Ayrshire & the Western Islands

The west coast of Scotland, Ayrshire is famous for its legendary golf links such as Prestwick, Turnberry & Royal Troon. However there are many more to be discovered. Just 45 min from Glasgow Airport its the perfect destination for a quick trip or an extended visit.

Ayrshire

Royal Troon and Turnberry are both current Open Championship courses with the later having held some of the most memorable championships in history with Tom Watson featuring strongly in Opens 33 years apart.

The region has a strong link with Old Tom Morris, the first 'keeper of the greens' and designer of Prestwick 'Old Course'. He would also help setup the Prestwick Mechanics Club that would later become Prestwick 'St Nicholas'. Western Gailes is a superb links with an interesting configuration, out & back but with the club house being located in the middle.

Dundonald Links is a modern designed by Kylie Phillips which opened for play in 2003. Dundonald has since hosted the Scottish Open in 2017. The Irvine Golf Club & Kilmarnock 'Barassie' Links are both wonderful links courses that add great value to any golf trip. A little bit to the north are links of West Kilbride Golf Club and the parkland course of Largs Golf Club.

As well Irvine as Troon offer various forms of good accommodation. But the town of Prestwick is the centre of activity in the area with numerous pubs and restaurants to be found. For the history buffs is a visit to the Red Lion a must, Prestwick's first club house back in 1851.

Kintyre Peninsular

Further west from Ayrshire is the Kintyre Peninsular which was made famous by the 'Wings' song by Paul McCartney, 'Mull of Kintyre'. Kintyre has several very good courses including the natural links of Machrihanish Golf Club, designed by Old Tom Morris in 1879. Machrihanish Dunes which was build more recently by the Scottish architect David McLay Kidd.

Machrihanish Dunes has two wonderful hotels, the Royal Hotel in the town of Campbeltown close to the Springbank distillery . And the luxurious Ugadale Hotel and pub in the village off Machrihanish. On the southern tip of Kintyre is the hidden gem of Dunverty, although not long by modern standards, it is jam packed with quirky charm!

The Islands

Getting away from the mainland are the islands of Islay & Jura which are famous for their malt whisky. On Islay the recently renovated Machrie Hotel & Golf Club is a fabulous place to get any format all. Jura has a new golf course build by an Australian billionaire called Ardfin Estate. Ardfin has limited accommodation at the very high end of the market!

Course Profiles

Accommodation Western Scotland