GOLF DESTINATIONS
hotel had endured frequent changes of ownership and lack of investment – has transformed it into as grand a destination as it has ever been. The Ailsa Course, renovated by links golf authority Martin Ebert in 2015 with significant improvements to the old layout, was ranked No 8 in Golf Digest’s latest 2024 ranking of the World’s 100 Greatest Courses. With its spectacular vistas it is one of the very best on the Open rota. Gary Player in 2017 signed a framed Ailsa photograph in the clubhouse with the words, “To President Trump. What a course. You are a star.” NICK PRICE’S FINAL ROUND Among interesting memorabilia in the Turnberry clubhouse is a framed account of Nick Price’s final round of four-under 66 in the 1994 Open Championship, which enabled him to win the claret jug by one shot from the Swede Jesper Parnevik. It shows exactly what clubs he used on every hole. Price had two bogeys early on, three-putting No 2 and No 5, then played flawlessly from there to the finish. He had a back nine of 31. He struck his small-headed metal driver on 11 holes, and even used it off the “deck” for his second shot at the par-5 seventh. Golfers from that era employed their longer irons more regularly. Price used his 5-iron four times, the 4-iron twice (including for the second shot into the par-5 17th where he holed his famous 50-foot eagle putt), and a 2-iron off the tee at No 13. Not for nothing was Price known as one of golf’s “greatest gentle- men.” In a hotel corridor there is a framed letter from him, written two weeks after the Open, to George Brown, the Turnberry “Green Keep- er,” thanking him and his staff for the hard work involved in preparing the course for the championship. “The course was in outstanding condition and your attention to detail was in- credible” was his comment.
From top to bottom: The central atrium of the clubhouse; Greg Norman suite bedroom; chandeliers grace Donald Trump ballroom.
90 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024
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