Playing Royal Troon Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland - By Kevin McGimpsey

Royal Troon Golf Club (MAP) is situated on the West Coast of Scotland 35 miles south of Glasgow and close to the County Town of Ayr.

On entering the recently extended and beautifully refurbished Club House, we immediately saw the wonderful “Troon Clubs” on display in glass cabinets; the oldest surviving golf clubs in the world, dating back to the early 1700's. The clubs on view are actually replicas, as Royal Troon has lent the originals to the St Andrews Golf Museum. But never the less these elegant clubs are a joy to see and one wonders just what it must have been like to have played with them.

Just inside, near to the main entrance, is the Royal Troon pro shop; very well stocked with the latest golfing equipment and clothing as well as plenty of Troon mementos and a great place to browse around before going out to play.

Royal Troon is definitely a course of two halves! The front nine, with the sea on the right and an assisting breeze, seemed relatively easy to play on flat generously wide fairways. The course meandered peacefully out to its farthest point the world famous 8th hole known as the (Royal Troon) “Postage Stamp”. In the winter, a little disappointedly, Troon closes that famous green. However the alternative hole is still a great test. Played from the same tee and some 170 yards down hill, only the very best shot will find the small green, which is entirely surrounded by sand dunes.

Being lulled into a false sense of security on the front nine, the back nine was a huge reality check. Both the 10th and 11th holes proved to be very difficult with tight gorse lining both sides of the fairway ready to engulf a wayward shot. The 10th tee shot had a blind drive over a dune and if taking the wrong line resulted in a lost ball. Out nominated alternative signature hole has to be the 11th. This fearsome hole with a stroke index 1, has a railway line running down the right hand side and even after a good drive into the left to right wind were still left with 4 iron to the green. Score a par on these two holes and you know you are in for a good finish!

Troon’s fairways are superb and the golf ball sits up beautifully, inviting a crisp strike. The greens even in late November were pleasantly slick but true. They seemed somewhat flatter, with fewer undulations, than those usually found on other ‘Open’ courses. If your putting stroke was true, then so were the greens!

With some of the Championship tees being as far back as 150 yards from the yellow tees, it has to be said that the Royal Troon ‘Open’ course is a very different course to the one we played! But it was interesting recalling some of the famous shots from past Opens as we made our way around the course. In particular the bunker on the 18th fairway, over 300 yards from the back tee, that cost Greg Norman a title in 1989 when loosing out eventually in a play off or the delicate rescue club approach shot played to the 18th green by Todd Hamilton when he beat Ernie Eels in the 2004 play-off. Royal Troon has had its fair share if drama over the years.

A nice touch when playing Royal Troon is that there is no need to buy a Stroke Saver as all the sprinkler heads were marked with the yardage to the front of the greens! Which made selecting the correct club a much easier task.

And finally if you are looking for accommodation then try the Marine Hotel, a good 5 iron from the Club House. We were looked after extremely well during our stay here.

Prestwick Golf Club and Turnberry Golf Club are both within easy driving distance of Royal Troon, each having a history of Open Championship golf participation.

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