"KB's '13 Opens including Rory's 2014' is numerically correct only because it counts through the 2023 Open (Brian Harman) — the notable text has been updated to name 2023 explicitly. 'Little Eye' is the short par-3 played as the 17th during the 2023 Open (a 2023 Mackenzie & Ebert addition), so keeping '1st, 17th Little Eye' as signature holes is fine. No GSPro version found this session under 'Royal Liverpool', 'Hoylake' or a known alias — availability unknown."

Hoylake is where organized amateur golf grew up: founded 1869, host of the first Amateur Championship in 1885, home of John Ball — the first amateur and first Englishman to win the Open, in 1890 — and the stage for Bobby Jones's 1930 Grand Slam leg. Thirteen Opens have been played here, most recently 2023. It looks flat and benign from the clubhouse; it isn't. Internal out-of-bounds 'cops,' firm turf, and wind off the Dee estuary make it one of England's sternest examinations.

Open Championship historians and strategists — golfers who'd rather plot around OB cops and pot bunkers than bomb driver. If you loved reading about Jones and Ball, this is the pilgrimage.

'Little Eye,' the short par-3 17th built for the 2023 Open, is instantly iconic — a tiny raised green perched above the beach where a wedge can make 2 or 5. The dune-country run from 9 to 12 along the estuary is Hoylake's most beautiful stretch, a surprise after the flatter interior holes.

Deceptively hard: the internal out-of-bounds banks punish slightly offline shots in ways beginners find baffling, and the wind is relentless. Flat and walkable, but a strategic golfer's course.

No confirmed GSPro version of Hoylake yet — it's appeared on designer wishlists but not the live course lists we checked. For an Open-venue links night in the bays, queue Royal Portrush (confirmed in GSPro) instead, and keep an eye on the community servers.

Private but visitor-friendly on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays; book through the club's visiting-golfer diary (the 2026 book is open). Green fees have run around £310 peak in recent seasons.