HOYLAKE, England -- An October drizzle began after lunch, mixing with the winds off the Irish Sea to provide a cold, wet afternoon game at the famed Royal Liverpool Golf Club.

''Rain makes the game more authentic,'' said Charlie Grimley, my partner for the Liverpool round, on my quest to play three of England's Royal golf courses, as designated through the centuries by kings and queens. My list also included Royal Lytham & St. Annes and Royal Birkdale, site of this summer's British Open Championship. I would finish with a visit to golf's ancient roots at the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland.

As an amateur golfer who sometimes labors to break 100, I felt blessed to walk the fairways of some of the world's best courses, which are open to travelers at a time when many of the top tournament championship courses in the United States are difficult, if not impossible, to get to play. Because of their exclusivity, a regular Joe can't even have lunch in the clubhouse.

Hungry for U.S. tourism dollars, England's old bastions of golf are setting out the welcome mat to men and women travelers. Of course, English pounds come at a high price these days, as the exchange rate pushes golf fees at some courses to more than $250, but other championship venues, while not Royal, are available for as little as $70. You don't just show up here; you arrange a tee time through a tour operator or through a special website. I can attest that the system works.

Anxious at my first Royal, I was braced to feel that I didn't belong, that I was trespassing on hallowed ground. But my fears were ungrounded. Perhaps Britain's stiff upper-lippers have gone to charm school, because I was welcomed warmly by staff and members at all three Royals.

Each club, all within an hour's drive of the city of Liverpool, had my tee time noted and my rental clubs ready when I arrived. At two courses I used a coupon, included in the golf fee (more than $200 each), for a light lunch in the clubhouse. I sat with a bowl of vegetable soup at a window overlooking the 18th greens at Liverpool and Lytham, anticipating the rounds to come and imagining past championship crowds and famous finishes.

WALKING WET

The weather at Royal Liverpool made no effort to be hospitable to a visiting American.

With temperatures in the low 60s that felt like 50s in the wind, I was decked out in a warm undershirt, flannel long-sleeved shirt, fleece windbreaker and green rain jacket with rain pants. In the drizzle, I swooshed -- that's the sound of plastic pants rubbing against the thighs -- to the first tee. I hit a poor shot that found the left rough, then slung my rented golf bag over my shoulders, thankful for the relatively recent invention of the dual strap that evens the load over both shoulders.

On most courses in the United Kingdom, you won't find motorized golf carts -- they are called buggies here -- and if you want a caddie, you'll need to arrange that ahead of time. The Royal courses, as with most of the other courses in England, Scotland and Wales, are designed for competition between players who carry their own clubs, in a test of both skill and stamina. Weekend American golfers accustomed to riding around in a motorized cart may want to get into walking shape -- 18 holes usually covers more than four miles per round -- before heading across the Atlantic.

I could have used a pull cart with wheels at Liverpool, as I did when I played alone at Lytham and Birkdale. But I didn't want to disappoint Charlie, my playing partner. Charlie, who grew up near Liverpool, was chagrined enough because of the lightness of the rain, which stopped altogether after 10 soggy holes -- reducing the challenge, as Charlie saw it. Like other golfers from the United Kingdom, Charlie has his entertaining stories of playing competitive rounds during rain driven horizontally by swirling winds off the sea.

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