 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Prestwick Golf Club" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(August 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 18th hole at Prestwick | |
| Club information | |
|---|---|
  Location inScotland | |
| Coordinates | 55°30′07″N4°37′08″W / 55.502°N 4.619°W /55.502; -4.619 |
| Location | Prestwick,South Ayrshire,Scotland |
| Established | 1851 |
| Type | Private |
| Total holes | 18 |
| Events hosted | The Open Championship The Amateur Championship |
| Website | prestwickgc.co.uk |
| Designed by | Old Tom Morris |
| Par | 71 |
| Length | 6,544 yards (5,984 m) |
| Course rating | 75 |
Prestwick Golf Club is a golf course inPrestwick,South Ayrshire,Scotland. It is approximately 30 miles (50 km) southwest of Scotland's largest city,Glasgow. Prestwick is a classiclinks course, built on the rolling sandy land between the beach and the hinterland. The course is near the Prestwick airport, and some holes run alongrailway tracks on the eastern side of the course.
The Open Championship originated at Prestwick Golf Club,[1] and was played there 24 times between 1860 and 1925.
Golf had been played over the links at Prestwick for many years before the club was formally organized in 1851.Old Tom Morris was the club's "Keeper of the Green, Ball and Club Maker" from 1851 to 1864. He designed and built the original 12-hole course, which measured 3,799 yards, 578 of which were on the first hole. In common with other courses, many of Prestwick's original holes crossed over the same undulating terrain; no more than two dozen golf clubs existed anywhere in the world at that time. Six of the original greens are still used by the present 18-hole course, which also includes three of the original holes: 2nd (Alps), 3rd (Cardinal) and 5th (Sea Headrig).
Morris, originally fromSt Andrews, returned there to take charge of their links in 1865, but also assisted Prestwick when it extended its course to 18 holes in 1882 after the club acquired significantly more land to the north of its original lay-out.[2] With the course's expansion to 18 holes, which had become the game's standard, cross-routing was eliminated.
Prestwick is famous as the initial originator and sponsor ofThe Open Championship, the oldest ofgolf's fourmajor championships. Discussion of The Open's future concept began soon after the 1859 death ofAllan Robertson, longtime professional atSt Andrews, who had been considered supreme for some 20 years until his death; the concept of the Open was to find the new 'champion golfer'.
The first Open was held in October 1860, with three trips in one day over the course's 12 holes to make for 36 holes; the field consisted of eight leading professionals. The winner was presented with a red Morocco Belt with silver clasps purchased by the members at a cost of £25. The club annually staged all the Opens up to 1870, as well as the 1872 Open; cash prizes were also awarded to leading finishers.Young Tom Morris, son of Old Tom, learned his golf from boyhood at Prestwick, and captured four consecutive Opens held there from 1868 to 1872 (there was no Open in 1871). By winning the Belt three straight times, Young Tom was entitled under the conditions of the competition to keep it, so there was no prize to play for in 1871, and hence no Open.[2]
Prestwick remained in the Open's rotation until 1925, hosting the championship 24 times in all, which is second only to theOld Course. In 1925 crowd control became very problematic, as thousands of people overwhelmed the marshals, which were far too few in number to control them, and this situation disrupted the play of the championship, affecting the outcome, since many players' shots hit spectators and were deflected.Bernard Darwin, the era's leading golf writer, reported from the scene that he doubted the Open should be held ever again at Prestwick, and such has proved the case. The course's cramped layout does make hosting of events with large galleries highly problematic, although the course's challenge remains intact to test the modern generation of players.[3] Prestwick has also staged theAmateur Championship on eleven occasions, most recently in 2001.
The River Pow, or the Pow Burn, flows through the golf club's property, and the river is a natural obstacle, there are fish and other species of rare nature in the river, so nature watchers are welcome there.
There are several sand dunes in the centre of the course. The tallest of the three is Pow Hill, the next tallest is The Queens Jack, and the third tallest is Cearcevlock Hill. Blind shots from the tee at the short fifth and on the approach to the par-4 17th add considerably to the mystery and charm of the course. The most famous hole is the third, a par 5, dogleg right, of 500 yards, where the fairway simply ends about 300 yards from the tee, as the land descends into a vast, deep bunker, nicknamed the 'Cardinal', about 50 yards across, which is buttressed by railway sleepers. Many championship hopes have died in this bunker. The Pow Burn flanks the hole down its entire right side. TheIrish Sea /Firth of Clyde forms the western boundary of the course, flanked by sand dunes. TheRoyal Troon Golf Club sits immediately to the north of Prestwick's course and nearbyTurnberry is down the coast, to the southwest.
Like many of Scotland's other leading courses, Prestwick is a private members' club, but visitors may book to play the course on most days of the week.
The winners ofThe Open Championship at Prestwick Golf Club.
| Year | Winner[4] | Score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | R2 | R3 | Total | |||
| 1860 |  Willie Park, Sr.1st[4] | 55 | 59 | 60 | 174 | |
| 1861 | Tom Morris, Sr.1st | 54 | 56 | 53 | 163 | |
| 1862 | Tom Morris, Sr.2nd | 52 | 55 | 56 | 163 | |
| 1863 | Willie Park, Sr.2nd | 56 | 54 | 58 | 168 | |
| 1864 | Tom Morris, Sr.3rd | 54 | 58 | 55 | 167 | |
| 1865 | Andrew Strath1st | 55 | 54 | 53 | 162 | |
| 1866 | Willie Park, Sr.3rd | 54 | 56 | 59 | 169 | |
| 1867 | Tom Morris, Sr.4th | 58 | 54 | 58 | 170 | |
| 1868 | Tom Morris, Jr.1st | 51 | 54 | 49 | 154 | |
| 1869 | Tom Morris, Jr.2nd | 50 | 55 | 52 | 157 | |
| 1870 | Tom Morris, Jr.3rd | 47 | 51 | 51 | 149 | |
| 1872 | Tom Morris, Jr.4th | 57 | 56 | 53 | 166 | |
| 1875 | Willie Park, Sr.4th | 56 | 59 | 51 | 166 | |
| 1878 | Jamie Anderson2nd | 53 | 53 | 51 | 157 | |
| 1881 | Bob Ferguson2nd | 53 | 60 | 57 | 170 | |
| Year | Winner | Score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | R2 | Total | ||||
| 1884 | Jack Simpson1st[4] | 78 | 82 | 160 | ||
| 1887 | Willie Park, Jr.1st | 82 | 79 | 161 | ||
| 1890 |  John Ball (a)1st | 82 | 82 | 164 | ||
| Year | Winner | Score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total | ||
| 1893 | Willie Auchterlonie1st[4] | 78 | 81 | 81 | 82 | 322 |
| 1898 |  Harry Vardon2nd | 79 | 75 | 77 | 76 | 307 |
| 1903 | Harry Vardon4th | 73 | 77 | 72 | 78 | 300 |
| 1908 | James Braid4th | 70 | 72 | 77 | 72 | 291 |
| 1914 | Harry Vardon6th | 73 | 77 | 78 | 78 | 306 |
| 1925 | Jim Barnes1st | 70 | 77 | 79 | 74 | 300 |
(a) denotesamateur