- West Scotland
Ayrshire
About Golf in Ayrshire?
Ayrshire is located in the South West of Scotland and is perhaps best known for its agriculture, with potatoes and other root vegetables grown in abundance throughout the region.
The Ayrshire Golf Association controls golf to the south west of Glasgow and this administrative body presides over 63 clubs (whose members play on 44 different courses in Ayrshire and the Isle of Arran).
— Golf Courses
Golf Courses You Can Play in Ayrshire
Glasgow Gailes
Willie Park Jr &Paul Kimber
Style: Links
Par: 71
Glasgow Gailes course designer, former Open Championship winner, Willie Park always believed this links to be one of his best creations.
The classic layout is tough, fair and traditionally Scottish, wild heather and gorse define the fairways and the greens are guarded by strategically placed bunkers.
Sandy Lyle, former Open and Masters Champion describes the course as “one of the world’s truly great tests of links golf’ and it has been selected by the R&A as a final qualifying venue for The Open Championship every time it has been at Royal Troon and Turnberry.
At 6903 yards long from the back tees, Gailes is a great test of golf whilst the kinder forward tees provide a fine test for players of all abilities.
West Kilbride
Old Tom Morris
Style: Links
Par: 71
The West Kilbride Golf Club lies on a beautiful strip of links land and raised beach adjacent to the coastal village of Seamill, West Kilbride and is the most northerly of Ayrshire’s true links courses.
With its magnificent views of Arran, Bute and Cowal it makes a wonderful venue for the game and a fine test of golf.
In similar fashion to St. Andrews, the course follows an anti-clockwise route with a loop at the far end around the turn. Unlike St. Andrews though, out of bounds features frequently and nerves of steel are often required.
The entire course is exposed to even the slightest breeze but with the strongest of winds coming from the South West and North West these are the times you will experience links golf at its most demanding.
Even in benign weather take care – holes like the 3rd and 13th will catch out those that release a careless drive (or second shot) and the 16th is a links masterpiece to relish.
Western Gailes
Designer: Unknown
Style: Links
Par: 71
Western Gailes dates back over 125 years to 1897, when the earliest golfers used to arrive on the train south from Glasgow.
Stretching to over 7,000 yards from the championship tees, the entire links lies between the sea and railway.
The opening holes head north, before a stretch of nine consecutive holes played in the opposite direction, with the sea on the golfer’s right.
The closing quintet of holes include the unforgettable 17th, one of the most testing par 4s in all of Scotland.
The original architect of this unusually routed links is unknown but Tom Simpson probably had at least some influence, as, more recently, did Fred Hawtree.
Kilmarnock (Brasserie)
Theodore Moon & Paul Kimber
Style: Links
Par: 71
Designed by Theodore Moon in 1887, Kilmarnock Brasserie has a luxurious history of offering a magnificent links golf experience for well over a century.
The golf club is renowned for its high level of service and Scottish welcome it provides to all golfers that challenges its fairways.
The Brasserie Links is an Open Championship Qualifying venue and is maintained to the highest of standards. The greens here are renowned to be some of the best putting services of the prime selection of courses in Ayrshire.
The club opened a further nine holes in the recent past to give a bit more variety, which has gone done well with the golfing community.
The course is a tough affair with the occasional dog leg, large contoured greens, deep bunkers, as well as the standard links terrain and prevailing wind. The practice facilities found here offer everything you need to warm up for the big event and excellent layout of the Brasserie Links.
Royal Troon
George Strath, Willie Fernie & Jamie Braid
Style: Links
Par: 72
Royal Troon Old Course is the challenging test of your golfing ability. With the wind to contend with, and deep rough interspersed with gorse and broom, accurate shot making is essential.
If the test of a championship course is, as many claim, the quality of the champions it produces, then Troon can be content with the list of champions that the Ayrshire links has produced.
The two course record holders are Greg Norman and Tiger Woods. Now you begin to understand why Royal Troon is seen as one of the most thorough examinations known to the game of golf.
This course is perhaps most famous for its par 3 8th hole, the Postage Stamp, where veteran Majors champion Gene Sarazen got down in 1 and 2 on subsequent rounds of the 1973 Open Championship - a dramatic display of golf watched by millions on TV.
Dundonald Links
Willie Fernie & Kyle Phillips
Style: Links
Par: 72
The first Dundonald Links layout was designed by 1883 Open Champion Willie Fernie, and opened on March 23rd, 1911.
At 6700 yards, it was one of the longest golf courses of its time. Following two World Wars, the site was almost unrecognisable.
Dundonald Links was purchased by Loch Lomond Golf Club in early 2003 to provide its global Membership with a traditional links challenge.
They enlisted California-based architect Kyle Phillips, who had recently built Kingsbarns, to create a links masterpiece right here on the Ayrshire coast.
When it comes to Golf in Scotland, Dundonald Links has quickly become “must play”. Our Par 72 course, located at the very heart of Ayrshire, offers a classic links golf experience for all to savour.
Generous fairways, undulating greens and a wide choice of tees make it an enjoyable test for everyone that visits us.
Prestwick
Old Tom Morris
Style: Links
Par: 71
Prestwick Golf Club is one of the oldest golf clubs in the world and stakes claim as the original host to the British Open in 1860.
The course was only 12 holes back then, but was later stretched to 18 by Old Tom Morris.
Today, the Open has moved next door to Royal Troon when its in this neck of Ayrshire, but Prestwick still demands utmost respect from first-time guests, as it features narrow fairways and rugged dunes creating many blind shots.
Players are most advised to take caddies along. Prestwick's clubhouse also features a wonderful collection of golf memorabilia.
Prestwick St Nicholas
Old Tom Morris
Style: Links
Par: 69
Prestwick St Nicholas Golf Club is the 26th oldest Golf Club in the world. Old Tom Morris, winner of four Open Championships, was a founding/honorary member of the club, a traditional Scottish links golf course occupying a prime position on the shores of the Firth of Clyde.
The deep bunkers, running fairways, undulating greens and strands of gorse test the skills of players of all abilities and at 6044 yards, this par 69 course is a must for amateur golfers of all ages.
The splendid clubhouse sits yards from the shoreline and the finely manicured fairways offer year-round golf on a firm and generally frost-free footing. The course is playable when many others are not.
Turnberry (Alisa)
Mackenzie Ross & Martin Ebert
Style: Links
Par: 71
Home of four Open Championships, the legendary Ailsa course has hosted some of the most iconic names in golf.
Reborn in June 2016 at the hands of renowned architect, Martin Ebert, the transformation makes the Ailsa the number one ranked golf course in the UK & Ireland. Set alongside the glorious Ayrshire coastline, with Arran and Ailsa Craig as a stunning backdrop, it is one of the finest golfing destinations in the world.
Named after the third Marquess of Ailsa, who owned the land on which it was built, this par-71, 6,474-yard Championship course is one of golf's storied places.
Home to four Open Championships, Ailsa has shaped some of the most remarkable moments in the tournament's history.
Set alongside the glorious Ayrshire coastline, with Arran and Ailsa Craig as a stunning backdrop, it is one of the finest golfing destinations in the world.
Turnberry
(King Robert)
Martin Ebert
Style: Links
Par: 71
Martin Ebert, the course architect of the reborn Ailsa, was asked to create the King Robert The Bruce as a virtually new course replacing the former Kintyre as the sister course to the reborn Ailsa course.
It occupies largely the same footprint as the old second course, but every hole is either new or significantly modified.
The overall design concept for the course has been to introduce fairway bunkers with sand faces and marram grass “eyebrow” faces tempting “risk or reward” shots whilst greenside bunkers are shaped and neatly re-vetted to require perfect recovery shots.
—Where To Stay
Accommodation in Ayrshire
- Marine Hotel, Troon
- Trump Turnberry, Turnberry
- Old Loans Inn, Troon
- The Gailes Hotel, Irvine
- Ailsa View, Girvan
- West Scotland
Kintyre
Golfing in the Kintyre Region?
One of Scotland’s best-kept secrets in the Kintyre peninsula is Machrihanish Dunes. Golf in Ayrshire is a little less known for its golf, but do not be deceived, it includes three fantastic courses designed by the famous James Braid.
The Kintyre Peninsula has everything you would expect from a Scottish holiday on the west coast, from whisky and gin distilleries, to sandy beaches, to walking trails and golf courses.
— Golf Courses
Golf Courses You Can Play in Kintyre
Machrihanish
Old Tom Morris
Style: Links
Par: 70
Machrihanish Golf course is located near the southern tip of the Kintyre peninsula, approximately 35 miles across the sea from western Scotland and 20 miles across the sea from Northern Ireland.
The Championship Course is a historic Old Tom Morris links, set in natural dunes, overlooking Machrihanish Bay.
Machrihanish is as remote, rugged and natural as exists in golf. A regular feature on GB&I and world lists, the Championship Course is a collectors item for purists.
The iconic Championship layout is one of the great unaltered links the world over. The course is a traditional out-and-back links that wraps around Machrihanish Beach heading out away from the village, before turning back for home at the halfway mark.
Machrihanish
Dunes
Old Tom Morris
Style: Links
Par: 72
In Scotland, true links golf courses are not created, they are born of the land. More than 130 years ago, Old Tom Morris recognized the potential for great golf here in this rugged, romantic corner of Scotland.
The 7,082 yard, 18-hole links course flows effortlessly to, from, and along the sea, inviting you to step back in time to the days when Old Tom Morris laid out the neighboring links and Willie Campbell plotted the Machrie Golf Links on the nearby island of Islay – visible from Machrihanish Dunes.
The routing, as well as the positioning of its tees and greens, was dictated by the lay of the land – and the presence of several endangered species of flora and fauna.
Machrihanish Dunes is the only course ever created on a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)
Machrihanish Dunes is a course that mirrors David McLay Kidd’s love of the land and his ability to derive the fullest reward from its potential.
Dunaverty
Designer: Unknown
Style: Links
Par: 66
Golf Club is situated by the village of Southend in a glorious setting on the south coast of the Kintyre peninsula.
The course is a fine Par 66, 18 hole natural links extending to 4,799 yards.
However, both high and low handicappers alike will enjoy its testing layout, the springy turf on the undulating fairways and arguably one of the finest set of greens in Scotland.
Spectacular views over the landscape, Sanda Island to the south, Ailsa Craig and Ayrshire to the east and Northern Ireland to the south west, will add to the golfer’s enjoyment of this challenging and exceptionally well maintained course.
—Where To Stay
Accommodation in Kintyre
- The Ugadale Hotel, Machrihanish
- The Royal Hotel, Campbeltown
—Where To Golf
