Day 3 in Scotland – Dundonald Links
Troon, North Ayrshire
Sitting just north of the world famous Royal Troon, and right beside one of the oldest golf clubs in the world, Western Gailes, Dundonald Links, is an up and comer. After staying the night in Jimmy Walker’s Mom’s old house (now Piersland Hotel) and Justin Aultman giving himself a craniotomy on a 5’7” door header after breakfast, we got to experience a golf course not up to traditional Scotland standards. It was a unique modern stadium links tract that Old Tom Morris himself would facepalm emoji 🤦🏻♂️. All fairways are lined on both sides with massive man-made dunes, isolating each hole from the next. Don’t think that those massive soil walls will help keep your little white ball in play though, they are only a false sense of security. The dunes are really just a great opportunity for the course to house thick rough and tons of native vegetation that consumes golf balls of all makes and models. Also keep in mind that just because the other golfers on the other holes can’t see you doesn’t mean you can take multiple hacks in said local shrubbery without counting all your strokes. You ever heard of the honor system? Full application of that here. Locals call it American-style links golf, which is a perfect venue for hosting major tournaments, like the most recent British Open qualifier. This was the first and only Scottish course that we saw buggies (golf carts) too and is probably the primary reason the Scots consider it “Americanized.” The whole setup played decently long and hitting fairways off the long tees was key to scoring, as well as staying on top of the large greens with multiple false edges. One of the golf pros there did somehow convince me to change my putting grip with some solid tips before the round, but I’m pretty sure anyone could’ve fixed a 3.5 putting average going on. Either way I appreciated it, and that definitely made the rest of the trip more enjoyable! Our higher scores on Day 3 reflected how difficult a modern Scottish course could be, but we still had a blast…especially in that first hole fairway bunker…right Bill Aultman??!! Took you about five of them blasts right off the bat to get outta there! PS…pro shop looked more like a store on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hill$
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