Featured Golf and Travel: Scotland
The Turnberry Ailsa Course is a well-known golf course in Turnberry, Ayrshire. it has played host to The Open Championship many times. The most famous of the 3 championships this course has hosted, (1977,1986 and 1994) was the infamous 'duel in the sun' by Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus. The second course, the Kintyre, hasn't hosted any main tournaments, but is still considered one of the best in Scotland. The Most famous feature of the Ailsa course is the lighthouse which looks out over the sea, it is in fact a functional lighthouse, which still does its job. In 1902 golf course designer Willie Fernie was commissioned by the Marquess of Ailsa to lay out a championship course. In 1906, a hotel was built, and the course began to take its modern structure. However, during the Second World War, Fernie's layout was paved over to make concrete runways. Phillip Mackenzie Ross was the man given the task of returning the course to its old glory after the war, after two years of painstaiking rebuilding, the course was reopened in 1951. The first of its three opens was the aforementioned 'duel in the sun' by tom watson and jack nicklaus. Watson was victorious, despite Nicklaus holing a monster birdie putt on the 18th. The 18th hole was renamed the duel in the sun not long after. The 1986 Open Championship was the next to be hosted at Turnberry, with Greg Norman winning by five shots. The 1994 Open championship was won by Nick Price from Zimbabwe. The winning margin this time was by a single stroke. The course is set to host the 2009 Open Championship. (Article sourced from Wikipedia.com) Photo of Par 3 - 15th Hole Turnberry Ailsa Course courtesy of relevantsearchscotland.co.uk.
Welcome to Ayrshire Scotland
Welcome to Ayrshire--land of Robert Burns, the Vikings, Scotland's premier horse-racing venue, and a brilliant array of fine Scottish links golf courses. Here you'll not only find Royal Troon (home of the 2004 British and 2008 Senior British Open Championships) and Turnberry (the other Ayrshire golf course on the British Open rota), and Prestwick (where the very first British Open was played in 1860), but a cluster of many other excellent Scottish golf courses as well. How rich is Ayrshire in golf courses? There are 32 golf courses within a 20 minutes drive from the town of Ayr, the largest town in Ayrshire. And because the Gulf Stream lies off the coast here and keeps the greens frost-free, golf can be played all year. Ayrshire is historical and picturesque. If you're a Robert Burns fan, this is the place to be. And for the golfer...well, Ayrshire's links-fringed coast is a feast. We're using the town of Ayr as the base for golfing in this part of Scotland. The Royal Burgh (pronounced boor-ah) of Ayr is the capital of Ayrshire, and is ideally positioned for all of your activites in this compact area. As always, you'll want to head for the local Tourist Information Centre, located in the Burns House, Burns Statue Square in Ayr. They have Ordnance Survey Maps of the area and lots of good intormation to enhance your stay in Ayrshire.