Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club

A just beast behind the houses.

Royal Lytham & St Annes is a links that never shows you the sea. It sits among the Victorian villas of St Annes on the Fylde coast, bordered by a railway line, yet the Irish Sea wind reaches every hole. The R&A has confirmed the Open will return here in 2028 for the twelfth time, the first since Ernie Els won in 2012. For visitors, the attractions are a rare par-three opening hole, a field of revetted pot bunkers and the chance to sleep in the Dormy House a short pitch from the 1st tee.

Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club green fees and tee times.

Visitor rates are published for Monday to Friday. Book online through the club’s visitor booking portal, or contact the bookings team on 01253 724206 or bookings@royallytham.org. Weekend, bank holiday and 36-hole rounds are possible subject to availability, but are priced on request. A small number of tee times at an England Golf member rate are released on the first Monday of each month for the following month. The club advises a handicap of 21 or lower for men and 30 or lower for women, and recommends the green tees for men and orange for women. The club lists these under handicap restrictions, so if you are above them, raise it with the bookings team before you pay. Visitor golf stops from 30 October 2026 to 8 March 2027.

The round, in perspective.

The club was founded in 1886 and the present course laid out in 1897; George V granted the Royal title shortly before the 1926 Open, which Bobby Jones won. The club counts 166 pot bunkers along the fairways and around the greens, and placement off the tee matters more than length. From the blue tees it is a par-70 test of 7,094 yards, and the outward half opens with a 205-yard par three. Bernard Darwin called it “a beast of a course, but a just beast”. Seve Ballesteros won two of his three Opens here, in 1979 and 1988, and the course has also staged the Ryder Cup in 1961 and 1977 and the Women’s Open six times, most recently in 2026. The closing stretch runs back towards the red-brick clubhouse, where the 18th green is ringed by bunkers.

Know before you go.

Handicap

Club advises men 21 or lower, women 30 or lower

Buggies

£50, verified medical need only

Trolleys

Electric £25, pull £10, by prior arrangement

Dress

Tucked-in collared shirts; tailored trousers or shorts; jacket and tie for evening dinner

Phones

Calls only in locker rooms, phone booth and car park; no music or headphones

Make the trip work.

If the Open in 2028 is part of your thinking, play before it rather than in the build-up: championship years usually bring course preparation and restricted access, so ask the bookings team early. The Dormy House is the reason many groups choose Lytham over the other Open venues. A golf day here is formal by modern standards. Shorts are not allowed upstairs, golf shoes and hats stay downstairs, and a jacket and tie are required for dinner. October and March are cheaper because coring, overseeding and sand dressing start in October, and the club says no further discount is given for that work.

Manchester Airport is about an hour by road via the M6 and M55, and Liverpool John Lennon about an hour and ten minutes. By rail, change at Preston, on the West Coast main line from London, for the branch line to St Annes-on-the-Sea; the club is at Links Gate, under a mile from that station.

Where it is.

Nearby: 1. St Annes Old Links Golf Club (2 km) · 2. Hesketh Golf Club (10 km) · 3. Royal Birkdale Golf Club (14 km) · 4. Hillside Golf Club (14 km) · 5. Southport & Ainsdale Golf Club (16 km) · 6. Formby Golf Club (21 km) · Compare all England’s Golf Coast tee times

Somewhere to settle in.

The Dormy House was built in 1911 and has 16 en-suite rooms overlooking the 1st tee. Packages for April to September 2027 cost £480 per person for one night and one round with breakfast, £794 for one night and two rounds, and £960 for two nights and two rounds. In Lytham, the Clifton Arms Hotel overlooks Lytham Green on the seafront. St Annes has more modest hotels near the pier, and Blackpool’s larger hotels are 15 minutes north.

Make a trip of it.

St Annes Old Links lies just along the coast and offers a second links without moving base, and Fairhaven is on the edge of Lytham. Royal Birkdale and Hillside at Southport are under an hour’s drive around the Ribble estuary, so Lytham works as the northern end of a Lancashire and Merseyside trip. Off the course, Lytham’s Georgian centre and its green are good for an evening walk, and Blackpool Tower and the Pleasure Beach are a short drive for anyone not playing.

Find your season.

Visitor golf runs from early March to the end of October; the club is closed to visitors from 30 October 2026 to 8 March 2027. April to September carries the full rate. The 2028 Open is scheduled for late July and early August, so expect visitor restrictions around then.