Champions of the Links
had a makeover and to coincide with it the Heritage Committee has done a wonderful job curating the spaces. One particular item on display,
52
Champions of the Links, The Early Years, is a montage steeped in history and fantastic achievements featuring three outstanding women golfers, all of whom honed their skills on the links of Hoylake in the early 1900’s. Lottie Dodd, Molly Graham and Gladys Temple Dobell, the first Captain of the Ladies Club at Royal Liverpool, went on to win many golfing tournaments including the British Ladies Amateur Championship. For Lottie Dodd golf was only one of her many sporting talents and tennis was what she was most famous for. She won the Ladies singles Championship at Wimbledon on no fewer than five occasions, her first victory at the age of 15 was in 1887. Today she remains the youngest ever Ladies Singles Champion. Archery was another sport Lottie excelled in, resulting in her claiming the silver medal at the 1908 Olympic Games. It is no surprise then that this
remarkable sportswoman was known as “The Little Wonder”.
The two rooms of the Hilbre Suite have recently
Natterjack toad
a putt on the 12th hole when something quite small and dark caught my eye. At first I thought a large fly had landed on the green, but then I saw more of these things, which were hopping, and it dawned on me what they were - little reptiles otherwise known as baby Natterjack Toads. I had heard about there being
53
Natterjacks on certain parts of the course but this was the first time I’d seen some. Over the last couple of decades colonies
of Natterjacks around UK coastlines have markedly declined so it’s no surprise that they are now a fully protected species - which means it’s an offence to kill, injure or disturb them, or to damage or destroy their habitats.
With the return of The Open in 2006 great
care had to be taken during the design and construction of the stands and the movement of spectator traffic. The R&A and Royal Liverpool in consultation with English Nature worked closely together to successfully ensure that the Natterjack Toads around the 12th and elsewhere on the course lived happily during the Championship. By the way, I missed the putt.
A few years ago in early summer I was about to take
Stand on the 18th, 2014
Google Earth app and zoom in on all your favourite places. It’s compulsive viewing. As if by chance the last time the Google
54 40 ROYAL LIVERPOOL GOLF CLUB MAGAZINE 2 017
satellite was over Hoylake was on the eve of the 2014 Open Championship. The course looks immaculate, the infrastructure that befits a modern championship is all in place - all that’s missing are the hordes of spectators about to descend onto the links. The return of The Open to Hoylake
If you want to while away a few hours download the
in 2006 after a 39 year absence was a massive success. Out of all the courses on the championship rota Hoylake is probably the most accessible, so much so that golfing fans flocked to the course in their hundreds of thousands. As a result even bigger stands
were erected for the 2014 Open, the centrepiece being the magnificent amphitheatre surrounding the 18th green, and just in case an aliens were passing by The R&A made sure the Claret Jug was clearly visible even from beyond the atmosphere.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64
