A meeting of four members held at 17 Sweeting Road, Liverpool, on 11 September 1894, resulted in one of the most significant entries in the original Minute Book. “Three o’clock at the Estate Office was fixed for going over the new links on Monday September 17.”

This is the first time that “new links” are mentioned, but it took three years for all doubts to be removed from the minds of the Committee members that the move was worthwhile. The reasons for hesitation now seem amusing enough for repetition. It was thought that the game of golf might prove to be a passing fashion, a temporary craze “like ping-pong”. And it was even feared in some quarters that if the Mersey silted up, the American liners might someday have to leave from Ainsdale, resulting in a considerable rise in the value of the land!

The annual rent for the new links was set at one hundred pounds. However, there were teething problems. The original Clubhouse built in 1897 had to be demolished in 1903. “Someone had blundered”, the building being beyond the boundary of the land leased by the Club. A new permanent Clubhouse was opened on 30 September 1904, on a sandhill overlooking the then 18th, now 4th, green from the seaward side. This remained in service until 1935.

In 1922 the Club sought to buy the course from Weld Blundell, but the asking price of nineteen thousand pounds was considered to be too high. Southport Corporation eventually became the new owners and fears that they would take over the course were thankfully groundless and a seven-year plan was put into operation to prepare the course for Championship standard.

This involved the building of a new Clubhouse (which was opened in the summer of 1935), and also a grand remodelling of the design of the course. The Club employed a company called Hawtree and J H Taylor Ltd, one being a prominent golf course architect and the other a player who had dominated the Open Championship during the 20 years immediately prior to the First World War. Their philosophy was to lay out holes in the valleys between the sand hills rather than over them. This enabled Birkdale to gain the reputation of being one of the fairest of the Championship courses. They designed a course which was tough but fair. It rewarded the straight but punished the wayward shot with its surrounding buckthorn and dwarf willow scrub. The fairways threaded through the valleys and this left the mighty dunes as perfect natural vantage points for spectators.

This legend adorned the wall of the first Clubhouse, and is a fitting reminder to all of the responsibilities incumbent on golfers of every generation,

“As the earth is not meant to be carted away the divots you cut in the course of your play should be neatly replaced by your caddie or you, with their roots to the earth and their blades to the blue”

In the sixties, with the growing popularity of golf as a spectator sport, drastic changes were made after the 1961 Open: updating the Clubhouse and catering for the vast hordes of people who wanted to partake in the atmosphere around the links. These vast legions needed to watch play with comparative ease and comfort without hindering play. The course was extensively updated; Hawtree and Taylor could not have envisaged the rise in popularity of the game.

It had been appreciated for several years that there were underlying problems with the greens and after the Open Championship in 1991 the club took the brave decision to dig up, re-design and relay all 18 greens. The considerable capital investment has ensured that Royal Birkdale remains one of the finest links courses in the world. Worthy of mention is the fact that in the 1998 Golf World “Top Courses in the British Isles” Royal Birkdale was rated number one.

The Clubhouse extended and modernised throughout its life stands like a majestic ship overlooking the 18th green. The view of it from the left of the 18th shows it in its full glory. The views from the bay windows in the main lounge give an impressive view over the course, and on the Sunday afternoon of the Open, it is a very exciting place to be.

The first post-war championship was played at Birkdale during May 1946. In the final contested between James Bruen and Robert Sweeny they had to endure mixed weather, blustery wind in the morning and heavy rain in the afternoon. The power of Bruen allied with some decisive putting saw him win through with a margin of 4&3. The Club received widespread praise after the Championship, not least for the fact that Scotch Whisky, which was at the time in very short supply, was available for sale to visitors, as well as members in the Clubhouse.

The United States had only once tasted defeat in the twelve meetings of the Walker Cup since 1922. Despite what seemed like favourable weather conditions and a player of the calibre of Ronnie White, the home team were to come in second place once again. The singles matches were lost 4-3, with one halved, which made the final aggregate 6-3 in favour of the United States. The result may have gone against Great Britain but there were displays of skill and determination which would augur well for future meetings of the two nations.

In came Arnold Palmer, and with him, undoubtedly the renaissance of the Championship as a truly international event. Few will argue that the stature of the modern Open had its roots in the charisma and media exposure, two decades and more ego, of the trio they called the Big Three – Palmer, Player and Nicklaus.

It was an Open plagued by appalling weather. A fierce mixture of gales and storms led to the cancellation of Friday’s last two rounds and an unprecedented announcement by the R&A, that the Championship must end on Saturday whether four rounds had been completed or not.

In the end, Palmer prevailed by a single shot from, you guessed it, Dai Rees. His shot on the then 15th hole, now 16th, from a bush to make par during the final round was so impressive a plaque was erected to commemorate this memorable and, ultimately, championship-winning shot.

Peter Thomson’s final Open Championship victory came in what was the last of the three-day Championships. The 35-year-old Australian overcame the strongest international fields, including the defending Champions Tony Lema, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Roberto de Vicenzo, and fellow countrymen Kel Nagle and Bruce Devlin.

It was a triumph for the shot-maker over the power game. Thomson and there was none better at it, steered his way round the 72 holes, “playing the course” to eventually win by two shots from Brian Huggett and Christy O’Connor.

Afterwards, with the best in the World defeated and a fifth Open title in the record books, Peter described it as “my greatest win”.

The 100th staging of the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale first saw Lee Trevino aiming to add the Claret Jug to the US Open he had won the previous month. In typical Trevino style, he was quoted to say, “It will be a miracle, but I believe in miracles.”

The 1971 Open will forever belong to Trevino and to Lu Liang-Huan from Taiwan, who became affectionally known as Mr Lu, whilst taking nothing from the tenacity of Tony Jacklin in finishing third, nor from the splendid effort of Welshman Craig DeFoy. He surprised everyone with his fourth place.

The crowds that flocked to the course, and millions who watched on television, took Mr Lu to their hearts as he acknowledged the applause for birdies and eagles with the polite raising of a hat, which they thought was part of his Taiwanese wardrobe but which he had bought that week from Bobby Halsall’s shop.

On the last hole, trailing Trevino by a shot, Mr Lu pulled his drive into the crowd, felling and concussing the on-looking Mrs Lillian Tipping from Littleborough in Lancashire. She was rushed to the hospital, where she was examined but not detained.

Trevino duly won by a shot to join immortals such as Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan, who had won the US and British Opens in the same year. He was to retain his title at Muirfield twelve months later.

The first Ladies’ Open to be held at Birkdale was won by an amateur, Marta Figueras-Dotti, who was not eligible to receive the six thousand pound prize. On an opening day, a 14-year-old girl from Yorkshire, Carole Swallow, with her father acting as a caddie, scored 71 to end the first round in second place. She continued to perform most creditably, finishing with a total of 311.

Marta Figueras-Dotti, who had previously lost the Open by a single shot, predicted that she would not make the same mistake again. This confident statement held as she saw off her nearest challengers, Rosie Jones and Jenny Lee Smith, to win by a single stroke.

The Women’s British Open was still not considered a Major Championship in 1986. At first, it was difficult for the organisers to get the most prestigious courses to agree to host the event, except for Royal Birkdale, which hosted it twice during its early years.

The home supporters had much to cheer about as Laura Davies wore down her American opposition, Peggy Conley and Debbie Massey, and also held off the challenge from Marta Figueras-Dotti to win by four shots.

1991 was a hotly contested and difficult Open championship. With the course par set at an all-time low of 70 and windy conditions, it was a true test for all players.

Seve Ballesteros fired a superb 66 in a strong westerly wind to lead after day one. The tough conditions continued on Friday; the lead was tied at the end of the day, with Gary Hallberg, Andy Oldcorn and Mike Harwood one shot ahead of Seve and Mark O’Meara.

Conditions eased on Saturday, allowing Ian Baker-Finch, the 30-year-old Australian, to shoot a course-record 64. O’Meara joined Baker-Finch on four-under with a fine 67 to go to the final rounds one stroke ahead of Eamonn Darcy and Mike Harwood.

In the final round, Jodie Mudd went one better to shoot a new course record 63. He had eight birdies in what he called “maybe the greatest round of golf I ever played.”

At the top of the leaderboard, Baker-Finch devoured the front nine in 29 shots with five birdies in the first seven holes. He came home in 37 for an eight under par total of 272 to win by two shots over his compatriot, Mike Harwood, and by three from the Americans, Fred Couples and Mark O’Meara. In winning, Baker-Finch became the second Australian to win the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.

Rebecca Hudson, the former Daily Telegraph Junior Golfer of the Year narrowly failed to win the British Ladies Open Amateur title at Royal Birkdale on Saturday 12 June 1999. She lost the final to French International Marine Monnet, the 19-year-old Parisian who won the British Girls Open Championship at Formby in 1996. All great matches invariably have their defining moments, Hudson’s three putts at the 145-yard par 3, allowed Monnet to take the hole even though she was bunkered from the tee. It came at an unfortunate time for Hudson who fought her way back from two down to level. Monnet took the hole after splashing out and rolling in the putt.

Earlier Monnet had put paid to Kim Andrew’s hopes of becoming the first player for 27 years to secure back-to-back victories in the Championship while Hudson knocked out fellow international Fiona Brown in the semi-finals.

The third staging of the Amateur Championship at Royal Birkdale saw Brian McElhinney follow in the footsteps of fellow Irishman James Bruen in 1946 in claiming the prestigious trophy, which was first contended in 1885.

The semi-final lineup provided the opportunity for the gifted Essex prodigy, Oliver Fisher, to become, at age 16, the youngest finalist in the championship’s history and for Scotland’s Lloyd Saltman to add to the impressive list of titles he had already claimed that season. However, expectations were confounded with the dogged McElhinney, despite being significantly outhit by Fisher, producing an admirably steady round of 70 in beating the English youngster on the last green. Even more of an upset occurred in the other semi-final, with the relatively unknown John Gallagher winning one up.

The stormy conditions which greeted the golfers for the final must have seemed like a home from home to McElhinney, who had learned his game at the North West Club on Donegal’s wild and windy coast. His steadiness and low-flighted shots proved too much for Gallagher, the eventual margin being 5&4.

The 137th Open at Royal Birkdale will be remembered for its wild weather, its pure drama and for a champion who almost didn’t play. Padraig Harrington, defending the trophy, admitted on the eve of the first round that had it not been The Open, he would not have played.

For the first two days, the wind was never less than 20mph and, at times, gusting up to 50mph. This meant a constant roller-coaster with many good scores every day being wrecked by double-bogeys or worse.

The tournament will also be remembered for the showing of the amateurs. as a 17-year-old, Chris Wood earned a share of fifth place, while Tom Sherreard finished his first Open eagle-birdie to finish way ahead of many leading professionals.

The Saturday morning papers were full of Shark talk, as a certain experienced Australian named Greg Norman had put himself into contention, and Norman did not let anyone down.

With more heavy wind, particularly in the morning, conditions remained far from ideal. None of the remaining eighty-three players broke par, and 72s were enough to plant Norman and defending champion Harrington at the top of the leaderboard.

And so to the climax, one by one, the challengers fell away. Norman maybe went too boldly at his task, with several bogeys compounding his drift back down. Harrington, however, kept his cool throughout and struck a magnificent five wood to three feet on the penultimate hole to secure an eagle and eventually a four-shot-winning margin to retain the title he won the previous year at Carnoustie.

The Senior Open Championship was held at the Club for the first time. Two of the Open Championship winners at Royal Birkdale in, Mark O’Meara and Tom Watson, arrived at one of their favourite links courses with high hopes of success.

After three rounds, Sandy Lyle led the home charge. Bernhard Langer, David Frost, Corey Pavin and Peter Senior led the overseas players, along with the little-known American Mark Wiebe, who started the final round four shots behind Langer. After a superb 66, Wiebe joined Langer at the top of the leaderboard, and a playoff was required.

The first four playoff holes had been halved in par-par-bogey-par. The first two holes of the sudden-death contest were played on Sunday evening before darkness forced the playoff to continue on Monday morning. Eventually, Mark Wiebe was victorious at the fifth trip down the par 4 18th, two putting as Langer failed to get up and down from the greenside bunker.

After completing the strokeplay stages of the championship at Royal Birkdale and the nearby Southport & Ainsdale, the knockout stages were held exclusively at Royal Birkdale. The weather was kind to the competitors, with a fresh breeze creating a demanding but manageable challenge on the links.

In the semi-finals, Marcus Svensson overcame the challenge from Marco Penge of England to win one up, and Keegan De Lange beat the young Spaniard Borja Martin Torre 3&2.

In the 36-hole final, Marcus Svensson from Sweden played Keegan de Lange, playing his first golf outside his native South Africa. In the first round, Marcus shot a 66 to be four up at lunch. Keegan came back at him in the afternoon but could never close the gap to less than two holes, and Marcus ran out a 4&3 winner.

The Club was looking forward to staging another Amateur Championship; however, with Covid-19 plunging the Country and most of the World into lockdown, the event looked like it would be cancelled. However, a new August date was found with the R&A keen to host one of its blue-ribboned tournaments following the cancellation of the Open Championship that year. Regrettably, the tournament had to be played under strict social distance conditions meaning no spectators could attend. Travel restrictions meant that most of the competitors were from mainland Europe.

The first day of the strokeplay was abandoned as storm Arwen ripped into the course, meaning the qualification was one round only.

The semi-finals saw the Englishmen Joe Long and Jake Bolton pitted against each other, with Long emerging victorious 2&1 and Joe Harvey producing somewhat of a shock as he defeated Irishman Mark Power 3&2.

The final was very much made in Bristol as both Joe’s Long and Harvey hailed from that City and were well known to one another. They lunched together between rounds and even shared the same local accommodation. In the final, Joe Long was too strong and won 4&3 in glorious summer conditions.