Activities Sports & Athletics 'Open Rota' in Golf Share PINTEREST Email Print David Cannon/Getty Images Sports & Athletics Golf Golf Tournaments Basics History Gear Golf Courses Famous Golfers Baseball Basketball Bicycling Billiards Bodybuilding Bowling Boxing Car Racing Cheerleading Cricket Extreme Sports Football Gymnastics Ice Hockey Martial Arts Professional Wrestling Skateboarding Skating Paintball Soccer Swimming & Diving Table Tennis Tennis Track & Field Volleyball Other Activities Learn More By Brent Kelley Brent Kelley is an award-winning sports journalist and golf expert with over 30 years in print and online journalism. our editorial process Brent Kelley Updated May 24, 2019 "Open rota" is the term applied to the rotation of golf courses that host the Open Championship. Open Rota Profile The British Open is played at a different course each year, alternating between Scotland and England. There are currently nine golf courses in the Open rota (listed in no particular order): The Old Course at St. Andrews Carnoustie Royal St. George's Royal Lytham & St. Annes Royal Birkdale Turnberry Royal Liverpool Royal Troon The only constant is that The Old Course is the site of the Open Championship every fifth year (which currently coincides with years ending in 0 and 5: 1990, 1995, 2005, etc.). As noted, the R&A typically alternates between England and Scotland, although that is not always the case. Other than those two considerations, the R&A slots the above courses into the Open rota as it sees fit, which doesn't always result in a regular pattern. For example, Royal Birkdale hosted in 1983, then eight years later in 1991, then seven years later in 1998, then 10 years later in 2008. Muirfield hosted in 1987, five years later in 1992, 10 years later in 2002, and again in 2013. But in 2016 the Muirfield membership voted to stick with its policy of only admitting men as members. At that point, the R&A announced a policy that any club with gender-discriminatory membership policies would be ineligible to host the Open. Muirfield dropped from the rota at that point, but might rejoin at a later time if its membership policy is reversed. Also, note that all the courses in the rotation are links. See also: Yearly list of British Open golf courses.