Everything you need to know about golf’s original championship returning to the Old Course
There are golf tournaments, and then there is The Open at St Andrews.
From 11–18 July 2027, golf’s original championship will return to the Old Course for the 31st time. For one extraordinary week, the quiet rhythms of this small Scottish town will give way to grandstands, galleries and the unmistakable theatre of championship golf.
The world’s finest players will walk fairways shaped by centuries rather than architects. Spectators will gather beside the Swilcan Bridge, beneath the windows of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club and around a closing hole that runs directly back towards the town.
At St Andrews, The Open does not simply arrive at a venue. It comes home.
A championship unlike any other
The Old Course first hosted The Open in 1873, when Tom Kidd claimed the title. Since then, many of golf’s defining figures—including Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Sir Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods—have lifted the Claret Jug at St Andrews.
The 2027 championship carries a particularly fitting sense of history. It will take place 100 years after Bobby Jones won The Open at St Andrews in 1927, successfully defending his title with a six-shot victory.
It will also be the first Open played here since 2022, when a record crowd of 290,000 watched Cameron Smith produce a final-round 64 to win the 150th Championship.
Yet history is only part of the attraction. The Old Course remains one of golf’s most intriguing examinations: wide double fairways, vast shared greens, deep bunkers and subtle contours that reveal themselves differently with every change in wind.
It is a course that asks players to think—and occasionally asks them to improvise.
The best way to experience The Open
Championship week officially runs from Sunday 11 July to Sunday 18 July 2027. The earlier practice days provide a more relaxed opportunity to explore the course, watch players prepare and get closer to the action. As the week progresses, the atmosphere intensifies until the Championship reaches its conclusion on Sunday evening.
The Old Course is wonderfully walkable, but attempting to follow one group for an entire round is not always the best way to experience it. A more rewarding approach is to choose several strategic viewing points and allow the Championship to unfold around you.
The opening and 18th holes deliver the grandest sense of occasion. The famous Road Hole—the par-four 17th—is where ambitions can disappear into the bunker or beyond the wall in a matter of moments. The loop around the seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh holes offers opportunities to see several parts of the course without covering too much ground.
And then there is the Swilcan Bridge. Small, stone-built and instantly recognisable, it becomes the symbolic centre of the golfing world whenever The Open returns.
St Andrews beyond the ropes
The great pleasure of attending The Open here is that the experience continues beyond the course.
St Andrews is compact enough to explore on foot. Within minutes of leaving the grandstands, visitors can be walking along West Sands, exploring the medieval ruins of St Andrews Cathedral or finding a table in one of the town’s restaurants and historic pubs.
During Championship week, the town develops an atmosphere found nowhere else in golf. Players, former champions, caddies, broadcasters and spectators share the same streets. Shop windows celebrate the tournament, conversations continue long into the evening, and almost every route eventually leads back towards the Old Course.
It is worth allowing time away from the golf. Walk the length of West Sands in the early morning. Follow the coastal path towards East Sands. Visit the cathedral ruins as the evening light falls across the stone. Then return towards the 18th green, where the Old Course and the town seem to merge into one.
That relationship is what makes an Open at St Andrews so distinctive. The course is not hidden behind gates or separated from everyday life. It sits openly beside the town, as it has for generations.
Planning your visit
Demand for accommodation during The Open is exceptionally high, and visitors should arrange their stay as early as possible. St Andrews offers the most immersive experience, but accommodation across Fife, Dundee, Perth and Edinburgh can provide useful alternatives when combined with organised transport.
The public ticket ballot for The 155th Open has now closed. However, official options may still be available through Ticket Plus, hospitality, camping and ticket-inclusive accommodation packages.
Visitors should only purchase tickets or packages through The Open and its authorised providers.
Availability will continue to change as the Championship approaches, so arrangements should be confirmed directly through the official website.
When the world comes to St Andrews
The Open will be played at many great courses, but St Andrews occupies a place of its own.
Perhaps it is the sight of players driving across shared fairways. Perhaps it is the vastness of the greens, the wind from the Eden Estuary or the final walk over the Swilcan Bridge. Perhaps it is simply the knowledge that golf has been played on this ground for centuries.
Whatever the reason, when the grandstands rise beside the first tee and the world gathers around the Old Course, St Andrews feels like the centre of the game once again.
In July 2027, golf comes home.
Share:
Where Golf Began: Inside the Home of Golf
The Experience Golf: The St Andrews Trip Every Golfer Dreams About