The Open is back on home turf at Royal Birkdale, and we've brought in a mate who actually backs golf for a living to tell us where the smart money's going this week.

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!

Our good friend Harbs (Harbs7Golf) returns with his three picks for the Claret Jug — including a 16/1 "massive value" favourite, a forgotten major winner nobody's talking about, and a 275/1 outsider with a genuine cash-out strategy behind it. We also dig into what it actually takes to qualify for the Open (the Bryan Brothers, Peter Finch, and a wild story from Burnham & Berrow final qualifying), catch up on the Nish Invitational (£750 raised for the British Liver Trust), and open a space at our Top 100 in 10 Society event at Lindrick.

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We're doing something we've never done before — playing two golf courses back to back at the same club, and pitting the "old money vs new money" of Surrey heathland against each other.

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 we're previewing both the Old Course (ranked 39, an ever-present in the world's top 100 since rankings began in 1938) and the New Course (ranked 88) at Walton Heath — a Ryder Cup venue where GB&I once got hammered 18½–9½ back in 1981.

We dig into the club's remarkable design history: amateur architect Herbert Fowler's very first course (he went on to design Pebble Beach), and James Braid's 46 years as club professional — during which he redesigned 400 courses worldwide and never touched a single hole of Fowler's original layout, out of pure respect.

Expect brutal bunkers, the most heather of any course in the UK (allegedly), a royal club captain who briefly became a king, four British Prime Ministers on the members list, and a genuine handicap-shredding difficulty rating. Plus: side bets, signature holes, and why "the Walton Way" might be the friendliest welcome we've had yet.

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

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Formby Golf Club is disappearing — and that's not even the strangest thing about it.

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!

We're heading to this Lancashire (or is it Merseyside?) links ahead of our round, and there's a lot more going on here than the rankings suggest. Four legendary architects have shaped this course — Willie Park Jr., James Braid, Harry Colt, and a coastal erosion crisis that's already swallowed the original 9th green. By 2085, the sea could be lapping at the 10th tee.

There's also a clubhouse clock tower with a surprising Titanic connection, an Amateur Championship final between two future Ryder Cup captains, and a fully independent ladies' golf club operating entirely inside Formby's own boundary — one of only a handful of setups like it in the country.

In this episode:
- The four architects who built Formby — and the one who's conspicuously missing
- Why the Irish Sea is taking 2.5 metres of this coastline every year
- The clock tower donor with a direct link to the Titanic disaster
- Formby Ladies Golf Club — a complete second course hidden inside the main layout
- Our excitement levels, side bets, and a signature hole challenge before we tee off

If you're new here: we're two mates trying to play all 100 of the UK and Ireland's top-ranked golf courses in 10 years. This is the preview — the full review drops in a few weeks once we've actually played it.

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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