David Cannon/R&A
David Cannon/R&A
David Cannon/R&A
David Cannon/R&A
David Cannon/R&A
David Cannon/R&A
David Cannon/R&A
David Cannon/R&A
David Cannon/R&A
David Cannon/R&A
Royal Birkdale Golf Club
Southport, Merseyside, England • Private
Overview
Site of Jordan Spieth's remarkable Open victory in 2017 where he went on a birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie tear on holes 14-17 in the final round, Royal Birkdale has also been the venue for past Women's British Opens, Ryder Cups, Walker and Curtis Cups. Three generations of the Hawtree design firm, oldest in the world, are responsible for Royal Birkdale. Patriarch Frederic G. did the present design, with its surprisingly flat fairways and docile greens between towering dunes, in 1931. Thirty years later, son Fred W. remodeled it, adding the now-classic par-3 12th. Forty years after that, grandson Martin revised the course for its 10th Open Championship, the tournament Spieth won, but now the curatorship of the course has been turned over to Tom Mackenzie of the firm Mackenzie & Ebert, who remodeled it for the 2026 Open. That included building new tee clusters, altering bunkers, completely remodeling the short par-5 fifth and adding a new, long par 3, the 15th, to replace the old par-3 14th that was taken out of play and converted to a short game practice area.
