Turnberry, Ailsa course: the visitor's guide

What it is

The Ailsa is the championship course at Trump Turnberry, a resort on the Ayrshire coast south of Ayr, looking out over the Firth of Clyde to the Isle of Arran and the small granite island of Ailsa Craig. It's a four-time Open Championship venue, most recently in 2009, and it's privately owned and run as a hotel golf course rather than a members' club, which is why anyone can book a round, resident or not.

Rankings place it third in Great Britain and Ireland: NCG, Today's Golfer and Golf Monthly all have it at three, while Top 100 Golf Courses has it at five, all checked 23 September 2026.

The Ailsa isn't the only course on site. The King Robert the Bruce course, set against the ruins of Turnberry Castle, is a separate 18-hole par-72 layout, and a new 12-hole par-3 course, Trump's Twelve, is due to open in 2026. This guide covers the Ailsa only, since it's the one the rankings and the Open history are about.

How the course plays

The Ailsa is played to a par of 71, at up to 7,489 yards from the back tees. It runs along cliffs and dunes above the sea for much of its length, with the lighthouse stretch, holes 9 to 11, the best known: the 9th tee sits out on the rocks, needing a carry of around 200 yards to a narrow fairway. The 18th, finishing in front of the hotel, is named Duel in the Sun after the 1977 Open. A £1 million round of work by architect Martin Ebert, completed in May 2025, changed the 7th, 8th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 17th holes, moving tees and reshaping greens, including a new 7th green set against the cliff edge (Trump Turnberry, The Ailsa course page, checked 23 Sep 2026).

Diagram to followSimple routing diagram of holes 9 to 11 on the Ailsa, the lighthouse stretch, showing the coastline and the lighthouse by the 9th tee

Its history

Golf came to Turnberry in 1901: the Third Marquess of Ailsa, who owned the land and sat on the board of the South-Western Railway, backed a course designed by Willie Fernie, which opened on 6 July that year, four years before the branch line to Turnberry itself was finished. At 6,248 yards it was the longest course in the west of Scotland, and it was good enough that within seven years it was holding professional tournaments, drawing the reigning Open champion, Frenchman Arnaud Massey, and, in 1912, the Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship. The two courses were rebranded Ailsa and Arran (the shorter of the pair) after a 1920s revision by James Braid (Trump Turnberry, Lure of the Early Links, checked 23 Sep 2026).

Both world wars interrupted play. In the First World War the Royal Flying Corps trained pilots here, flattening the dunes for airstrips. In the Second, it became an RAF flying school and hospital; as many as 200 people are thought to have died at Turnberry during the war. When British Transport Hotels took the site on afterwards, architect Mackenzie Ross rebuilt the course between 1949 and 1951, removing the runways and restoring the links from Fernie's original drawings (Mackenzie & Ebert, Turnberry Ailsa, checked 23 Sep 2026).

The Open Championship has been played here four times: 1977, when Tom Watson beat Jack Nicklaus by a shot after the pair pulled clear of the field over the last two rounds, a contest remembered as the Duel in the Sun; 1986, won by Greg Norman; 1994, won by Nick Price; and 2009, when Stewart Cink beat a 59-year-old Tom Watson in a play-off (The Open, Turnberry venue page, checked 23 Sep 2026). It hasn't hosted since, and it isn't on The Open's published list of venues for the years ahead.

Playing it as a visitor

The Ailsa is open to resident and non-resident golfers aged 16 and over, and, unlike Royal County Down or the Old Course at St Andrews, no handicap certificate is required. There's no walk-up play, though: book through the resort's reservations team by phone or email, or online, subject to availability.

There's no single green fee. Turnberry prices the Ailsa by time of day through its own online booking system, and the figure moves with the date you pick rather than sitting on a printed rate card. Checking that system on 23 September 2026 showed £1,000 a head for a tee time before 1pm and £650 a head from 1pm, a gap wide enough to be worth planning your tee time around if the budget matters to you. Check the live price for your own date at turnberry.co.uk/tee-times before you book.

A caddie isn't compulsory. For the 2026 season, caddies cost from £85 a round plus a recommended £30 gratuity, and need booking in advance. Club hire runs from £65 a round, and an electric trolley from £35. Buggies are available from £65, but on the Ailsa they can only be used with a valid medical certificate, and a caddie has to drive. The dress code is traditional: collared, tailored shirts, tailored trousers or shorts, proper golf socks and golf shoes, with jeans and collarless shirts turned away. A round takes around 4.5 to 5 hours (Trump Turnberry, Golf FAQs, checked 23 Sep 2026).

Getting there

By road, the A77 runs down the Ayrshire coast from Glasgow through Prestwick to Turnberry, about an hour's drive from Glasgow according to the resort's own site. Girvan is the closest railway station, about 5 miles south on ScotRail's line between Glasgow and Stranraer; Maybole, on the same line, is about 7 miles to the north. By air, Glasgow Prestwick is the nearest airport, about 17 miles away in a straight line, with Glasgow Airport around 41 miles and Edinburgh Airport about 72 miles.

Where to stay

Trump Turnberry itself sits on the course, overlooking the Ailsa and the coastline. The Royal Hotel in Girvan is about 5 miles away. Fairfield House Hotel, on the seafront in Ayr, is about 12.5 miles out, and Glenapp Castle, near Ballantrae, is the furthest of the four at around 17 miles.

When to go

The resort's own FAQ describes peak season as late spring through early autumn, when the days are longest and the course firmest, and this is also when the highest green fees apply. Quieter, cheaper rounds are available either side of that window, and through the winter, though Scotland's west coast weather is changeable at any time of year. A late afternoon tee time in peak season is one way to see the course at its best light without paying the full morning rate.

Events

Golf Metric found no Open Championship or other confirmed professional event scheduled at Turnberry. It last hosted The Open in 2009. The confirmed venues through 2028, Royal Birkdale (2026), St Andrews (2027) and Royal Lytham & St Annes (2028), don't include it, and no venue beyond that has been announced.