Muirfield

• Location: Padstow, England
• Open: 1891
• Designer: H.S. Colt
• Major Course Updates: Old Tom Morris, Tom Simpson, Donald Steel, Martin Ebert & Tom Mackenzie, Martin Hawtree
• Events Hosted: The Open Championship (16 times), Walker Cup, Curtis Cup, Women’s Open Championship, 1973 Ryder Cup
• Key Rankings: 3rd best golf course in Scotland, Top 100 Golf Courses (2022), 11th best golf course in the world, Golf Magazine (2021)

 
Muirfield can lay claim to hosting the open more than any other golf course, minus Prestwick and The Old Course. As a result, the trophy case is quite the list of impressive victors to conquer this Harry Colt design: Harry Vardon, Walter Hagen, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Nick Faldo, Ernie Els, and Phil Mickelson, most recently in 2013 in the excellent duel with Hendrik Stenson. Of particular interest on the architecture side, Muirfield is generally regarded as the first golf course that someone thoughtfully laid out, rather than an “out and back routing” against the shore.