Gailes Links

What we say

Ayrshire is blessed with numerous stellar links golf courses, and Gailes Links is up there with the best of them.

Glasgow Gailes is now more often referred to as just Gailes Links and is yet another stellar links in Ayrshire – and which has improved significantly in the 2010s.

The Glasgow part of the name comes from it being part of a two-course club whose other layout is a parkland within Scotland’s second city at Killermont.

RELATED: Golf World Top 100 Best Golf Courses & Resorts

This is the prized possession of the two, an Old Tom Morris and Willie Park collaboration that has hosted the Home Internationals, co-hosted the Amateur Championship and from 2014 began a four-year stint as Scotland’s Final Qualifying course for The Open.

Located between Western Gailes and the town of Irvine, it is another links over a century old that is from a now-obsolete relic in championship terms.

RELATED: Prestwick Golf Course review

Close to 7,000 yards to a par of 71, its gorse, heather and railway-line framed fairways are only ever burnt up by a spell of warm, dry weather.

The Gailes examination begins with a succession of par 4s before a terrific par 5 dog-leg edged by out of bounds that concludes on a well-guarded green and is followed by a short hole and then returns to classic two-shotters.

RELATED: Royal Troon (Old Course) review

The forward tees make it playable for all though, and few discerning links lovers will not cherish the undulating fairways and the subtle test around the pure fescue greens.

  • Course Summary

  • Costs -
  • TG Rating 4 out of 5
  • Players Rating 4.2 out of 5
  • Address
    Gailes Links, Gailes Road , Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, IRVINE
  • Tel 0141 942 2011
  • Website http://www.gaileslinks.co.uk/

Course Information

Course 71 par
Course Style -
Green Fees -
Course Length 6,903 yards (6,312 metres)
Holes -
Difficulty -
Course Membership -

Course Features

  • Course has: Bar
  • Course has: Buggy Hire
  • Course has: Driving Range
  • Course does not have: Practice Green
  • Course has: Pro Shop
  • Course has: Restaurant
  • Course has: Trolley Hire
  • Course does not have: Dress Code
  • Course has: Club Hire
  • Course has: Handicap

Your Reviews

  • 5 out of 5 An Open Gem

    By CJB

    It is easy to see why Gailes Links is rated so highly by the R&A. Golf's leading authority does not dish out accolades lightly so when they award you sole final Open qualifying in Scotland for 4 consecutive years you know you must be doing something right. The course is classic links and Sandy Lyle has described Gailes Links as 'One of the Worlds truly great tests of links golf'. Lovely old sandstone clubhouse with superb facilities, food and drink. Try it, you won't be disappointed.

  • 3.5 out of 5 Hard as...

    By Anonymous

    Looks quite straightforward, but it isn't. It's tight and tricky and you really have to think. Hard as nails...