Turnberry's Ailsa Course is the most photographed links in Scotland. The lighthouse at the 9th, the view across the Firth of Clyde to the Isle of Arran and the granite dome of Ailsa Craig, the long curving fairways set between the dunes and the sea — the place is genuinely cinematic. It was the venue for the 1977 Duel in the Sun between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus, still considered one of the greatest rounds of golf ever played.
The course was redesigned by Mackenzie Ebert under the Trump organisation between 2014 and 2017. The remodelling repositioned several greens, expanded the dune system, and added a new clifftop par-3 9th played across the rocks of the Firth. The modernisation was controversial but the result has been broadly accepted by the club's regulars: the course is firmer, more visually dramatic, and arguably more interesting strategically than before.
The fee — £525 in 2026 — is the highest in Scotland. Resort guests staying at the Trump Turnberry hotel pay £450 instead. There is no ballot; tee times can be booked up to twelve months ahead. The second course, the King Robert the Bruce, is £275 and frequently used as a fall-back round for visiting groups whose Ailsa date is some way off.
Worth the money? For the photographs, yes. For the round itself, opinions divide — some regulars feel the redesign sharpened the course; others feel it tipped from a great links into a slightly theatrical one. Either way: the 9th tee shot is one of the most striking in world golf, and that's a thing you don't get many places.