Royal Birkdale
Southport, Merseyside
Often called the fairest of the Open rota courses — fairways routed through dunes rather than over them. Site of Jordan Spieth's 2017 Open win and Arnold Palmer's defining 1961 victory.
Royal Liverpool (Hoylake)
Hoylake, Merseyside
Founding home of English championship golf. Known as Hoylake. Tiger Woods used a driver only once across his 2006 Open victory here — the rest of the time, irons off the tee, in firm summer conditions.
Royal St George's
Sandwich, Kent
Wild, dune-framed links on the Kent coast. The most natural-feeling course on the Open rota — bunkers shaped by wind, fairways that bound and roll, and the smell of the English Channel on every shot.
Royal Lytham & St Annes
Lytham St Annes, Lancashire
Unusual for opening with a par-3, and for being inland of the Irish Sea railway tracks rather than dune-set. The most strategic of the English Open rota courses. Bobby Jones won here in 1926.
Sunningdale — Old Course
Sunningdale, Berkshire
The benchmark heathland course. Heather, gorse, pine, and elevation change — the model that countless inland English courses still try to match.
Wentworth Club — West Course
Virginia Water, Surrey
Home of the BMW PGA Championship. The "Burma Road" stretch from the 12th to 18th is one of the toughest closing runs on the DP World Tour.