Turnberry Accommodation & Golf – an impressive history

PaR nz Golfing Holidays has secured Deluxe King rooms at nearby Turnberry Resort only 40kms from Royal Troon. Turnberry will be our host for the five nights package.

Turnberry’s history and story is fascinating with many remnants of past days, such as the Turnberry lighthouse, and runways still evident – read on. If you have never been to Turnberry, it is a treat – and if you are returning, you’ll know what we mean!

A 5-star property, Turnberry is enchanting and exceptional in every way – a long established iconic landmark on the spectacular Ayrshire coastline and most recently named Luxury Hotel of the Year, Scotland, United Kingdom, 2022 Travel & Hospitality Awards. It was at its inception considered the first purpose built planned golf resort.

The history of Turnberry dates back to ancient Kings – the most famous being the legendary leader Robert The Bruce. Strategically located on the lands of Turnberry, and favoured with vast views of portentous seas since before recorded time, which have beheld a thousand tales. Out to sea the volcanic island half a billion years old, Ailsa Craig has borne witness to countless events throughout history from its station in the Firth of Clyde. Once a haven for Roman Catholics during the 15th century Scottish Reformation, the island was quarried for its rare stone in the 19th and 20th centuries. Long ago disused and utterly uninhabited, Ailsa Craig still stands 17km out to sea, presiding over the links at Turnberry, another of its mysteries.

Many a photo has been taken of the Turnberry Lighthouse, the iconic symbol of Turnberry.

Standing at 24m high, with 76 steps to the top, the Turnberry Lighthouse has marked this coastline since 1873. Originally commissioned by the Northern Lighthouse Board to warn passing vessels away from nearby Bristo Rock, the lighthouse is the oldest man-made structure on the Turnberry premiseswith the exception of the remains of the 13th-century castle of Robert the Bruce that it marks.

The initial plan to erect the lighthouse on the Rock itself proved too dangerous so instead Turnberry Point was chosen. The foundations of the lighthouse stand in what was the moat of Turnberry Castle, the birthplace of Robert the Bruce in 1274. The first light beamed across the waters on 30 August 1878, showing one flash every 12 seconds and, in line with all UK lighthouses, was automated in 1986. Though it is known today as Trump Turnberry, the life of the Station Hotel that began in 1906 continues.

The awe-inspiring view from Bain’s Hill was sadly different during Turnberry’s years as a military air base. Pressed into service during The Great War because of its strategic coastal location, Turnberry’s waving greens and dunes were levelled to make way for airstrips, hangers and huts. There, the Royal Flying Corps trained pilots in the art of aerial gunnery and combat, and the wounded convalesced at Turnberry Hotel. Turnberry at war was a far cry from the pleasure park it had been during its grand and glorious decades previously.

When peace came, the damage to the resort was repaired, and in 1923, Turnberry’s No. 2 course benefitted from a substantial redesign by the acclaimed James Braid; three years later, the No. 1 course was revised to increase its length and improve play. At this time, both were rechristened with the more romantic names, Ailsa and Arran, that are used today. A memorial to honour those lost still remains on the hill overlooking the 12th green of The Ailsa.

War was declared against Germany in 1939, and soon it was again difficult to imagine that Turnberry had ever been anything but an airfield. The hotel was commissioned as a hospital afresh, and the courses were converted into a Royal Air Force flying school. It is thought that as many as 200 died at Turnberry, and the heavier aircraft and machinery of the Second World War damaged the grounds even more severely than those of the First.

During the three uncertain years that Turnberry was under the command of the Ministry of War, the railways were nationalised and some feared that the thousands of tonnes of concrete spread across its hills would be the end of Turnberry. Happily, Frank Hole, the chairman of British Transport Hotels (BTH), a subsidiary of the British Railways Board that had just taken ownership of Turnberry, invited Suttons, the seed and merchant grass specialists, to oversee the restoration of the celebrated links.

In the mid-twentieth century, when Turnberry was owned by BTH, a series of propietors introduced improvements, before Starwood Hotels come to town in the new millennium. The red-roofed houses by the roadside, originally built as staff accommodation, have been converted into guest lodges offering space and seclusion to large groups. The state-of-the-art Colin Montgomerie Links Golf Academy and the newly-built Kintyre course commenced operations.

Dramatic changes started in 2008 when Leisurecorp, the Dubai World investment company, took ownership of Turnberry and closed the hotel immediately for a dramatic renovation ahead of the 138th Open Championship, 2009. Internationallyrenowned interior designer Mary Fox Linton led the renovation, which, with the help of a heritage consultant, saw the 103-yearold hotel restored to the vision of its original architect while accommodating the needs of the modern guest. After this extensive renewal project the property became a member of Starwood’s The Luxury Collection® portfolio.

As dramatic as the changes in 2008 were, more was to come for Turnberry in 2014 when The Trump Organisation purchased the hotel and set to work making it the finest golf and spa resort in the world. With an investment of £200m, the hotel was lovingly restored and the Ailsa course was transformed at the hands of renowned golf course architect, Martin Ebert. Since 2014, the Clubhouse has been renovated, a new golf course, King Robert the Bruce, was unveiled and an opulent ballroom was added to the footprint of the resort. Throughout all this, Trump Turnberry continued to offer one of the top golf and resort experiences in the world.

Hidden away from the rest of the world, Turnberry has offered its refined hospitality to many well-known guests over the years. In this secluded spot, members of the royal family, elders of state and Hollywood’s elite have escaped the gaze of the public eye and enjoyed the challenge of the links, the downtime of the spa and the beauty of the stately grounds. Prince Edward, Prince Andrew, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Rod Stewart, Jack Nicholson and Luciano Pavarotti, among many others, have all been made to feel at home here.