Royal Birkdale

The Lancashire coast between Southport and Blackpool contains one of the most impressive concentrations of links golf in England, and Royal Birkdale is the undisputed flagship. The sand dunes behind the seafront provide a natural amphitheatre that has proved ideal for spectator management at major championships, and the course's proximity to the North West's transport infrastructure makes it one of the most accessible Open venues in Britain. Ten Opens in little over six decades is a record that reflects not just the quality of the course but the confidence the R&A has placed in the club and its membership to deliver a championship at the highest level.

Jordan Spieth's 2017 win here was a reminder of what makes Birkdale compelling at the highest level: on the 13th hole during the final round, his ball came to rest in a waste area well off the fairway, requiring a ruling that took several minutes to resolve. What followed was one of the most audacious recovery shots in Open history. The course presents situations like this regularly, not through artificial contrivance but through the interplay of dunes, wind and fast-running fairways that characterises genuine links golf. The scoring window is narrow; small misjudgements compound quickly, and the back nine, where the dunes are at their most severe, is where championships are won and lost.

The art deco clubhouse, resembling an ocean liner stranded in the dunes, gives Royal Birkdale a visual identity unlike any other major venue. It was built in 1935 and has been carefully maintained, and the views from its first-floor windows across the 18th green and the surrounding duneland are some of the best in English golf. Arnold Palmer planted a commemorative plaque on the 16th hole after his famous recovery during the 1961 Open, a piece of golfing history embedded in the landscape of the course. Birkdale accumulates moments like this; it is a course where great golf is both demanded and remembered.