British Open Golf Courses

St. Andrews Old Course
Handicap Limit – Men: 24, Ladies: 36. The oldest golf course in the world has many remarkable features which help make it so special to golfers around the world. It is the Home of Golf where golf was first played 600 years ago and yet it remains a real test of golf for today's champions. Despite its reputation and status, it is a public course. The course is known for its particular physical features including 112 bunkers, some of which are especially famous e.g. 'Hell' on the long 14th, 'Strath' on the short 11th and the Road Bunker at what is probably the most famous golf hole in the world, the 17th or Road Hole (so called because a road - which is in play - runs hard against the back edge of the green). The Old Course’s truly remarkable feature is that in today's modern golfing world, a course which has evolved over six centuries, remains a true test of championship golf.

Kingsbarns Golf Club
Located directly on the North Sea coast only six miles from St. Andrews, Kingsbarns is without a doubt one of the most breathtaking links courses ever developed. Kingsbarns Golf Links is a real one of a kind and contrasts with Scotland's other famous links courses in that it is a new, man-made development. The sea figures prominently on every hole and one's senses are continually pricked with the sights, sounds and smells of the ocean spray. The links boasts spacious fairways, which roll and twist through majestic dune ridges and hollows, while it's large inviting greens present the golfer with subtle challenges.

Carnoustie Golf Course
Regarded by many including Walter Hagen and Gary Player as one of the best links in the world, Carnoustie, though certainly long, is not a course for the unthinking big-hitter. With judgment of wind and distance critical, every tee shot needs careful placement to set up an approach to the green. Whilst there may be little dramatic background scenery, the beauty of Carnoustie is to be found in the golf course itself. The layout is such that no two consecutive holes face the same direction, a factor that does nothing for the golfer in finding their rhythm in the face of often-stiff winds. Carnoustie's famous burns that snake their way around the course - Jockie's Burn and the Barry Burn represent two more obstacles to posting a respectable tally.

Western Gailes Golf Club
The reputation of Western Gailes as one of the game's finest and more exacting courses has spread world wide, as evidenced by its numerous visitors from well furth of Scotland 's shores. Our setting is imposing being situated between the railway and the sea, a fact that accounts for both being very much in play as major features. It is special amongst seaside courses that are no more than two holes wide, in having its clubhouse in a more or less central position. The course, 6639 yards off the medal tees is, as the standard scratch score rating of 74 indicates, never other than an excellent test of true links golf.

Dundonald Golf Club
The newest addition to Loch Lomond Golf Club is Dundonald. Designed by Kyle Phillips, one of the game’s top architects, it has been recognized as one of the best new courses in the world (Robb Report 2004). Situated by the sea near the legendary town of Troon, Dundonald’s soil and climate conditions make the course suitable for year-round play. “My desire was to create a championship Ayrshire-style links course that felt and played as though it was an old rediscovered course, by integrating newly constructed features with existing site features.” Kyle Phillips, course designer.

Prestwick Golf Club
Founded in 1851, the setting for the very first Open, this is one of the best known and most distinguished clubs in Scotland. The Club is situated just half an hour south west of Glasgow on the famous Ayrshire coast, a stretch of land unequalled anywhere in the world for prime golfing terrain. Prestwick is every sense a true seaside course with traditional links turf.