Kilmarnock Barassie Golf Club offers a Championship Links, complemented by one of the best nine hole courses in Scotland.

The main 18-hole course is a challenging links layout with large undulating greens, deep bunkers and doglegs. There are many attractive and testing holes such as the par 3 fourth or the quirky dog leg par 5 eighth. With a par of 72 and Standard Scratch of 74 it is a fair but tough test.

Kilmarnock Barassie played host to the British Amateur Championships in 2001 and hosts Final British Open Qualifying. It has also been the venue for the European Youths Championship as well as the 2001 British Ladies.

Irvine is a rugged gem located within a famous 30-mile strip of golf courses that includes Troon, Prestwick GC and Gailes Links. The course can best be described as Links and Heathland with fairways built on sand divided by gorse and heather.

Every hole has its own identity and the smooth, true greens are always in excellent condition. Irvine is not long by present day standards but demands accurate shot making.

Irvine has a long association with the R & A and the PGA. It is used for Final Qualifying when the Open Championship is held at Turnberry or Royal Troon and has co-hosted the Amateur Championship with Royal Troon. The Ladies Home Internationals are being held at Irvine in 2009.

The newest addition to Loch Lomond Golf Club is Dundonald. Designed by Kyle Phillips, one of the game's top architects, Dundonald is recognised as one of the best new courses in the world (Robb Report 2004). Situated by the sea near the town of Troon, Dundonald's soil and climate conditions, as with the other courses in the area, make it suitable for year-round play.

"My desire was to create a championship Ayrshire-style links course that felt and played as though it was an old rediscovered course." - Kyle Phillips, course designer

“One of the world’s truly great tests of links golf” – Sandy Lyle, Open Champion 1985 and Masters Champion 1988.

Gailes Links lies on a marvellous stretch of links land between Troon and Irvine on the Ayrshire coast. With its undulating fairways, fine greens and subtle qualities, it is a classic links layout. At 6,903 yards long from the championship tees with a par of 71, Gailes is a tough test but medium tees provide a fine test for players of all abilities.

Former Open Champion Willie Park designed the course and kept his designs simple. He wasn’t a believer in creating greens with dramatic slopes, did not much favour “blind” shots, and particularly in the case of Gailes, left the glorious heather and gorse untouched. He always believed Gailes to be one of his best creations.

The course is home to the Glasgow Golf Club, founded in 1787 and the ninth oldest club in the world. It frequently plays host to Open Championship qualifying and will be the venue for the 2012 Home Internationals.

Golf Monthly rates Gailes Links in the top 100 courses in the UK.

Western Gailes is a quality links golf course and challenge, with deep rough and bunkering interspersed with gorse, accurate shot making is essential. Players should make their scores on the outward nine, as the prevailing north-westerly wind can make the back nine extremely difficult. Water features (burns) also await wayward approach shots.

The course at Prestwick is famous for its first hole which runs parallel to the train line, just yards from the fairway. Prestwick GC also shares its boundaries with Royal Troon and is just 20 minutes from Turnberry, with Open final qualifying courses such as Kilmarnock Barassie, Gailes Links, Western Gailes and Irvine Bogside all within just 5 minutes drive. Prestwick was the first course to hold the Open Championship.

The Old Course at Royal Troon is one of the world’s great links courses. There is the wind to contend with, and deep rough interspersed with gorse and broom, so accurate shot making is essential. There are all the classic challenges of links golf with bumps, hollows and pot bunkers.

Players should make their scores on the outward nine, as the prevailing north-westerly wind can make the back nine extremely difficult. The most famous hole is the 8th - the Postage Stamp – a short par three played to a tiny green!

Troon has played host to the Open Championship on many occasions with past winners including the great Tom Watson. There was plenty of drama in 1989 when American Mark Calcavechia triumphed over Australians Greg Norman and Wayne Grady in a play-off after Norman had fought his way back on the final day with a course record 64.