Turnberry, Scotland - What Would Pinehurst Have Done? By Jacqueline White

Several years ago, actually the year that an unlikely professional, Ben Curtis, won the British Open, we enjoyed a holiday golf experience at Turnberry, Scotland. My husband played in a PGA Partner's sponsored tournament and the attendees played and walked seven courses with a caddie including the Alisa Course at Turnberry, St. Andrews Old and New, Royal Troon Old and Portland, Prestwick and Kings Barn in five days. No easy feat!

We decided to go ahead of our group to spend a few extra days playing golf and enjoying the experience you can only have in Scotland. Arriving at the Turnberry Hotel you are instantly meet with gracious, accommodating staff and magnificent views of the Western Coast of Scotland. The world famous Turnberry Hotel stands high atop a headland looking out across the Firth of Clyde towards Ireland. It sits at the southern end of a strip of classic links land along the Ayrshire coast some 50 miles southwest of Glasgow, easy transportation is available. The hotel is magnificent with its white facade and red russet roof, truly an imposing sight on this quiet stretch of the west coast countryside. From this vantage point, you look down on one of the great championship golf courses of the world, the Alisa Course.

After our arrival, we were shown to one of the smaller buildings that is intended to house "groups" of golfers. The building is a short walking distance from the main hotel. There are approximately eight guest rooms in each building along with a common area to share for drinks, golf stories, etc. We settled in. The rooms are nicely appointed and carefully maintained. On the second night of our stay, we heard something in the wall behind the fireplace, each bedroom had a fireplace. What we were hearing was the distress cries of a bird that had fallen down the chimney. In addition, there were other birds on the top of the building "communicating" with the fallen and trapped bird. The cries of the birds were painful to hear and very distressing. Management was awesome, they came immediately to access the problem and tried to determine if the bird could be removed. There are several endangered species in the area, so they had to obtain information from ornithologists in the community.

After several unsuccessful attempts, they determined that the bird could not be removed and that they would have to open the fireplace in order to remove the "most probably" dead little bird. So for us, they had staff help to pack up our belongings, move us comfortably to another building and provide all the care and support that we needed to make this a truly happy and awesome experience. I have often wondered if something like this had happened at a stateside hotel, like Pinehurst, would they have been as gracious and willing to "evacuate" an entire building or a section of a building to solve this type of situation. I am sure that this was very costly with an entire eight rooms being declared "uninhabitable". Would American might have overplayed an attempt of resolving this type of situation as graciously?

But. back to now. Turnberry has a chequered history. During both the First and Second World Wars, the golf courses were dug up to make way for airfields for the Royal Air Force. After the Second World War, there were serious doubts that the courses would ever be rebuilt and it took a persistent campaign by Frank Hole, the then managing director of British Transport Hotels, owners at the time, to force the British Government into paying out compensation to enable reconstruction to be undertaken at all. The world of golf owes Mr. Hole a debt of gratitude who, with the help of course architect, Mackenzie Ross, created one of the great championship links courses, the Ailsa Course.

Some new renovations have been recently added to make the "Alisa" as formidable as any in the rotation.
Turnberry is 247 yards longer than the when the last "Open" was played there in 1994. The course will play at 7,204 yards adding six new tee locations and 21 bunkers to toughen the par-70 course. The seaside layout will be far tougher than when Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus played there in 1977, Turnberry's first Open Event. Watson shot a 12 under par score to beat Nicklaus by a stroke. In 1986, after the R&A tightened the fairways and let the rough grow, Greg Norman's par score won. With the new changes, the course promises to be a "very stiff par 70". Of course, we never know what the weather will be like and if the weather turns bad, windy with lots of rain, then these elements will certainly affect the playability of the course.

The British Open is always a great venue to watch and, believe me, we will be watching and remembering what a phenomenal and breathtaking site. For those of you who will visiting Turnberry, they have an awesome golf shop. Enjoy.

My husband and I are avid golfers. We live in LaQuinta, California. We have had the joy of playing at many of the world's best courses both at home and in Europe. Our passion for golf recently translated into our website, http://www.golfbags4U.com offering top quality, high end American made men's golf bags and high end women's contemporary golf bags and accessories. We have something for every golfer at a price to meet your needs and desires.

Jacqueline White

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