The history
Royal Troon started life in 1878 as a modest five-hole course, expanded to a full eighteen by 1888 under George Strath and 1882 Open champion Willie Fernie, and earned its "Royal" title on the club's centenary in 1978, a distinction relatively few clubs anywhere in the world can claim.
Since 1923, the Open Championship has come here ten times, most recently in 2024, alongside the Women's Open in 2020, multiple Amateur Championships, and the Senior Open. This isn't a course with local significance. It's one of the sport's genuine landmarks, and it happens to sit at the edge of a town most visitors could walk across in twenty minutes.
The courses
There are three courses here, though one carries almost all the fame. The Old Course is the championship layout, a demanding par 71 stretching past 7,000 yards, and its reputation rests heavily on a single hole: the par-3 8th, the "Postage Stamp," barely 123 yards but guarded by a green so small and so heavily bunkered that it's produced some of the most dramatic collapses and triumphs in Open history. The par-5 6th, simply named "Turnberry," and the long par-4 11th, "The Railway," running alongside the actual rail line into town, complete a back nine that's widely considered one of the toughest closing stretches in major championship golf.
The Portland Course, designed originally by Willie Fernie and reshaped in the 1920s by Alister MacKenzie (the same architect behind Augusta National), plays shorter and gentler, but it's a genuinely enjoyable round on its own terms rather than a consolation prize. A nine-hole par-3 course, Craigend, rounds things out, mostly used by junior and senior members for a more relaxed outing.
Playing as a visitor
Visitors are welcome, though access is limited: tee times generally run Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays through a visitor season stretching from mid-April to October. A handicap certificate is required, and green fees for the Old Course run into the hundreds of pounds, a reflection of just how in demand this round is, with day tickets combining both the Old and Portland available. Booking well ahead is essential, since demand consistently outpaces the small number of visitor slots on offer, and it's worth contacting the club directly for current dates and pricing.
Why it's worth building a trip around
Staying in Troon means walking distance to a course most golfers spend a whole career hoping to play. And even without a tee time on the Old Course itself, a round on the Portland is still a genuine taste of championship-standard Scottish links, without the wait.
Blackrock House sits a short walk from the first tee at Royal Troon, making it the natural base for a golf trip built around this course rather than a compromise around it.
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