Gailes Links (Glasgow)

Overview: Gailes Links is the Ayrshire coastal course of Glasgow Golf Club, laid across firm, running ground with dunes, heather, gorse and the changing wind of the Firth of Clyde. The championship tees measure 6,903 yards and the course is par 71. Its design asks for more than a straight drive: bunkers are placed to make the preferred line matter, the firm turf rewards a controlled ground game and the wind can change the correct club from one day to the next. The course has a restrained links character, with the landscape providing much of the movement and the challenge. The opening holes ease a player into the setting, but the longer par fours and exposed closing stretch demand increasingly exact decisions about position, trajectory and recovery.

History: Glasgow Golf Club was founded in 1787, but its Gailes course was officially opened on 19 May 1892 after the members sought a seaside base they could control. Willie Fernie was commissioned to redesign the early layout, and a railway station and clubhouse followed in the 1890s. In 1912 Willie Park Jr. and the club professional Tulloch combined to redesign the course again. The land was purchased in 1924, and the Park layout has since been lengthened while retaining its essential character. Gailes has been an Open Championship Final Qualifying venue since 1973 and has hosted a wide range of Scottish, international and amateur championships.

Did You Know? Gailes has hosted the Tennant Cup, described by the club as the oldest open amateur stroke-play event in the world. It also held the Edward Trophy from 1973, so the course's tournament history reaches from Victorian amateur golf into modern championship competition.