Southport, UK. The final major of the year will be hosted for the 11th time at Royal Birkdale Golf Club. The venue has seen a number of the greatest players hoist the famed Claret Jug when winning golf’s oldest championship of note.
The Open returns for the first time since 2017 when Jordan Spieth claimed the top spot.
Founded 137 years ago as Birkdale Golf Club in 1889, the club was awarded “Royal” status in 1951. Birkdale Golf Club moved to a new site in Birkdale Hills in 1894 and built a new distinctive art deco clubhouse in 1935.
In early 1939, Birkdale was nominated as a venue for the 1940 Open Championship, but World War II commenced in September 1939 and the Championship was cancelled.
In 1946, the club finally hosted its first notable event with the British Amateur won by Irishman Jimmy Bruen. During the immediate postwar era, the club also hosted the 1948 Curtis Cup and the 1951 Walker Cup — both won by the United States.
With these successful stagings, Royal Birkdale elevated itself to the highest of levels when hosting its inaugural Open in 1954 won by Australia’s Peter Thomson.
Marquee players have had success at Royal Birkdale with Arnold Palmer winning his first Open Championship in 1961. Thomson won his fifth and final Open when the club hosted again in 1965. Other winners have included Lee Trevino in 1971, Johnny Miller in 1976 and Tom Watson in 1983. Ian Baker Finch, Mark O’Meara and Pádraig Harrington followed respectively in 1991, 1998 and 2008.
The Royal Birkdale the field will face when Thursday’s first round commences has been updated in recent years by the architectural firm of Mackenzie & Ebert. Nearly one-third of the famed layout has been updated in a significant manner.
Tom MacKenzie and senior design associate Mike Howard were asked to outline in greater detail the work the firm carried out and what the world’s best golfers will face when encountering the 2026 version of Royal Birkdale Golf Club.
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The Participants
Tom Mackenzie
Lead Designer on Royal Birkdale project
Director of Mackenzie & Ebert.
Has been a golf course architect since 1989 and founded Mackenzie & Ebert with Martin Ebert in 2005. He works on many of the classic courses around the world, including the Royal Birkdale project and the full reconstruction of New South Wales in Sydney two years ago.
The practice also designs new courses that put to great use this in depth understanding of the greatest heritage courses which sit so comfortably in their settings.
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Mike Howard
Senior Design Associate
Mackenzie & Ebert
Has been working for Tom Mackenzie & Martin Ebert since July 2016 following the completion of a Masters Degree in Landscape Architecture from The University Of Edinburgh.
Prior to this, he played golf to a competitive level, being part of the golf scholarship program at The University of Striling whilst completing an undergraduate degree in Environmental Geography.
Mike has been a member at Royal Birkdale since the age of 13 and has competed in tournaments around the world, making the decision in 2014 to pursue a career in golf course architecture.
Since then, he has been intimately involved in many projects for Mackenzie & Ebert, including Princes, The Berkshire, Lima (Peru), Hillside and Royal Birkdale.
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Royal Birkdale is hosting its 11th Open Championship this week — what prompted your involvement with the club?
Tom Mackenzie: The club invited selected architects to take part in a competition to deliver a carefully considered brief that it had put together which was “to improve and develop the golf course with the modern game in mind for its members, visitors and championships for the future.”
Thankfully, we were appointed so that is how we became involved.
Mike Howard: Since every green was rebuilt in the early 1990s, the course had been haphazardly adjusted for the 2008 and 2017 Opens to keep up with technological advancements.
With the retirement of Martin Hawtree, the Club took the decision to search for a new consulting architect who could give them a wholesale review of the course. Fortunately, we were appointed following a competitive bid process.
Clifford Roberts, the former major domo at Augusta National, was famous in saying the Bob Jones / Alister MacKenzie layout was never changed — but improved. For Royal Birkdale how was that specific philosophy implemented?
Tom Mackenzie: In 1932, Royal Birkdale was granted a long lease on its land by the publicly owned Southport Development Corporation on agreement that it created and maintained the course as a championship venue.
The club, therefore, has a duty to ensure that its course remains fresh and tournament ready.
Our work stays faithful to the original routing and design but presents an updated version that makes the course more attractive, more challenging for the very best players but a little more forgiving for the majority of members and visitors.
When you hear the terms “links golf” – what comes to mind immediately?
Tom Mackenzie: The sound of skylarks, the smell of the sea, the thump of the ball on firm fine turf and being able to play running golf – not speed golf but where the ground game is an integral part of the enjoyment of the course.
Mike Howard: Golden hour with the popping of shadows from the most subtle contours. Wind. Mottled brown and soft green fairways. Long rust colored rough lining holes.
Most importantly, firm and fast playing conditions. One where feel and control of the golf ball are of paramount importance.
Are wind and firmness of the turf the only two sure-fire ways to keep the top players on their toes during such competitions?
Tom Mackenzie: Brad Klein described golf course architecture as “what happens when the ball hits the ground”. I am paraphrasing him a little, but it is absolutely true. The firmer and windier conditions, the more the subtlety of the design is accentuated, and the more skill is required of the players.
Mike Howard: I see firmness of approaches and greens as the best way of testing the world’s best, whether it is in wind or not. Wind is a nice way of making some holes harder, both into and downwind.
For example, a decent prevailing wind will make the new par-5 14th play long and force layup shots that they aren’t used to. But firm approaches and greens put a premium on the angle of approach to specific hole locations.
That is what separates those who are really in control of their game to the ones who are just getting by. Royal Melbourne is the best example and it is always a fascinating watch in a professional event.
What is the biggest challenge when attempting to thoroughly test the world’s best players for an Open Championship while simultaneously trying to ensure overall playability for members and their guests afterwards?
Mike Howard: Green surrounds are the biggest area for this. Average golfers hate bunkers. Pros don’t mind them, especially if they are shaped to encourage good lies — not Day 1 of the 2023 Open at Hoylake.
Expansive, varied, tightly mown green surrounds ask better players lots of questions, introducing doubt, while average golfers can escape with less anxiety and punishment.
Tom Mackenzie: The challenge is not to make the course even harder for the average member at the same time that we toughen it up for the world’s elite. Our work reduced the number of bunkers which opened up landing areas for the shortest players to keep them in the hole.
Some were added much further on to tighten landing areas for the longest drivers from the back tees. Around the greens, much greater variety has been introduced with extensive closely mown areas which encourage players to try different recovery shots.
Less confident players find these areas easier to play from as they only really want to find the green and two putt. They are much tougher for the best players who need to get up and down, faced with tight lies and often awkward angles of slopes to negotiate accurately.
How many bunkers does Royal Birkdale have now versus the previous layout? What was the specific rationale for this?
Tom Mackenzie: I explained the rationale to the bunker work in a different question. There are 104 bunkers now. We removed 25 and added back 11, so there were 115 bunkers before.
You’ve been involved with other championship courses that have hosted The Open. What are some of the lessons learned from such work?
Mike Howard: Analyzing existing greens in great detail to make sure the new ones blend with the existing set as well as possible in terms of their general shapes, gradients, sizes etc.
Tom Mackenzie: It is easy to protect drive landing areas too much. If that happens, then most top players lay up and play conservatively.
Spectators love seeing the best in the game take their drivers out and unleash huge tee shots, but there has to be jeopardy involved to reward accurate long hitting.
If they only reach for driver a couple of times a round, then that is not much of a spectacle.
Related: 2026 Open Championship Preview from Royal Birkdale
M. James Ward
A long-time member of both the GWAA and MGWA. The 68-year-old has covered all facets in golf since 1980 — including reporting on over 100 major championships and 13 Ryder Cup matches. His writings have appeared in various outlets. On a personal level, has played over 2,000 courses globally and is lead reviewer for Top 100 Golf Courses.
Previously served for 17 years as national course rating panelist for Golf Digest. Has also personally competed in USGA Championships. Resides in the metro New York City area with his wife Celeste. Favorite quote paraphrased for golf — “You are what your golf score says you are.”