IT IS A marketing man's dream. At the very time Merseyside is being held up as the Golf Coast of England, the sport's great and good smile down on the region, not once, but twice. The unprecedented award of the Open Championship to the same area twice in the space of just three years ensures global recognition of a brand that is being pushed heavily in the golf-ing world. And with good reason. Royal Liverpool and Royal Birkdale need little introduction, given their exalted status on the select band of Open venues. Formby will enjoy its elevation to the world stage this summer by staging the Curtis Cup, while top events at courses like Formby Hall or Bromborough, or Open qualifiers at West Lancashire or Wallasey mean the scope of Merseyside's golfing riches are clear to see. And its history runs deep with events like the Ryder Cup being held at Southport and Ainsdale back in the 1930s. But it is the hidden depths of an area that boasts everything from demanding links courses to rolling parkland tests that is the key to Merseyside's attraction as a golfing mecca. Take Prenton, for instance. It might not be the first course pencilled in by would-be visitors to the region, but they would be overlooking the sheer quality of courses on offer outside the circle of household names. Prenton has been around a long while and celebrates its centenary next year. The clubhouse commands an impressive overview of a course that looks deceptively straight-forward and, at this time of the year, is splashed with yellow from the spring daffodils and the gorse bushes that speckle the course. But amid the gentle undulations, silver birch and small fir lie an intriguing mix of challenges. And as varied a bag of bunkers as you will find anywhere. From shallow fairway traps where you can skim your escape to pot bunkers plugged deep into the greenside, the sand awaits the wayward. This is not a course that will intimidate you by its length. It measures 6,429 yards, is a par 71 and its slopes are not too taxing, even though the course has been designed to ensure the contours add to your shot-making. The first opens at just 254 yards and was a gentle way to ease yourself into a round. Well, until the club added a pond to the right and a ditch across the fairway. Now the decision is to opt for safety or unleash your very first shot into the heart of the green. The adaptations are one of several round the course as the committee reacts to the changing face of the game over the years. Additional water has been added between the fifth and ninth fairways, while the 16th tee also stands before a pond. Tree planting also continues and on into the next century of the club's history they will emerge as the biggest threat in areas where bunkers have already been filled in, like the 17th. Many of the early holes are shaped like an hour glass . . . in reverse. Narrow opening shots from the back tees can be aimed at the ample waistline of the fairways before the holes tighten again approaching the green. The third offers the first of four short holes and at 165 yards from the competition tees is a little gem. The lightbulb of a green has a narrow, bunker guarded opening into which you can squeeze your tee shot before it opens out at the back. A forward pin position leaves a very teasing approach. The fourth features one of the sharpest doglegs you will encounter, with a quick hand-brake turn left to the green. The land below the tee tumbles down towards a ditch which requires the right kind of weight on your shot. You want to be smack, bang in the middle. Too far left and you leave yourself with a blind turn, too far right and a bunker awaits with a second guarding the green for your approach shot to another jelly bean of a green. Five and six, at 560 yards the longest on the course as befits its stroke index one, are marshalled by out of bounds down the left and bunkers to the right. Seven and eight both appear straightforward, but the skewed greens again put the emphasis on placement to open them up. But just as you are starting to feel you have got the measure of the course, the next run of holes change your tactics. Nine, ten and eleven all narrow on you. Gone is the generous rump of a fairway. Instead tree lined avenues press in on you, a feeling which will be even more evident as the planted areas mature. Twelve offers a different kind of drive again, with the only real blind tee shot of the round. Find the high ground and you will arrow in with your second on the green crouching over the other side of the brow. Thirteen offers another choice. Take on the sandtrap and trees to the left to get a better line into the green or go for a safer tee shot to the right, but leave yourself with the possibility of carrying a run of bunkers stacked up like rungs on a ladder into the green. Fourteen has a comfortable tee shot, but don't get lulled. All the trouble is huddled round the two-tiered green in the humps and hollows that surround it and means your second needs to be spot on. A look at the stroke index suggests that the hard part of your round is over, that you can relax. The last four holes all feature in double figures and include successive par threes. But the first of them, the 15th, does weigh in at 220 yards and with two trees standing like bouncers on a nightclub door and another long, narrow green to find, you need to be striking the ball cleanly to hit the green in comfort. The 16th takes you over the pond that sits at the foot of the tee towards a green that is ringed by bunkers, which seem to stare back at you like some bug-eyed monster from a sci-fi B movie. Seventeen lives up to its billing as the easiest on the course, at least until the trees grow higher and thicker, while the final hole takes you back in front of the clubhouse through a final dogleg and a two-tiered green to add a suitably testing finishing touch. FINAL VERDICT A course that holds much more than first meets the eye, it has already shown its desire to move with the times and adapt for the future. A worthy member of England's greatest collection of courses. FACT FILE Address: Golf Links Road, Birkenhead Par: 71(Out 36 In 35) SSS: 71 Yards: 6,429 yards Description: Appealing undulating parkland course Contact Details: Telephone 0151 609 3426 Pro shop 0151 608 1636 Club manager: Nigel Brown Professional: Robin Thompson Visitors: welcome by arrangement Cost: Weekday - £30, weekend - £35 Societies: Welcome by prior arrangement. Golf and catering packages available from £24. Catering: Full clubhouse bar and catering facilities Dress code: No tracksuit bottoms or jeans; shirt with collar and sleeves; proper golf shoes. E-mail: nigelbrown@prentongolfclub.co.uk nDetails correct at the time of going to press. | 
