Palmer Cup heads to Formby Golf Club in 2016

Chairman Jim Awtrey has announced that Formby Golf Club is set to host the 2016 Palmer Cup.

Jim Awtrey, chairman of the Palmer Cup, has recently announced that the 2016 Palmer Cup will be played at Formby Golf Club.

The announcement came ahead of the start of the 2014 Palmer Cup at Walton Heath Golf Club.

“Formby has a history of enthusiastically supporting both the amateur game and international play. The links should provide a rewarding challenge to the young men competing in our matches and produce a worthy champion”, said Awtrey.

Formby Golf Club is a stellar example of a championship links course. The course features a combination of well protected greens, undulating fairways and challenging tee shots to provide an enjoyable, yet consistently challenging game.

Formby itself is set amongst coastal sand dunes and towering pines making the course popular with discerning golfers.

Bernard Billington, the Club Captain said, “All at Formby Golf Club are delighted, honoured and excited to be hosting the Palmer Cup in 2016.

“We have a very unique links course, which is recognised as one of the world’s best, and we can guarantee that it will provide a fair, yet extremely challenging test for the players.

“Many of the world’s top golfers from America and Europe have graced our fairways over the years and are all in agreement that Formby is indeed some- where special to play.”

The Links was founded in 1884 and has been consistently modernised since its inauguration to ensure that it maintains its high status. The original 18-hole course was redesigned by Willie Park.

Recently the course has undergone a few changes, however these have been mostly tweaking. Trees were plants in the early 1970s to the right of the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd holes.

New bunkers were also created  on the 4^th, 6^th and 11^th while others were also redesigned.

1997 saw a fairway watering introduced onto five holes.

More recently, 2005 saw a new, larger, practice ground constructed on the site of the whole area of the 14^th. This has been a significant improvement in terms of members’ and visitors’ amenity.

Formby has been the venue for a number of tournaments over the years, including the prestigious Curtis Cup in 2004 and the Amateur Championship in 1957, 1967, 1984 and 2009.

It has also been used as a qualifying course for the Open Championship in 1924, 1971 and 1996.