Golf course architect provides insight into the work he and Mike Howard have overseen at the venue for this year’s Open Championship
By Richard Humphreys |
Royal Birkdale, near Southport, England, is hosting the Open Championship on 16-19 July 2026. It will be the eleventh time the club has staged the event, with Peter Thomson winning the first, in 1954, and Jordan Spieth winning the last, in 2017.
In 2021, Royal Birkdale asked Mackenzie & Ebert to advise on course changes in preparation for the championship, and work has been completed in two phases between 2023 and 2025.
The brief provided from the club was: “to improve and develop the golf course with the modern game in mind for its members, visitors and championships for the future. Whilst history is important and to be considered as part of the research, we are not looking for a restoration project. All changes must be relevant to the current aesthetics, topography and sympathetic to the Site of Special Scientific Interest.”
The new routing of Royal Birkdale (Image: Mackenzie & Ebert)
Golf course architects Tom Mackenzie and Mike Howard undertook historical research to develop a clear picture of how the layout has evolved, especially the bunker style, which had changed from rugged hazards to small, deep, revetted bunkers. As the starting point in their study, they looked at ways to address the similarity in direction of three of the par threes and an investigation was also undertaken to see whether there was spare land that could be used.
“The only option was immediately promising, and it involved inserting a par three [which would become the fifteenth] which plays from high ground down to a green with the iconic art deco clubhouse as the background, although it will be obscured during The Open by hospitality units,” said Mackenzie. “To do so involved moving the old fifteenth a fairway width to the right with a new green making use of existing high ground with a big drop off to the right, as well as adjustments to the sixteenth tees.
“With 19 holes now, the next decision was which of the short holes to drop out. It was accepted that maintaining two loops of nine was a priority, so focus turned to the back nine. The twelfth is arguably the most photographed and admired hole on the course and it was unthinkable that it could be removed, so the only conclusion was to remove the fourteenth.”
To offer more balance to the length and direction of the par threes, the design team shortened the seventh (main image) to 151 yards, played from a high tee to the rear of the sixth green. Eliminating the fourteenth opened up the possibility of moving the practice ground closer to the clubhouse, and converting the green into a short-game facility.
An aerial of holes fourteen, fifteen and sixteen (Photo: David Cannon/Getty Images/The R&A)
Work was completed in two phases by contractor Golflink Evolve, with Arden Lea looking after irrigation network changes. The renovation team included Golflink Evolve project manager Ian Casey, lead shaper Tony Willis and staff from the club’s greenkeeping team, who rebuilt every bunker.
“Royal Birkdale’s essential characteristic of playing through the dunes remains and, arguably, is enhanced,” said Mackenzie. “Hectares of scrub and trees have been removed as part of the club’s ecological management plan, making the course feel much more rugged and sandy again as used to be the case. Every red stone path has also been removed, which eliminates a feature that was an eyesore.”
The par-three twelfth (Photo: David Cannon/Getty Images/The R&A)
Mackenzie says that, despite the course being dominated by towering sand dunes, drainage turned out to be a primary challenge. “It was a major issue on many holes, especially the fifth and seventh,” he said. “Every bunker was evaluated to ensure that each one of them drains well throughout the year. It sounds easy, but it took a huge amount of planning and careful construction to deliver that. It drove the proposals to elevate the greens on the fifth and seventh as that allowed deeper bunkers that remain dry.”
Our Royal Birkdale coverage continues tomorrow, with a hole-by-hole guide that details the primary course changes.