, with a road to the right and a heavily bunkered green; the club says Cotton rated it the best short hole in Lancashire. The round finishes with two par fives: the 516-yard 17th tempts you to carry a tall copse of trees, and the 477-yard 18th is reachable in two. Top 100 Golf Courses lists the course at par 72 and 6,703 yards from the back tees.

Know before you go.

Online window

Seven days ahead, from 7.15pm

Buggies

Five, £40, pre-book with the club office

Electric trolley

£20 from the pro shop

Club hire

£40, pre-book

Winter 2026–27

Fairway mats compulsory from 26 October until at least the end of February

Make the trip work.

From April to October the club offers a Sunday Driver package on request: 18 holes on Sunday and 18 on Monday for £180 each. A combined Hesketh and Southport & Ainsdale package starts at £300 a head. Public footpaths run beside and across the 5th, 6th and 7th holes, and walkers have priority, so expect to wait for them now and then. Clubhouse hospitality is open daily from 9am to 5pm. The club publishes its dress rules as a PDF on the visitors page; read it before you pack.

The club puts both Liverpool John Lennon and Manchester airports about 55 minutes away by car, and Liverpool city centre 55 minutes by car or train. Southport station, the end of the Merseyrail Northern line from Liverpool Central and of the line from Manchester via Wigan, is about five minutes by taxi from the clubhouse on Cockle Dick’s Lane.

Where it is.

Nearby: 1. Hillside Golf Club (6 km) · 2. Royal Birkdale Golf Club (6 km) · 3. Southport & Ainsdale Golf Club (7 km) · 4. Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club (10 km) · 5. St Annes Old Links Golf Club (12 km) · 6. Formby Golf Club (12 km) · Compare all England’s Golf Coast tee times

Somewhere to settle in.

Of the Southport clubs, Hesketh is the nearest to the town centre and the seafront, so almost any hotel in town is a short taxi away. The club suggests the four-star Waterfront on the Promenade, which is also the hotel in Southport & Ainsdale’s version of the joint package, and the Travelodge on Garrick Parade for a cheaper bed. For a Liverpool base it names the Hard Days Night Hotel on North John Street. The course itself is set among the Victorian villas of Churchtown, so you are never far from town.

Make a trip of it.

Royal Birkdale, Hillside and Southport & Ainsdale are 15 minutes south by car, and the municipal Southport Golf Links sits across the road from Hesketh if you want a cheap warm-up. Royal Lytham lies across the estuary but is about an hour by road via Preston. Next door, RSPB Marshside is one of the best places in the north-west to watch wading birds and winter geese, and Southport Pier runs out across the sands from the Promenade.

Find your season.

Summer rates run from May to September, with April and October as shoulder months. From 26 October 2026 until at least the end of February, mats are compulsory for every shot from fairways and closely mown areas, so winter golf here is cheap but not in peak condition. The club hosted Open Regional Qualifying every year from 2023 to 2026, so check its open competitions page for summer closures.