The sublime ocean setting of Pebble Beach and Cypress Point in California is without equal, but a balmy summer's evening (admittedly not the commonest occurrence) on the Ailsa course at Turnberry runs it close enough for most people. Situated 17 miles south of Ayr, on the Firth of Clyde, on Scotland's west coast, it is the most glamorous of British Open Championship venues, and its holes along the shore have earned it worldwide acclaim.
The 9th hole has the most photographed championship tee in golf, and certainly there is no better
starting point on earth upon which to contemplate the drive that follows. The tee sits on a little
promontory, some 50 feet above the waves, that points, 
finger like towards the vast bulk of Ailsa
Craig that rears out of the sea 12 miles to the south-west. To its left is Turnberry's lighthouse; in
front there is a carry of 200 yards across a rocky inlet to the fairway beyond, where a marker
stone suggests a suitable line for the tee shot.
The Ailsa has hosted only two British Opens, but the first, in 1977, is now widely acknowledged to be the most exciting of all time, when Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson, the two greatest players of the day, indulged in a foot race that left the rest of the competitors so breathless that third-placed Hubert Green later remarked: "Tom won the Open from Jack; I won the tournament the rest of us were playing in."
Nine years later, when the British Open returned, the weather was completely different from the mainly idyllic days of 1977. The wind blew and the rain poured. Moreover, the course had been set up altogether more formidably, to prevent any scores like that of Mark Hayes, who had shot 63 in that first Turnberry British Open. But when Greg Norman is firing on all cylinders, not even Turnberry swathed in all that protection can stop him. While many competitors in the second round struggled to score below the mid-70s, Norman matched Hayes's round of 63. Watson hailed it: "The finest round in any event in which I have been a competitor."
Anyone passing the course at the end of World War II would have doubted any rounds could
have been played at all, fine ones or not. 
Turnberry was commandeered, as it had been in 1914, to
help with the war effort and it needed a vast effort in moving concrete and sand to restore it to
eminence. It is a tribute to all concerned that it is now held in more esteem than ever. Tourists
flock from all over the world to walk its acres and stay at the Turnberry Hotel which sits atop a
hill, overlooking the course.
The seaside holes at Turnberry begin with the alluring par-three 4th which measures 167 yards, and where the line is over the edge of a sandy bay. Not inappropriately, it is called 'Woe-be-Tide'. The 5th is a long par-four, but presents few of the length problems of another short hole, the 6th. This is one of those instances where to refer to a par-three as a short hole is to stretch journalistic license. It measures 222 yards, and is often played into the wind - in which case it may be out of reach of even a driver. The 9th and 10th, though, are probably the two jewels. The first hole of the inward half takes us past the ruins of a castle, the base, it is said, for some of Robert the Bruce's dashing deeds. It is set alongside the rocky shore, and the golfer from the Monterey peninsula might almost feel a sense of deja vu here.
The 15th is another classic short hole, which proved the making of Watson in 1977, when he sank
an outrageous 40 foot putt from off the green to startle Nicklaus. The 16th, with a burn in front of
the green, proved the undoing of Great Britain and Ireland's Walker Cup golfers in 1963. 
With the
wind against, many players underclubbed their approach shots, and the wee burn was full of wee
British golf balls.
Turnberry was also the scene of the 1961 British Amateur Championship and marked the emergence of Britain's finest post-war amateur golfer. Here Michael Bonallack registered the first of his five victories in the event, and he could hardly have done so in more imperious fashion. The only time he was obliged to play the last two holes was during the morning round of the 36-hole final. It was a performance fully in line with that of Nicklaus and Watson in 1977, and Norman in 1986. Turnberry is that kind of course. It inspires.