Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Turnberry Ailsa

Turnberry Ailsa.  Site of the famous 1977 Duel in the Sun, and home of the Turnberry lighthouse, We certainly did not see any sun, and probably needed the lighthouse on!  It is summer over here right?


Looking down the first hole.  Another grey and misty Scottish summer's day.


The green on the second hole, looking across to the Turnberry Hotel.


Looking from the 3rd tee across to the 5th green.


Turnberry is the site of the 2015 Women's British Open, next week.  You can tell that it is in tournament condition, the greens were true, and the conditioning was magnificent.
Here we look from a fairway bunker up to the 3rd green.


Looking back down the 5th fairway.


Rising up the 8th fairway, with the people in the distance standing on the 9th tee.


Turnberry has already undergone changes since Donald Trump purchased the property last year.  The Clubhouse was closed in November, reopening in June after being fully refurbished.  Love him or loathe him (clearly most loathe him) Trump certainly is spending some money here.
This is a view of the 8th green.


John MacKenzie on the 9th tee in front of the lighthouse.


Christine Acquroff and Robyn Hanson on the 9th tee.  This is one of the last times this hole will be played as a par 4.  Trump's planned changes will turn this into a par three across the water.  The green will be located where you can see the cars in the gloom.


The lighthouse shots are not as spectacular as normal, but you might be able to notice that it has been re-painted, and has quite a bit of scaffold around it.  The building at the base of the lighthouse is being converted into "honeymoon suites" and a halfway house.


The view from the 10th tee.  The 10th will become a par five, from a different tee, and the green will be pushed back closer to the water, up to where the 11th tee currently sits.


Another view down the 10th.


Looking back to the lighthouse from the 10th hole.  Sorry about the rain spots.


As part of the preparation for the Open, popular landing areas have been made GUR.  The ropes have been laid on the ground, usually in quite weird shapes that looked like crime scene outlines.  Robyn Hanson is pictured here in one of the "crime scenes".  The patch in the middle is the mat you are supposed to move your ball to and hit from.


Not sure which hole this one was.  Really can't remember.  Sorry.


That is my ball 3 inches underground on the 15th hole.  Backwards again out of the bunker!!!


The approach to the 16th hole.  The course changes are something that I think will make a huge difference to a course that is already one of my favourites.  Difference in a good way too.  I look forward to seeing it take shape.


John MacKenzie retrieving his ball from the burn in the front of 16.


The only Par 5 currently on the course for men, the 17th hole.



Looking back down the 17th fairway from behind the green.


Approaching the 18th green, with the corporate hospitality on the right.  One thing I found quite strange was the level of construction still taking place only one week from the event.  I hope they get a wriggle on.


Looking across the 18th to the world's biggest Scottish flag.

One disappointing thing about the change to Trump Turnberry is just that, it is called Trump Turnberry.  The logo has changed to Trump's gaudy crest, moving away from the iconic lighthouse logo.  From what we have seen even from our small sample group, is nobody wants merchandise with the Trump logo or even name on it.  The shop is fitted out beautifully, and the product in it is fantastic, but nobody wants to buy it. From a retail perspective, the name and logo change is a disaster.

On a tough day for scoring it was Gary Jones who shone (the sun certainly didn't) with a very solid 36 points.  Jenny Lucas kept the family name in the highlights claiming the women's prize with 31 points.

Off to Prestwick tomorrow.  One of my favourites.  The birthplace of the Open Championship. Hopefully we get some sunshine, as I have never seen Prestwick in anything other than grey skies.

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