Last week I had the chance to tour Old Tom Morris's original twelve-hole layout of Prestwick, which has been mowed out for a two-week revival this October to commemorate the 150th Open Championship. Sadly I missed the playing window by a few days - play starts today!
I had seen a map of the layout many years ago but walking it gave an entirely different appreciation for the size of it, and the challenge of it. I'm sorry this is not a photo tour, but it was rainy so I didn't take many photos.
The first hole is notoriously 578 yards from the corner of the property to the present 16th green, via the 14th, 13th and 16th fairways. It's hard to imagine players reaching it in three back in the day but Young Tom HOLED IT IN THREE during one of his Open wins!
The second is the Alps, in all its glory. It would have been a very full second shot over the hill and the bunker to the green, but there's really no other way to attack it, except to lay up off a bad drive. The wonderful ridges and valleys of the present 17th fairway are more in play with older equipment, and Old Tom must have really liked it, because this same 17th fairway is the landing area for FOUR of the twelve holes! With current health & safety rules in the UK, they will have to have very limited play along with spotters and marshals to get a few groups around each day.
The third is today's par-3 second hole and this is the SW extent of the course; today's opening hole was not in play back then.
The fourth hole was today's par-5 third, from the ladies' tee. The seventy-yard carry over the Cardinal bunker must have been daunting back then.
The fifth hole is Sea Headrig, today's 13th, played from beside the 3rd green. At 440 yards it was a par-5; that wild natural green makes a bit more sense when you are coming into it with a short third shot instead of a long second.
Now things start to get weird! The sixth is a cross-country dogleg right; you back up off the Sea Headrig green, play across onto the fairway of the Alps, and then continue around the corner and over a shoulder to come into today's second green [then the 3rd green] from the back left as we know it.
The seventh was a par-3, back across the Alps to a green in the hollow just before the green side bunkers on today's 15th hole.
The eighth was another par-3, and a really daunting one, playing backwards over a ridge in today's 15th fairway, The Narrows, to a green falling away behind a nasty small bunker. Old Tom made the first ace in championship play here, in 1869, but if you didn't hit a good shot there would be a lot of 4's and 5's.
The ninth is the hole I was most looking forward to seeing. You play from today's 18th tee backwards down the Alps fairway, and then down into the Cardinal bunker, where there was a green on the island of grass in the middle of the bunker! It is somewhat similar to the Alps in many respects, and the fact that it is less blind would be offset by having people on the fourth hole hitting second shots over your head while you're putting!
The tenth was a short par-4, playing across the Alps fairway yet again, into today's 15th green from the back. If you've ever wondered how they decided to have such a severe fallaway green for the present 15th, here is your answer: the green was designed for the other way around, and they didn't use it from the present line of approach until the course was expanded to 18 holes.
The eleventh is another par-3, playing over some beautiful ripply ground to a small green in today's 16th fairway, a bit short of the bunker known as Willie Campbell's Grave. You never notice these lovely contours on today's bigger course, because you are bashing driver well over them.
The twelfth was a difficult 417 yards home from there, back down the fairway of the opening hole, to a green in the SW corner of the site near the road. It's fairly flat once you get down to the fairway, but 417 yards was a long way back then.
The most remarkable part of it is that the entire twelve holes were contained in what are today's 2nd, 3rd, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th holes. I just measured it out on Google Earth at 33 acres. That's a lot of golf in 33 acres!
Many thanks to the club for letting us wander around out there and see it.