Prestwick

The original 12 holes at Prestwick were laid out by Old Tom Morris and were used for the first Open Championship in 1860. The Open was played 24 times at Prestwick, the last being 1925, after which the crowds became too large to control on the tight layout.

The course has been described over the ages with words such as “sand, heather, cavernous bunkers, sloping fairways, the menacing Pow Burn, fast, true and undulating greens, delightful views of the isle of Arran and of course the wind”.

Although the game has moved on and the Open cannot visit its birthplace any more, it is still an exceptional and distinctive place. It is still an extremely difficult test of golf with deep bunkers and high dunes giving a taste of a bygone era and a sense of history prevail to this very day.

46th in the Top 100 Courses in the British Isles 2002