The Scottish Open is one of the greatest tournaments in golf and has gone from strength to strength over recent years after becoming co-sanctioned by both the DP World and PGA Tours.
The link-up between the two biggest traditional men's circuits has bolstered the tournament's prize fund and also strengthened the field, with this year's Genesis Scottish Open boasting eight of the world's top 10 players including all of the top five.
And while the event's stature cannot be questioned, one aspect that has raised some eyebrows in recent years is its home base. East Lothian's Renaissance Club has hosted the event since 2017, with this year's event being the seventh consecutive Scottish Open taking place there.
The Renaissance Club is a stunning venue that offers up good links preparation before The Open, but should a national Open remain at the same venue each and every year?
The country is the 'home of golf' and the best golf courses in Scotland are some of the world's oldest and greatest, so rotating it around different venues would certainly spice the event up and add something to the Scottish Open. Moving courses each year is very common among other national Opens, too.
The Scottish Open staying at one venue for a prolonged period of time is nothing new, however, as Gleneagles hosted it eight consecutive years across the 80s and 90s while Loch Lomond hosted 15 consecutive tournaments from the 90s all the way to 2009.
So if the Scottish Open were to start going to different venues each and every year, which ones would we like to see?
Trump Turnberry
Turnberry's Ailsa Course is one of the best in the UK and Ireland - and the entire world - so seeing a Scottish Open there would be fantastic.
It has hosted four Opens but none since 2009 due to various reasons but the R&A has maintained that it hopes to host the world's oldest Major there again someday.
A lot has changed at Turnberry since 2009 so a Scottish Open would be a good test to see how the facility and road networks cope with a major golf event.
Loch Lomond (and other past hosts)
I personally would love to see the Scottish Open return to Loch Lomond as it is the venue I remember watching as a child. Sure it's not a links course but it's a stunning venue that is one of the most exclusive golf clubs in the UK that I would never get tired of seeing on the TV screen.
Looking back at past venues, I'd happily see the Scottish Open return to a number of them. Royal Aberdeen, Gullane and Castle Stuart Golf Links in particular.
Dumbarnie Golf Links
Dumbarnie is a modern Clive Clark-designed links opened in 2020 that is already regarded as one of the UK's very best, with a top class course and facilities mixed with stunning sea views.
It has hosted the Women's Scottish Open already, in 2021 when Ryann O'Toole won, and it would make for a great men's event, too, I'm sure.
Kingsbarns
Kingsbarns is another modern links that is well deserving of a Scottish Open.
It does already host the Alfred Dunhill Links each year, where competitors all play it once, but how about giving it an entire week?
The Kyle Phillips layout ranks 14th in our Top 100 UK&I courses and is considered to be one of the world's greatest links courses.
While it is already globally renowned, seeing it for four consecutive days would surely bring even more attention to what is a bucket list course for many golfers.
Other tour and Open venues
Trump International Golf Links is hosting on the DP World Tour for the first time this summer after holding multiple PGA Seniors Championships so I'm very excited to see how the pros manage that. Could that become a Scottish Open venue soon? For sure.
I also think Muirfield would be a great venue and that could work along the same lines as Turnberry, as an Open tester since it hasn't hosted the Major since Phil Mickelson won in 2013.
The home of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers is rated as one of the world's greatest tests of golf and recently hosted the 2023 AIG Women's Open, won by Ashleigh Buhai. It isn't on the Open future venues list just yet so I'd see no harm in it hosting a one-off Scottish Open.
I certainly wouldn't hate Carnoustie hosting a Scottish Open but we do see that fairly frequently for Opens and Dunhill Links Championships, while St Andrews' Old Course gets its fair share of top level golf with the Dunhill every year and The Open every five.
My main point here is that I don't really care where the Scottish Open is hosted as long as it rotates around the country, as the home of golf has so many stunning courses that they can't really go wrong. Keeping it at the same venue each and every year seems like a bit of a waste to me, as it's one of Scotland's few chances to show off all of its great courses to golfers each and every year.
Give us a bit of variety and let golf fans around the world get to know more and more of Scotland's world class layouts is what I think.
Where would you like to see the Scottish Open be played? Let us know in the comments section below...
