A Photo Tour of Turnberry's Ailsa Course

[James Boon]

Following my game at Southerness a couple of months ago, I was lucky enough to be invited to play at Turnberry. Like Southerness, Turnberry is best known as Mackenzie Ross’s work, but it has a longer history of a golf course being on the site than his layout of 1951. Most people will have heard that the course existed in various guises before the Second World War and was then turned into a base for aircraft, then after the war Mackenzie Ross created the course that we pretty much see today. This history of the course and its routing is discussed here:
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,27257.msg516215/topicseen.html#msg516215
(Please excuse my laziness in linking to other threads and websites rather than pulling the best bits out and including them within my own writing buts its taken me over 3 months to get round to finishing this photo thread, so I figure this is better than nothing!)
Also worth looking here for a little more background:
http://www.turnberry.co.uk/history

So Turnberry is a well enough known course for me not to need to waffle on about its history any more. However, its worth noting that prior to the 2009 Open, McKenzie & Ebert did make some changes to the course, most notably the new tee on 10 and the new fairway on 16 which allowed for new back tees on 17. Their changes are all highlighted in the link on this thread:
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,39714.0.html

All yardages are from the white tees

Hole 1
350 yards
Par 4
This plaque on the first tee reminds you of the courses Open Champions


The first few holes make for a reasonably steady introduction. The opening tee shot where the gorse looks threatening, as do the bunkers, but and iron or hybrid will keep you short of all the trouble yet still leave a short iron to the green


Looking back from the fairway at the starters hut and clubhouse

And up the hill to the hotel


Approach to the first and a closer look at the green



Hole 2
379 yards
Par 4
Tee shot on the second, back into the win on the day I played


Approach to the green, with the first glimpse of the lighthouse away in the distance


Hole 3
393 yards
Par 4
The drive on the 3rd, downwind again, quite encouraging though the valley


The approach with agricultural land behind, shades on Southerness here?


Hole 4
165 yards
Par 3
The tee on 4, pretty close to the sea and Ailsa Craig in the distance


This must have been a pretty scary shot when the water came right up to the edge you can see, but its still not an easy shot


A closer look at the raised up green, with drop off left and nasty looking bunker short right


Looking back towards the tee


Hole 5
413 yards
Par 4
Into the wind, this is a tough hole with the whole of it set within the dune valley


The green as seen from the 3rd tee earlier in the round, and then from the fairway



A closer look at the well defended green


And looking back down the hole, you can see the extent of the dogleg


Hole 6
222 yards
Par 3
The course is really starting to show its teeth now. Into the wind, this may well need everything you have, but there is quite a drop off short of the green and the hollow off to the right is not to be messed with



Looking back from the next hole, you can see how the hotel dominates the landscape


Hole 7
469 yards
Par 5
The tees sit atop the dunes looking down over the beech


Drive over a burn which shouldn’t really come into play, and then the fairway turns hard left. Bunkers on the right through the fairway and a rough edges bunker inside the corner of the dogleg.


This is a rough edged bunker on the left that the new greenkeeper has added recently. I wonder what the chaps at the R&A think?


Second shot to this par 5, with a somewhat runway straight fairway


The approach to the green. Just to the left of here is a large hollow, as seen from the next tee on the photo below



Hole 8
432 yards
Par 4
Drive over the hollow with all the trouble down the right hidden from view


The rolling fairway just short of the green again obscures some of the trouble around the green


See here from short left, you can see the tees of the famous 9th raised up high behind this 2 tier green



Seen from behind, again the slight dogleg of the hole is evident


Hole 9
412 yards
Par 4
The back tee at the 9th hole as seen from the more sensible white tees…

The view over to Arran from the back tee

…and this is the view the players in the Open get


Off to the left is the Stevenson lighthouse with Robert the Bruce’s castle somewhere in the rocks below


Still not an easy shot from the further forward tees, aiming at the cairn in the middle of the hogs back fairway



The approach from just past the cairn


A closer look at the green. Even without bunkers its not an easy hole if you miss this green


So that’s 3,235 yards, par 35 for the front nine and yet we are in the middle of a fine stretch so more to follow shortly

Cheers,

James

[James Boon]

Hole 10
447 yards
Par 4
For the last Open, a new tee was built on the 10th, bringing the see more into play. This is the everyday tee with a view of the new back tee and lighthouse beyond


This is the view from the back tee. I’m sure the cliff and cave aren’t too scary for the calibre of player who will be teeing up from here, but the change of angle brings the rocky beach on the left more into the equation


View from the white tee, with the new centreline bunkers very clearly in view


Here is the approach, with the built up 11th tee as a backdrop to the green


The donut bunker just short of the green is a bit of an odd feature, but does give the hole a bit of its own character


Some great contours just short of the green


And the view back down the hole from the next tee



Hole 11
160 yards
Par 3
Turning away from the sea, the back tee sits out on a small peninsula


For such a fantastic location, its not a stunning hole, but I’d say its actually better than it first appears, with some interesting contours to the green



Hole 12
388 yards
Par 4
The first of 3 holes that run inland over the flatter ground where there would once have been the runways, however, there is still a good degree of movement to the fairway and the memorial sits up high on a dune to the right of the green




The memorial which commemorates the various airmen who lost their lives while based at Turnberry during the First and Second World Wars


Hole 13
380 yards
Par 4
The tee is up on a dune playing down to a flatter fairway which doglegs to the right. Again, the hotel begins to dominate the landscape.


The green is quite a surprise, pushed up on all asides above the fairway. Its seemed quite artificial in comparison to a lot of the other holes, but I couldn’t say for certain?



Hole 14
402 yards
Par 4
This tough par 4 turns back towards the sea


Hole 15
183 yards
Par 3
A great par 3 that runs along the edge of some dunes, with quite a fall off to the right



Excellent bunkering and contours around the green


Hole 16
422 yards
Par 4
Another big change for the last Open, with this fairway being moved off to the left to make more room for a back tee on the next hole


A tough approach over the burn, with a wicked drop off down towards it for anyone who comes up short or right



Looking back across the burn from the next tee


Hole 17
498 yards
Par 5
The view from the tee makes it appear a very tight drive on this great par 5 and its quite tight along its full length playing through the dunes



Not a bunker to find yourself in after your second shot, and a couple just beyond it make you really think on your layup



The view looking back down the hole


Hole 18
378 yards
par 4
The view from the right hand tee used for general play. The Championship tee is off to the left making it quite a dogleg left from there


The line of bunkers up the left of the fairway including another rough edged one


The hotel makes for quite a backdrop to the closing hole


The humps and hollows short left


So the back nine is 3,258 yards, par 35 giving a total of 7,211 yards, par 70.

I must admit I loved Turnberry. Most of the Championship links I’ve played haven’t exactly excited me (I’m thinking Hoylake, Nairn, Carnoustie all of which are a great challenge but not necessarily great characters) so I wasn’t expecting much from Turnberry. Also a lot of what I’ve seen has concentrated on the hotel, lighthouse and sea view, which is understandable, but makes the rest look flat and dull in comparison. However, in the flesh the course has more than enough character and interest, and challenge also, without having to rely on the picturesque. So adding all the elements together makes for a great course!

Cheers,

James

[Adam Lawrence]

Martin Ebert told me he'd found a really great spot for a new eleventh green, further back and left, which would permit the tenth green to be moved right next to the water, where the next tee is now. Would be interesting to see if that ever happens.

[Matt MacIver]

A great pictorial review.  I love this place, mostly for the memories but also for some great holes - #5 was the first great one but there were several others.  Funnily I see nothing special about 18 and would prefer a more "interesting" hole for a finisher, but there's no arguing that it produces all the drama you'd ever want during the Majors so I wouldn't change a thing. 

[Tony_Muldoon]

James I love Turnberry so thanks for the reminder why.  It has that sense of grandeur that RSG and RCD have.

However for some reason I have it just below the top tier of courses wand I’m not sure why. Perhaps the inspiration  for the greens aren’t quite upto the setting?  Anyway I’ve never understood why the Arblemeister doesn’t get it – I suspect he’s just being contrary .


Adam I think the 11th is the sole letdown on the property so let’s blow it up and start again. However didn’t I read that the Australian management group who won the long leasehold to run the hotel, were using Norman as their consulting architect or has that changed?

[John Mayhugh]

This is probably the best set of Turnberry photos that I've seen. The course looks more interesting (beyond the views) than I've previously thought.  Thanks.

[Jackson C]

However for some reason I have it just below the top tier of courses wand I’m not sure why. Perhaps the inspiration  for the greens aren’t quite upto the setting?  Anyway I’ve never understood why the Arblemeister doesn’t get it – I suspect he’s just being contrary.


[/quote]

I wonder if one of the issues that keeps Turnberry out of the very top is overexposure to the pro tournaments.
Watching the seniors play it this summer, I was surprised at how short it played for them, even at the tips.  The finishing stretch was really short.  Driver wedge on 16, FW long iron on 17, and FW short iron on 18.

[Eric Smith]

Thanks for the wonderful tour, Master Boony. You really have shown quite a bit more of the Ailsa than I have seen anywhere before. Other than The Open Championship on ABC of course.

A few of us have an afternoon tee time here tomorrow and I don't know that I could possibly be more excited!