Ranking the Best British Open Golf Courses
It's an iconic location amid a collection of iconic locations.
The Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland is hosting the 153rd edition of the British Open this week and will treat viewers to picturesque views of the North Atlantic Ocean while challenging players with the gauntlet of unpredictable weather, pot bunkers and endlessly undulating greens indicative of a U.K. links course.
Irish favorite Shane Lowry hoisted the Claret Jug the last time the Open was played at the venue in 2019, and Xander Schauffele arrives as the defending champion after a two-shot win over Billy Horschel and Justin Rose at Royal Troon in Scotland.
The B/R golf team got swept up in the U.K. revelry and decided to celebrate the 2025 tournament with a ranking of the 10 best courses to host the event based on historical significance, signature elements and results from past Opens.
Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the app comments.
10. Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club
1 of 10
About a mile inland from the Irish Sea on England's western coast, Royal Lytham & St. Annes is an 11-time Open host and a memorable one to boot. Legends Bobby Jones and Seve Ballesteros earned their first Open wins there and five players became multiple Open winners, too, including Ballesteros nine years later.
A par-3 start and a particularly challenging series of par-4s down the stretch are hallmarks of the course as are the dozens and dozens of bunkers alongside the fairways and guarding the greens, mandating accuracy with every club.
9. Royal Liverpool Golf Club
2 of 10
Thirteen Opens spanning 126 years provide a lot of history at the venue on the Wirral Peninsula along the Irish Sea, including wins by the aforementioned Jones in 1930, Tiger Woods in 2006 and Rory McIlroy in 2014.
The historic clubhouse is a classic piece of the puzzle as is the typically gusty wind, though Woods' win there was marked instead by dry, fast conditions and prompted him to pull the driver out of the bag just once on the way to a two-shot win over Chris DiMarco.
8. Carnoustie Golf Links
3 of 10
If a challenge is the goal, Carnoustie is the place.
Four of the eight Open winners across the nearly 200-year-old course on Scotland's east coast finished over par, including national hero Paul Lawrie's surprise triumph at six-over in 1999. Nevertheless, it was deemed the "World's Best Golf Course" at 2019's World Golf Awards.
7. Royal Troon Golf Club
4 of 10
Last year's Open was the 10th to take place since 1923 on the traditional out-and-back links course on Scotland's southwest coast alongside the nearby Firth of Clyde.
The sandy terrain and low dunes are the product of proximity to water and playing there is particularly daunting when the wind is blowing.
The par-3s at No. 14 and No. 17, along with the 458-yard par-4 finish hole have blown up many a round, though Schauffele's six-under 65 in Sunday's final round clinched his 2024 win.
6. Royal St. George's Golf Club
5 of 10
Royal St. George's made a particular brand of history when it hosted the Open in 1894, making it the first time the tournament ventured outside of Scotland.
The par-70, 7,204-yard layout in Sandwich, England is the southernmost venue to host the event, about two miles from the North Sea. The green on the par-3 sixth hole sits alongside a dune known as "The Maiden" and playing the par-5 14th hole is to flirt with out of bounds along the right side for 545 yards.
In 2021, Collin Morikawa became just the second winner to shoot four rounds in the 60s on his way to a two-shot win, matching the feat performed by Greg Norman in beating Nick Faldo by two shots in 1993.
5. Royal Birkdale Golf Club
6 of 10
It took a while for the Open to finally make its way to Royal Birkdale in 1954, but it's been a frequent stop ever since, having hosted nine more times through Jordan Spieth's win in 2017 with another visit on the agenda in 2026.
It's been a place for legends of the game to perform particularly well, with the first of Arnold Palmer's two Open wins coming there in 1961 and Tom Watson's fifth arriving in 1983. In fact, six of 10 winners at Royal Birkdale have hoisted the Claret Jug more than once.
4. Royal Portrush Golf Club
7 of 10
This year is the third time around for the gem on the northern coast of Northern Ireland, which became the first Open host outside of Scotland or England.
Lowry's win in 2019 was the course's first Open since Max Faulkner's victory in 1951, but the expectation is it'll return more frequently thanks to the significant crowds and the financial proceeds that come with them.
Hole No. 5 teeters on the edge of a plunge to White Rocks beach and it shares high-end billing with "Calamity Corner" at No. 16, which is an uphill par-3 over a ravine toward a green that's guarded by mounds and hollows.
3. Turnberry Golf Club
8 of 10
It's back to Scotland for the par-71 venue that first hosted the Open in 1977 and was home to the event four times through Stewart Cink's win in 2009.
Watson won the second of his five Opens there in its first visit and came breathtakingly close to another at age 59 when he walked up the 72nd fairway with a one-shot lead before a bogey and a subsequent loss to Cink in a four-hole playoff.
But aside from the history, the nearby visuals are particularly stunning—especially the craggy rocky outcrops and the Turnberry Lighthouse.
2. Muirfield
9 of 10
You know you're good when Jack Nicklaus gives a seal of approval.
The "Golden Bear" and 18-time major winner won the first of his three Opens and completed the first of his three career grand slams along the southeastern Scottish coast in 1966, then called the par-71 layout "the best golf course in Britain."
The Old Tom Morris design had tweaks on several holes prior to Phil Mickelson's three-shot win over Henrik Stenson in 2013, but a finishing stretch highlighted by the 578-yard par-5 17th hole remains daunting.
1. St. Andrews, OId Course
10 of 10
As the Rose Bowl is to college football, St. Andrews is to golf.
The granddaddy of 'em all.
Rivaled only by Augusta in terms of instant name recognition among even casual fans, the Old Course has hosted the game since the early 15th century and the Open no fewer than 30 times from 1873 through 2022, and will again in 2027.
The dozens of pot bunkers are among the most recognizable pieces of the St. Andrews puzzle along with the march back toward the R&A clubhouse on the back nine that includes the famous "Road Hole" at No. 17.
Woods' eight-stroke win there in 2000 was piece No. 2 of his "Tiger Slam" and may have been his greatest single performance, given that he didn't hit a single bunker.
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