Golf in Ayrshire and the South

Turnberry. This is a stunning seaside course designed by Mackenzie Ross. Not to be missed. If you like Pebble Beach, you will love Turnberry. Work on the "new Kintyre" Course is complete. Some of the holes hug the coastline with breathtaking views over the water to Ailsa Craig and the Isle of Arran. A new teaching academy is open with indoor and outdoor driving bays, chipping bays to real greens, and a four-hole teaching course.

Western Gailes. More than 100 years old with a bunker for each year, this is a true links course known for its western gail force winds (the Western Gailes). Nice club house with a good hot lunch.

Royal Troon. A true test of championship golf, this can be a brute if the wind is blowing. Its most famous hole is Postage Stamp. The rough is strangling, the bunkers ferocious. Very expensive. Men only. Guests allowed Monday through Thursday only.

Prestwick. Home to the first 13 British Opens, this quirky course is one you will either love or hate. No guests on weekends. In the past, ladies were ignored and thus played for free. However, it cost £1 to walk the dog.

Machrihanish. Most American golfers have never heard of it, fewer have played it and almost no one can spell it. It lies at the southern tip of the Mull of Kintyre, a 40-mile-long peninsula jutting into the Atlantic off the Ayrshire coast. Designed by Old Tom Morris, golf has been played here since 1876. This is a hidden gem that you must play. You can fly out from Glasgow on a one-day package that includes airfare, transfers, lunch and golf, returning late afternoon. Or you could take the more leisurely route by car. But two rounds is simply not enough!

Barassie. A good test of links golf.

Glasgow Gailes. Another fine seaside course near Western Gailes and Barassie.

Southerness. Ranked in Scotland's top 20, almost nobody has ever heard of Southerness. Located on the far south reaches of Scotland overlooking the Solway Firth, it is a very good course and worth a visit if you are in the South.

Portpatrick. Also in the South, a good course. Definitely worth playing if you're headed for Ireland by ferry.

Turnberry now has two great courses to play, the Championship Ailsa and the new Kintyre. Both courses date back to the beginning of the 20th century. Both served in both world wars as a Royal Naval Air Station. After World War II, MacKenzie Ross was brought in to restore the courses. It is Ailsa that is his masterpiece. Named for the Ailsa Craig, a mound of rock left over from a long extinct volcano, your eye will also feast upon the Firth of Clyde, the Arran's mountains, the Irish Sea and the Mull of Kintyre.

Royal Troon is a true links course laid out along the sea at sea level. The first six holes are uneventful, as are the last six, but the middle six you will always remember. On the 7th, a dog leg dares you to cut the corner. The 8th is one of the most famous holes in golf, Postage Stamp. This was Gene Sarazen's favorite hole. His hole-in-one gave him the 1973 Open title. Greg Norman, in the 1989 Open, shot an amazing final round of 64 bogeying only one hole, Postage Stamp. The 10th is a real challenge requiring a narrow, uphill approach shot to a shelflike green. The 11th requires a 200-yard tee-shot carry over a sea of gorse to an angled fairway. Arnold Palmer, who won here in 1962, called #11 "the most dangerous hole in golf." The 12th plays against the prevailing wind to a heavily guarded green. Beginning with #13, you can relax a bit. You have survived the "middle six."