Club de Golf Chapultepec, Mexico City, Mexico

Key Facts

• Club de Golf Chapultepec hosted its first LIV Golf evennt in 2025, and it's already locked in for 2026.
• The club dates back to the early 20th century, when it was designed by Scottish emigrant Willie Smith.
• At 7,800 feet above sea level, it's one of the highest courses in the world, meaning the drives can go even further than normal.
• Chapultepec has hosted pro events for over 70 years, and brought a series of victories for LIV Golf players.
• The first tickets for 2026 are available now, and you can get yours here.

Full Story

It’s a course that was created in a revolution by two of the greatest brothers in golf history. And now more than 100 years later, it’s being re-energized by a global league, with players from all corners of the Earth.

Club de Golf Chapultepec is not just one of the highest courses in the world (standing well over a mile above sea level), it’s got one of the deepest backstories too. And to celebrate LIV Golf’s return to Mexico City’s most famous campo in 2026, we’re going to take a whistlestop tour, looking at Chapultepec’s wild past as well as its immediate future. 

What happened before we got here?

Like so many old golf tales, it starts with a Scotsman. And not just any Scotsman.

Willie Smith was the Bryson DeChambeau of his day. Charismatic, big-hitting, talent to burn. After entering the 1895 British Open as an amateur, Smith moved to the United States, turned pro, and won the U.S. Open in 1899 by a margin of 11 strokes, which remained a record until 2000.

In 1904 Smith took a job as a club pro at the brand-new Mexico City Country Club, which had been built on the back of a golf boom among British and American ex-pats. Soon, they were asking Smith to build an even more ambitious course, so he began to map out a new project in the forest of Chapultepec above the city.

There was a problem, however. The Mexican Revolution began in 1910, and Smith was quite literally caught in the cross-fire. In 1914, the two sides became locked in a fierce gun battle around the Country Club, with Smith trapped inside. He survived the bombardment by hiding in a celllar, but was badly injured and never fully recovered. In 1916, Smith passed away.

But Chapultepec? That story lived on, and then some. Smith’s brother Alex was also a champion player (he won the U.S. Open twice) and he decided to finish what his brother had started. In 1921, over a decade after it was initially conceived, Chapultepec welcomed its first players.

The club soon became known as the best place to play in Mexico City, and in 1944 it hosted the inaugural edition of the Mexican Open, a tournament it went on to host 18 times. In 1972, the course underwent a renovation performed by Percy Clifford in order to make it a more modern track, and it went on to host a World Golf Championships event four times.

Remarkably, all four of those WGC events were won by current LIV Golf League players: Dustin Johnson in 2017 and 2019, Phil Mickelson in 2018, Patrick Reed in 2020.

What’s happened since LIV Golf arrived?

As debuts go, Chapultepec’s first LIV Golf event in 2025 knocked it out of the park. And when you’re 8,000 feet above sea level, you really knock it out of the park.

Bryson looked to be taking the individual title until deep into Championship Sunday, when Latin hero Joaco Niemann charged past him in front of a raucous crowd. 

On the team side, Jon Rahm’s Legion just did Legion things. They staged their own Sunday comeback, snatching the trophy away from Cam Smith’s Ripper GC with a nerveless final-day round of -9.

How will the course play this time?

You might think this is just a max-power course, right? One of those tracks where you can simply pick driver, hit the full send button and let the altitude do the work.

Well, not exactly. Sure, drives do fly at these great heights - some of our guys were averaging over 370 yards last time we came - but it’s not just ‘bomb and gouge’.

The fairways are tight, and if you stray offline, the rough takes a heavy toll thanks to the sticky kikuyu grass, known as one of the gnarliest hazards in golf.

Look at the scores from our debut event. Joaco won with a 3-day score of -16. Legion won with a score of -28. Great numbers, of course, but they’re not crazy low when you set them against other events. 

And in case you’re wondering, no-one broke 60 all weekend. Could it happen this time though? Well, everyone’s played the course now, they know its opportunities and its penalties, so you wouldn’t rule it out.

Who will it favor?

Well that depends on the gameplan.

On one hand, the big drivers won huge last time we came. Joaco and Bryson finished 1 and T2, and they also finished top two in the driving stats.

But then you scan downwards. Lucas Herbert tied for second with Bryson, despite finishing outside the top 10 in driving distance. The secret? He finished top of the putting stats. Rahm, in fourth, topped the charts for fairways hit. Tyrrell Hatton, a place further back, didn’t do anything spectacular, but he was just good in all areas.

You see, it’s not all about smashing the power button. This is a course that demands brain and brawn. And that means every player can plot a way to win.

How can I be there?

You can grab 3-day passes right now. These are the passes that let you walk the course beside the players, explore all the amazing holes and drink in the history of this remarkable place. Find your spot here.