Ranking The Open Championship Rota Courses

With the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale this week, I wanted to look at future venues to see where we’ll be headed. 

The R&A continues to keep the course rota pretty light for The Open—and, unlike the USGA, it isn’t planning for decades in advance. 

In fact, we only know the sites of the next two Opens (2027 at St Andrews and 2028 at Royal Lytham & St Annes). That leads to plenty of speculation about where The Open will head next and whether classic courses such as Muirfield and Turnberry could be back in the mix. 

Using the current 10 courses expected to be in the rotation for The Open from the R&A, I wanted to rank them in order of best to worst as hosts for golf’s oldest major championship. 

10. Royal Lytham & St Annes

The Open will head back to Royal Lytham & St Annes in 2028 for the first time since 2012 when Ernie Els had a shocking win. The Big Easy’s best days were assumed to be behind him but he caught fire and took home his final major after Adam Scott bogeyed the final four holes to lose by one shot. 

Royal Lytham is probably the least aesthetically pleasing course in the rotation. You’ll see a surprising number of trees, an outrageous number of bunkers and probably no coastline during the tournament. While the list of winners is solid, the course has never played overly difficult, exciting nor memorable at The Open in recent memory. This just isn’t a course that screams “Open Championship!” for me and the layout doesn’t do enough to override it. 

Obviously, this is still considered one of the great courses in the UK but I do have to put it last in the rankings of current Open courses.  

9. Royal St George’s

Royal St George’s may be one of the most fun courses to play in the Open rota but it’s near the bottom of my list of venues.

It has one of the wildest lists of champions you’ll find including Ben Curtis, one of the most surprising major champions ever. 

The 2021 rendition did some damage for me. A lack of large crowds due to the pandemic didn’t help but I also struggle to see how this course can challenge the game’s best. I simply didn’t see the ball on the ground enough and Collin Morikawa’s Open struggles since winning here hasn’t helped my opinion. 

The fourth hole with its deep bunker and the 14th with out-of-bounds down the right side are the standout holes—but they’re not enough to make it a top Open course. 

8. Royal Liverpool

I enjoy Royal Liverpool and appreciate the layout, considering some of the land they worked with wasn’t the most impressive. It features some of the flattest holes you will ever see on a golf course but it also has some fantastic designs, especially on the back nine.

The redesign of the short par-3 15^th hole was a hit in 2023. And having champions like Tiger Woods (2006) and Rory McIlroy (2014) doesn’t hurt. 

The R&A made a good choice to return to Liverpool in 2006 after a 39-year hiatus. But there’s just not enough going on during some of the round and it’s still not a stern enough test to reach further up this ranking. Even in tougher conditions in 2023, Brian Harman reached 13-under in one of the least popular majors in recent years. 

7. Royal Troon

Royal Troon is really a proper golf course. 

The eighth (Postage Stamp) and 11^th (Railway) are two of the most memorable holes in the Open rota. The Postage Stamp is a spectacular little par-3 that many courses have tried to replicate (although few do it successfully) and the 11^th is a unique par-4 with railway tracks running down the right side. 

The 2016 showdown between Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson will forever be one of my favorite watches and it’s not fair that some view the course as too easy because of that tournament (even though the rest of the field only got to 6-under).

This is where the list gets difficult and I don’t even really have any bad things to say about the courses. Royal Troon is great and I look forward to more Opens there. 

6. Royal Portrush

Don’t freak out.

Royal Portrush is obviously one of the best and most stunning golf courses on the planet. And I love that the R&A decided to bring it back into the rotation after 68 years. 

But I’m just a tiny bit underwhelmed by it for an Open Championship. Shane Lowry and Scottie Scheffler made it look easy around here in their victories in 2019 and 2025. I don’t want to judge entirely by how tough the course plays but it’s been very green out there. I prefer my Opens fast and firm and ideally with plenty of brown showing in the grass. 

I have no issue with going to a course like this occasionally for The Open and I’m certainly not going to complain about the sites we’ll see and the great layout but I’m hoping to get a bit more fire in the course the next time they head to Northern Ireland.

5. Royal Birkdale

The site of the 2026 Open, Birkdale is just a classic links course. The list of champions is superb and we’ve seen some absolutely brutal conditions around here which always makes things fun. 

The 2008 Open was a brute and very memorable with Greg Norman turning back the clock to battle eventual champion Padraig Harrington. The winning score was 3-over and Ian Poulter finished second at 7-over. 

We’ll see a remodeled Birkdale this year so hopefully it can get even better. 

But as of now, Birkdale is a wonderful course nestled among large dunes that offers everything you want in an Open Championship venue. 

4. Turnberry

Let’s hope we’ll see another Open at Turnberry soon enough.

Currently out of the rotation for 17 years due to both political and logistical reasons, Turnberry is one of the greatest golf courses anywhere. It’s also hosted some of the greatest majors in golf history. The 1977 rendition, nicknamed the “Duel in the Sun,” was a classic showdown between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus. Watson returned for another classic 32 years later at 59 years old, losing to Stewart Cink in a four-hole playoff after making bogey on the 72nd hole.

Turnberry is the perfect mix of all-world views and a very strong layout of classic links holes. It’s played very fast and firm in the past and is plenty exposed to the elements. 

Martin Ebert’s sweeping changes to the course in 2015 have received positive feedback from those lucky enough to have played it since. If we’re lucky, we’ll watch the world’s best give it a try. 

3. Muirfield

Another course that has been booted out of the rota, Muirfield hopefully should return soon after the club finally began allowing women to be members in 2017. The R&A returned for the 2022 Women’s Open and will likely bring the men back once Muirfield upgrades some of its facilities. 

Harry Vardon, Walter Hagen, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Nick Faldo, Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson are about as good as it gets for a list of past champions. 

A bit like Birkdale, this is links golf at its purest. It’s relatively flat but the small bumps and humps provide something to think about. It usually plays firm and fast and the course is receptive to all sorts of shot-making. The 17^th and 18^th holes create one of the greatest finishes in major championship golf. 

2. Carnoustie

What a shame that we don’t get Carnoustie on the Open Championship rota more often. Unfortunately, Carnoustie’s remoteness leads to smaller crowds and less revenue for the R&A although upgrades since 2023 could make it a more attractive option again. 

This is major championship links golf at its finest. Carnoustie challenges players like no other Open course and it’s created great drama nearly every time it’s hosted. 

The meandering Barry Burn may only be outdone by Rae’s Creek among bodies of water that torture players and are constantly mentioned during a broadcast. The 1999 and 2007 Opens are classics where the burn was the star and Francesco Molinari’s 2018 win was one of the steadiest final rounds we’ve seen in recent history.  

Carnoustie is not the best course on this list, especially for the everyday player. In fact, it may be outside the top five. But I feel confident saying it’s a top-tier tournament host for a major championship and I think it would be one of the most famous courses in the world if The Open were held here more often.

1. The Old Course at St Andrews

The home of golf. 

Sure, it’s far too easy these days and has been greatly affected by how far players hit it. But there’s nothing quite like an Open Championship at St Andrews. 

And for all the talk about distance gains making the Old Course obsolete, the last two winners there have been Zach Johnson and Cameron Smith, neither of whom is known at all for their length. 

This is simply one of the two most recognizable courses in the world and it creates an unmatched atmosphere each time The Open comes to town. 

It’s the blueprint for golf architecture so there’s no shortage of fantastic hole layouts and you also can’t deny that the finishes in the last two renditions have been electric.

So that is my list. What are your thoughts?

Let me know below in the comments.