Royal Birkdale Pictures

This gallery of Royal Birkdale pictures includes all 18 holes on the course, 1 through 18. The Royal Birkdale Golf Club is one of the great courses of the world. It has been the site of numerous Open Championships, and also played host to the Women's British Open, Ryder Cup, Walker Cup, Curtis Cup and the British Amateur Championship.

The Birkdale Golf Club was founded in 1889, moved to Birkdale Hills in Southport, England, in 1894, and the links developed in 1922. It was designated "Royal" Birkdale in 1951, and the British Open was first played here in 1954.

The opening hole at Royal Birkdale is a 450-yard par-4. The "Jutland" bunker is on this hole, on the left of the fairway in the face of a mound, and it menaces locals but shouldn't come into play for tour professionals.

This 421-yard par-4 is straightaway, but usually plays into the wind. Two new bunkers were added prior to the 2008 Open Championship to the right side of the fairway. Long drivers may be able to reach those bunkers if the wind isn't a detriment.

The third hole at Royal Birkdale is a par-4 that plays 450 yards from the tips. The area around the green was re-contoured before the 2008 Open to make for more challenging recoveries for golfers who miss the green. Two new bunkers were also added on the left side of the fairway, which is the side favored for the best approach angle.

The first par-3 on the links is this 203-yarder, the longest of Royal Birkdale's three-pars. The club's Web site describes this green as being "generously endowed" with bunkers. The teeing ground is elevated.

Hole 5 is a short - 346 yards - par-4 that doglegs to the right. This is the view from behind the green. See those bunkers in front of the green? Someone bold enough to try cutting the corner of the dogleg would need 292 yards to reach those bunkers. But the bunkers are strategically placed, and deep rough awaits wayward drives.

A 499-yard par-4 is what golfers will find at the sixth hole. The bunker in the right of the above photo is 282 yards from the tee and at the corner of the right dogleg. There's another bunker on the left of the fairway at 308 yards off the tee. The hole plays uphill from the corner to the green, which is well-guarded by bunkers and heavily contoured.

Royal Birkdale's seventh hole is a 177-yard par-3. The view above is from the front left of the green, looking toward the back right. The Royal Birkdale Web site describes the green as "an up turned saucer-shaped green closely protected by pot bunkers."

The No. 8 hole is a 458-yard par-4. One fairway bunker on the left side and three on the right side menace wayward drives around the landing area. The green is large but well-bunkered.

The ninth hole is a 411-yard par-4. Royal Birkdale's distinctive clubhouse is to the left and behind the green. This hole has a blind tee shot and an elevated green.

The back nine at Royal Birkdale opens with this par-4, a 412-yarder that doglegs hard left. The bend of the bumpy fairway is bracketed by bunkers.

Hole No. 11 is a par-4 of 434 yards. The fairway has recently been narrowed, and a new bunker added on the left side of the fairway.

The green above is the terminus of the 183-yard, par-3 No. 12. Scrub-covered dunes surround the sides of the green, which is elevated. There are deep bunkers at the front left and front right of the green.

The 13th hole is another 500-yards-ish par-4 (498 yards, to be exact). The club tinkered with the fairway bunkering prior to the 2008 Open Championship to make the landing area more challenging to hit. The green is framed by grassy dunes.

Royal Birkdale's final par-3 is 201 yards in length and plays from an elevated tee. The front of the green and an area on the right slope back toward deep bunkers.

A narrow par-5, this 544-yard hole has 15 fairway bunkers to avoid. If a four-hole Open Championship playoff is required, it begins at this hole.

The 16th hole is a 439-yard par-4, slight dogleg to the right. The green above is elevated, and well-guarded in front by deep bunkers. There is a plaque in the rough on this hole commemorating a spectacular 6-iron approach from wet, thick grass in 1961 British Open, a shot that helped Arnold Palmer win that tournament. (This was the 15th hole at that time.)

The second of the two par-5s at Royal Birkdale is this one, 572 yards in length. Two large dunes frame the landing area for the drive, which is also now threatened by two bunkers added on the right side of the fairway. The two-tiered green is severely sloped and is protected by deep bunkers.

The dramatic Royal Birkdale clubhouse overlooks the 18th green and seems almost futuristic in this links setting. The home hole is a 472-yard par-4.