Golf in Ayrshire

The Ayrshire coast, south-west of Glasgow, is Open Championship country — and where the Championship began. Prestwick hosted the very first Open in 1860 and is a wonderful throwback of blind shots, humps and hollows. It sits beside its own airport, so you can practically step off the plane and onto the first tee.

Royal Troonis a regular Open host, famous for the tiny par-3 8th — the "Postage Stamp" — and a brutal back nine into the prevailing wind. Turnberry's Ailsa Courseis the most beautiful links in Scotland, its holes sweeping past the lighthouse with Ailsa Craig and the Isle of Arran filling the horizon — the stage for the famous 1977 "Duel in the Sun".

Two more belong on any Ayrshire trip: Western Gailes, a classic 1897 links on a slender strip between railway and shore beloved of purists, and Dundonald Links, Kyle Phillips's modern championship course and a former Scottish Open venue with its own stay-and-play lodge. Alongside them on the Gailes stretch, Glasgow Gailes — the seaside home of Glasgow Golf Club, one of the oldest in the world — is a heather-clad championship links and an Open Final Qualifying venue at a very fair fee.

Base yourself in Troon, Ayr or Prestwick — everything is within 20 minutes, and Glasgow Prestwick and Glasgow airports both serve the area. See the best courses in Scotland for the wider picture.

Trump Turnberry, the grand hotel on the hill above the Ailsa Course, is the five-star landmark of the coast. Around Troon, Lochgreen House in wooded grounds and the seafront Marine Troon, overlooking Royal Troon's 18th, are the classic golf bases, with plenty of good-value hotels in Ayr and Prestwick minutes from the links.

This is Robert Burns country: the Burns Birthplace Museum at Alloway, near Ayr, is well worth an afternoon. Culzean Castle, perched above the sea a few miles south of Turnberry, is one of Scotland's grandest houses, with sweeping clifftop grounds. The seaside town of Ayr has plenty of places to eat and stay, the views out to Arran and Ailsa Craig are a constant companion, and Glasgow — with its galleries, music and restaurants — is under an hour away.