The links belongs to Glasgow Golf Club, founded in 1787 and the ninth oldest golf club in the world, which laid out this course at Gailes in 1892 as its dedicated coastal ground, some 35 miles from its home course at Killermont. Willie Park Jr, twice an Open Champion himself, redesigned it in 1912, and it remains a regular final qualifying venue for The Open today.
When a region boasts as many excellent golf courses as Ayrshire, it’s hard to choose. However, it can also be quite easy, for example, if you take the cost of green fees into account when making your choice. At £180 in summer 2026, Gailes Links is fairly average in this respect. The same can probably be said of the course itself, which has no sea views. At least, none of the holes particularly stuck in my memory. Nevertheless, I had a wonderful day and can highly recommend playing a round there. This is partly because the staff in the pro shop, especially the starter, were extremely friendly.
