Preswick Old Course

This is an incredible Golf Duel, today you get to play against a team from the host golf club of the original Open Championship. This is a course and a club with an almost unrivalled place in the history of golf. The first ever Open Championship was played here  in 1860 on the Links laid out in the inimitable style of Tom Morris and indeed he become so popular that he moved to Prestwick to become ‘the keeper of the green’ for 13 years before returning to St Andrews where he maintained the Old Course for 38 years. It is said that few other championship courses require such a cautious approach as Prestwick, it is not overly long at 6,500 yards but there are many hidden disasters such as the Cardinal’s Bunker on the third and the Alps on the 17th that await the unsuspecting player. A good caddie will keep you right and drinks and dinner in the clubhouse will be a memory that you cherish forever.

Royal Troon

In 1896 the British Golf Links Annual wrote: “For the jaded professional man after his work at the bar or in chambers or the busy merchant after his labours in the Countinghouse, there is no better restorative than a rest at Troon on its breezy links.” There is an incredibly impressive list of Open Championship winners at Royal Troon including Walter Hagen, Bobby Jones, Bobby Locke, Arnold Palmer, Tom Weiskopf and not forgetting Mark Calcavecchia’s chip at the 12th in 1989 and more recently Justin Leonard and Henrik Stenson.

There are so many highlights on this course including it having both the longest and the shortest holes on the Open’s roster but we all went to take our wedge out and flick it on to the green on the 8th, The Postage Stamp, but more likely end up in the coffin bunker and we all really want to stand on the tee on the 11th, The Railway with a huge carry and the terror of the out of bounds all down the right hand side.

Turnberry Ailsa

As you drive south down the A77 towards Girvan, the majesty of Ailsa Craig comes in to view, it’s a familiar sight to many golfers and you know when you see it on the horizon that there’s a special place just at the bottom of the hill, as you turn right on to the Maidens road the majesty of the Turnberry hotel sits on your right and in the distance you see the lighthouse and the Isle of Arran. This is truly a place where dreams come true.

There is so much history to Turnberry from its inception to its role in both the world wars as a military airfield and hospital. It is also the inspiration for Golf Duel, the summer of ’77 and the Duel in the Sun between Nicklaus and Watson, if there’s one thing we would really love to replicate for you it’s that very special day, the sun in your face, the wind at your back and your game going all the way to the 18th! Walk in the footsteps of those two giants of the game and I am sure you will reminisce about the other stars of our game who have battled and won on this epic golf course, Greg Norman, Nick Price and Stewart Cink.

Muirfield

The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers moved from the nine hole links they’d been playing on at Musselburgh since 1824 to Muirfield in 1891, their founding fathers would have played close by at Leith and had been since 1744 and their forefathers would have been playing in the surrounding area for 200 years before that. This is a club and course with a lot of history and a strong desire to maintain the traditions that have served them well through the centuries. Many of the rules that we recognise through the R&A and the PGA would have been laid down by these men. Like our other championship courses that Golf Duel will take you to Muirfield has an impressive list of past winners of the Open, from Walter Hagen in 1929 to Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Travino, Tom Watson, Nick Faldo and more recently Ernie Els, the likeable big South African. The par 3 13th at 191 yards and in to a green surrounded by five bunkers is a real test and the blind drive on the 11th is always one to get the nerves going.

Carnoustie

There’s such a strong temptation to start any description of Carnoustie by referencing that wonderful Frenchman Jean van de Velde with his trousers rolled up and trying to splash out of the burn at the 18th, but let’s not, the poor man has suffered enough. The locals at Carnoustie often say that they are happy that St Andrews gets the glamour and the prestige with the Old Course because they have THE golf course and they might be right. 

The history of golf at Carnoustie is documented as far back as 1502 when the Earl of Panmure was spotted ‘exercising at the gouffe.’ For me Carnoustie has some of the finest and most demanding holes of our championship courses, it also has the best names, so before you visit make sure you’ve practiced your Scottish pronunciation before you tackle ‘Braid’s Brawest’, ‘Jockies Burn’, ‘Hillocks Brae’, ‘Dyke’, ‘Whins’, ‘Luckyslap’ and ‘Barry Burn’. So, if you want to follow in the footsteps of Tommy Armour, Henry Cotton, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Tom Watson and the local hero Paul Lawrie, then this is the place for you.

St. Andrews Old Course

I remember the first time I played the Old Course, a sunny August afternoon, not one who is normally affected by nerves I suddenly found myself overcome by a wave of emotion, this is St Andrews, this is the Old Course, there were several hundred people milling around watching the golfers tee off, could there be a more theatric setting to hit a golf ball? 

The Open Championship itself has always had a special relationship with the Old Course, Arnold Palmer storming back from a seven shot deficit, Seve’s birdie on the 18th, Jack Nicklaus in imperious form, Tiger’s amazing millennium victory and that heart-breaking missed putt from Doug Sanders on 18, what drama! I’m sure you’ve dreamed it, so ask us to help you relive all of those subconscious triumphs and have your photo taken on the Swilken Burn, holding the claret jug above your head with the Royal and Ancient clubhouse in the background. What a perfect day.