Bowring Municipal

Played Bowring Park recently after a long absence and was pleased with its challenge. The course clearly suffers from local thieves as the bunker rakes were all absent. I loved the simplicity of the course. It is not long but neither is it easy for that. The noise of the M62 could be a bit distracting and the greens need some help but generally the course was in good condition. I think the new management are making a good effort to improve playing conditions and I give them huge credit for that. The price of a round in the afternoon was £12.50 so that also hit a 'hot-spot' with me.

This is a surprisingly challenging course let down by some damaged greens and some missing flags sticks. 1 is a generous par 4 start but any second shot from the right of the fairway will face an approach over a green side bunker to a right-side pin location. 2 is a great par 3. 3 Is a long par 4 slog with a large green and is uninteresting. 4 is a tight but short par 4 requiring an accurate drive. Across the motorway bridge. 5 Has an elevated tee with water on the left. Curves left and the elevated tee makes it easy to over-drive into the bushes. Large green. 6 Moderately up-hill with curving fairway and unforgiving rough making fairway placement no gimme. Large and slightly elevated green. Was damaged with bike wheel tyre marks last time I played. 7 is slightly down hill to a slight dog leg left with a ditch across the apex. Need to keep left to avoid an uneven lie on the small hill unless you want to flirt with danger in the ditch. If you can reach it you can drive long and right to clear the ditch. Need to know your yardages. 8 Another right pin location draws you to the left of another shaped fairway causing you to flirt with a fairway bunker on the left. 9 This can be a challenge with the fairway narrowing at the point where there is also a water hazard on the right. Lay - up or clear it from the tee. Decent green with a slight uphill approach. 10 is pretty straight and drivable. 11 Is a dog leg left. A drive to the apex leaves a long iron to the large green but fairway can be sparse and lies quite tight. 12 Back over the motorway. Another drivable hole but narrow cut on the snaking fairway makes laying up tricky. This has the most challenging green. 13 is a straight forward par 3. Nothing special. 14 is straight hole which climbs slightly and then drops back down to an average sized green. Overshooting takes you down a steep bank near the cart path. 15 Another potentially drivable par 4 if you can catch the wind. Tricky to spot your landing area for a lay - up. 16 Is the first of three downhill - uphill fairways with potentially drivable greens. 17 Comes straight back but has a more noticeable elevated aspect to the green. 18 Is just a slog downhill and long green with a rear pin location. Fairways appear wide at first but some (4, 6 and 12 particularly) are actually snaking fairways on straight holes which are also cut to offer minimal landing areas with some really very penal rough which punishes even the slightest wayward shot (a little too much in my opinion). The grass in the rough is not great quality with short, flat top weeds (clover like) concealing balls very effectively leading to too many unnecessarily lost balls. Picking your landing area is critical on these. 12 is the only really challenging green though. 3 is a great par 3.

Played my first ever round of golf here lots of years ago (prior to motorway) and was sad to see it revert to nine hole, but very pleased to see it resurrected as an 18. Represented my club here at Lancs Municipal Pairs Team event, and thoroughly enjoyed the round. Most challenging holes are on the far side of the course - original 9 close to clubhouse are shorter and give lots of opportunities to attack greens with short irons. No par 5s, but that doesn't detract from round - clever positioning of water/trees makes you think carefully if you want to score well. Public 'clubhouse' looks run down, but the clubroom upstairs is comfy and friendly. Could I suggest to many 'pay and players' that it might well be worth joining? Heaven's opened after we completed round, so competition abandoned - I'm so glad we had an early tee off!

Bowring is a cracking municipal course in the Huyton district of Merseyside. The course was originally a 9-holer, converted to 18 holes in the early 90's (I think!!). It's a very pleasant parkland affair, with many challenging holes. The course features a small chipping & putting area, however there is no driving range or nets. The clubhouse is fairly modest, last time I played there was no pro shop just a reception where snacks could be bought prior to play. The course begins with a mid length par 4, shaped like a valley. It's a relatively simple hole, yet one that could spell disaster if your tee shot goes left. Holes to look out for - 3rd - Long par 4 with out of bounds close to the left, a long, straight drive is essential for grabbing a par. 11th - Another long, difficult par 4 which will test all levels of golfer. The hole doglegs left through a narrow section of trees. The first four holes are on one side of the motorway (a butty van usually sits here), then you cross over to play 7 more holes, to which its back over for the remainder. The 18th brings you back to the first tee, a replica of the first hole. As far as I know you have to be a member's guest to visit the clubhouse so if your thirsty after the round check out the local Derby Lodge Hotel which serves a lovely pint (right out of the course, hotel is 200 yards on your right). I can recommend Bowring to all levels of golfer - be aware the course gets busy on weekends so advance booking is essential.

I have have several games on Bowring, it's my local course, I learned to play here. It's a well kept and maintained course and very resonably priced. I paid £9.60 for a Friday 7:45 tee off - great value. Hole 11 I would say was the hardest - nice dog leg at around 460yrds - should be a par 5 in my opinion. Great local course, nice greens, I like the bridge over the motorway to Hole 5 I think - watch out for the Small pond ! often a mud hole. In essence a great course and the 1st Municiple in England. Mac

I have only started golf recently and found the course well thought out with various par 4's challenging you throughout. Overall i think it is a good course and is worth a good look at. The price is also satisfying.

I have Been Playing at bowring park for the last 6 years nearlly after changinng yearly my membership from course to course i finally settled on this course as no hole is ever the same there is a different challenge on every holes. The greens men I often give my thanks to on there well kept greens some courses i have played on have terrible greens with no direction to them this cause offers a wide range of difficulty but at the same time is managable by many. IT is a great course for people to learn and i have brought many people to the golf course have loved and enjoyed the sourondings and the Straight run games as there is never any weighting for any one and if you ask people will always let you through. You will not find a better course in the hole of liverpool for begginers at this low price you would be a fool not to spend 8 pound on an enjoyable day out hope to see uyou on the course Dave

would have to agree with other peoples comments a good cheap round of golf and a really good course to start on if you are starting out.flat straight and not to testing

This course is kept in fantastically good condition for a municipal. My home course, also a municipal, is not a patch on this. Also, it is nowhere near as crowded as most other municipals. It is great for a practice round of golf, but as there are 16 par 4's, it gets a bit boring. A good round of golf, but I wouldnt stay there all year round.

Whilst the course has been maintained fairly well, it gets a bit dull because all the holes are very straight. A large number of bunkers makes up for a bit of it. But it does get very repetitive playing par 4s which just vary in distance rather than line. It's a useful course to play on if you want to have a practice run, but it is not going to challenge you very much as there are no par 5s, just two par 3s, and the rest all straight 4s. Good for a practice round though.

This is one of the best maintained municipal courses in the country.The greens are excellent-far better than many private courses in the area. It always impresses me to see groups of greenkeeping staff tending the course and raking the bunkers early every Saturday and Sunday morning when I play. It is a flat and straightforward course. There are no par fives but many of the par fours are very long-several are in excess of 400 yards. However there is one major problem with this course and that is the behaviour of a minority of the people who use it. I always tee off at first light in a 2 ball so I am first out on the course. After we have played a few holes we always catch up on slow fourballs who decide to play the holes in a random order.We have never been called through yet. It is a shame that Knowsley council who run and look after the course so well do not try to do something about this. There appears to be a mentality that you can start your round at any point on the course you choose. If ever a course needed a ranger it is here. regards, Michael.

A very enjoyable golf course to play. There are some challenging holes especially the 7th and 9th holes but anyone who chooses to play the course will find out for themselves just how nice a course it is