The 138th British Open golf champship will be played this week, July 16-19, on one of the most spectacular of all Scottish links layouts––the Alisa Course at Turnberry, in Ayrshire, Scotland.
The coastal setting is ruggedly beautiful, with the Arran mountains
looming above the Irish Sea and the Firth of Clyde. Looming 16 miles
out to sea is the Ailsa Craig, arising like a conical hat 1,000 feet
out of the water. Locals say, "If you can’t see the Ailsa Craig, then it’s raining. And if you can see it, then it’s about to rain."
The forecast for the Open this week is for overcast, wind and some rain. As the Scots say, “If there’s nae wind, it’s nae golf.” Never
was that more true than during the first cold, blustery day of the 1986
Open when no player scored under par. Greg Norman managed to post a 63
in the second round and won. Tom Watson bested the field in 1977, while
Nick Price eagled a 50-foot putt on seventeen to win in 1994.
The
renowned estates manager, George Brown, and his greenskeepers, have
been improving the Alisa, which has been closed since last November.
The track was lengthened 247 yards, and 6 new tees and 21 new fairway
bunkers were added. Knee-high in heather and dotted with ball-grabbing
gorse, nearly half of the holes run, treeless and duneless, along the
Firth of Clyde and are open to the fearsome moods of the sea. The
landmark on the 9th fairway is a 100-foot lighthouse built in 1873, and
nearby are the ruins of a castle inhabited by Robert the Bruce, King of
Scotland in the early 14th century.
Unlike most Scottish links
layouts, which are rather flat, Alisa sports large, duney mounds and
oceans of undulations, creating a number of blind shots. The brisk
breezes are at your back on the way out, in your teeth on the return.
The 10th is a monster, a 452-yard dogleg left bordering the sea and
imperiled by a monumental bunker with a domed piece of turf in the
middle. Another famous hole, “Wee Burn” calls for a carry of 250 yards
to a green surrounded by Wilson’s Burn. Make the green or watch your
ball slide away into the creek; long-handled ball retrievers are
thoughtfully provided.
George Brown, Estate Mnger, Turnberry Golf Club
The
biggest changes that have readied the Alisa for the 2009 Open are on
the three finishing holes. The 16th fairway was realigned to create a
more challenging approach to a green protected by a deep burn (a
stream). The 17th, one of the course’s two par-5s and in the past
considered an eagle opportunity, has been lengthened to about 560
yards. And, the tee was moved on the 18th, creating a right-to-left
dogleg sure to result in final hole drama.
The Turnberry Golf Club was founded in 1902, when "Fernie of Troon" was commissioned by the 3rd
Marquess of Alisa to lay out a course for guests at the Turnberry
Hotel, which opened in 1906. Fernie was the professional of Troon Golf
Club (later to become Royal Troon) and he had won the Open Championship
at Musselburgh in 1883. His letterhead described him as “Champion
Golfer 1883, winner of 22 first class tournaments and practical golf
club and ball maker”.
In World Wars I and II, concrete was laid
on the fairways, transforming them into runways for RAF planes. In
1951, it reopened with a glorious redesign by famed Scottish course
architect, Phillip Mackenzie Ross, in time to host the 106th British
Open.
Stay tuned here for:
a review of the Turnberry Resort, headquarters for the British Open
the first British Open, in 1860
golf in Southwest Scotland
the Colin Montgomery Links Golf Academy at Turnberry
