Scotland’s Open Championship Venues Golf Vacation
St Andrews, Muirfield, with (Musselburgh?) Carnoustie, Royal Troon, Turnberry, Prestwick, Kingsbarns, Panmure, and the St Andrews New and Jubilee Courses
Myths are made in a moment, but legends last a lifetime
The golf travel industry is fond of using the phrase “golf in the footsteps of legends”, but rarely can it it be more accurately used than for Scotland’s Open Championship Venues Golf Vacation. For many overseas visitors this is a dream opportunity to complete a clean sweep of the entire rotation of these incredibly storied links
From the 1977 ‘Duel in the Sun’ at Turnberry, to 2016 ‘High Noon at Troon’. Carnoustie needs look no further Jean van de Velde’s notorious meltdown in 1999, or Ben Hogan’s only victory if we wish to go back to 1953. Muirfield was where Lee Trevino broke home fans hearts in 1972, chipping in for an improbable birdie, whereas St Andrews has more stories than we can mention, albeit Doug Sanders famous missed putt from 3 ft in 1970 is perhaps the one that comes most readily to mind
In addition to this we have a couple of historic venues at Prestwick (and even Musselburgh if you can cope with the sense of disbelief).
The Itinerary
Saturday – Turnberry Ailsa (Culzean Castle)
Sunday – Prestwick
Monday – Royal Troon
Tuesday – Muirfield (Edinburgh)
Wednesday – St Andrews Jubilee Course (St Andrews town)
Thursday – Kingsbarns
Friday – Panmure (Glamis Castle)
Saturday – St Andrews New Course (St Andrews town)
Sunday – Carnoustie
Important note – We will contest St Andrews Old Course ballots for Weds, Thurs, Fri, & Sat. You can read these days as XYZ / St Andrews Old Course
We won’t be able to contest any singles ballots until Weds for subsequent play on Thurs onwards
Saturday - Turnberry
The iconic Stevenson lighthouse sitting on its craggy headland in amongst the ruins of Turnberry castle, and with views of Ailsa Craig and the Isle of Arran out to sea, plus a tendency to put on spectacular sunsets, Turnberry is the most aesthetic of all the Open venues. In modern golfing legend Turnberry is forever etched in the pages of history as the location for the ‘duel in the sun’ from 1977 when Tom Watson narrowly prevailed over Jack Nicklaus with the rest nowhere. Myths are made in moments, but legends last a lifetime.
In 2016 the course finished it’s stunning redevelopment. The new holes 9-11, look set to become the signature stretch. Not so much Amen Corner, as perhaps a Rocky Horror! The fifth is the hardest on the course and has been toughened up further. The fourteenth, an infinity hole out to sea might become the most awe inspiring.
Is Turnberry the best course in Scotland? We don’t know, it’s a hotly contested accolade, but it’s certainly in any conversation
Sunday _ Prestwick
Prestwick is the home of the first ever Open Championship of Golf, and therefore the genesis of all such modern variants played since. This is your chance to tackle the original ‘Open’ undulations, the narrowest fairway in Europe, and the continents ‘biggest bunker’.
Surprisingly for golf (but less so when you think how the game came to the west coast) Prestwick has a little of a ‘blue collar’ tradition to it
Today’s course remains surprisingly faithful. Unreasonable fairway ricochets, and a plethora of ‘blind shots’ abound. Six of the original greens played from 1860 are still in use. A number of holes, including the famous par 5, ‘Cardinal’ have only received the absolute minimal alteration over the decades. The opening ‘Railway hole’ is another timeless links classic.
Prestwick’s quirky and charismatic. To play here, really is to step back in time. No where is quite like it, nor can it be.
Monday - Royal Troon
Troon is a traditional links and has hosted the Open a total of ten times. Make your score going out. The inward nine against the omni-present wind is always a trial, made harder by hideously deep rough interspersed with thick gorse and broom.
The par 3, eighth, described by Willie Park as “a pitching surface skimmed down to the size of a Postage Stamp” is the signature hole. The name stuck, and today it’s one the most recognisable short holes in the global game
It’s the par 4, eleventh, ‘the Railway Hole’, that’s the most feared though. In 1997 Tiger Woods carded an eight here. Jack Nicklaus was even more chewed up. He returned a ten in 1962. You have to wonder if there is a hole anywhere in world golf where Jack and Tiger have each signed for quadruples?
More recently Troon staged the memorable 2016 Championship. Henrik Stenson edged Phil Mickelson in one of the most stunning displays of head-to-head play in Major Championship history. They pulled a remarkable 11 shots clear, both shooting record equalling 63’s en-route.
Tuesday - Muirfield (with Musselburgh?)
Frequently ranked inside the world’s top 10, Muirfield is the ‘blue-blooded’ aristocrat of Scottish golf and always immaculately presented. It doesn’t really have any weak holes. So impressed was Jack, he went back to Ohio and built Muirfield Village in homage to the original.
Muirfield instigated a then revolutionary design of two loops of nine. This was to prevent players dialling into the wind of the traditional out and back nine and adjusting. This design ensures that the wind is constantly changing direction so as to test all aspects of your game and reading of a ball in flight. All three paradigms of golf design penal, heroic and strategic.
The prestigious roll call of Muirfield Open championship winners is perhaps its best testimonial. Player, Nicklaus, Trevino, Watson, Faldo, Els & most recently of course, Mickelson. It offers golfers choices and then requires you to execute. It is a golfers, golf course.
Muirfield is notoriously exclusive however, access is limited. Booking early isn’t just advised, it’s pretty well essential.
Wednesday - St Andrews Jubilee Course
The Jubilee in question was that of Queen Victoria. This course therefore dates to 1897. It’s a quite typical links for the area, threading its way through low dunes, and without any double greens. The raised tees afford the golfer stunning views across St Andrews Bay and the town beyond.
It was only in 1988 that the Jubilee course came of age when Donald Steel was asked to upgrade it, adding length, interest, and challenge to the layout. Slowly it started to build up a reputation and loyalty. Today most judges agree the Jubilee is St Andrews’s most underrated course. Some go even further and regard it has the toughest links in the family now.
The Jubilee Course has also hosted Open Championship final qualifying on numerous occasions
Thursday - Kingsbarns
There are records of golf being played at Kingsbarns from 1793, but the modern course opened in 2000, and is set on three-tiered levels, sloping towards the coast. Nearly every hole has stunning views of the North Sea.
Kingsbarns quickly racked up rave reviews and earned a world ranking of about #50, a position which it’s held more or less since.
The par 5, twelfth hole that plays along the arching shoreline to an exposed green, and the par 3, fifteenth, which involves playing a tee-shot across the waves, are often considered to the courses signature assignments. It was the fourth and fifth that caught Tom Doak’s eye when he described as Kingsbarns
“as piece of construction work, Kingsbarns is one of the best projects I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t have believed it, if I hadn’t seen it for myself”
Perhaps of greatest significance is the number of times it beats more illustrious neighbours in surveys amongst visiting Americans since its always immaculately presented.
Kingsbarns has hosted Open Championship final qualifying in the past, so isn’t completely without a connection to the claret jug
Friday - Panmure
Panmure golf club never hosted the Open Championship but being less than 2 miles from Carnoustie it was used extensively to for final Open qualifying as well as many national and regional championships.
The name that is most synonymous with Panmure however is undoubtedly Ben Hogan. On his only visit to the Open (and victory), Hogan practised extensively at Panmure prior to the 1953 at Carnoustie. The sixth hole of the course was rated in his top 18 holes.
The greens are fairly small and the bunkers deep. Tight fairways lined with gorse demand good placement from the tee at the expense of distance. Whins and thick rough abound throughout the course and can destroy a poorly managed game. Accuracy is often more important than length and each hole should be played strategically. Approach shots also require precision and on occasion clever improvisation is necessary.
Saturday - St Andrews New Course
“New” in the context of St Andrews means 1895!
The course is often said to be the town’s favourite. It’s a tighter and more defined course than its regal neighbour, and aided by yellow gorse bushes, it tends to be more aesthetic too. The ‘New’ runs adjacent to the Old course and as a consequence has similar characteristics. The fairways are undulating but not as dipped as the Old course, leading to fewer hanging lies. A traditional out and back nine, only the 3rd and 15th share a green. The burn wends its way through a low dune system and features some particularly charismatic holes. The 464yd tenth is often cited as the pick. Think about it logically. It’s likely that the newer course that was designed for purpose, would be the better golf course than the ancient artefact. The good folk of St Andrews know!
The New Course has also hosted Open Championship final qualifying on numerous occasions
Sunday - Carnoustie
Dubbed ‘Car-Nasty’, Carnoustie is considered by many to be the most difficult links in the Open Championship rotation
In recent years it has seen some dramatic finishes, none more so than in 1999 when Jean van de Velde took an eight at the 72nd hole to throw away the claret jug. Iconic images of him paddling in the notorious ‘Barry Burn’ have entered golfing legend. The final four holes are the hardest finish on the rotation. After the carnage of 1999 (6 over won) Sport Illustrated described it as
“a nasty antique that was brought down from the attic after 24 years …the rough was deeper; and the R&A made the fairways as narrow as an eel’s appendix scar”.
Whereas the eighteenth is the hole that has often generated the most drama. The par 3 sixteenth has the highest average scoring par 3 on the Open Championship rotation as indeed the closing four are the hardest. The Par 5, sixth ‘Hogan’s Alley’, is another famous hole with a punitive out of bounds fence running down it’s left
1999 Carnoustie reduced Sergio Garcia to tears after successive scores of 89 and 83
Featured Group
Do I put something about video in here?
What's Involved?
Most overseas visitors taking Scotland’s Open Championship Venues Golf Vacation are likely to be very focused on the playing rather than tourist activity, but there is some scope for the latter.
With five clear courses to include however, this is something of a point to tour tour.
To a large extent the framework is dictated to us though. In order to give ourselves the best chance of including the St Andrews Old Course we need to put at least Thursday to Saturday on-side. Since they only offer visitors two days a week, this pushes Muirfield onto a Tuesday. The next restricted playing window is Royal Troon. We’ve used up their Tuesday and Thursday, so will be forced onto the only visitor day left, Monday. We then have to build the rest of the courses around this structure, whilst trying to maximise our exposure to the St Andrews area
Scotland’s Open Championship Venues Golf Vacation is laid out as a nine night duration staying:
- 2 nights in Troon or Turnberry
- 2 nights in Edinburgh
- 5 nights in St Andrews
or
- 2 nights in Troon or Turnberry
- 2 nights in Edinburgh
- 3 nights in St Andrews
- 2 nights in Carnoustie
If we’re prepared to risk a forfeit at Panmure in the event of winning a ballot on Saturday, then we could stay 2 nights at Carnoustie. There is probably no right or wrong answer to this
Carnoustie is notably less expensive than St Andrews, but has nothing like the charisma. We save money staying there.
Panmure is about 2 miles from Carnoustie. If we play Carnoustie on Sunday, then there’d be a mileage argument in favour of playing Panmure on Saturday and pushing the St Andrews New Course onto Friday. It’ll save us about 2 hrs on the road
Whether we’d want to spend our Saturday night in Carnoustie however is less clear?
At about 475 miles, Scotland’s Open Championship Venues Golf Vacation is a medium mileage intensity transport burden.
In total, this should require about 13 hrs of road time, which is an average of about 1 hr 25 mins a day
We could clip 2 hrs off this if stayed Saturday night at Carnoustie rather than running back to St Andrews after we’ve played Panmure
With all the moving parts associated with the Old Course ballot, plus the fact we’ll be moving across regions, we wouldn’t recommend the use of a hired driver for this trip, but if you insisted, then it could be done. It would cost notably more to do so however
This trip can support Luxury, Premier and Affordable options
If we wanted to manage the budget a bit, then there would be an opportunity to save money by staying two nights at Carnoustie instead of St Andrews, which would reduce St Andrews to three nights
Scotland’s Open Championship Venues Golf Vacation is more likely to appeal to golfers than non-golfers, but that isn’t to say any accompanying non-golfers would be lost
The west coast leg wouldn’t leave the non-golfers too much to do outside of Culzean Castle (Turnberry) or a train to Glasgow (Prestwick)
Edinburgh is a good partner for Muirfield however
St Andrews is a legitimate point of interest without golf. The ruined old castle and cathedral are natural focus points, whereas the town also possesses aesthetic charisma and history.
The East Neuk of Fife has a collection of charming fishing villages we can wander around at leisure on a gentle afternoon combined with Kingsbarns
Finally, Glamis Castle combines well with Carnoustie or Panmure
A number of these courses operate handicap thresholds
- Royal Troon (20 & 30)
- Prestwick (24 & 28)
- Muirfield (24 & 36)
- North Berwick (24 & 36)
- Panmure (24 & 36)
- Carnoustie (28 & 36)
- St Andrews (36)
Royal Troon might be the lowest, but they’ll normally turn a blind eye if we’re a few shots wrong (provided we tell them and are honest about it)
Unlike some courses who needn’t be rigid in enforcing their handicap thresholds, Muirfield and the St Andrews Links Trust will do. Failure to provide evidence will result in a refusal to allow us to play
The Old Course diary is available on-line to consult for availability and is dynamic in so much as it changes every season, although there are some known block outs that occur every year, notably the first week of May, the first week of June, and a run from early/ mid September to early/ mid October
There is no play on the Old Course on Sunday
Muirfield only permit visitor play on Tues and Thurs, and only then as fourballs, up to a maximum of twelve per application. If you apply as anything other than a fourball, you’ll be rejected
Muirfield release their tee-times for play the following season in February. They are the first course to move and we need to be about 18 months ahead of the curve to succeed there
Tee-times are allocated by a lottery, albeit your chances of success are better if you go through a golf tour operator (GTO). Be aware however, GTO’s are limited to 20 nominated golfers per season, so in reality you probably need to get someone to support your application around Nov/ Dec of the year before that. Duplicate entries will lead to you being disqualified
Troon only permits visitor play on Mon, Tues & Thurs.
Prestwick doesn’t permit visitor play on Sat or Sun morning
Turnberry will allow visitors to play afternoon tee-times, but require that we pay a prohibitively very expensive green fee for a morning tee-time, unless we’re a hotel guest in which case we’d pay the residents rate
Carnoustie whilst usually being open 7 days of the week, visitors will have to play afternoon tee-times at the weekend
Panmure only has a 2 hr window on Saturday afternoons, and 2 hrs on Sunday lunchtime. If we decided to switch onto the Friday, then they have a much fuller tee-sheet
With all the usual disclaimers of a lottery being random, and there being no such thing as a certainty etc plus the variable factor of availability for the specific week chosen, our prospects of winning a ballot for Scotland’s Open Championship Venues Golf Vacation would otherwise be considered gently favourable if we sought to use every opportunity to do so
We won’t contest a ballot on Tuesday against the shadow of Muirfield (we’d never get Muirfield rearranged) and in many respects Muirfield is an equally sought after and prestigious round than St Andrews anyway
We should be able to contest a total of four open ballots (Weds to Sat) and three ‘singles’ ballot (Thurs to Sat), for a total of seven.
If we were prepared to fly to Scotland a day early to settle in (Friday), and turn this into a ten night duration, then we’d open up a second full ballot application to the prime day of the week (Saturday). Admittedly this would put us into a clash with Turnberry, which we’d look to host on Sunday now, and probably drop Prestwick
We perhaps don’t want to make too much of this, but the Musselburgh Old Course hosted the Open Championship a total of six times, last doing so in 1889.
If this claim to fame is surprising, it get’s better. It’s actually recognised by Guinness as the, oldest golf course in the world! So why have you barely heard of it?
Well the answer to that is because what’s left of it is an unremarkable, flat, nine holes playing on the infield of Musselburgh racecourse.
If you were to stand there, and someone pointed at it and told you it was an Open Championship venue and the oldest course in the world, you’d frankly laugh in disbelief
However, Musselburgh is about 25 mins from Muirfield, and a round costs about £30. If times permits, and curiosity gets the better of us, we could probably play it ‘on the fly’
About Activities
Testimonial
From BB Canada
“I told Alun the courses I was interested in playing and he prepared a stay and play package with 14 days of outstanding golf, but also tremendous site seeing opportunities for my wife.”
From JC Illinois
“His attention to detail is amazing--I think our travel plan booklet ran to forty-eight pages, with gorgeous descriptions of cities and sights, plus maps showing where to go to catch trains, or walk from trains to hotels, sights and golf courses, etc.”
From DF Alabama
“I will cherish the memories for a long time- especially the wonderful times spent on and off the golf course with two of my brothers and brother-in-law. None of the memories and golf would have been possible or enjoyed without your tremendous planning and logistical support.”
AS from Colorado
“Alun and Faraway Fairways created possibly the most memorable golf trip we have ever experienced. EPIC is the only word that comes to mind.”
From Florida/ New York, 2025
“We were hopeful to secure a 4 ball at St. Andrews while avoiding the massive expense other operators had quoted. He was very clear about the plan for achieving a tee time at the Old Course through the ballot, including detailed instruction on how it could be done, and what our odds were. He suggested mid- to late April as the best chance of success and advised that this is also the least rainy part of the year. We took his advice and trusted the process. Well, he was right on all counts!”
From SB, Minnesota
“We wholeheartedly recommend Alun and Faraway Fairways if you’re looking for a golf trip that is effortless, enjoyable, and truly unforgettable—even for a non-golfer in the mix! My husband and I will be daydreaming about this trip for years to come. 5.5 stars!”
From JB, California
“The best part was that the service was surprisingly affordable. They were thousands of dollars below other quotes that I received, in fact the prices were very similar to what I would have paid if I would have booked everything on my own.”
From JCA, Maryland
“I would and will highly recommend your company to anyone looking to plan an unforgettable golf trip. Thank You for putting together a fantastic trip for J.C. and me”
From WF Connecticut
“I think all eight of us would agree that Alun at Faraway Fairways did an absolutely wonderful job of putting this “golf vacation of a lifetime” together for us. His focus on the details was extraordinary from the choice of courses and the timing of the tee times, the amazingly beautiful accommodations along with some excellent meal selections, and the transportation options he provided to get us from place to place.”
From DR South Carolina
“You are about to tee it up in your Major. Seek wisdom, integrity and professionalism. Alun Davies and Faraway Fairways will not disappoint you. They cannot assure a calm sunny day with temperatures in the 70’s on the Old Course.”
From MM, California
“One fantastic trip you organized, and more importantly took ownership of in terms of daily communication and stewardship during our 2+ weeks in Scotland and Ireland. The logistics were spotless…100% of the transports were on time and excellent, the lodging choices spectacular and the golf was off the charts in terms of quality and arrangements made”
DH from California
“You cannot go wrong with the support Faraway Fairways offered. I did this trip solo and all last minute but I have already begun to plan the next trip which will include my best golfing buddies.”