Golfers at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, better known as Hoylake, named after its location, certainly weren't expecting such an explosive end to the year. An artillery shell dating back to World War II exploded under the watchful eye of a bomb disposal team.
Liverpool, news
This fragment of war history remained inert for eighty years, a few meters beneath the fairway of one of the world's most iconic golf courses. Thirteen British Opens have been played on those holes, the last in 2023, when golfer-hunter Brian Harman won.
The device was discovered on December 12th while the Hoylake greenkeeping team was carrying out drainage work under the fairways. Digging about five feet deep, the workers stumbled upon what immediately appeared to be a remnant of war.
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After immediately alerting the authorities, Merseyside Police secured the area and ordered the precautionary evacuation of golfers and workers. "For us, it was a routine job, but when we found something strange, we realized it was artillery," said Simon Newland, club secretary.
Founded in 1869, the Royal Liverpool Golf Club is one of the temples of world golf, the scene of triumphs such as those of Tiger Woods in 2006 and Rory McIlroy in 2014. During the Second World War, its location on the coast of the Wirral Peninsula made it an integral part of the British defense system.
As reconstructed in the club's historical documentation (Hoylake at War), the area was fortified with radar, trenches, searchlights, barbed wire, and minefields. In short: no balls or bags, but a fully-fledged military zone. Cleanup operations began in 1944, but evidently failed to completely eliminate all explosive residue from the subsoil.
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The controlled detonation operations directly on the fairway proceeded without incident and with minimal damage to the affected area. In a statement, Royal Liverpool FC thanked the emergency services: "The site is now completely safe," they said, "and we wish to thank the authorities for their professionalism."
An episode that demonstrates how, even in the most iconic venues of modern sport, the past can resurface in completely unexpected ways.
