If there was a Top of the Pops for golf, this list would always be Number One. We’re about to reveal our best of the best, the holes we want to play from the courses which stage the world’s biggest championship.
That’s right. On The NCG Golf Podcast, Tom Irwin delved into the courses that host The Open and selected his dream 18 – the ones he most loves to take on when he visits a venue lucky enough to stage the game’s oldest major championship.
The only rule he imposed was the hole in question had to correspond with the hole on the golf course. That meant his favourite 1st hole had to also be the 1st hole at an Open venue.
But there were no restrictions on the number of Par 3s, Par 4s or Par 5s. The layout did not have to fit a number, or yardage, it didn’t matter if it was a Par 70 or a 75. It didn’t matter if it was 15 holes from Muirfield, or none from St Andrews (neither of these things happened).
How tough would the routing be and how long? Is it a course a 28-handicapper would be as happy playing as plus golfer Tom?
Let’s get stuck into the list and reveal the line up. Have we found the best 18 holes in golf?
Listen to The NCG Golf Podcast
Tom Irwin and Steve Carroll broke down the best 18 holes in golf on The Open rota in a two-part podcast. You can check out the front nine on the first episode, before sweeping down the home stretch in the second episode.
The best 18 holes in golf? Tom Irwin’s best holes at The Open
1st, Royal St George’s (Par 4, 442 yards)
It’s what I’m looking for from a 1st hole. You have to put it over a valley called The Kitchen, which is a big swale. It’s got some cross bunkers in front of the green, which add to the depth perception. But it’s a nice, big, green. There’s a strong, obvious, shot up the left-hand side but you can come off one a bit and it’s fine – finishing in the right semi-rough. It’s 440 yards so you’ve got to hit it properly twice and, for me, it’s probably the best opening hole on the rota.
Advertisement
2nd, Royal Birkdale (Par 4, 418 yards)
It’s a great hole, contextually. You arrive on the 2nd tee – huffing and puffing from the 1st where you’ve invariably made a bogey, and more likely a double – and it’s visually amazing. You can see the green in the distance sat in the dunes. It’s a very visually intimidating tee shot and you’ve got to hold it up the right-hand side between a left and right bunker. You just think, ‘Christ, I know I’m at an Open venue now. I’ve just come off a ridiculous 1st hole and now I’ve got this’. It’s one of my favourite holes at Birkdale.
3rd, Royal Lytham (Par 4, 477 yards)
The opening holes at Lytham are probably my favourite stretch in the whole of The Open rota. The holes that track the railway, and this one in particular, are absolutely epic. It’s got a bit of everything. It’s a monster. From the back tee, it’s 477 and you’ve got to be brave and play up the right-hand side and try and carry the bunkers, or hit towards the left-hand bunker with a little less club. Then the problems start because the green is elevated. It really helps if you’ve got less club coming into that green as it’s got some big run offs into swales that are mown.
4th, Royal St George’s (Par 4, 496 yards)
It has that enormous bunker – Himalaya – which is on a scale that’s just hard to describe. It looks like a thin driver is just going to slap it in the face. It used to have sleepers, which they’ve taken out so it now looks like a giant sand dune. The fairway is enormous, though, and it’s all further right than you think. That’s the genius of the hole – that it’s really a dogleg and you play out way right and then turn left up into the corner of the golf course. The green is in two very distinct portions. The front left is almost collapsed, like a Par 5 green. You’re going in with a lot of club and you can run it up.
Advertisement
5th, Royal Portrush (Par 4, 382 yards)
An incredible place to put a golf hole. It’s right in the corner of the property. It plays downhill and it’s all in front of you. For a lot of people, it’s a proper risk and reward hole – because you can have a real slug at it with your driver and get somewhere near, particularly when it’s downwind. At The Open in 2019 they had a grandstand behind the tee and what a place it was to watch golf. It’s risk reward because it all falls off to the right-hand side of the green – this ridiculous infinity green – and over on the other side is out of bounds and you’re on the beach. It’s the sort of place that inspires you to do well.
6th, Carnoustie (Par 5, 520 yards)
At The Open in 2018, this hole wasn’t decisive but it was the kind of test it’s supposed to be. If you play Carnoustie when it’s brown, it’s all the things you think links golf is about – firm and fast. You have to keep control of your golf ball. Out of bounds on that hole, along with two or three others, is so tight. You can get a lot of run out of the ball here, and you can hit it a long way, but if you lose control of that then you’re going to get into all sorts of trouble. Ben Hogan obviously was hitting it between the bunker and out of bounds (at the 1953 Open), which no one else had even attempted. That’s kind of why it’s on my list because these holes provide moments in golf history.
Advertisement
7th, St Andrews Old Course (Par 4, 359 yards)
It’s almost a prototype for every short four in the world. It’s got it all going on and it’s the sort of hole you’d want to play every day. You can play it in many different ways. You can go really short and left, which leaves you a good angle up the green with a short iron. You can obviously take it on and you’ll probably end up in the giant bunker. My preference is to go in between and hit it almost into the neck – but definitely left – and then leave a pitch up. Stats people will tell you the only thing to do is hit driver and get as close as you can but I’m not sure that’s quite the case when you watch an Open there. People make birdies in all sorts of different ways. But if you’re talking about the ‘Spirit of St Andrews’, and what architectural lessons you can learn from the way the holes are laid out, then the 7th is a really good example.
8th, Royal Troon (Par 3, 123 yards)
You have to choose the Postage Stamp. You’re always desperate to avoid cliché and desperate for things not to be overhyped and picking the Postage Stamp as my best 8th hole is definitely a cliché and it’s definitely overhyped. It’s the right decision, though. It played a really integral part at The Open and you’re watching people make two or four and more. That’s the great thing about it – there are a whole lot of two-shot swings in a stroke play tournament which make all the difference. It’s unique. It’s brilliant and hopefully it’ll continue to stand the test of time.
Advertisement
9th, Muirfield (Par 5, 556 yards)
One of the great holes in golf. It’s got a new tee that’s basically in Renaissance’s car park. It’s been moved so far back, which has meant it’s retained the need for a very strong tee shot that you have to peel off the left-hand side. It’s a brilliant driving hole right along the edge of the property but it’s the second shot where it really gets going. If you’re brave enough to hold the ball at that the side, it helps you into a green site that slopes gently left to right and front to back. If you’re not, and bail out right, you’re left with an awful short-sided pitch into a very narrow green from the wrong angle. It’s a class Par 5 second shot and it’s architectural genius.
Best golf holes at The Open: The back 9
10th, Turnberry (Par 5, 565 yards)
This was remodelled as part of the big renovations [in 2016]. It’s got extra back tees in – right in front of the lighthouse – and it plays entirely over the beach and the shoreline with an absolutely ridiculous centre-line bunker 230 short of the green. You play out to the right-hand side, in front of that bunker, and then up to a green that’s up on the dunes right on the side of the coast. I can’t do it justice trying to describe it but it’s got to be in the conversation for best hole in the world. The setting is stunning, it’s two proper shots to get up to a risk and reward Par-5, and it’s nearing the end of an incredible stretch.
Advertisement
11th, Old Course (Par 3, 174 yards)
You’ve had the relative relief of the 9th and 10th and all of a sudden you’ve got to a hit a proper mid-iron shot into this Par 3. It’s very difficult with a big penalty for missing the green. There is the bunker right in the middle of it and it’s a very narrow green from front to back. It feels like you’ve got nothing to aim it. It’s like the 12th at Augusta in terms of the challenge and, as its name would tell you, it’s the high point of the golf course so it is often very windy.
12th, Old Course (Par 4, 309 yards)
One of things people really discuss about the Old Course is that it does give you these chances at birdie and a lot of that comes from drivable fours. The 12th has stood the test of time. It’s a brilliant driving hole. You can lay back and you can definitely take it on. But it’s the green site which makes it. There is almost a centre-line bunker at the front of the green and a knobble in the middle of it which sheds the ball on all sides. Regardless of how short your pitch is, or even if you’re putting, the job is not done to make birdie when you reach the green. It’s a vintage short 4.
13th, Muirfield, (Par 3, 191 yards)
It could be the perfect Par-3. It’s a very tabletop green site, bunkers front, to the left, and short right, and a big dune behind it. I’ve vivid memories of watching a lot of golf on that hole in the 2013 Open and it was a separator in terms of the ball strikers. There were people who were relishing the 4 or 5-iron onto a very narrow target and those who weren’t quite in the top echelons of ball-striking. You’ve got to hit it properly to get onto such a small target with such a big penalty for missing it.
14th, Royal St George’s, (Par 5, 545 yards)
You get a real feel for the challenge watching from the grandstand. There are these very distinctive white out of bounds posts all down the right-hand site and, for some reason, that is a more chilling experience than a line of trees or a dyke or even if you knew it was OB but the posts weren’t there. They add something to the intimidation. It’s got a stream that runs across it and you’re hitting away into the left. At the second shot, you’re almost pointing out of bounds but it is a shot you really have to take on because it’s a gettable Par 5. The angle of the green is pointing almost between 3 and 6 on the clockface and it’s at a time in the round when things get decided. You could make four or six easily.
15th, Royal Lytham, (Par 4, 464 yards)
A ridiculously hard driving hole where the green is, again, on a bit of a shelf. You have to hit driver because of its length but you have to fade it around the corner. That brings in these bunkers on the right side and on the angle. Really, the shot is to lay back and almost play it as a par four and a half. The second shot is no easier, because it’s between dunes to a flat green. There are some horrific little cross bunkers – around 50 to 60 short – that are borderline unfair.
16th, Royal Portrush, (Par 3, 236 yards)
Calamity Corner is a Par 3 of epic proportions. It’s entirely carry over a huge ravine. Those coming up short are left with one of those god-awful golf shots where their left foot is three and a half feet higher than their right. It feels like a mountain goat hitting up the nose to get it back onto planet Earth. There is a bailout where you can play short and left and the further right you go the more you hit the false front. You have to hit a proper iron shot up the left-hand side, and not deal with the right hand site of the hole at all – regardless of where the flag is.
17th, Royal Birkdale, (Par 5, 527 yards)
I absolutely love playing this hole. I love standing on the tee, seeing the shot between the two dunes, and thinking ‘I’ve got to stand here and hit it as high and as right to left as I can and get it turning down the length of the hole’. The green site has been criticised and remodelled but it is a brilliant risk and reward second shot and you wonder whether to take it on. Last time I played it I did take it on, hit a good shot, and short-sided myself to a front right pin. I had nothing, which is perfectly acceptable on a five where you’re obviously trying to make birdies.
18th, St Andrews Old Course, (Par 4, 354 yards)
You always go back to the Old. While it’s a giveaway, there is lots of variability in score on this hole. You can obviously make three, but quite a lot of people don’t. It’s a ludicrously good setting. Thinking back to Cameron Smith’s Open, Cameron Young made eagle, Rory made par and Smith birdied it. Three players in contention, three different scores, and that’s quite good for a finishing hole. So there is volatility on the home hole at St Andrews. The further up the hole you get with your tee shot, the more nervous the second becomes. You’ve got a little club in your hands and you definitely don’t want to fat it or knife it. There are people watching. There’s a lot to it.
Tale of the tape: Front nine: 3,773 yards, Par 37; Back nine: 3,356 yards, Par 36; Total: 7,138 yards, Par 73; Nine par 4s, Five Par 5s, Four Par 3s.
Listen to The NCG Golf Podcast
Tom Irwin and Steve Carroll broke down their best 18 holes in golf on The Open rota in a two-part podcast. You can check out the front nine on the first episode, before sweeping down the home stretch in the second episode.
Now have your say on the best holes at The Open
What do you think of Tom’s selections? Are these the best 18 holes in golf? What would be in your dream Open 18? Let us know by leaving us a comment on X.