The Bottom Line
Prestwick Golf Club holds a special place in the history of Scottish Golf. Located just 30 minutes to the south west of Glasgow on the Ayrshire coast, it shares a boundary with Royal Troon on a stretch of land unlike any other in the world. Turnberry and its legendary Ailsa Course is only 20 minutes away, and a half-dozen British Open qualifying courses – including Kilmarnock Barassie, Glasgow Gailes, Western Gailes and Irvine Bogside – are less than 10 minutes from Prestwick itself; this is prime golfing territory.
- The birthplace of the British Open Championship
- Only 30 minutes from Glasgow and its International Airport
- Close to Turnberry and Royal Troon Golf Courses
- It can be a heartbreaker on a windy day
Description
- Don’t let Prestwick's daunting nature put you off. It's so close to Turnberry and Royal Troon it really shouldn't be missed.
- The idea should, of course, be to play all three great courses. What a special trip that would be.
- Finally, the 19th offers something really special: the local cure for a poor score - "a brim-full schooner of Kummel!"
Guide Review - Prestwick Golf Club and Course - Scotland
In 1860 Prestwick became the birthplace of the British Open Championship. The first twelve Open Championships were held at Prestwick; in all it has hosted 24 Opens, the last in 1926.
Prestwick is an old fashioned links course in the true sense of the word, a wind-swept, desolate area, but a masterpiece nonetheless. Designed by Old Tom Morris, the course is built on an undulating sandy stretch that links the beach to the inland. Its 6,544 yards follow the natural contours of the terrain and features some odd twists and turns and even some nasty blind shots.
The course was expanded tp 18 holes in 1883; of the original 12 greens, seven remain unchanged. Indeed, Prestwick has changed little over the last 150 years.
Prestwick is a wild kingdom where heather and gorse rule over all and which, in combination with the seemingly statutory, cavernous Scottish bunkers, can play havoc with what so often promises to be a respectable score.
Prestwick's fairways are narrow, its greens small and undulating, the approaches interesting. On a calm day, Prestwick can be forgiving, but when the wind blows in off the Firth of Clyde, you’d better lower your expectations for, in times like these, good scores are hard to come by.
Prestwick’s signature hole is the par 5 third, the location of the infamous "Cardinal Bunker" — a vast expanse of sand split by the fairway and faced with a wall of railroad ties; wind or no wind, this is tough one. And then, of course, there’s Pow Burn and its meandering waters to contend with. Willie Campbell's grave, a bunker on the current 16th hole where Willie, leading in the Open of 1887, took four shots to escape, and in so doing, lost the Championship to Willie Park Jr.
Other local Scottish Golf Courses include:
