Wallasey Golf Club was out of the Top 100. Now it's ranked 99th and accelerating — and after playing it on a stunning April Tuesday, we think it's heading a lot higher than that.

This episode is powered by Fourball Draws - where you can win a fourball on some elite courses for just a fiver - visit fourballs.co.uk and use code TOP100 to buy 2 or more tickets and get one absolutely free!

In this episode we sit down with course manager John McLoughlin, the man who called Wallasey a "sleeping giant" five years ago and spent the time since proving himself right. We talk about the transformation, the Old Tom Morris greens, the Bobby Jones portrait in the clubhouse, and why this might be the best Irish-style links golf you can play without leaving England.

We also cover our top three holes each, a Stableford match play battle (Nish wins 3&2), and the honest question: does Wallasey crack our personal top five from 70 Top 100 courses played?

🇮🇪 Playing in Ireland has never been harder to arrange — which is exactly why we've done it for you. Join us this October for a listener trip covering Portmarnock, The Island, Royal Dublin, County Louth and more. Details and booking below.
https://top100in10.co.uk/the-top-100-in-10-golf-tour-of-ireland/

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In this episode:
- John McLoughlin on transforming Wallasey from sleeping giant to Top 100 contender
- The Old Tom Morris connection — four original greens, nearly 130 years old
- Bobby Jones, signed portraits and why Americans should know about this clubhouse
- Our top holes: 3, 4, 10, 12 and 18
- The conditioning obsession — why Wallasey's transitions are becoming famous
- Stableford match play result and our signature hole challenge update
- Three reasons to visit Wallasey Golf Club

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Sophie Walker is one of the best guests we've ever had on this show. She's the head analyst for Sky Sports Golf, a former LET tour pro with over 150 events and five Open Championships to her name — including the first women's ever played at the Old Course, St Andrews. She's also ace. And she lives a mile down the road from Nish, which helped.

This episode is powered by Fourball Draws - where you can win a fourball on some elite courses for just a fiver - visit fourballs.co.uk and use code TOP100 to buy 2 or more tickets and get one absolutely free!

In this bonus episode, Sophie talks honestly about tour life: what it really costs to compete at the top level, what she'd do differently, and her take on where women's golf should be investing its growing revenues. She gives us her one-line verdicts on the great courses — Royal County Down, Turnberry, Kingsbarns, Birkdale, and more. She reveals the caddy signal system that lets broadcasters know exactly what club a player is hitting. And at the very end, she answers the one more round question in a way that'll stay with you.

🏌️ JOIN US IN IRELAND — October 2026
We're heading to the Northeast Coast Links: Portmarnock, The Island, Jameson Links, Royal Dublin & County Louth (Baltray). 14 spots. Accommodation at Portmarnock Resort, farewell dinner at the Guinness Storehouse.
👉 https://top100in10.co.uk/the-top-100-in-10-golf-tour-of-ireland/

Find Sophie:
Instagram: @SophWalksGolf
X: @sophwalks

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Every golfer has played Stableford. Almost none of us know it was invented on the 2nd fairway at Wallasey Golf Club — by a man who got so fed up tearing up his scorecard, he changed golf forever.

This episode is powered by Fourball Draws - where you can win a fourball on some elite courses for just a fiver - visit fourballs.co.uk and use code TOP100 to buy 2 or more tickets and get one absolutely free!

Get some details about our Irish Trip more details here

This week, Nish and Jim preview Wallasey — ranked #99 in the UK & Ireland, designed by Old Tom Morris, tweaked by James Braid, and the qualifying venue where Bobby Jones won his Grand Slam Open spot. Chris is off doing a "breakaway round" at Loch Lomond. We'll get to that.

In this preview:

• The Eureka moment on the 2nd fairway, 1931

• Why Wallasey re-entered our Top 100 (and how we bent our own rules)

• The Bobby Jones portrait that hangs in two clubhouses — Wallasey and Augusta

• Plateau greens, four original Old Tom Morris greens, and the holes to watch

• Green fees vs. Birkdale, Hillside and S&A — the value question

• The side bet that wrote itself

Things mentioned in this episode:

• Wallasey Golf Club — wallaseygolfclub.com
• Dr. Frank Barney Gorton Stableford — Wallasey member, surgeon, golf hero
• The 2nd fairway, Wallasey — site of the 1931 Eureka moment
• Old Tom Morris — original course designer (1891)
• James Braid — later design contributions
• Bobby Jones — qualified for the Open at Wallasey in his Grand Slam year
• Sir Ernest Royden — ex-captain who commissioned the Bobby Jones portrait
• John A.A. Berrie — the artist; painted both the Wallasey original and the Augusta replica
• Henry Longhurst quote — "I doubt whether any single man did more to increase the pleasure of the humble club golfer."

Send us a message

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We're taking 20 golfers to one of the most historic links courses in England for a full Ryder Cup-style weekend — 10v10 match play, two-man scramble, joker pairings, and a pub takeover.

This episode is powered by Fourball Draws - where you can win a fourball on some elite courses for just a fiver - visit fourballs.co.uk and use code TOP100 to buy 2 or more tickets and get one absolutely free!

Join our Society for Free

Get some details about our Irish Trip more details here

Harbs from Harb 7 Golf joins Nish and Chris to break down the competition format, the prizes, the player profiles (which are brutal), and why a weekend like this costs just over £300.

Plus: the full Burnham & Berrow preview — J.H. Taylor's incredible origin story, the Herbert Fowler / Harry Colt / Alister MacKenzie design pedigree, par threes people call the best collection in the Top 100, greens that rival anywhere in the country, and a finishing hole with a serious reputation.

And if you fancy joining us in Ireland this October — Portmarnock, The Island, Royal Dublin, County Louth & Jameson Links — we've got 14 listener slots still open.

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In this episode of the Top 100 in 10 Golf Podcast, we review Delamere Forest Golf Club — the nearest Top 100 golf course to us, and one of the most fascinating golf courses we’ve played on our journey through the Top 100 courses in the UK and Ireland.

This episode is powered by Fourball Draws - where you can win a fourball on some elite courses for just a fiver - visit fourballs.co.uk and use code TOP100 to buy 2 or more tickets and get one absolutely free!

Get some details about our Irish Trip more details here

Set in Cheshire, Delamere Forest Golf Club is a rare inland heathland-style course with dramatic movement, beautiful framing, and a routing that gets better and better as the round goes on. We break down the welcome, the clubhouse, practice facilities, course condition, standout holes, green quality, value for money, and whether Delamere deserves to be ranked far higher than its current Top 100 position.

This episode also features our competitive fourball at Delamere, as we teamed up to take on friends in the “Duel at Delamere” — and the match produced some seriously good golf, plenty of banter, and one of the best days we’ve had on this Top 100 journey so far.

We also touch on our upcoming Ireland golf trip, including Portmarnock, Baltray and more, before diving into why Delamere Forest might be one of the most underrated Top 100 golf courses in England.

If you’re searching for honest golf course reviews, Top 100 golf travel inspiration, or the best golf courses in Cheshire and England, this is an episode you’ll want to hear.

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We review our round at Hillside Golf Club, one of the Top 100 golf courses in the UK and Ireland, and one of the standout links courses on England’s Golf Coast. In this episode, we break down the full Hillside experience — the welcome, the clubhouse, practice facilities, course condition, signature holes, back nine reputation, greens, value for money, and whether Hillside deserves its place alongside Royal Birkdale and Southport & Ainsdale.

This episode is powered by Fourball Draws - where you can win a fourball on some elite courses for just a fiver - visit fourballs.co.uk and use code TOP100 to buy 2 or more tickets and get one absolutely free!

Played in glorious March sunshine after one of the wettest winters in memory, Hillside was presented in sensational condition. We talk through why the welcome was the best we’ve had so far on our Top 100 journey, why the front nine deserves more credit, which holes stood out most, and whether Hillside is a better all-round experience than some of its more famous neighbours.

If you’re planning a golf trip to Merseyside, England’s Golf Coast, or you’re simply looking for honest reviews of Top 100 golf courses in the UK and Ireland, this is one of our best course review episodes yet.

Get some details about our Irish Trip more details here

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We've been banging our heads against a wall trying to get onto Irish golf courses for six months. Tee times selling out in minutes. Green fees north of €500. Chris assuring me his Irish roots would open doors. They did not.

This episode is powered by Fourball Draws - where you can win a fourball on some elite courses for just a fiver - visit fourballs.co.uk and use code TOP100 to buy 2 or more tickets and get one absolutely free!

This episode is powered by Fourball Draws - where you can win a fourball on some elite courses for just a fiver - visit fourballs.co.uk and use code TOP100 to buy 2 or more tickets and get one absolutely free!

Then Jared from Irish Fairways called me. He'd been listening to the podcast — which is either flattering or suspicious — and said three words that nearly made me fall off my chair: "We can help."

And we ended up arranging a trip to Ireland that YOU can get involved in - more details here

In this episode, Jared and Josh from Irish Fairways join us to talk about why Ireland's links courses captivate golfers from around the world, what makes links golf a completely different game to anything you'll play stateside, and how a chance phone call turned into a fully organised five-course trip along Dublin's north east coast — Portmarnock, The Island, Jameson Links, Royal Dublin, and County Louth.

Josh is a PGA professional who still gets nervous on every tee box (his words), and his one-hole pick from the trip will make you want to book a flight immediately. Jared is the operations brain who nearly quit golf on his first ever round at Jameson Links in sideways rain — and started par-birdie in a pro-am months later. These two are brilliant company.

Here's the big news: we've got 14 spots open for listeners to join us. October 4–10, 2026. Five world-class courses. Based at Portmarnock Resort. Farewell dinner at the Guinness Storehouse. Drivers, tee times, everything sorted. This year's Irish tee times are already gone — these are the last 14 spots that exist!

If you've ever wanted to experience Irish links golf with a group who are there for the craic as much as the golf, this is it.

Book here: https://top100in10.co.uk/the-top-100-in-10-golf-tour-of-ireland/

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Delamere Forest Golf Club preview. And yes, we've also entered Rick Shiels and Peter Finch's Creator Cup.

This episode is powered by Fourball Draws - where you can win a fourball on some elite courses for just a fiver - visit fourballs.co.uk and use code TOP100 to buy 2 or more tickets and get one absolutely free!

Delamere Forest Golf Club is one of the most unusual courses on the entire Top 100 list. A Herbert Fowler Heathland design sitting in Cheshire — completely unlike anything else in the North of England, and nothing like you'd expect from the name.

Nish has played it before and loved it. Chris has cycled through the forest with his kids and assumed it would be foresty. It is not foresty.

This episode covers the Herbert Fowler design legacy, the infinity greens, the optical illusions built into the course, the stunning black-and-white Tudor clubhouse, and the one-star review that calls it the most pretentious overrated dump the reviewer has ever played. Plus Nish's Woodhall Spa take. It's a strong one.

Send us a message

Support the show

Learn more about our journey on our website Top100.in10.co.uk

You can even sign up to our podcast mailing list on the website and get a limited edition Top 100 in 10 ball marker when you complete your profile

Or follow our live journey on Instagram @top100in10 or Tiktok