Links ClassicGreat Value

Glasgow Gailes Links

Irvine, Ayrshire · Designed by Willie Park Jr (1892) · Est. 1892

Gailes Links is the seaside home of Glasgow Golf Club — founded in 1787, one of the oldest golf clubs in the world — laid out on a fine stretch of the Ayrshire coast between Troon and Irvine, in the company of Western Gailes, Dundonald and Barassie. Designed by Willie Park Jr in 1892, it gives the city's members a true championship links a train ride from Glasgow, and welcomes visitors to share it.

At par 71 over around 6,500 yards, it runs over classic linksland of heather, gorse and fescue — noted for some of the finest natural heather on any Scottish links — with firm, fast fairways and subtle, well-defended greens. It is a regular Open Final Qualifying venue and, being a little less famous than its Gailes neighbours, offers championship links golf at a genuinely modest fee.

For golfers touring the Ayrshire coast around Troon, Turnberry and Prestwick, Gailes is a superb and well-priced addition.

Holes worth knowing

1The heather holes — Gailes is famed for the quality of its natural heather, which frames the firm fairways and punishes the wayward.
2The fast links greens — subtle and well-defended, they ask for precise, well-flighted approaches in the coastal wind.

Highlights

Home links of Glasgow Golf Club (founded 1787)
Willie Park Jr championship links (1892)
Some of the finest heather on any Scottish links
Open Final Qualifying venue — great value

Good to know

→Gailes is owned by Glasgow Golf Club — founded in 1787, one of the oldest clubs in the world — giving city members a championship links by the sea.
→It is celebrated for its heather, among the best on any Scottish links; keep out of it and you will score.
→It sits on the Gailes stretch with Western Gailes, Dundonald and Barassie — a wonderful cluster to combine over a couple of days.
→Prestwick Airport is 15 minutes and there is a station nearby, so it is easy to reach from Glasgow by train.
→For an Ayrshire trip around Troon, Turnberry and Prestwick, Gailes adds championship links quality at a very fair price.