Lesson 4: The Open Today: Links Golf’s Greatest Stage
The Open Championship today rotates among a select group of historic links courses in Britain and Ireland. Courses like St. Andrews, Royal Birkdale, Carnoustie, Muirfield, Royal Portrush, and Turnberry have each hosted The Open multiple times.
Each links course has its own character — its own wind patterns, its own rough, its own famous holes. Playing at Carnoustie is different from playing at St. Andrews, which is different from Royal County Down. The variety is part of what makes The Open unique among major championships.
Modern champions must master conditions that their predecessors faced too: links wind, firm fairways, unpredictable bounces, and weather that can change a round completely. The connection to history is not just sentimental — the actual physical conditions are similar to those golfers faced 150 years ago.
When a golfer wins The Open today, they join a list that begins in 1860. That is a connection to history that few sporting achievements can match.
The Open Championship rotates among historic links courses in Britain and Ireland. Every modern champion joins a list that began in 1860.
Research the current rota of Open Championship courses. For each course on the rota, find: the course name, its location, the year it first hosted The Open, and one distinctive feature. Present your findings as a ‘Links Rota Guide’ in your history journal.