Prenton Golf Club

Prenton Golf Club is an 18-hole parkland course on the Wirral, on the southern edge of Prenton in the borough of Wirral, Merseyside, a short way inland from Birkenhead and the River Mersey. The club was formed in 1905, played its first golf on a nine-hole course laid out in two fields, moved to a larger site towards Landican by 1908 and formally opened its present 18 holes on 4 May 1923. Its current course card, last updated by the club in April 2025, gives 6,388 yards and par 71 from the white tees, with a course rating of 71.9 and a slope of 132; the club’s own course description and homepage still quote 6,457 yards, a difference we come back to below. The club’s address is Golf Links Road, Prenton, Birkenhead, CH42 8LW, and its website is prentongolfclub.co.uk.

The club describes a scenic parkland course with views west across the Wirral to the Welsh mountains, close to both Liverpool and Chester, which has staged many Cheshire Union county fixtures. It is a members’ club that takes visitors on weekdays and Sundays, and societies by arrangement.

Which club is this?

The club calls itself Prenton Golf Club. OpenStreetMap draws the course as Prenton Golf Course and links it to the Wikidata item Q16898782, which carries the English Wikipedia article on Prenton Golf Club. Wikidata places the club in Birkenhead and in the historic county of Cheshire, and gives a founding date of 1905. Reverse geocoding of the centre of the course as drawn on OpenStreetMap places it in Prenton, Wirral, close to the hamlet of Little Storeton; the map at the foot of this page uses the OpenStreetMap position. Wikidata’s own coordinates sit roughly 700 metres east of that point, nearer the houses of Prenton, and Wikipedia simply says the club lies to the south of the suburb.

Wirral clubs still play within the Cheshire county structure: the club mentions Cheshire Union fixtures, accepts Cheshire County cards from visitors on weekdays and includes a Cheshire Union card in membership. It should not be confused with Preston Golf Club in Lancashire, with which search results sometimes mix it up.

History: from two fields to Golf Links Road

The club’s own history page on its website was, when we read it in October 2026, still marked as coming soon. The fullest published account we found is on the website of the Society of Liverpool Golf Captains, of which Prenton is a constituent club, and it draws on the club’s centenary book of 2005. Most of what follows comes from it.

The centenary book lists 50 other clubs in the British Isles founded in the same year, a sign of how quickly the game was spreading in 1905. Prenton began with an informal gathering on 18 February 1905, when seven men formed a committee, elected a president, a secretary and a treasurer, and resolved that a small golfing club be formed. Local interest soon forced the founders to raise the initial limit of 40 men and 20 ladies. The first captain, appointed in 1906, was not one of the seven founders: the honour went to P. Harvey Dodd.

The first course had nine holes of between 130 and 280 yards, laid out in two fields that now form Waterpark Road and Elm Road. The golfers had the land to themselves only from May to August and had to give way to other users for the rest of the year. The account gives a sense of how rudimentary it all was: holes were first marked with water-filled jam jars sunk into the ground, and a junior member was rewarded with one shilling for suggesting that they be replaced by tin cans with holes punched in the base.

By 1908 the club had moved to a larger site nearer Landican and built a substantial clubhouse. Further work on the course was interrupted by the First World War, when much of it was given over to grazing for sheep and cattle. The 18-hole course was formally opened on 4 May 1923 with an exhibition match between the professionals A. G. Havers and Abe Mitchell. A 40-year lease gave the club security of tenure, and it later bought the freehold of the land.

The Second World War left marks that can still be seen. Prenton lies close to the docks and shipyards of Birkenhead, and in the blitz of 1941 the course and clubhouse were hit by land mines and incendiary bombs meant for the river. The clubhouse was not repaired until after the war, and the large cavity to the right of the present 8th green is, according to the account, what remains of a land mine even after a controlled explosion. In the late 1950s the building of Golf Links Road, which now gives the club its address, left the clubhouse entrance facing the wrong way and forced a reorganisation of the building. A new clubhouse opened in 1966 and was altered again in 2000.

The same account records members who served county and national golf, among them Peter Dutton, captain of Prenton in 1962, president of the Cheshire Union of Golf Clubs in 1971 and of the English Golf Union in 1989, whose name lives on in the club’s Peter Dutton Trophy.

Who designed it?

This is the least settled point about the course. Wikipedia and Wikidata credit James Braid, the Open champion who designed or altered many British courses in the first half of the twentieth century, and GolfPass, according to search summaries, lists Braid with the year 1905. None of these sources cites any document for the attribution: the Wikipedia article’s only reference is a general GolfNow page. The club’s own website, in the pages we read, names no architect, the club history published by the Society of Liverpool Golf Captains names none either, and Braid’s own Wikipedia article does not list Prenton among his courses. A Braid course of 1905 also sits awkwardly with the history, since in 1905 the club was playing nine short holes in two fields, and its present course opened in 1923 on a different site.

There is a second name in the background. The club’s hole-by-hole guide twice describes a green as a Mackenzie green, on the 14th and the 18th, which suggests the work of Alister MacKenzie, the designer of Augusta National, who was active in the north of England in the 1920s. Search summaries of the golf architecture forum Golf Club Atlas mention him in connection with Prenton, but the forum refused our requests and we found no dated account of what he did. We therefore record both attributions as unconfirmed.

What it asks of you

The club publishes its course card on its website, with seven sets of men’s tees and six sets of women’s ratings over the same holes. The main men’s figures are:

• White tees: 6,388 yards, par 71, course rating 71.9, slope 132.
• Yellow tees: 6,169 yards, par 71, course rating 71.0, slope 130.
• Blue tees: 6,071 yards, par 71, course rating 70.1, slope 130.
• Red tees: 5,570 yards, par 69, course rating 67.7, slope 123.
• Orange tees: 5,326 yards, par 68; Heather tees: 5,168 yards, par 67; Black tees: 4,403 yards, par 67.

For women, the yellow tees play 6,169 yards to par 74 with a course rating of 77.0 and a slope of 143, the blue tees 6,071 yards to par 74, and the red tees 5,570 yards to par 73 with a rating of 73.3 and a slope of 130. The higher women’s par comes mainly from the 13th and 14th, both par 5s for women and par 4s for men. The card also gives a nine-hole layout from the orange and heather tees for shorter rounds.

From the white tees the course goes out in 3,049 yards and par 36 and comes home in 3,339 yards and par 35. There are four par 3s, the 3rd at 164 yards, the 7th at 137, the 15th at 217 and the 16th at 183, and three par 5s, the 6th at 552 yards, the 9th at 502 and the 11th at 505. Most of the strength is in the par 4s on the back nine: the 10th at 414 yards, the 13th at 433 and the 14th at 442, which is stroke index 2. Stroke index 1 is the 6th, the longest hole on the course.

The course, hole by hole

The club’s hole-by-hole guide describes each hole and adds a tip from a member who has won one of the club’s competitions. We summarise it here without naming the members.

Out of bounds is the recurring theme of the front nine: it runs along the left of the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th, and returns on the 13th and 18th. Ponds, ditches and a stream add to the trouble on at least six holes.

The 1st is a classic risk and reward hole: a short par 4 with a large pond to the right, a stream running diagonally across the fairway to two more ponds left of the green, and four greenside bunkers; the safer play is a mid iron short of the stream. The 2nd asks for a drive to the right half of the fairway short of the cross bunkers. The guide counts the 3rd, a par 3 to a long, bowl-shaped green between gorse and bunkers, among the best holes on the course. The 4th is a dogleg left where a drive of about 242 yards to the right, close to the ditch, opens up the long, narrow green, and the guide recommends a pause on the tee to look at the Welsh hills. On the 5th the green sits in a large hollow, so the advice is one club less.

The 6th, the longest hole and stroke index 1, is a par 5 dogleg left with trees either side, a ditch at about 280 yards and a small green with out of bounds beyond it and a subtle false front; the guide treats the second shot as the one that decides the score. The 7th is a short par 3 surrounded by bunkers, where the wind can move the ball even on a calm day. The 8th, a short par 4 to a small, elevated green, is the hole beside the old land-mine crater; the advice is a shorter club to the flattest part of the fairway. The 9th, a straight, uphill par 5, has a pond short and right of the green that decides whether to go for it in two.

The back nine begins downhill with the 10th, a long par 4 to a large green that runs away from the player and slopes from right to left. The 11th, a tight par 5 dogleg left, is played from the right of the fairway to cut the corner, then up to a green where a putt from above the hole runs away quickly. The 12th climbs back to a marker post at the top of the course, with more views of the Welsh hills, before a downhill approach to a well-bunkered green.

The 13th and 14th are the toughest pair on the card. The 13th has out of bounds left, a ditch right and a very long green where the pin position can change the club a long way; the guide calls a par there an excellent achievement. The 14th, stroke index 2, is tree-lined with heavy rough, a ditch on the right and a pond beside a narrow, raised green.

The closing stretch begins with two long par 3s. The 15th, at 217 yards from the whites, plays to a long green set at an angle to the tee, with roll-offs on both sides and a ridge along its right edge; the guide suggests using the slope beside the left-hand bunker to feed the ball on. The 16th is played over a pond to a large green surrounded by bunkers, and is the stroke index 18 hole. The 17th needs a straight drive between a pond on the left and a bunker and trees on the right, then an approach to a long, narrow green bunkered on both sides. The 18th, with out of bounds left and fairway bunkers to thread, finishes at a shallow, two-tier green in front of the clubhouse, where the flag position can be worth two clubs.

What golfers say

Prenton has a reasonable body of public opinion. We read the Golfshake page, which shows 49 reviews written between 2007 and 2026 with an average of 4.3 out of 5 and 97 per cent of reviewers saying they would play again; Wanderlog’s relay of 335 Google reviews, averaging 4.5; and Hole19, which shows 4.6 from 70 ratings but only one written review. Search summaries report a GolfPass average of 4.3 from 59 reviews, but GolfPass refused our requests and we could not read them. The points below summarise what recurs. They are other people’s opinions, not ours; nobody from Panxis has played the course, and we name and quote no one.

What comes up in its favour

• Course condition, and the greens in particular, are praised in reviews from several different years; the greens are described as quick and challenging.
• Hospitality is the best-scored category on Golfshake, and staff and members are often described as friendly and welcoming, especially on society days.
• The clubhouse, its food and its bar get warm comments, as does its use for functions and celebrations.
• Reviewers like the parkland setting and the views, and describe a testing but fair layout with several strong par 4s; the par 5 11th is singled out.
• Pace of play is generally rated well.

What comes up against

• Narrow, tree-lined fairways punish wayward tee shots, and reviewers name the 5th, 6th, 9th, 10th and 11th; one older review found the rough too thick and long to be fair.
• Greenside bunkers are described as tricky, and the two long par 3s on the back nine as demanding.
• Practice facilities are the lowest-scored category on Golfshake, even though the club describes a long driving range and some Google reviewers praise them, so opinion is divided.
• One society reported in 2019 that it had found temporary tees despite being promised full tees, and that the clubhouse closed before the whole group had finished; another review of the same period rated value for money and pace of play poorly.
• A few comments mention bare patches or damage around a green, attributed by the reviewer to the weather.

The written reviews are few, some are many years old, and opinions vary with the season and the day.

Playing as a visitor

According to the club’s visitors and societies page, visitor tee times are available after 10.30am from Monday to Friday and after 11am on Sundays; Saturdays are not mentioned. Visitors can book online through the club’s ClubV1 booking page. Groups of fewer than 16 can usually be accommodated on most days; larger groups, and bookings more than a fortnight ahead, go through the office on 0151 609 3426 (extension 4) or by email. Society bookings are secured with a deposit that is non-refundable but transferable, and group discounts are applied on the day, so a group that arrives with fewer players than agreed pays the full rate. Cheshire County cards are accepted on weekdays only, for groups of up to four booking after 11am unless agreed with the general manager. The club offers golf-only rounds, 36-hole days in season, members’ guest and junior rates.

The club has ten buggies for hire, booked through the professional. The professional is Jason O’Brien, whose shop offers lessons, club fitting, gapping and repairs. Practice facilities include the driving range of over 300 yards, open from early morning until dusk with balls from the professional’s shop; a 100-yard short game area with a green and two bunkers; and a putting green beside the clubhouse.

The dress code is detailed and the club asks visitors to read it before they arrive: recognised golf clothing and golf shoes, collared shirts tucked in, tailored trousers or shorts and mainly white socks, with no denim, cargo trousers, tracksuits or trainers, and no changing in the car park. Course clothing is fine in the Spike Bar; the upstairs lounge and snooker room are smart casual.

The clubhouse has a restaurant and bar, with advance reservation advised for eight or more and private dining for 20 or more. Its function room seats around 120 and is available to non-members. The club runs a ladies’ section with competitions on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays and three ladies’ teams, and a veterans’ section, founded in 1970 and open to members aged 55 and over. Its open competitions are grouped in a Festival of Golf each June, with mixed, seniors, team and Texas scramble events listed for 6 to 11 June 2027.

Getting there and when to go

The club is at Golf Links Road, Prenton, Birkenhead, CH42 8LW. Its website describes it only as a short journey from Liverpool and Chester and gives no further directions, so check the route before setting off. The general manager can be reached at generalmanager@prentongolfclub.co.uk and the club on 0151 609 3426.

The club publishes no fixed season. Its homepage carries a course status panel, with codes for preferred lies, fairway mats, no trolleys, no buggies and temporary greens, worth checking before a winter visit; in October 2026 it said simply that the course was open. On a clear day the views run west to the hills of North Wales, best seen, according to the guide, from the 4th tee and the top of the 12th.

Green fees

Prenton sets different rates by season and by day, with golf-only and 36-hole options, members’ guest and junior rates: see the club’s website for current prices.

How this page was made

The factual frame comes from public sources: OpenStreetMap for the location, outline and name of the course, and reverse geocoding of its coordinates for the locality; Wikidata for the linked item, the founding year, the historic county and the attributed architect; the club’s website for its description, course card, ratings, slopes, stroke indexes, hole-by-hole guide, visitor times, booking, buggies, professional, practice facilities, dress code, clubhouse, sections, open competitions and contact details; the club history published by the Society of Liverpool Golf Captains, drawing on the club’s centenary book of 2005, for the founding, the first course, the move towards Landican, the 1923 opening, the wartime damage, Golf Links Road, the clubhouses and the officers named above; Wikipedia’s articles on Prenton Golf Club, Prenton and James Braid for the attribution question; and Golfshake, Wanderlog’s relay of Google reviews and Hole19 for the opinions summarised above.

Where sources disagree, we say so. The club’s course page, its homepage and Wikipedia give the length as 6,457 yards, and search summaries of GolfPass give the same figure for the white tees, while the club’s current course card adds up to 6,388; Golfshake gives 6,429 yards for the whites and 6,210 for the yellows, against 6,169 on the card, and search summaries of Today’s Golfer give 6,181 yards. We follow the card. The hole-by-hole guide gives slightly different lengths from the card for four holes: 395 yards against 394 for the 2nd, 556 against 552 for the 6th, 218 against 217 for the 15th and 185 against 183 for the 16th. Golfshake lists a different telephone number and names a different professional from the club’s website; we use the club’s. James Braid is credited as architect by Wikipedia, Wikidata and GolfPass but not by the club or its published history, and the club’s description of two Mackenzie greens is not explained anywhere we could read. Wikidata’s coordinates lie about 700 metres from the centre of the course as drawn on OpenStreetMap.

GolfPass, Golf Club Atlas and Today’s Golfer refused our requests or sat behind a payment wall, and the club’s own history page was not yet written, so what we know of the first three comes from search summaries, and we have not relied on them for any course figure. We found no dated account of any architect’s work, no record of which holes were changed after 1923, and no local press coverage. The prices on the club’s visitor page, including the society deposit and buggy hire, and directory price guides are deliberately left out.

The opinion section summarises reviews read in October 2026. We report recurring themes rather than individual voices, and we reproduce no quotations from reviewers. Nobody from Panxis has played or visited this course, and this page is no substitute for a round.

The club has not paid for this page, has not seen it before publication and has no say over its content. This page contains no commercial link and earns us no commission. If you know the course and something here is wrong or out of date, write to us and we will correct it.

Other courses nearby

Closest to this one in our British directory:

• Royal Liverpool Golf Club — 6 mi
• Holywell Golf Club — 10 mi
• Huyton & Prescot Golf Club — 10 mi
• Formby Golf Club — 15 mi