Brandel Chamblee, Jim Furyk, Paul McGinley dish on Royal Birkdale

July 13, 2026, 9:01 a.m. ET

The Open Championship returns this year to Royal Birkdale for the 11th time. Golf’s original championship has had some gems in terms of exciting tournaments and a strong list of names who hoisted the Claret Jug there since first hosting the Open in 1954.

Jordan Spieth was the Champion Golfer of the Year in 2017, the last time it was played at Royal Birkdale. Since then, the golf course has undergone some changes. It’s these renovations that are leading to a good deal of discussion in advance of the final men’s major of 2026.

What renovations were made at Royal Birkdale?The par-4 fifth hole is “a completely new hole,” said Royal Birkdale head professional Gregg Pettersen. “Even though it’s in the same position roughly, the tee, green and fairway, everything has moved.” The hole is 321 yards now.The par-3 seventh, which is now 151 yards, has an entirely new putting surface. “It is a new green that’s been raised,” said Gregg, “with steep run-offs all around, and the bunkers are the deepest on the entire golf course. “We have maintained the donut bunker on the left-hand side, quite an iconic feature. While it doesn’t look exactly the same, it is still there, with the island in the middle.”The 14th hole, which used to be the 15th, has been re-done as a 602-yard, par 5. “It will be a good challenge for them,” said Gregg. “There are plenty of bunkers up there waiting. If they are going to lay-up, they need to lay-up to the right number. The green is small and very undulating, with a big run-off to the left-hand side.”The par-3 15th is located where No. 14 used to be. “Although it is the biggest green on the golf course, it doesn’t look like it from the tee,” Gregg said. “A front pin can be very narrow and intimidating with two bunkers to the left and a large run-off to the right side. Getting the ball to stop on the green could be difficult as the wind gets up. It does want to run away from you.” At 241 yards, the 15th is the longest par 3 on the golf course.The closing hole is a 508-yard, par 4. The old 18th tee was to the right, so the hole was playing more as a dog-leg from left to right,” he added. “We have moved the tee a long way left, so it is a straight hole looking up to the clubhouse. It is now just lined with bunkers everywhere. For anyone taking a driver, and trying to take the hole on, it is so easy to fall into one of the traps. I would expect a lot of players to be shorter off the tee and then leave themselves a longer shot into the green just to take out the risk of going into the fairway bunkers. It will feel completely different for the players [compared to 2017]. They will stand on the tee and think ‘where am I going to hit it?’. It looks a very narrow, very intimidating, tee shot now with all the bunkers.”What they’re saying about the renovations at Royal BirkdaleJim Furyk, USA Sports analyst

Furyk played the Open at Royal Birkdale on two occasions, finishing fourth in 1998 and 2008.

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“I might put it up against any Open venue,” he said on a recent conference call. “With the renovation I’ve seen, some of the green complexes, they’ve added some more difficult angles and difficult approach shots and recovery shots around the green. So I’m excited to kind of see the renovations. Always love the golf course and I’m expecting big things from from this event.”

But he later sounded a cautious tone.

“It always makes me nervous,” he said, meaning of the renovations. “When you take a wonderful golf course and a possible masterpiece and you start to play around with it, we’ll see. It makes me nervous but I also think that modern golf has changed. The athletes are bigger, stronger, faster, the equipment is bigger, stronger, faster. I realize that we talk about wonderful golf courses standng the test of time, but St. Andrews doesn’t look anything like it did 30 years ago and it’s still a wonderful layout. … I’m very anxious to see the new holes and the changes and I do enjoy architecture, so I’m interested to see you know see what’s been done.”

Paul McGinley, Golf Channel analyst

McGinley, like Furyk, played the 1998 and 2008 Opens at Royal Birkdale. He sounded more concerned about all the advancements in technology requiring a place like Birkdale to have to renovate.

“This is what really frustrates me about golf. You look at the size of the arena in every other sport and over the years it’s never changed. A basketball court is the same size, an NFL [field] is the same size, a baseball [field] is the same size, a soccer pitch is the same size,” he said. “And yet we’re the only mainstream sport that wants to consistently increase the size of our arenas in order to control the distance that the athletes are now hitting it and granted, they are stronger athletes, but also letting technology go as far as it has done. And I think that’s a sad indictment on our game that we have to consistently increase and reinvent our arenas because technology has not been addressed over the years. I feel very strongly about that.”

Brandel Chamblee, Golf Channel analyst

Often, a major venue gets elevated by virtue of a big name winning there. Chamblee isn’t totally on board with that.

“I think the thing about great winners, I think we get a little carried away personally talking about great players winning on great golf course,” he said. “It’s as if somebody who’s 100th in the world wins there it impugns the horrible architecture of the place.”

Rich Lerner, Golf Channel host

“This has been going on for probably five years and I suspect we’ll continue for the next five to 10 years,” he said of the ongoing distance debate. “Every Live From, except for the Masters, certainly every PGA Championship, every U.S. Open and now every Open, Monday and Tuesday, we are talking about the old ballparks trying to stand up to the modern game. Every single Live From,” he said of Golf Channel’s popular pre- and post-tournament show Live From. “That is a hot topic now.”

Todd Kelly is an assistant managing editor at Golfweek.