The Fylde Coast is proud to host the Open Golf Championship at Royal Lytham and St Annes Golf Club for the eleventh time in 2012.

Tickets went on sale in October 2011 for the event which is held over 15-22 July 2012, so if you are a golf tourist - or even a golf widow - you’ll be thinking about your accommodation and things to do when you visit the Fylde Coast next year, and we want to share the wonders of the wider coast with you! The event is expected to draw more than 200,000 visitors to the Fylde, and is broadcast in 150 countries globally with a TV audience of 400m people, so it’s a fantastic showcase around the world.

The ‘Fylde Coast’ is the generic term for the coastline from Lytham in the south right up to Fleetwood and the River Wyre estuary in the north. It’s a beautiful stretch of coastline with some of the best views and sunsets that you could wish for. The Fylde Coast itself boats four impressive golf courses, including Fairhaven, Lytham Green Drive, Royal Lytham St Annes and St Annes Old Links.

England’s Golf Coast extends the area from the Lake District to The Wirral, providing the discerning golfer with 20 of the most beautiful golf courses in Britain, and highest concentration of championship links golf in the world.

Here you’ll find three of the top 20, and seven of the top 36 courses in UK and Ireland. Three of the links courses are among the top 75 in the WORLD! Birkdale, Liverpool and Lytham St Annes are three famous Royal link courses - all set on England’s Golf Coast. These world famous venues have hosted the Open Championship no less than 30 times since 1897.

The outstanding natural coastlines bordered by heath and dunes make the Fylde Coast ideal for Links Courses. Add in well designed and challenging courses - and of course the challenge of the British weather and north west winds - and you have all the ingredients for a satisfying game for golfers of all skill levels.

You’ll find four championship golf courses in the borough of Fylde - in the Lytham and St Annes area.

Royal Lytham St Annes is a true links course and over the last 100 years has been the host to The Open, and the Ryder Cup has also been played out there on two occasions. The European Tour, Amateur Championships and many of the ladies championship events are frequently held there, along with many national and county competitions.

A long course, arranged with an inner and outer nine and set in wooded countryside, Fairhaven has been the qualifying course each time the Open has been held at Royal Lytham. Set in pasture and meadow, yet less than a mile from Lytham town centre, you’ll find Lytham Green Drive which has hosted several first class ‘Open’ style events. If you prefer a more challenging and demanding game, then head for St Annes Old Links, where the fairways are nestled between sand dunes. Four ponds and the westerly winds of the Fylde Coast will challenge players of all levels!

In the tradition of the championship courses, there are high quality games to be played all over the Fylde coast, at Fleetwood, Blackpool and Poulton.

If you are visiting the Open next year and want to play on a true links course during your stay, then the 18 hole Fleetwood, running alongside the Wyre coastline, would be your first choice.

Suitable for golfers of all ages and abilities is Poulton-le-Fylde Golf Club. Originally founded in 1975 and operated by the council, it’s now a privately owned and well respected course, set in parkland and known for the challenges of its layout with narrow fairways and water hazards. Poulton is a historic market town slightly inland from the coast - only five minutes from Cleveleys/Blackpool and Fleetwood.

In Blackpool there is a choice of three 18 hole courses. Dating back to 1904, Blackpool North Shore Golf Club is home of the Lancashire Open. Blackpool Park Golf Club at Stanley Park was designed by the famous architect Dr Alister MacKenzie, and is an undulating parkland layout with a variety of natural hazards such as dykes and grassy pits to negotiate as well as the carefully placed bunkers. Finally, the Herons Reach Golf Club is a challenging course with views of the Forest of Bowland and Bleadsdale Moors.

If you visit the Fylde Coast with younger members of the family, who have caught the bug from watching golf on the TV but want to ‘get into the swing’ without the expectations of a proper full course, then you’ll be spoilt for choice with a number of pitch and putt and mini golf facilities all over the area. There are pitch and putt courses on the sea front at Cleveleys and Fleetwood, and even Crazy Golf courses aplenty.

There are golfing things to do for all the family on the Fylde Coast in Cleveleys, Fleetwood, Blackpool, Poulton, Lytham and St Annes - and of course plenty for non-golfers to do while other members of the family are engaged in golf!

Royal Lytham St Annes Golf Course