Prestwick Golf Course – Rewarding Golfing
A golfing vacation to the Ayrshire coast area of Scotland is a very rewarding experience. Not far from Glasgow, hence very easy to reach, there are rich pickings here for golfers in the numerous world class golf courses located in some of the most scenic spots you can imagine. Prestwick Golf Club, just half an hour south west of Glasgow has a common boundary with Royal Troon and five minutes drive from Open qualifying golf courses such as Glasgow Gailes, Western Gailes, Kilmarnock Barassie, and Irvine Bogside. Turnberry is also only twenty minutes away so you can have a golf vacation of a lifetime here.
Prestwick was the birthplace of the Open Championship in 1860. In fact the first twelve Opens were held at Prestwick and in all twenty four Opens have been played here, though none since 1925. A masterpiece by Old Tom Morris, Prestwick is an old fashioned links course at its finest, built on the undulating sandy stretch that links the beach to the inland. This 654 yard course follows the natural lay of the land and has some very odd angles. It began as a twelve-hole course that was expanded to 18 in 1883; seven of the original greens are unchanged even today.
Prestwick has an outstanding variety and quality of holes that meander between dunes and the narrow fairways. The typical Scottish deep, sleepered bunkers with steps to take you to their bottom, the heather and gorse around and the wind that blows make this a challenging course. The fairways are narrow; the undulating greens are firm and fast and there are several blind holes, some in hollows and others at an elevation. The placement of some of the pins calls for unique approach shots.
The opening first hole is an intimidating par 4 known as Railway which has tracks running along the right side. The best known hole at Prestwick is the short par 5 third hole known as the cardinal. It includes the notorious bunker known as the “Cardinal Bunker”, which is a stretch of sand divided by fairway and faced by railway sleepers or ties. Just ahead is the blind par 3 known as Himalayas – and all this is just a taste of things to come!