Which Confidential Guide grade do you give Royal Troon?

[Ally Mcintosh]

It really is a funny business, trying to rank golf courses.


As a counterpoint to both Ian and Jaeger’s posts, I say “why does a great course have to be full of features that modern architects pull ideas from”? And “I’d argue that Troon has less ‘snoozers’ than Prestwick, or North Berwick.”


I do appreciate that Ian says he has played the course many times but there is definitely generalised splits in perception of links courses: The obvious one is good players vs less good players seem to enjoy the toughness of the championship links…. But there also seems to be a split between those that grew up playing links club golf vs those that didn’t. You’ll find that even a significant number of Prestwick members consider Troon a better course.


I love them both but can’t decide if one is better than the other. An ideal world sees you as a member of both to give you two very different options depending on your mood of the day.


What I will say is that after Troon, Prestwick and Turnberry, I’d be hard pushed not to choose (Glasgow) Gailes over Western Gailes as my No.4 in Ayrshire

[Sean_A]

It really is a funny business, trying to rank golf courses.


As a counterpoint to both Ian and Jaeger’s posts, I say “why does a great course have to be full of features that modern architects pull ideas from”? And “I’d argue that Troon has less ‘snoozers’ than Prestwick, or North Berwick.”


I do appreciate that Ian says he has played the course many times but there is definitely generalised splits in perception of links courses: The obvious one is good players vs less good players seem to enjoy the toughness of the championship links…. But there also seems to be a split between those that grew up playing links club golf vs those that didn’t. You’ll find that even a significant number of Prestwick members consider Troon a better course.


I love them both but can’t decide if one is better than the other. An ideal world sees you as a member of both to give you two very different options depending on your mood of the day.


What I will say is that after Troon, Prestwick and Turnberry, I’d be hard pushed not to choose (Glasgow) Gailes over Western Gailes as my No.4 in Ayrshire

For me it’s much less about snoozers than it is about compelling, unusual holes and increased variety. IMO, and it’s a common situation, championship course trend toward codification and fairness. Rightly or not, I will generally side with variety and the unusual. Not sure what the big deal is anyway. I think one course is better than another. What’s far more important is that I would rather play one over the other. It doesn’t really matter which is best.

I would like to play Troon, but I’m not losing any sleep over it. Gailes would  be great to see again.

Ciao

[Pierre_C]

Ally,


    I recently played all the courses you mentioned, except for Turnberry.


I would ranked them in the following order favorite to least.


1. Prestwick - I really enjoyed the variety of holes. Weakness, my opinion, is 18th hole... good risk-reward, but not a difficult tee shot. Safe shot is left, towards 1st, or mid iron off tee then wedge into green.


2. W. Gailes -  great fairway contours, variety of greens, and challenging tee shots & back 9. Similar to Prestwick, I think the 18th at W. Gailes is weak. Tee shot in right or left roughs isn't too difficult to reach green in regulation. There was some maintenance being done on right a few weeks ago, so some of the area is GUR.


3. Troon - some good holes and challenging shots off tees. This recent trip I didn't enjoy playing the course very much - a lot had to do with the setup for the upcoming Championship. Friend, who is a member, believes Troon is one of the best test in golf.


4. G. Gailes - gets overlooked bc of neighbors, but is a good representation of golf in Ayrshire






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It really is a funny business, trying to rank golf courses.


As a counterpoint to both Ian and Jaeger’s posts, I say “why does a great course have to be full of features that modern architects pull ideas from”? And “I’d argue that Troon has less ‘snoozers’ than Prestwick, or North Berwick.”


I do appreciate that Ian says he has played the course many times but there is definitely generalised splits in perception of links courses: The obvious one is good players vs less good players seem to enjoy the toughness of the championship links…. But there also seems to be a split between those that grew up playing links club golf vs those that didn’t. You’ll find that even a significant number of Prestwick members consider Troon a better course.


I love them both but can’t decide if one is better than the other. An ideal world sees you as a member of both to give you two very different options depending on your mood of the day.


What I will say is that after Troon, Prestwick and Turnberry, I’d be hard pushed not to choose (Glasgow) Gailes over Western Gailes as my No.4 in Ayrshire

[Adrian_Stiff]

Its between a 6 or 7 for me.


1-3 meh, 5 good, 7-13 good. 17 good.  8 is a great obs.


If I had 10 plays Prestwick or Troon then 10-0 to Prestwick.


I also think Prestwick is the 2nd best in Ayrshire.


I have always evaluated a course as individual holes. Then added it up. So my Troon rating would be:
1- 5
2- 5
3- 5
4- 6
5- 8
6- 6
7- 9
8-10
9- 7
10- 7
11- 9
12- 8
13- 8
14- 6
15- 6
16- 5
17- 8
18- 6


So 6.8

[Niall C]

I also think Prestwick is the 2nd best in Ayrshire.

after Glasgow Gailes ? 


Niall

[Mark Pearce]

I absolutely love everything about Prestwick.  It has some of the best holes in the country and, obviously, way more than its fair share of quirk.  But it also has a handful of very mundane golf holes in the middle of the round.  Obviously, 5 is a notable hole and then Sea Headrig is an astonishingly great par 4.  But of the 7 holes between those, which are better than good, solid links holes?


Doesn't Prestwick get a better press than Troon because its starts with a bang, and finishes with one, whilst Troon starts with a run of good, solid links holes?