Scotland's Turnberry -- the ultimate links experience

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Arriving at the Turnberry Hotel and Golf Resort is an imposing experience that can only impress guests by the stately entrance required. Turning into the property from the main road, you must climb a long sweeping driveway, overlooked in rather pompous style by the handsome, Edwardian hotel sitting high atop the hill to your left. To the right are dramatic views across a golf course and the Irish Sea to Ailsa Craig and the Mull of Kintyre.

Arriving at Turnberry is something like being granted an audience with The Queen

Turnberry, the legend

Turnberry's Kintyre Course is ranked among Scotland's top 25

Turnberry's Ailsa Course hosts its fourth British Open in 2009

Turnberry's famous lighthouse warns of a tough round ahead

Trunberry's plush accommodations match the golf

Horseback riding along the beach is among Turnberry's many off-course activities

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Following the prescribed 10 mph speed limit, you ceremoniously pass the lower reaches of manicured lawns and rose gardens, always beneath the unflinching stare of the hotel. It's as though all new arrivals must first pay homage to this grand old lady before being accepted and granted admittance through the entrance, less ceremoniously tucked away in the back of the building.

This is Turnberry and golf aficionados from around the globe flock here each year to pay their respects and not only experience the grandeur of staying in one of Scotland's finest hotels, but also playing one of the best links courses in the world. For those who would prefer to skip staying in the fancy hotel and just play golf, sorry, golf on Turnberry's golf courses is strictly limited to residents of the hotel.

There are two championship layouts at Turnberry and although it's the three-time British Open venue, The Ailsa Course, that attracts all the attention, The Kintyre Course refuses to be ignored and compliments its more celebrated brother perfectly.

The Kintyre originally opened in 1909 as The Arran Course, a complete redesign was undertaken by noted English architect, Donald Steel in 2001 and what emerged, amazed everyone. Gone was Turnberry's so-so, second layout that had been good enough to be used as a warm-up round for the main attraction, but little else. In its place the re-named, Kintyre Course had legs of its own, presenting a real challenge that makes no attempt to impersonate its older brother. By 2005 the new layout was ranked among Scotland's top 25 courses and it's still climbing. Miss playing this handsome gem and you'll regret it.

While younger brother has been successfully establishing its own name and newly discovered reputation, The Ailsa Course has not sat complacently on the sidelines, perhaps signs of a little rivalry between the siblings. For the time being, it's still The Ailsa Course, the three-time, soon to be four-time, British Open venue that visitors want to play.

Back in 1945, the last thing Turnberry resembled was the setting for a couple of championship golf courses. The rolling expanse of fairways and carefully manicured greens had been unceremoniously leveled and converted into an airbase during the Second World War. Concrete runways and aircraft parking areas, gigantic fuel storage tanks, a control tower, hangars, warehouses and prefabricated barracks had all been built on the courses of this previously, pristine Ayrshire golf paradise.

After the war, Mackenzie Ross, the original architect of Turnberry's two courses, was brought in to resurrect his work and by 1951 the job was completed -- Turnberry had been restored to its rightful place as one of the world's premiere golf resorts.

Accolades have been heaped on The Ailsa Course ever since. Many have called it the Pebble Beach of Scotland, while others consider Pebble Beach to be the Turnberry of America. Golf World Magazine ranked The Ailsa as the # 3 course in all of Britain and Ireland in their 2002 rankings -- by 2006 they had revised their evaluation, promoting Ailsa to the # 1 position and the course is consistently featured as one of the worlds best dozen layouts. Whichever way you slice it, play Turnberry's Ailsa and you are playing one of the world's premiere courses.

The level of maintenance here compares with the best and the variety of challenges - from strong stirring holes, many of which test to the extreme, to others that encourage more aggressive play - are seldom found on a single course. Above all, Ailsa is a very honest layout, void of any trickery and while it provides more than enough bold-faced drama, it also presents subtleties in profusion and any thinking golfer will be well rewarded.

In a course with no weak holes, the first three par-4's that lead down to the sea, may be the least strong. But this is only Ailsa's gentlemanly way of introducing itself, of allowing you both to become familiar with each other -- this is the opening act for the star-studded show that follows. By the time you reach the third green, formal pleasantries have been completed and the battle has commenced.

The sequence of holes running from the 4th to the 11th could be the best eight consecutive holes of any links course in the world. Hugging the shoreline they tease, tantalize and frustrate with an ever-changing set of examinations of golfing abilities as exists...and there's no let up. This is Scottish links golf at its very best and a time for even the most accomplished players to come to the realization, nobody, not even they, ever masters this game.

The challenge provides some respite for the next three holes and then, just as you have caught your breath, Ailsa shows that the fight is far from over. From the dangerously long, par-three 15th to the 16th where the green is jealously protected by a meandering burn, the holes become increasingly difficult in the lead up to the grand finale.

The 18th hole portrays a surprising, though deceiving calm, until you recall this was the stage for the most dramatic finish in British Open history. It was here in 1977 that Tom Watson beat Jack Nicklaus by a single stroke and it all took place on this very hole.

At the end of the round, there will be no doubt The Ailsa is deserving of its position as the best course in Britain and Ireland and one of the very best links in existence. No matter whether your round is successful or not, you can only leave this true champion, thankful that at least you had the privilege of playing it. For more ideas and suggestions on how to include Turnberry in your Scottish golf trip, click here.

©2008 David Brice / Golf International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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