Ranked · 10 courses · updated 2026

The Best Championship Courses Open to Visitors

Most of the courses that decide majors are private fortresses. A precious few open their gates to any golfer willing to book and pay. Here are the ten best major championship venues you can actually play, ranked, with our verdict on each and how to get on.

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By the GolfForKings editorial desk · How we rank · Last reviewed June 2026

Photograph: Old Course, Richard Grobben, via Google

How we chose them

There is a singular thrill in standing on a tee where a major was won and knowing you got there with a booking rather than an invitation. This list ranks the great championship courses that genuinely welcome visitors: Open Championship links run by the R&A and local trusts, American resort and public venues that have staged US Opens, PGA Championships and Ryder Cups, and a handful of clubs that keep visitor days. We weighed championship pedigree, design quality, the sense of occasion and how realistically a traveling golfer can get a tee time, and we set aside the truly private major venues that no amount of planning will open.

Host championships, architects and visitor access were verified at the time of writing. Access ranges from open public booking to limited visitor days with handicap requirements and advance ballots, so we describe how to get on rather than quoting green fees, which are premium at this level and move with the season. The verdicts and order are ours, and the top three could be reordered by taste alone. If you want a trip built around playing any of these, with tee times and the ballot navigated, that is exactly what our concierge does.

The ranking

St Andrews, Old Course

Scotland · the Home of Golf · R&A Open venue

The most storied course on earth and, remarkably, a public links anyone can play. Golf has been played over this common ground at St Andrews since the fifteenth century, and the Old Course remains the spiritual home of the game and the most frequent host of the Open Championship. The vast double greens, the Swilcan Bridge, the Road Hole and the Valley of Sin are golf's most hallowed features. Tee times come through a daily ballot, a singles queue or an advance package, but the gates are open to all. The pilgrimage every golfer should make once.

Plan a St Andrews trip

Pebble Beach Golf Links

California · Neville and Grant, 1919 · US Open venue

The most beautiful championship course in America that any golfer can book. Routed along the cliffs of Carmel Bay in 1919, Pebble has hosted six US Opens and the 2023 US Women's Open, more than any course in the last half century, and the closing holes above the Pacific are the most famous in the game. The green fee is steep and a resort stay secures priority, but the access is real. Walking the seventh, eighth and eighteenth where champions have walked is worth every cent. An essential bucket list round.

Plan a Pebble Beach trip

Carnoustie, Championship Course

Scotland · Angus · R&A Open venue

The toughest of the Open links and one of the most accessible, a public course on the Angus coast that visitors can book directly. Carnoustie's relentless finish, with the Barry Burn snaking across the closing holes, has produced some of the Open's most dramatic and painful endings, most recently in 2018. There is nowhere to hide from the wind or the out of bounds, and that severity is exactly the draw. For a golfer who wants to be tested by a genuine major venue without a membership, Carnoustie is the purest challenge on this list.

Plan a Carnoustie trip

Kiawah Island, The Ocean Course

South Carolina · Pete Dye, 1991 · PGA and Ryder Cup venue

Pete Dye's coastal monster, with more seaside holes than any course in North America and a championship resume to match. Opened in 1991, it immediately hosted the War by the Shore Ryder Cup and has since staged the 2012 and 2021 PGA Championships. The wind off the Atlantic can swing four clubs in an afternoon, and the exposed dunes and waste areas give no respite. It is open to guests of the Kiawah Island resort, so a stay secures your round on one of the most demanding and dramatic championship courses anywhere.

Plan a Kiawah Island trip

Whistling Straits, The Straits

Wisconsin · Pete Dye, 1998 · PGA and Ryder Cup venue

A faux links along two miles of Lake Michigan that has become one of America's premier championship venues, and it is open to public play through the Kohler resort. The Straits staged the PGA Championship in 2004, 2010 and 2015 and the 2021 Ryder Cup, and its many hundreds of bunkers, tumbling dunes and ever present wind make it a spectacular, punishing test. Caddies and walking only heighten the sense of occasion. A modern major venue any golfer can book, with the polish of the Kohler operation behind it.

Plan a Whistling Straits trip

Turnberry, Ailsa Course

Scotland · Ayrshire · former Open venue

The most scenic of the Open links, wrapped around a lighthouse on the Ayrshire coast with the hump of Ailsa Craig offshore. The Ailsa course hosted four Open Championships, including the famous 1977 Duel in the Sun, and a thorough redesign sharpened its clifftop drama. It is the resort course of a luxury hotel and welcomes visitors who book, so the access is straightforward even if the green fee is premium. For sheer beauty paired with major championship history, few rounds anywhere rival a clear day on the Ailsa.

Plan a Turnberry trip

Bethpage Black

New York · A.W. Tillinghast, 1936 · US Open and Ryder Cup venue

The people's championship course, a brutal Tillinghast state park layout on Long Island that has hosted two US Opens, the 2019 PGA Championship and the 2025 Ryder Cup, all while remaining a public muni. The sign by the first tee warning that the Black is recommended only for highly skilled golfers is no joke; the length, the rough and the bunkering are merciless. New York residents pay a modest rate and visitors book a little ahead. No course better captures the American idea that anyone can play where champions compete.

Plan a New York golf trip

Pinehurst No. 2

North Carolina · Donald Ross, 1907 · US Open anchor site

Donald Ross's masterpiece and a permanent US Open anchor site, yet open to resort guests for most of the year. The 1907 design, restored by Coore and Crenshaw in 2011, hosts the US Open and US Women's Open on a rotation, including the back to back championships of 2014 and the 2024 men's Open. Its crowned, repelling greens make it the truest examination of the short game in American golf. To play a course of this championship stature simply by staying at the resort is one of the great privileges in the public game.

Plan a Pinehurst trip

Royal County Down

Northern Ireland · Newcastle · visitor days

Routinely ranked among the very best courses in the world, a wild links beneath the Mountains of Mourne that has hosted Irish Opens and major amateur championships. The blind shots, the bearded bunkers and the gorse framed fairways make the front nine, in particular, as thrilling as any in golf. It is a members club, but it keeps visitor days through the week, so a traveling golfer who books ahead can play it. Pair it with Royal Portrush on the Causeway Coast for the finest links double in Ireland.

Plan a links trip to Ireland

Chambers Bay

Washington · Robert Trent Jones Jr, 2007 · US Open venue

The youngest course on this list and a genuine municipal one, owned by Pierce County, Washington, that hosted the 2015 US Open barely eight years after opening. Robert Trent Jones Jr built it inside a former sand quarry above Puget Sound, with treeless fescue terrain that plays firm, fast and links like. Walking only and dramatic, with the lone fir and the sound as its signature, it shows that a public course can earn a major in record time. Any golfer can book, which is the whole point.

Plan a Pacific Northwest golf trip

Host championships, architects and visitor access verified June 2026. Access ranges from open public booking to limited visitor days, handicap requirements and ballots; Royal County Down restricts visitor days. Green fees are premium and vary by season; always confirm access and fees directly before booking. Check tee time availability. For where to stay, see our partner hotel rates.

Play where the majors are won

Tell us which championship courses are on your list and roughly when. One concierge navigates the ballots, the visitor days and the resort priority, secures the tee times and builds the route, and costs the trip to the head, with no obligation.

Championship golf access questions

Can you play major championship courses as a visitor?

Some, yes. The Open links run by the R&A and local trusts, such as St Andrews, Carnoustie and Turnberry, welcome visitors who book, and American venues like Pebble Beach, Whistling Straits, Kiawah, Pinehurst No. 2, Bethpage Black and Chambers Bay are public or resort access. Many other major venues, especially private US clubs, remain closed to visitors entirely.

How do you get a tee time on the Old Course at St Andrews?

Through the daily ballot, entered two days ahead, the early morning singles queue, or an advance booking package that often bundles lodging. Demand is high in summer, so the ballot is a lottery. A planned trip with an advance reservation or a package is the most reliable way to guarantee a round on the Old Course.

Which is the hardest championship course you can play?

Carnoustie and Bethpage Black are the two sternest tests on this list. Carnoustie's wind and its closing Barry Burn holes have broken many Open contenders, while Bethpage Black's length, rough and bunkering carry a literal warning sign. Kiawah's Ocean Course in a stiff Atlantic breeze is a close third.

Do you need a handicap to play these courses?

Several do ask for proof of a reasonable handicap, particularly the great links such as St Andrews, Carnoustie and Royal County Down, often around the mid to high twenties or better. The American resort and public courses are generally more relaxed about handicaps. Always check each course's current requirement when you book.

The Tee Sheet

Open venue ballots, visitor day windows and the championship tee times that book a year out. Every other week.

Researched and written by the GolfForKings editorial desk. Course designers, founding years and host events verified June 2026. Last reviewed June 2026.