Renaissance Club Facts: 5 Things To Know About The Genesis Scottish Open Venue In 2026

The Scottish Open has been held at The Renaissance Club since 2019 and has staged a number of memorable tournaments during that time.

From Rory McIlroy's unforgettable two-iron stinger to Robert MacIntyre's dream home victory, a tournament which appears to be growing in stature with each passing year has been helped by the fantastic golf club which hosts it.

But The Renaissance Club, while certainly well-known, remains something of a mystery to many still. Here are a handful of facts about the Scottish venue to help you learn more.

HIGHLY EXCLUSIVE

Unlike Open Championship courses, it is not possible for green-fee-paying members of the public to simply book a tee time and play The Renaissance Club.

It is a private club only played by its members (of which there are only said to be a few hundred) and their guests. So unless you know a member, it's almost impossible as one of the most exclusive golf clubs in the UK.

And if you were considering becoming a member, joining fees are said to be well into the tens of thousands of pounds, so you better have saved up.

Alternatively, there did used to be a 'One Time Experience' on offer with tee times starting at £300 a round (or £480 including accommodation), but it doesn't seem as though that still exists.

On a similar note, as a Scottish Golf member, there had previously been tee times up for grabs between November and March or Monday and Wednesday mornings at £280 a pop.

However, recent information regarding this is tough to find, so that opportunity might not exist anymore either.

FAMOUS NEIGHBORS

The Renaissance Club is located between the villages of Dirleton and Gullane in North Berwick and 20 miles east of Scotland's capital, Edinburgh.

That particular area of the Scottish coast is jam-packed with top-class courses such as Muirfield, Gullane, Archerfield and North Berwick Golf Club.

Meanwhile, across the water where the River Forth merges into the North Sea, Kingsbarns and St Andrews are not far away either. There's a reason it's called 'the golf coast'.

STILL A TEENAGER

It's a course which looks like it's been around for years, but not so. The Renaissance Club was established in 2008 after wealthy American Jerry Savardi bought a plot of land between North Berwick and Muirfield and said to renowned course architect Tom Doak "build me a world-class layout like those" (probably).

Doak has gone on the record as saying he was asked to build a course capable of hosting championship play from scratch, which was a tough task - even for the very best - and not something he was said to be overly comfortable with at first.

Yet, with some help from Padraig Harrington as a 'player consultant' while the course was being designed, Doak and his team made it happen.

There were issues with the course being too wet and soft initially, but years of learning has all but eradicated those problems. What now exists is a course less than 20 years old which is only improving and could remain the home of this prestigious championship for years to come.

NOT A TYPICAL LINKS COURSE

According to those who have played it, The Renaissance Club isn't your typical links layout.

It has plenty of undulating ground with cambered fairways and elevated greens which make running golf balls up from off the putting surfaces a lot tougher than usual.

In addition, heavy rough is in play just off the fairways over the majority of the course rather than endless cut strips or wispy second cuts.

For the Scottish Open, it plays as a par-70 and measures just under 7,300 yards. There are five par 3s and only three par 5s, and scoring can be pretty low if the wind lies down...

COURSE RECORD

Closely linked to the above, the course record at The Renaissance Club is a very low one. To date, five players have managed to shoot a nine-under 61.

Bernd Wiesberger was the first pro to notch a 61 on his way to winning in 2019, with four more players carding a nine-under round each year between 2022 and 2025.

Cameron Tringale and Byeong Hun An both made the ideal start at the 2022 and 2023 Scottish Open, respectively, before Richard Mansell played his way into The Open Championship at Royal Troon thanks to a stunning final round at the Scottish Open in 2024.

Most recently, Chris Gotterup pushed his way to the top of the leaderboard at the 2025 Scottish Open courtesy of a bogey-free Friday last year.

Renaissance Club Course Record

2019: Bernd Wiesberger (R2)
2022: Cameron Tringale (R1)
2023: Byeong Hun An (R1)
2024: Richard Mansell (R4)
2025: Chris Gotterup (R2)

In 2019, a frustrated Rory McIlroy said golf courses in Europe are "set up too easy" after a couple of top-30 finishes in Scotland that year, one of which came at The Renaissance Club.

Speaking to Irish Golfer, McIlroy said at the time: “You know, I’m sort of honestly sick of coming back over to the European Tour and shooting 15-under par and finishing 30th.

“I don’t think the courses are set-up hard enough. There’s no penalties for bad shots. It’s tough when you come back when it’s like that. I don’t feel like good golf is regarded as well as it could be.

“But I played well enough, 15-under for four days. But you know, we’ll have a few weeks off and get back at it.”

Pushed on whether he would speak to the European Tour about the issue, McIlroy continued: "I hope so as it also happened at the Scottish Open, as well, at the Renaissance Club where I finished 13, 14-under and finished 30th again.

“It’s not a good test. I think if the European Tour want to put forth a really good product, the golf courses and set-ups need to be tougher.”

Following Wiesberger's 22-under winning score in 2019, the number needed for victory at The Renaissance Club since has always been much lower. Although the course record has been tied in each of the past four editions, the overall score has never moved beyond 18-under, so maybe McIlroy's words were heeded by DP World Tour officials.