Europe 2022
The Courses
We will have 8 full days to play golf on some of the best and most famous courses in the world!
I selected 5 bucket list courses as well as some other fine courses that are a lot of fun. I also scheduled an warm-up round on the Portland Course at Troon for those who want to get out right away after traveling.
Players will have the option of playing a second round of golf each day, and I would love to point you to some other real fun courses to check out.
NOTE: These are walking courses. So, players are expected to walk the course. You can rent a "Trolley" (a golf pull cart) or hire a caddy. I recommend using a Caddy on the Bucket courses, if your budget allows. Your golf experience will be greatly enhanced by their course knowledge, interesting stories, and the freedom of just walking unburdened.
The Schedule
​Basic Schedule:
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Optional Warm-up Round Portland Course - Troon
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Prestwick St. Nicholas / Sunset West Kilbride Golf Club
- Turnberry
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Western Gailes
- St. Andrews The Old Course
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St. Andrews The Castle Course
The Royal Troon
Seaside Opening
The Old Course begins alongside the sea, running southwards in a line for the first six holes. This opening section offers full visibility and plenty of space, but does still require accuracy to avoid deep bunkers. Many good rounds have been fashioned through low scores here, often aided by prevailing downwind conditions.
Rise in Complexity
Beginning with the seventh, the Old Course turns further inland, while simultaneously changing direction, on each of its next six holes, among hillier dunes and thicker vegetation, including gorse and whins, to severely punish offline shots. This sector, with two blind tee shots on the tenth and 11th, marks a sharp rise in difficulty from the opening holes.
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Long Finish
With the 13th hole, the player turns northwards for a long, very stern finish, running parallel to the opening stretch. This comprises three long par 4s, two tough par 3s, and a challenging par 5 (the 16th) with its fairway bisected at the halfway point by a ditch, which can only very rarely be carried from the tee. The player very often has to face a strong prevailing wind.
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Famous Holes
Royal Troon is home to both the longest and shortest holes in Open Championship golf. Regarded as one of the top holes in the world, the par-3 8th hole ("Postage Stamp") measures a scant 123 yards (112 m), but its diminutive green measures a mere 2,635 square feet (293 sq yd; 245 m2). Two holes earlier, the par-5 6th ("Turnberry") extends to a lengthy 601 yards (550 m).
The 11th hole ("The Railway") is one of the most difficult holes in major championship golf. Now a long par-4, a blind tee shot has a long carry over gorse with out of bounds all along the railway on the right. The lengthy approach shot is to a small green that falls away, with nearby out of bounds.
A Truely Grand Links Course!
Nine-time host of The Open Championship
Its Old Course is one of the host courses for The Open Championship, one of the major championships on the PGA Tour and European Tour. The Club has hosted the Open nine times, the most recent in 2016.
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Past Open champions
Past Open champions at Royal Troon include Justin Leonard, Mark Calcavecchia, Tom Watson, Tom Weiskopf, Arnold Palmer, Bobby Locke, and Arthur Havers. Six consecutive Opens at Troon were won by Americans, from 1962 through 2004, ended by Henrik Stenson of Sweden in 2016.
Turnberry
The Ailsa Course,
redesigned by Mackenzie Ross between 1949 and 1951, and again by Martin Ebert between 2015 and 2016, has staged The Open Championship on four occasions (1977, 1986, 1994, and 2009). It has also hosted many other important golf tournaments, including the Women's British Open in 2002, the Walker Cup in 1963, the Amateur Championship in 1961, 1983, 1996, and 2008, and the Senior Open Championship on seven occasions, 1987–90, 2003, 2006, and 2012.
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The other two courses at Turnberry are the Kintyre Course and the nine-hole Arran Course. The Kintyre Course, opened in 2001, is another championship standard course that has hosted final qualifying for The Open. It was designed by Donald Steel and built on the foundations of the old Arran layout, which had been rebuilt along with the Ailsa Course following World War II. During the war, the resort was used as a hospital and the courses were flattened and paved for use as a major RAF airfield. The new Arran Course opened in 2002.
In 2003, the 18th hole on the Ailsa Course, "Ailsa Hame", was renamed "Duel in the Sun" as homage to the battle between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus in 1977; this is also the name of a sports bar at the club house. In 2009, Watson, 59, held a one-shot lead when he bogeyed this hole in the final round, eventually losing the Open Championship in a playoff.
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My favorite course of all! Dramatic scenery, history and a spectacular golf resort in all ways!
Carnoustie
Like a dear friend. There to comfort and challenge.
Carnoustie
Carnoustie Golf Links is in Carnoustie, Angus, Scotland. Carnoustie boasts four courses - the historic Championship Course, the Burnside Course, the Buddon Links Course and a free-to-play short, five-hole course called The Nestie. Carnoustie Golf Links is one of the venues in the Open Championship rotation and has hosted golf's oldest major on eight occasions (1931, 1937, 1953, 1968, 1975, 1999, 2007, 2018), as well as the Senior Open Championship in 2010 and 2016 and the Women's British Open in 2011.
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Like a dear friend. There to comfort and challenge.
St. Andrews - The Old Course
The Old Course at St Andrews is considered the oldest golf course in the world and commonly known as 'The Home of Golf'. It is a public course over common land in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland and is held in trust by The St Andrews Links Trust under an act of Parliament. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews club house sits adjacent to the first tee, although it is but one of many clubs (St Andrews Golf Club, New Golf Club, St Regulus Golf Club and St Rules Golf Club are the others) that have playing privileges on the course, along with the general public.
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One of the unique features of the Old Course are the large double greens. Seven greens are shared by two holes each, with hole numbers adding up to 18 (2nd paired with 16th, 3rd with 15th, all the way up to 8th and 10th). The Swilcan Bridge, spanning the first and 18th holes, has become a famous icon for golf in the world. Everyone who plays the 18th hole walks over this 700-year-old bridge, and many iconic pictures of the farewells of the most iconic golfers in history have been taken on this bridge.
It was a mystical experience for me that ended all too soon!
Kingsbarns Golf Links
A magnificent modern links course. A true favorite.
(I Saved this for last on purpose!)
​Replay Options:
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There are so many good courses, that its a shame that our legs may only be good for 1 round a day. But I can recommend many courses that are worth checking out.
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- Prestwick - The home of first "Open" championships.
Designed by old Tom Morris and has some historic holes that have not changed. -
West Kilbride Golf Club is a great place to play golf and enjoy a spectacular sunset over the Isle of Arran.
- St. Andrews has 7 courses. Worth checking out are:
Jubilee Course
New Course
Eden Course
Strathyrum Course
Balgrove Course (9 hole family course) -
Carnoustie - has four courses - the historic Championship Course, the Burnside Course, the Buddon Links Course and a free-to-play short, five-hole course called The Nestie.
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Balcomie - great links experience
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Craighead- great links experience