With Royal Birkdale top of mind these past few weeks with The Open Championship, I thought I would take the chance to dig into the elements of its crest. We are huge fans of its recent refinement - it preserves the historical character of the original crest but is infinitely easier to use to decorate apparel and merchandise.
The overall story
Read from top to bottom, the logo says:
Royal status
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The game of golf
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Regional and historic identity
From a design perspective:
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green carries the golf reference
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red and gold convey warmth, tradition and ceremony
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blue balances the warmer colors
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white creates clarity in the clubs and bird
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black makes the emblem reproducible in embroidery and at small sizes
The current version is a more modern and flattened crest that draws from and honors the original crest pand places it in a form that is easier reproduce accurately at a scale that makes sense on golf apparel.
1. The crown
The crown is the clearest historical addition. Birkdale Golf Club received permission to use the “Royal” title in 1951, so the crown signals that royal designation.
The crown gives the mark height and ceremony. Without it, the shield would feel like a civic badge; with it, the identity becomes unmistakably “Royal”.
2. The shield
The shield is the crest’s structural backbone. Its shape borrows the visual language of British heraldry - history, institutional continuity and membership. It also works well on blazer pockets, flags, scorecards and embroidery. It is deliberately not minimalist, even with the recent refinement. The shield is divided into:
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one horizontal panel across the top
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two vertical panels below
That arrangement creates a neat hierarchy: the sport first, then the place.
3. The crossed golf clubs
The green upper panel contains two crossed golf clubs and a golf ball. This is the most literal section:
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the clubs identify the organization as a golf club
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the ball reinforces the sporting reference
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the crossed arrangement gives the clubs the dignity of heraldic weapons, rather like crossed swords translated into golfing language
The green background naturally evokes turf and the golf course.
4. The white bird on blue
The lower-left panel contains a white bird in flight on a blue field.It is commonly read as a stylized Liver bird, linking Birkdale to the wider Liverpool and Merseyside area. The Liver bird is one of the region’s most recognizable civic symbols.
The bird’s upward, spreading form contributes several useful visual ideas:
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flight and freedom
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coastal air and open linksland
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movement, balancing the static rose opposite it
5. The red rose on gold
The lower-right panel features the Red Rose of Lancaster, historically associated with Lancashire.
Birkdale and Southport were traditionally part of Lancashire before the creation of Merseyside in 1974. The rose therefore anchors the club in its historic county identity. The Red Rose remains widely used as a symbol of Lancashire, including on neighboring Hillside Golf Club’s crest.
This is arguably the most historically legible element in the shield:
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red rose: Lancashire
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gold field: provides strong contrast and heraldic richness
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five-petalled form: follows the conventional stylized heraldic rose rather than depicting a botanical flower
The bird and rose together likely express Birkdale’s geographical position between the identities of Liverpool/Merseyside and historic Lancashire.
We think it is one of the strongest in our club portfolio.