Only a select handful of courses in the United Kingdom have ever hosted golf’s Open Championship.
The pool is narrowed to the best links courses found on these isles with venues for golf’s oldest major meticulously chosen for their quality, challenge and logistical merits.
A total of 14 courses have seen the Champion Golfer of the Year hold the Claret Jug aloft. Not all of them are still part of the rotation though. Since 1933, The Open has been held at 10 of these 14 venues.
St Andrews hosts the tournament more than any other as the sport’s ceremonial home. Despite the pandemic throwing its quinquennial hosting duties out of the window, the Old Course at St Andrews is the most constant course on the Open Rota.
In early January 2025, St Andrews was announced as the host venue of the 2027 Open, seemingly returning to a rotation every five years to celebrate the victory of one of the game’s greats in 1927 – Bobby Jones.
A record 290,000 fans attended the 2022 Open in Fife which saw Cameron Smith topple Rory McIlroy in stunning fashion with a Sunday 64.
Rumours are always rife about courses that could join The Open family, whether they were previously part of the inner circle or looking to join for the first time. Royal Portrush returned to the party in 2019 after a 68-year hiatus and in a sport looking to innovate more than ever, Portmarnock near Dublin looks in good shape to become the first course outside of the United Kingdom to host the Open.
“I think the first thing I’d say is I’ve got one venue on my mind this week and it is Portrush, given that it’s my first Open Championship and delivering what we hope will be a successful event,” Darbon said in the week of the 2025 Open.
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“Yes, we are thinking about Portmarnock. We think it’s a wonderful links golf course and we’ve been really encouraged by the support that we’ve had in principle from the Irish government to work with us to understand whether we could stage an Open Championship there in the future.
“We’re knee deep in feasibility work to help us answer that question fully. We expect to have a clearer picture by the back end of this year.”
Here is your full guide to the courses on the Open Rota and where we know the championship is heading in the years to come.
The Open Rota: course by course
St Andrews, Fife, Scotland
Last hosted: 2022
Next Open: 2027
Pro: This is the home of golf and the most iconic golf course on the planet, bar Augusta National. It has a huge pull and houses the R&A.
Con: Double greens and golf course routing lead to extremely long rounds and frustration among competitors. Then there is the ongoing challenge of power and distance that diminishes the Old Course’s quirks and qualities.
The day St Andrews stops hosting The Open might also be the day unicorns putt out on the 18th hole. Golf’s greatest players have won the Claret Jug on The Old Course. Nicklaus, Woods, Ballesteros, Snead, Faldo, Jones. The Open is elevated above its already high status when it arrives in Fife.
On January 23, 2025, it was announced that St Andrews would host The 2027 Open, marking the centenary of Bobby Jones’ victory on the Old Course.
“St Andrews is the home of golf and it generates a unique atmosphere for the fans and the players as well as providing an amazing spectacle on television and digitally for millions of viewers around the world,” said new R&A chief Mark Darbon.
“It promises to be another milestone occasion at one of sport’s greatest and most historic venues and we will be doing everything we can to make it a memorable experience for everyone involved.”
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Read more about St Andrews via NCG’s Top 100 site
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Prestwick, Ayrshire, Scotland
Last hosted: 1925
Next: The Open is highly unlikely to return to Prestwick
Pro: Prestwick is the ancestral home of The Open and the golf course is still hugely respected.
Con: The golf course couldn’t stand up to the bombers of the modern-day game and the venue would be way too small to host a major in the 21st century.
‘Long’ Jim Barnes was the last man to win The Open at Prestwick in 1925. Eight players contested the first-ever Open in 1860 at Prestwick which was won by Willie Park Snr.
As Kieran George, assistant curator at the World Golf Museum told John Huggan of Golf Digest in 2022, there is no point where Prestwick’s removal from the Rota was officially declared, with presumptions alluding to the 1914 Open which was watched by a crowd of 5,000 fans and counting with no precautions taken to cope with such numbers again in 1925.
In this age, Prestwick wouldn’t win the battle with the longest hitters nor could it surely cater for the vast infrastructure of an event.
Read more about Prestwick via NCG’s Top 100 site
Musselburgh Old, East Lothian, Scotland
Last hosted: 1889
Next: If the Open is unlikely to return to Prestwick, it is positively incomprehensible that it would come back to this 9-holer on the outskirts of Edinburgh
Pro: The original Musselburgh, the Old Course, is steeped in history with golf suspected to have been played here since 1672.
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Con: As a nine-hole course in the present day, The Open simply can’t be held here.
From 1874, Musselburgh hosted The Open every three years and was the initial home of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, after Prestwick hosted the first 12 Opens.
The Honourable Company moved to Muirfield which hosted in 1892 and that coincided with the tournament’s exile from Musselburgh which saw the likes of Willie Park Jnr, Mungo Park and Bob Ferguson hoist the famous trophy.
Read more about Musselburgh via NCG’s Top 100 site
Royal Cinque Ports, Kent, England
Last hosted: 1920
Next: No current prospects
Pro: This is a world-class golf course that is used at Final Open Qualifying and merited several Open-hosting call-ups. It is narrow, tough and is a worthy neighbour to Royal St George’s.
Con: This would be a logistical nightmare that has one very small road heading in and a dirt road on the other side.
Deal had no luck after building momentum when hosting The Open in 1909 and 1920. The 1938 and 1949 editions were given to Royal St George’s, virtually over the fence on the Kent coast, due to flooding and the 1942 Open was cancelled due to World War II.
JH Taylor and George Duncan won both Opens at Royal Cinque Ports. In the present day, the golf course is nothing short of world-class, but logistically, it couldn’t host an Open and doesn’t have the land or infrastructure like its neighbour in Sandwich.
Read more about Royal Cinque Ports via NCG’s Top 100 site
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Princes, Kent, England
Last hosted: 1932
Next: Nothing concrete currently – but rumours continue to abound and they certainly have the space at this 27-hole venue.
Pro: Princes has been vastly improved in recent years with changes to the Himalayas nine. It’s an impressive site overall with good accommodation.
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Con: Like Deal, Princes would be a logistical nightmare with one long road heading into the course.
Princes hosted The Open in 1932 which was won by Gene Sarazen. It is the only venue to host the event once. Significant war damage to the golf course necessitated a complete redesign in the 1950s.
Like Deal, Princes isn’t logistically easy. There is one private road that goes to the golf club, running alongside the 7th and 13th fairways of Royal St George’s and it probably couldn’t cater for The Open machine that brings tents, grandstands, the lot.
Read more about Princes via NCG’s Top 100 site
Royal St George’s, Kent, England
Last hosted: 2021
Next: Awaiting an announcement – watch this space
Pro: Royal St George’s is a phenomenal golf course with vast amounts of land in its favour. It is also the only Open venue that isn’t far from London.
Con: Although not as much of a headache as Princes and Deal, Sandwich is a small, medieval town with narrow roads and presents logistical challenges for an event of this size.
Let’s segway into Royal St. George’s in Sandwich. Collin Morikawa won the event that was meant for 2020 but for a global pandemic. It has hosted The Open 15 times and was the first course outside of Scotland to do so.
Darren Clarke, Ben Curtis, Greg Norman and Sandy Lyle have all won The Open here at the only rota course that is remotely close to London, sitting little over an hour away on the train.
Sandwich waited nine Opens for the next one last time but there is nothing to suggest it won’t return there, given the outgoing R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers’ affection for the course too.
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“The south of England is my homeland, so I know this golf course better than I know any of the other Open Championship golf courses. It is the fairways and the bounces off the fairways that come into my mind. You can definitely hit the ball on one line and finish up in a different place.
“But that is what this golf course is all about. It is about being confident on where the lines are. There’s a lot of blind shots. There are a lot of shots where you don’t see the ball land. You’ve just got to know what line you’re going to hit it on and be confident that it’s going to be there when you get there.
“I think that plays with your mind, and I think it’s wonderful. I think it’s a great challenge.”
Read more about Royal St. George’s via NCG’s Top 100 site
Royal Birkdale, Merseyside, England
Last hosted: 2017
Next: 2026 – the Open is returning to Birkdale next summer
Pro: This is a world-class golf course and extremely popular which will no doubt want to showcase exciting changes to a worldwide audience.
Cons: A third Open venue in the same part of the world as Hoylake and Lytham. Also the practice facilities are not the most convenient. NCG understands they will be using Hillside’s practice ground in 2026.
Royal Birkdale already has its date in the diary for the next Open in 2026. The Merseyside links has held the event 10 times and has seen winners such as Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Tom Watson, Padraig Harrington and Jordan Spieth.
“Royal Birkdale is a world-class championship venue and its outstanding links will once again provide the world’s best men’s professional golfers with a tough but fair test of their talents and capabilities as they compete for the Claret Jug,” Slumbers said in 2023.
With only St George’s above it in the NCG Top 100s England list, the course will look a little different in 2026 courtesy of changes made by Tom Mackenzie of Mackenzie & Ebert Golf Course Architects. Highlights include a brand new par-3 15th hole, a redesigned 14th hole, a new 5th and a new 7th.
Read more about Royal Birkdale via NCG’s Top 100 site
Royal Lytham & St Annes, Lancashire, England
Last hosted: 2012
Next: Hmm. Let’s say they are awaiting an announcement. But it’s been a while.
Pro: There is plenty of Open heritage with memories of Seve Ballesteros and heritage of Bobby Jones and the golf course is still fresh in the R&A’s thoughts.
Con: The routing is tight and the course is hemmed in by residential properties and a train line. It is different to other host venues with vast spaces available. It is also in an area that contains three host courses.
Royal Lytham & St Anne’s had hoped to host The Open in 2026, 100 years after its first Open, when Bobby Jones won. But Birkdale was given the honours instead.
“Royal Lytham & St Annes is an important venue and remains very much part of our thinking for The Open, alongside other venues that stage the Championship,” an R&A spokesperson said in 2023.
“We consider a wide range of factors when we decide on future venues and there are many reasons why we select a particular venue at a particular time. We look forward to returning to the Fylde coast again in future.”
Fans of Lytham should take encouragement that an 11th Open could be yet be held, but Slumbers has previously described the course as “a bit tight” and “a squeeze” given its setting further inland than its Rota comrades.
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Read more about Royal Lytham & St. Anne’s via NCG’s Top 100 site
Royal Liverpool, Wirral, England
Last hosted: 2023
Next: Awaiting announcement – but doing so with quiet confidence
Pro: This is a fantastic golf course that stands up to the infrastructure required for an Open which hosted a quarter of a million people in 2023.
Con: The practice ground is across a busy road that doesn’t suit fans or players. It also sits in a residential area which can cause traffic problems.
Royal Liverpool provided a stiff test for the majority of the field in 2023, apart from Brian Harman who dealt with the elements better than anyone to lift the Claret Jug. This was the 12th time Hoylake hosted the tournament.
This course was the first-ever host of The Amateur Championship in 1885 and players like Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Bobby Jones have all won The Open over the water from Birkdale.
And Like Birkdale, Hoylake appears to have as safe a space as any on The Open Rota.
“The list of champions Royal Liverpool has produced is second to none, and it will provide a true test of links golf,” Slumbers said before the last Open, which played host to 260,000 fans.
Read more about Royal Liverpool via NCG’s Top 100 site
Muirfield, East Lothian, Scotland
Last hosted: 2013
Next: Awaiting announcement. How about 2028?
Pro: Muirfield is one of the best golf courses on the planet and generally provides a stiff test for the best players, come rain or shine.
Con: The last Open held at Muirfield in 2013 was poorly attended and this might have been partially down to the issues surrounding the club’s single-sex membership which have now been resolved.
Similar to Lytham’s plight, Muirfield seems to have wandered off into the woods without saying goodbye. The East Lothian track has hosted the event 16 times and is regarded as one of the great Open venues.
Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Gary Player and Henry Cotton are on the winner’s board here. Slumbers addressed the Muirfield question at the 152nd Open at Troon.
“Absolutely, we’re going back to Muirfield. It’s a brilliant golf course. I’ll have a little conversation with Mr Kinnings about maybe moving the Scottish Open from The Renaissance.”
“We love the golf course at Muirfield,” Darbon added. “We’re in a discussion with the venue right now. There are some things that we need to evolve at Muirfield, the practice ground in particular is a challenge for us with a modern Open and there’s some work we need to do with the venue to facilitate some of the infrastructure that we require, some cabling to enable the scale of the production that we have these days.
“But it’s a good dialogue, and we’d love to be back there in the future.”
Read more about Muirfield via NCG’s Top 100 site
Carnoustie, Angus, Scotland
Last hosted: 2018
Next: Awaiting an announcement
Pro: This is a world-class golf course that is ingrained in The Open’s history. Its reputation as one of the tournament’s stiffest tests is always respected.
Con: This is The Open that heads the furthest north. It is arguably the least glamorous and has struggled with low attendances – especially from the lucrative corporate sector – in the past.
Like Muirfield, Carnoustie is one of the best golf courses on the planet. Padraig Harrington, Francesco Molinari, Gary Player, Tom Watson and Ben Hogan have all won The Open at Carnoustie, and Jean van de Velde famously didn’t in 1999.
The club is currently enduring its longest wait for an Open date. Angus Council have passed ownership of the golf courses at Carnoustie to the Carnoustie Golf Heritage and Hospitality Group Limited (CGHH), and they are no longer operated by the Carnoustie Golf Links Management Committee (CGLMC).
This was a hugely significant development in the history of a site that had been publicly owned since the 19th century. While a shift to private ownership might feel alien to local golfers, the door now appears to be open to the investment that is needed for Carnoustie to stay on the rota.
In a piece by Golf Business Quarterly, the R&A provided this statement:
“Carnoustie is a very important venue for The Open, and when they approached us with their plans for a new structure and additional investment, we were supportive and remain so as the plans continue to progress.
“We welcome venues taking the initiative to improve and develop as Carnoustie has done, and are working collaboratively with them to help ensure their plans support the staging of The Open as well. We look forward to returning there in due course.”
Read more about Carnoustie via NCG’s Top 100 site
Turnberry, Ayrshire, Scotland
Last hosted: 2009
Next: No current prospects
Pro: This is a truly world-class golf course with stunning views that seem to get better with each passing year and with each visitor that goes there.
Con: You may think the owner would be the issue, and it’s certainly felt like that in the past, but the logistical and infrastructural requirements of staging The Open at Turnberry seem to be a bigger deal than President Trump – if the latest pronouncements from The R&A are any guide.
If you talk about Turnberry to anyone who has been there, they immediately begin salivating. The Ailsa course is stunning and the first time Turnberry hosted the event was in 1977 when Tom Watson beat Jack Nicklaus in the Duel of the Sun.
Watson almost won it again in 2009 when The Open was last there, but Stewart Cink stole the show. In 2021, Slumbers declared that R&A championships will not return to Turnberry under circumstances when the tournament is not the main focus (when owner President Donald Trump probably would be).
However, road access to the course was an ongoing concern when Turnberry was last awarded The Open, and it was highlighted by R&A chief executive Mark Darbon at Royal Portrush in Open week:
“I think we’ve been extremely clear on our position in respect of Turnberry. We love the golf course but we’ve got some big logistical challenges there. You see the scale of their setup here and we’ve got some work to do on the road, rail and accommodation infrastructure around Turnberry.
“We’ve explicitly not taken it out of our pool of venues but we’d need to address those logistical challenges should we return.
“We’ve had good conversations with the ownership and the venue like we do with all of our venues. We’ll continue to assess the feasibility and work collaboratively not just with the venue but with local and national government to understand what may be possible and that process at Turnberry is no different to any of our other locations.
“I met a couple of months ago with Eric Trump and some of the leadership from the Trump golf organisation and from Turnberry. We had a really good discussion. I think they understand clearly where we’re coming from. We talked through some of the challenges that we have so we’ve got a good dialogue with them.”
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Read more about Turnberry via NCG’s Top 100 site
Royal Portrush, Antrim, Northern Ireland
Last hosted: 2025
Next: Not for a while now, but there’ll be more Opens at Portrush, for sure.
Pro: The Open at this golf course proved hugely profitable for Northern Ireland and its addition was subject to universal praise from Rory McIlroy and all the players. Signs are that the 2025 renewal will prove similar after The R&A revealed 278,000 spectators will attend during the week of The 153rd Open. That figure will make it the largest championship ever held outside of St Andrews. More than one million applications were made for tickets in the ballot.
Con: There are some infrastructure issues with Portrush, as a relatively small seaside town, like accommodation for the fans who already face an uphill battle in booking affordable and convenient rooms. There is also a challenge to attract the corporate market over to the corner of Northern Ireland.
Royal Portrush gloriously returned to The Open Rota in 2019 and was a roaring success in the eyes of Slumbers, the First Minister of Northern Ireland Paul Givan and various other political figures.
It generated over £100 million for the Northern Irish economy and produced a super winner in Shane Lowry. Only Max Faulkner had won The Open at Portrush before Lowry.
This time, it’s expected to bring in more than £213 million in total economic benefit for Northern Ireland – with £63 million the economic impact of The Open itself, while “destination marketing benefit for Northern Ireland derived from coverage produced by linear television and digital platforms will exceed £150 million”.
Talks suggest a third Open in quick succession could follow after 2025.
Mark Darbon, chief executive at The R&A, said: “The Open is one of the world’s great sporting events and we will do everything we can to make this year’s Championship at Royal Portrush an outstanding and memorable occasion for everyone involved from fans to players and the millions watching on TV and digital platforms worldwide.
“The passion and enthusiasm for golf throughout the island of Ireland is world-renowned and is clearly reflected in the extraordinary demand among fans to be part of this historic occasion. We look forward to welcoming a record crowd to these spectacular links for a true celebration of golf and seeing who emerges from the 156-strong field to become Champion Golfer of the Year.”
Read more about Royal Portrush via NCG’s Top 100 site
Royal Troon, Ayrshire, Scotland
Last hosted: 2024
Next: Awaiting announcement
Pro: Royal Troon can cater for vast attendance and the transport links from Glasgow and the nearby Prestwick airport are beneficial for fans and players alike.
Con: Troon is somewhat less eye-catching than some courses on the rota. Before welcoming huge crowds in 2024, there had been some attendance issues previously.
Royal Troon in South Ayrshire has hosted The Open 10 times and has seen Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Tom Weiskopf win, plus perhaps the greatest Open performance of all time in Henrik Stenson.
James Braid made significant updates to the course in 1923 which was the year the tournament first visited Troon. The first six holes play along the coast and the par-3 8th hole, the Postage Stamp, is the one fans and players anticipate the most.
Seven consecutive winners at Troon have been American following Xander Schauffele’s heroics in 2024.
Read more about Troon via NCG’s Top 100 site
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What do you make of The Open Rota? Which of these golf courses would you like to see return to The Open Rota? Tell us on X!