Eight holes on Turnberry’s Ailsa, from the fourth to 11th, closely follow the coastline towards the lighthouse and beyond. In the foreground is the par-3 sixth.
7-CLUB TOURNAMENT Turnberry has hosted four Opens, four British Amateurs, and numerous professional tournaments in its long history, but one that stands out from 1964 was the Braemar 7-club tournament. Even back then it was regarded as a highly unusual experiment. The winner, English pro Lionel Platts, shot 288 for 72 holes. In his bag for each round were the same clubs: driver, wedge, putter, and four irons, 4-6-7-9. Harold Henning was a participant and shot 299. Henry Longhurst described the choice of format in the tournament programme as “a return to golfing sanity.” Longhurst lampooned “the wretched golfer who knows no better, buys a large bag to carry a full set; then cannot carry the bag, so he has to buy a perambulator in which to pull it around; and then in the USA, the final lunacy of all, he has a little electric cart to carry himself as well.”
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 93
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024
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