Carnoustie is a brute, a harrowing links in a class of its own. The wildest, windiest links in Scotland are found along the shores of the Irish Sea on the Ayrshire coast south of Glasgow. The venues in the Southwest range from classic to seminal. Prestwick hosted its last professional event in 1925, the same year it was decided that success at Prestwick depended much on luck. This throwback of a links has surprises in store for modern golfers, especially those who lack a sense of humor.
Blind drives are a given in Scotland.
My own fateful moment at Prestwick came at the very first hole, a short par four with a stone wall running the length of the hole, dividing the fairway from railroad tracks on the right. After sending a few tee shots over the wall and onto the railway platform, a few commuters waved their newspapers in surrender and ran to a Plexiglas shelter. While the feeling at Prestwick is one of lighthearted good fun, nearby Royal Troon, austere and forbidding, is a very serious club. Most recently the site of the 1997 British Open won by Justin Leonard, the links corkscrews through whins, brambles, and sandy hillocks. Royal Troon separates the men from the boys.