Irvine Golf Club

When Robert Adam, a young man from Leven in Fife, moved to Irvine, just north of Troon on the West Coast of Scotland in 1884, he found no golf course within comfortable travelling distance. His desire to rectify that situation, and the drive and leadership of one, James Stewart, led to a meeting of thirteen men at the King's Arms in 1887 to form a Club on land in Bogside, a tract of land belonging to the 14th Earl of Egilton.

Irvine Golf Club's current design owes much to the work of James Braid in 1926, and its status is confirmed by its regular hosting of national events including the Open Qualifying events held there prior to the Open Championship at Royal Troon and Turnberry.

Of medium length, it begins with one of five par fours over 400 yards, while successive shortish par fours, 4th and 5th call for accuracy on a course where gorse and heather define the fairways. A further long par four is again followed by a short par four, the 7th.

“Braid”, a 373-yard par four, opens the back nine, before we reach the longest hole on the course, 465-yard “Grandstand”, named because the remains of the old grandstand on the Bogside Racecourse lies to the west of this dogleg.

Views of Arran dominate the 12th tee, one of eight par fours on the back nine, which continue to test the golfer’s, resolve. The lone par three on the home nine is the 16th where a cross-bunker demands a solid carry to the green. The challenge on the 17th is more the green itself, while the 18th once again introduces sand as the main hazard.

Irvine Golf Club has produced three former Scottish Amateur Champions, a testimony to its quality and it provides yet another reason to travel to this wonderful golf country, the South West Coast of Scotland.

The club hosted the Women’s Home Internationals in 2009, when the amateur ladies’ team from Wales retained the trophy they’d won at Wrexham the previous year.