Following the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club and the recent announcement of Royal Birkdale as the 2026 host for the tournament, golfers have revealed the golf courses that they would like to see added to the roster of Open venues.
In a survey of 550 golfers, Your Golf Travel asked which golf course that has never previously hosted The Open should be on the list of Open venues.
And the results were conclusive, with the overwhelming majority of golfers surveyed (31%) believe Royal County Down in Northern Ireland should be the first on the list to host The Open in the future.
Currently in third place behind only Cypress Point and Pine Valley in the Top 100 Golf Courses list, Royal County Down is widely regarded as the most scenic golf course in Britain & Ireland and home to a challenging Old Tom Morris layout, which Peter Alliss once referred to as the best prepared links course he had seen.
Oliver Gunning, Chief Marketing Officer at Your Golf Travel, said: “The quality of links golf in the UK is so good that it’s striking how many incredible courses have never hosted the Open. But it’s clear from our research that Royal County Down would be an extremely popular addition to the Open roster in the future.
“We’ve sent thousands of Your Golf Travel customers to Royal County Down, and it currently ranks as one of the most popular golf courses that we sell across the globe, with an average rating of 10/10 from our customers who have played it.”
Despite Royal County Down being the runaway leader, there were a number of other courses that were popular among golfers hoping for a new Open Championship host in the future. Among these were the world’s third oldest golf course, Scotland’s Royal Dornoch, with 20% of the votes and Kingsbarns with 13.4% of the votes. Both courses are featured on the Top 100 Golf Courses of the World list. There was also an honourable mention for Wales’ Royal Porthcawl (13%), currently ranked as the 71st best golf course in the world, and host to this week’s Senior Open Championship.
Just nine courses currently make up the current Open rota, although 14 have hosted the championship since it was founded in 1860. The current list includes St Andrews, Muirfield, Carnoustie, Royal Troon, Royal St George’s, Royal Lytham & St Annes, Royal Birkdale, Royal Liverpool and Royal Portrush. Troon will host the Open in 2024 and Portrush in 2025.