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Proud of the past.
Excited by the future.

1869
Liverpool Golf Club at Hoylake is founded and the Royal Hotel on Stanley Road - adjacent to what is now the 17th hole - is used as a clubhouse. For the first seven years of the Club’s life the links land continues to perform its original function, doubling as a golf course and a horse racing track - indeed, echoes of this heritage can be found today in the names of the first and eighteenth holes, Course and Stand, while the original saddling bell still hangs in the clubhouse. The 1869 Autumn Meeting is the Club’s first competition.
1885
Royal Liverpool stages an informal Open Amateur ‘Grand Tournament’, played during the Club’s Spring Meeting. This match play competition attracts 44 leading players ‘from recognised clubs’ of the time, and Allan Macfie beats Horace Hutchinson 7&6 in the final. The event proves to be such a success the Club proposes to the Royal & Ancient Golf Club that a formal Amateur Championship is established. The suggestion is taken up and the inaugural Amateur Championship is staged at St. Andrews the following year. However, in 1922 - and presumably to Mr Macfie’s great pleasure - the Hoylake tournament is recognised as the first Amateur.
A watercolour of Allan Macfie c.1886
1890
John Ball, the great Hoylake player and arguably Britain’s greatest ever amateur golfer, wins his second Amateur Championship on his home course. In the same year at Prestwick he becomes the first Englishman and amateur to win The Open. A taciturn man who lets his game do the talking, Johnny Ball goes on to win a total of 8 Amateurs.
1895
Having decided that the Royal Hotel does not marry with the Club’s ambitions, and with the 20th century not too distant, a new building has risen up on alongside Meols Drive. Designed by local architects Woodfall and Eccles at a time when the creation of such purpose built buildings is still in its infancy, the new clubhouse is one that will stand the test of time and match perfectly the character of the Club and its course: substantial but understated.
1896
The Ladies Amateur Championship is contested for the fourth time, and for the first time at Hoylake. The winner is Amy Pascoe, who beats runner-up Lena Thomson 3&2 in the final, putting an end to the winning streak of Lady Margaret Scott who had claimed the first three titles staged at Royal Lytham, Littlestone and Royal Portrush.
1897
Having won The Open at Muirfield in 1892 (the first year the tournament was played over 72 holes), Hoylake’s Harold Hilton wins again, this time on his home course, making him the only amateur apart from John Ball and Bobby Jones to claim the title of Champion Golfer. Hilton also won the Amateur Championship four times, was runner-up on three occasions, and won the US Amateur Championship in 1911, the year in which he also held the British title. The man is obviously no slacker - in the same year he still finds time to become the first editor of the new Golf Monthly magazine.
1902
Royal Liverpool is the venue for the first international match between England and Scotland, later to become the Home Internationals, and Scot Sandy Herd, playing the relatively new Haskell ball, wins the second Hoylake Open, pipping James Braid and Harry Vardon by one stroke.
1907
Arnaud Massy, one of France’s most successful professional golfers, becomes the first non-Briton to win The Open. He names his daughter Margot Hoylake Massy. A former left handed player, he had switched while honing his skills in Scotland - which becomes his permanent home.
1912
John Ball claims his record eighth Amateur Championship at Westward Ho! at the age of fifty.
1913
J. H. Taylor wins The Open and is the subject of a great golfing photograph. In an age when pictures are carefully posed or planned in advance, this image taken immediately after the presentation of the Claret Jug is informal and candid, capturing a look on Taylor’s face that seems to be part pride and part exhausted delight. No wonder: the winning margin was eight shots with Ted Ray as runner-up.
1921
Attempts by parties from both sides of the Atlantic to create international matches falter but, nevertheless, teams from the United States and Great Britain agree to do battle at Hoylake immediately before the Amateur championship. The Americans are easy winners, which sends a few shockwaves through British golf. The match turns out to be the ‘prototype’ Walker Cup contest and, the next year, the magnificent trophy donated by George Herbert Walker is competed for in America.
The 1921 match attracted decent crowds
1924
The dashing Walter Hagen wins The Open and his wife of one year, Edna, joins in the celebrations. Gene Sarazen would later declare: "All the professionals...should say a silent thanks to Walter Hagen each time they stretch a check between their fingers. It was Walter who made professional golf what it is."
1930
Six years later Bobby Jones is The Open champion, a victory that will become the second leg of his remarkable Grand Slam - the winning in the same year of the Amateur and Open Championships of both Great Britain and the United States. Shortly afterwards, a mere 28 years old, Bobby Jones finds himself with no golfing peaks left to conquer and he retires from the game.
1936
Alf Padgham claims the Claret Jug and the next day takes it with him to Lancashire to play in an exhibition match at Great Harwood Golf Club. He records a 64. Many of what might have been his best competitive years are soon lost to World War Two.
1947
Irishman Fred Daly wins the postwar Open by one shot. It is a massively popular victory. During his speech he says he is pleased to be taking the Claret Jug back home to Ireland, “because the change of air will do it good.”
1956
Young Australian Peter Thomson makes history by recording his third consecutive Open Championship win. Although Thomson is three over par on his final round he still glides to victory by three shots, having already notched up two fine rounds of 70. The runner-up is Belgian Flory Van Donck, while third place is take by the Argentine, Roberto De Vicenzo.
1967
Roberto is a popular Champion golfer and, having won a trophy for which he had yearned for many years, tells the BBC’s Harry Carpenter: “I want to win this tournament so bad. I lose my hair in England,” removing his cap, “look at that!”
1969
Vying with John Ball for the title of Britain’s greatest ever amateur golfer, Sir Michael Bonallack wins the Amateur at Hoylake.
1983
62 years after the trial USA v. GB&I match at Royal Liverpool, the Walker Cup proper is fought for on the Hoylake links. The GB&I team, captained by Charlie Green, loses to the Americans led by Jay Sigel, 13½ to 10½. The USA team includes a young Nathaniel Crosby, blissfully unaware that in 2019 he will return along with the Walker Cup, only this time as US skipper.
Jay Sigel leads out the USA team, with Nathaniel Crosby behind him
1992
18 year old Caroline Hall makes a par on the 18th hole of the final singles match to defeat Vicki Goetze of the US 1 up, and regains the Curtis Cup for Great Britain and Ireland by a margin of 10-8.
The GB&I team
2006
Having worked hard to create the infrastructure necessary for major golf championships, Royal Liverpool is rewarded with its return to The Open rota after a 39 year absence. The fabled mighty winds do not blow, but there is no denying that another mighty champion is born in the shape of Eldrick ‘Tiger’ Woods, who navigates his way through a heatwave and across a bone dry course with enormous care and skill. The total attendance is the second highest in Open history.
2012
Hoylake welcomes the Women's British Open for the first time. With the London Olympics impacting on the sporting schedule, the event has been moved to September. Extreme weather impacts on proceedings and play on the Friday is canceled. However, Jiyai Shin's steely determination and ability to transcend the meteorological challenges and gathering darkness results in a total victory as she defeats the field by 9 shots.
2014
In 2014, Rory McIlroy clinches his first Open Championship and third major title with a two-shot victory over Sergio Garcia and Rickie Fowler on a thrilling final day at Hoylake. The Northern Irishman joins Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus as the only players to win three of golf's modern majors by the age of 25.
2019
Royal Liverpool Golf Club celebrates its 150th anniversary and hosts the 47th Walker Cup. Over the Match's two days, more than 11,000 fans watch Great Britain and Ireland take a 7 - 5 lead on the Saturday - followed by a spirited USA Sunday comeback which powers the American team to victory by 15½ to 10½.