A prestigious Lancashire golf course has been ranked among the top 100 in the world by a leading sporting publication.
Golf.com has released its Top 100, honoring the world’s best courses, with clubs from around the world featuring in the coveted list.
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Among them is Lancashire’s premier course, the historic Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, which ranked 68th.
This classic seaside course, founded in 1886, has hosted the Open Championship 11 times, most recently in 2012, and is frequently ranked among the top five courses in England.
It has also hosted the Women’s British Open five times, most recently in 2018, and will host for a sixth time from July 30 to August 2, 2026.
Considered one of the most difficult courses in the Open rotation, it features 167 bunkers, thick, rough and undulating fairways, typical of links courses.
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Royal Lytham is one of 10 English courses on the list, with 15 other UK courses also featured, with Golf.com’s rankings considered one of the most comprehensive rankings in the game.
Its 126 experts visited more than 500 courses around the world, using a consistent rating system and focusing solely on course design and architecture, meaning some of the world’s most opulent and exclusive clubs didn’t make the cut.
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On the west Lancashire coast, Royal Birkdale at Southport, which will host next year’s Open Championship, was the third highest-ranked English course and came 42nd overall, behind Sunningdale Old at Ascot (22nd) and Royal St George’s at Sandwich, Kent (30th).
Other English courses ranked were Swinley Forest in Ascot (50th), Sunningdale (New) (55th), St George’s Hill in Weybridge (57th), Woodhall Spa (Hotchkin) in Lincolnshire (74th), Rye (Old) on the East Sussex coast (90th) and Royal Liverpool at Hoylake on the Wirral (95th).
Scotland was represented by 13 courses, with two in Northern Ireland also topping the list.
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The United States had the most courses on the list with 48, while Canada, Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, South Korea, Norway, France, the Netherlands and Caribbean countries also made the list.
First on the list is the very exclusive Pine Valley in New Jersey, USA, followed by the equally exclusive Cypress Point in California.
The Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland was third, with Royal County Down in Northern Ireland fourth and Shinnecock Hills in New York completing the top five.
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Wales’ Royal Porthcawl narrowly missed out on the top 100, ranking 102nd, while five other English courses also narrowly missed out, ranking between 101st and 150th.
These were Royal Cinque Ports, St Enodoc (church), Ganton, Walton Heath, West Sussex and Royal West Norfolk.
The full list can be viewed on the Golf.com website.
