Golf courses in Lancashire

What the golf is like

Lancashire's golf splits into three. On the Fylde coast, around Lytham and St Annes, Royal Lytham and St Annes, St Annes Old Links and Fairhaven are all links courses, exposed to wind off the Irish Sea, with Fleetwood further up the coast the same. Inland, around Preston, Chorley, Blackburn, Leyland and Wigan, it's mostly sheltered parkland, plus one resort, Shaw Hill, and one municipal course, Haigh Hall. Out to the east, towards Haslingden, Rossendale stands alone as the only moorland course (upland golf on open, exposed ground) in any of our three counties, a different game again from the coast or the parkland belt.

Photo to followOpen moorland fairway at Rossendale Golf Club near Haslingden, Lancashire

Getting there

The M6 runs the length of the county from south to north. The M55 branches off it near Preston for Blackpool and the Fylde coast; the M61 heads south towards Manchester past Leyland and Chorley, and the M65 runs east from Preston through Blackburn towards Burnley, passing close to Pleasington. The A59 is the older road east from Liverpool through Preston to Clitheroe, and the A56 runs from Manchester through Blackburn and Clitheroe towards Skipton, passing near Rossendale.

By train, Preston is the hub, with direct lines out to the coast and inland. On the Fylde coast, Lytham, Ansdell and Fairhaven, and St Annes-on-the-Sea stations, all on the Blackpool South line, each sit within about 2 miles of their nearest course. Inland, Blackburn, Leyland, Clitheroe, Lancaster and Wigan Wallgate stations are all within 3 miles of a course, verified against National Rail.

Blackpool Airport is genuinely close to the Fylde coast courses, under 3 miles from all three, but its own website describes it as a base for corporate and private aviation, flight training and charter work, not scheduled passenger flights. For a scheduled flight, Liverpool John Lennon and Manchester airports are both some way off: 29 to 42 miles from the Fylde coast, and 20 to 51 miles from Lancashire's other courses depending where you start.

When to go

The coast and moorland courses are the exposed ones here: wind is part of the round at Royal Lytham, St Annes Old Links, Fairhaven, Fleetwood and Rossendale, whatever the forecast says at breakfast. The inland parkland courses, sheltered by trees, are a calmer round on a windy day, though clay-based ground can turn heavy underfoot after a wet spell.

A few of the courses

Photo to followThe clubhouse and closing hole at Royal Lytham and St Annes, an Open Championship links course

Royal Lytham and St Annes is ranked 4th in the NCG Top 100s for England and is an Open Championship venue, playing to a par of 70. Preston, a parkland course at Fulwood with a meandering stream running through it, has a practice ground on site. Shaw Hill, a resort course at Chorley, has lakes and streams on most holes, including a stream crossing to a green beside a pond at the 8th. Haigh Hall, the council-run course at Wigan, pairs its 18-hole Balcarres course with a 9-hole par-3 course, the Crawford, and its own practice ground.

Further out, Clitheroe and Lancaster are both parkland courses, a mile or two from their own stations, and Fleetwood, at the northern tip of the Fylde coast, is a links course whose own visitor booking needs a login on the club's site rather than an open page, so it's worth calling ahead. Rounding out the inland cluster, Leyland, Dean Wood and Pleasington are all parkland too, with a practice ground at both Leyland and Dean Wood.

For beginners

Sheltered parkland, without the coast's wind, tends to be the calmer place to start. Preston, Leyland, Dean Wood and Haigh Hall all have a practice ground on site, our directory's marker for somewhere to warm up or work on your swing before you play, and Haigh Hall's council-run course needs no membership to book.