The Open 2026: Royal Birkdale

The news

The Open Championship returns to Royal Birkdale in 2026, the 154th Open played from 12 to 19 July, with championship rounds from Thursday 16 to Sunday 19 July. It is the 11th time the great Southport links has staged the game's oldest major, and aside from St Andrews no venue has hosted The Open more often, confirmation of Birkdale's standing as one of the finest and fairest tests in championship golf.

For traveling golfers, an Open year is the best possible reason to plan a trip to England's Golf Coast, the dense stretch of links around Southport and the Lancashire shore. Here is our preview of the venue, the holes that will decide it, and how to build a trip around it.

The course

Founded in 1889 and brought to its modern form by Hawtree and Taylor, Royal Birkdale is a par 70 of about 7,156 yards that threads its fairways through tall, classic dunes. What sets it apart is the routing: the fairways run mostly along the flat valley floors between the dunes rather than over them, so the lies are fair and the test is honest, with the wind and the punishing rough doing the defending. It is regularly called the fairest of the Open rota, a players' course where the best golfer tends to win.

The holes that decide it

Birkdale saves its drama for the closing stretch. The par 3 12th is a jewel among the dunes, a long one shotter that has to be flighted under the wind. The 13th is one of the longest par 4s in championship golf at close to 500 yards, a true three shot test for most when the wind is up.

Then comes the 17th, forever linked to Padraig Harrington's towering 5 wood to set up his 2008 victory, one of the great shots in Open history. The home hole is a stern par 4 of more than 500 yards that demands two precise strokes under the eyes of the grandstands, a fitting place to settle a Championship.

The record book reads like a roll of honor: Peter Thomson won twice here, with Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Tom Watson, Ian Baker-Finch, Mark O'Meara, Padraig Harrington and Jordan Spieth all lifting the Claret Jug at Birkdale. It is a list that tells you exactly what kind of test awaits in July.

Our take, and how to visit

Birkdale is the connoisseur's Open venue, a links that rewards complete golf rather than luck, and 2026 should produce a worthy champion on a course in superb condition. For spectators, Southport is the ideal base, a classic seaside town with the rest of England's Golf Coast on the doorstep.

If watching inspires you to play, the surrounding links are a destination in their own right. We build trips around the area that pair a round in the region with the rest of the Lancashire coast, and an Open year is the moment to do it. Tell us your dates and we will shape a week around the golf.