The Open Championship has been played 152 times since 1860, and the rota of host venues is the most important catalog in golf. Every course on it is a public-access links sitting on dunes that nobody planted, in a country where the game was invented. If you only play one type of golf in your life, links is the answer. If you only chase one tournament rota, this is the one.

scratched.io's atlas has 11 Open Championship venues mapped. Listed by first-host date:

The originals (1860-1894)

• Prestwick Golf Club: hosted the very first Open Championship in 1860. Twelve holes back then, played three times for a 36-hole total. Prestwick remained on the rota until 1925; its quirks (blind drives, the Cardinal Bunker) made it impossible to police modern crowds.
• St Andrews Old Course: the second-ever Open venue (1873) and the most-hosted course in the rota's history. Thirty Opens through 2022, with the 150th anniversary Open held here. The most famous 18 holes in golf.
• [Musselburgh Links] preceded several courses but isn't in our atlas yet. The other historic anchor is Hoylake (Royal Liverpool), first Open host 1897 and back as recently as 2023.

The Scottish bench

• Muirfield: opened 1891, Old Tom Morris routing with Harry Colt and Tom Simpson renovations. Home of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. Sixteen Opens.
• Carnoustie Championship: the toughest course on the rota. "Carnasty." Hosted eight Opens, including the 1999 Jean van de Velde collapse.
• Turnberry: cliffside Ailsa course opened 1906. The "Duel in the Sun" 1977 (Watson vs Nicklaus) was here. Off the active rota since 2009 but architecturally one of the strongest.

The English coast

• Royal Birkdale: opened 1889 in Southport. Ten Opens. The most consistently set up well course on the rota.
• Royal Lytham & St Annes: inland links surrounded by Victorian houses, opened 1886. Eleven Opens.
• Royal St George's: the only English Open venue south of Liverpool, opened 1887 on Sandwich Bay. Fifteen Opens. Hosted Greg Norman's 1993 win, Henrik Stenson's 2016 duel with Mickelson.

Royal Troon and Royal Portrush

• Royal Troon Old Course: Willie Fernie 1888, James Braid renovations. Famous for the par-3 8th, the "Postage Stamp."
• Royal Portrush Dunluce Links: Harry Colt 1932, Martin Ebert restored. The only Open venue in Northern Ireland. Returned to the rota in 2019 after a 68-year gap. Back in 2025.

Walking the rota

Every venue on this list is public-access by Open standards. The Old Course allows ballots and walk-ups; the Royal clubs all sell tee times. A two-week trip splitting time between St Andrews, Carnoustie, and Royal Dornoch (not an Open venue but adjacent and on most short lists) is the canonical Scottish pilgrimage. Two weeks in England gets you the southern bench (Sandwich, Birkdale, Hoylake, Lytham).

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