Yes, as a member's guest, we normally play from the medal (white) tees. But in the winter, that's a different course - right-to-left dog-leg on the 2nd, for instance and 10th played from the low, championship tee. But, more to the point, as the Open is approached the members are, for a time, encouraged to play from the championship tees - in order to tread them down a bit as they are used so infrequently. I played from most of these tees in 1988 or 9 (Calcavecchia's year) and coming back, into the wind, I was hard pressed simply to reach the fairway over the carry (of serious rough) and on some holes (such as the 13th) lost several balls before admitting utter humiliation. Mind you, there's a certain satisfaction to be obtained from bouncing a dreadful hook or slice off the spectator stands back onto the fairway. There are one or two ways in which the pros have it easier, but none you could count on....
My favourite recollection of that Calcavecchia year is playing with my friend a few weeks before the Open. For the first 7 or 8 holes we were accompanied by a photographer brandishing Leicas and Hasselbalds from every orifice and an aluminium step-ladder, too. He took pictures from every angle on every hole, before thanking us profusely as he left us somewhere about the Postage Stamp, saying he was a photographer from some American golf magazine. I have a feeling that those photographs may have been reproduced many times - NOT to show the architectural genius of Troon, but, MORE LIKELY, in an instructional article under the banner headline:
Whatever you do NEVER do this!