Turnberry’s famous Ailsa course closed for renovations

As winter approaches the Ayshire coast Scotlandthe sun traces a low arc across the sky. The days are short, leaving slim windows for golf. On the Ailsa course at Turnberry, there is no play at all.

A four-time host i Open ChampionshipThe famous course was closed last month for renovations by Martin Ebert of Mackenzie & Ebert design. Ebert is intimately familiar with the grounds, having carried out extensive changes at Ailsa in 2015. That widely praised project, which brought the coastline more prominently into play on parts of the course, included transforming the par 9 hole -4 on a stunning par-3 cliff. In 2023, Ailsa was ranked 18th in the GOLF ranking Top 100 courses in the world.

This time, the most important changes will occur in two holes on the front side. On the par-5 7th, the green will be moved about 50 yards so that it sits on the coastline, above the Firth of Clyde. The par-4 8th, meanwhile, will see its tee moved to the right of the new 7th green, a modification that will straighten the hole while improving the view of the photogenic Turnberry Lighthouse at the turn.

Few golf course projects come to fruition without strong exchanges between the architect and the course owner. These conversations can be alternately cooperative and combative. In the case of Ebert and Turnberry owner Donald Trump, the dynamic has featured a little of both.

According to Ebert, Trump has called him the “stubbornest man” he’s ever met.

The two have clashed on several occasions. During the 2015 renovations, for example, the location of the 14th green became the subject of debate. Trump “wanted the green to be placed at the top of the old fairway, crowned, where there was an old stone tee,” Ebert told GOLF.com in an email last week. Ebert, for his part, favored creating a more sheltered green in a shallow valley. The architect stood his ground, and eventually, Trump relented, though Ebert admits he might not have won the argument on the merits of the design alone.

“It may have been the mention of a superstition that anyone moving one of the old cabin stones would achieve a sticky bottom that produced the desired result,” Ebert said.

Recently, the two locked horns over the location of the par-3 6th green, which Trump wanted to move to the left, closer to the shore. Ebert was shocked by the idea, as the 6th was one of his favorite short holes on the course. But he realized that he would probably have to do the owner’s bidding.

“I was left looking at options (for moving the green), and when course manager Allan Patterson came back to see how I was doing, he found me lying on the green, kissing him goodbye,” Ebert said.

Patterson, in turn, told Trump about the smooch. A few days later, Trump called Ebert to say he hadn’t realized the depth of the architect’s connection to the hole. Green, Trump told Ebert, could stay where it was.

On other occasions, it was Ebert who made ground, the most notable example being the 9th hole, which Ebert had originally wanted to turn into a dangerous short par-4. Trump pushed for a long par-3 along the coast.

“His argument was that iconic long par-3s leave a much stronger impression on golfers,” Ebert said. “We had many arguments about this, but in the end, I have to agree.”

None of these changes have been put to the test in a major championship. The Open was last held at Turnberry in 2009, when Stewart Cink beat 59-year-old Tom Watson in a playoff, and the Ailsa course has since been removed from the championship rota by the R&A. In announcing the decision in 2021, just days after Trump supporters stormed the US capital, R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers said the governing body would not return the Open to Turnberry “until we are confident that the focus will be to the championship, the players. and the course itself and we do not believe it is achievable under the current circumstances.”

Turnberry’s status as a championship host is far from the only topic rife in professional golf these days. The pro ranks are fragmented, with top talent split into rival circles. Television viewership is down. And the ever-increasing amounts of money on the table — and the apparent need among players and organizations for more — have done little to bolster goodwill among fans.

In stark contrast, however, recreational golf is more popular than ever, with tees at premier courses booked months and, in some cases, years in advance. To get a shot at Ailsa, recreational players will have to wait until April when the days are longer and the course reopens for public play.