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Where will the Walker Cup Match, the premier amateur team golf event, be held in future years?
In short: the greatest list of future sites of any roving golf tournament in the world.
The Walker Cup, traditionally held every other year since inception in 1922, with some exceptions, pits a team of 10 of the best amateur golfers in the United States against their counterparts from Great Britain and Ireland. It is a two-day match-play event with an austere and pressure-packed format that comprises a total of 26 matches across the competition.
The first day of Walker Cup competition begins with four two-man-team matches in the alternate-shot format. Then, the teams line up eight Singles matches for the afternoon. The second and final day of the competition is similar: four more alternate-shot matches in the morning, followed by a full slate of 10 Singles matches in the afternoon. A team needs 13.5 point to win the Walker Cup, while the defending champion team may retain the cup by securing 13 points.
The Walker Cup began in 1922 with a match at the National Golf Links of America in Southampton, New York, with the United States team winning handily. The first three events were actually held in consecutive years, before an even-years schedule emerged up through 1938. The 1940 Walker Cup was canceled due to World War II, and the competition did not resume until 1947. From then until 2025, its 50th playing, it took place in every odd-numbered year. With a victory last year, the U.S. improved its overall Walker Cup record to 40-9-1.
The list of Walker Cup host golf courses, especially recently, is world-class. The history and prestige of the event, the small size of the field and the relatively intimate-by-design spectator experience make it a far better match for the elite golf clubs of the United States and Great Britain and Ireland than major championships like the PGA Championship, U.S. Open and The Open Championship. However, there are several past Walker Cup host golf courses that have also hosted majors, too - 2023 host The Old Course at St. Andrews, most recently. But several other, more private host courses like Cypress Point Club (2025), Seminole Golf Club (2021), the National Golf Links of America (2013) and Chicago Golf Club (2005) have supported this event as well.
The 2026 Walker Cup, held at Lahinch Golf Club in southwest Ireland September 5-6, will mark the first time since the early days that the Walker Cup will take place in consecutive years, because from now on, it is returning to an even-years spot on the annual golf calendar. It will mark only the second time the Walker Cup has taken place in the Republic of Ireland (Portmarnock Golf Club, 1991). Lahinch has more than a century of elite competitive golf history of its own, especially in the amateur game. It has hosted the annual South of Ireland Golf Championship, an elite match-play event, since 1897.
The list of future Walker Cup host golf courses is incredible. The USGA, which coordinates the event when it takes place in the United States, has host clubs signed up through 2052, while only one future GB&I host has been announced as of this writing
Future Walker Cup host golf courses: 2026 through 2052
2026: 51st Walker Cup at Lahinch Golf Club (Old) - Lahinch, Co. Clare, Ireland
Dates: September 5-6, 2026
Architects: Old Tom Morris, Alister MacKenzie
Note: Southwest Ireland's championship course of record is stunningly beautiful with an ingenious design full of intrigue and a healthy measure of quirk. In other words: perfect for match play.
2028: 52nd Walker Cup at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort - Bandon, Ore.
Dates: To be determined
Architects: Course to be determined
Note: Multiple courses at Bandon Dunes have shown themselves to be capable of hosting elite competitive golf. A small-scale gathering like the Walker Cup opens up all sorts of possibilities. What if each session used a different course? That's not likely to happen, but the vastness of Bandon Dunes' golf offerings makes it at least theoretically possible.
2030: 53rd Walker Cup at Prince's Golf Club - Sandwich, Kent, England
Dates: To be determined
Architects: Sir Guy Campbell and John S.F. Morrison
Note: Historically, Prince's has been somewhat overshadowed by Open rota standby Royal St. Georges as well as Royal Cinque Ports (a.k.a. "Deal") Golf Clubs, which sit just south of this 27-hole links club, so close by that there is an annual event, the Hagen 54, where golfers play 54 holes from all three courses in a single day's competition. Prince's hosted a single Open in 1932, and no doubt the golf world will take notice when it hosts the Walker Cup for the first time in 2030.
2032: 54th Walker Cup at Oakmont Country Club - Oakmont, Penn.
Dates: To be determined
Architects: Henry Clay Fownes
Note: By no means does Oakmont's status as one of the USGA's "anchor sites" for the U.S. Open exempt it from capably welcoming the smaller-scale Walker Cup. Spectators at this event will relish the opportunity to see elite players with far less surrounding infrastructure than usual. It seems inevitable that several members of this Walker Cup's two teams will find themselves in the 2033 U.S. Open field at Oakmont.
2036: 56th Walker Cup at Chicago Golf Club - Wheaton, Ill.
Dates: To be determined
Architects: C.B. Macdonald, Seth Raynor
Note: One of the USGA's five founding clubs, this famously private club west of the Windy City is highly selective about which events it agrees to host. Keen golf audiences enjoyed a rare look at the course on TV when it hosted the inaugural U.S. Senior Women's Open in 2018.
2040: 58th Walker Cup at the National Golf Links of America - Southampton, N.Y.
Dates: To be determined
Architect: C.B. Macdonald
Note: The Walker Cup will return to the site of its first ever playing, making it the first American club to host the event for a third time (1922, 2013)
2044: 60th Walker Cup at Pine Valley Golf Club - Clementon, N.J.
Dates: To be determined
Architect: George Crump
Note: The club widely thought to have the greatest single golf course in the world will welcome the Walker Cup back for the third time, having hosted in 1936 and 1985, two years with United States victories.
2048: 62nd Walker Cup at Cypress Point Club - Pebble Beach, Calif.
Dates: To be determined
Architect: Alister MacKenzie
Note: The 2025 Walker Cup was the first opportunity for multiple generations of golf fans to take in Cypress Point both in person and on television. The Alister MacKenzie masterpiece partially perched on cliffs above the Pacific Ocean was a gracious host and provided must-watch TV. Mark your calendars once again for this date in a couple of decades.
2052: 64th Walker Cup at Seminole Golf Club - Juno Beach, Fla.
Dates: To be determined
Architect: Donald Ross
Note: Contemporary architects Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner have spent much of 2025 and 2026 restoring Ross' original design at Seminole, removing the latter-day influence of midcentury architect Dick Wilson. Both teams being beset by food poisoning gave the 2021 event an odd vibe, even though it turned out to be dramatic in the end. Here's hoping both teams are 100% in '52.
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