The 152nd Open Royal Troon

WATCH PLAY

BE PART OF HISTORY @ THE 152ND OPEN ROYAL TROON

AILSA AND ROBERT THE BRUCE

STAY

5-STAR LUXURY @ TURNBERRY RESORT

THE 152ND OPEN ROYAL TROON

The Lighthouse at Turnberry

Welcome to the 152nd Open Package

The Open – quite simply, there’s no other major like it!

PaR nz Golfing Holidays is delighted to present a luxury 6-day / 5-night package. From New Zealand’s only R&A authorised provider for The Open – welcome to the 152nd @ Royal Troon.

The Troon Record – what a record it is!

1923 – 58th – Arthur Havers (England)

1950 – 79th – Bobby Locke (South Africa)

1962 – 91st – Arnold Palmer (USA)

1973 – 102nd – Tom Weiskopf (USA)

1982 – 111th – Tom Watson (USA)

1989 – 118th – Mark Calcaveecchia (USA)

1997 – 126th – Justin Leonard (USA)

2004 – 133rd – Todd Hamilton (USA)

2016 – 145th – Henrik Stenson (Sweden)

2023 – 152nd ?

The magic of golf’s oldest Major can only be realised with an in-person experience. Denise & Kim would like to be your hosts in 2024, staying at the nearby Turnberry Resort. The 2024 Championship will be our 8th group to The Open – we love it, that much!

This is a beautiful 6-day package that includes two days hospitality at Royal Troon, on the 15th hole at Royal Troon, and guaranteed tee times on Turnberry’s Ailsa and Robert the Bruce Championship courses. Seating on the 18th Grandstand on either Friday 19th or Sunday 21st is included.

Get up personal with a past champion with a Q&A in the Engravers suite. Yes, this is part of our package.

Scrumptious all-day food and beverage packages at The Open along with 3-course evening meals throughout our stay at Turnberry in either of the restaurants – the 1906 Restaurant, Duel in the Sun or The Grand Tea Lounge & Bar.

The package includes transfers to and from Royal Troon on Friday 19th and Sunday 21st July – and much more from PaR nz Golfing Holidays – lovers of The Open!

Come on – join us at The Open, Royal Troon and enjoy our accommodation and golf partner, Turnberry Resort.

Thanks so much

Denise & Kim

Denise & Kim

PaR nz Golfing Holidays

Email denise@parnz.co.nz or kim@parnz.co.nz

Rory McIlroy

The 152nd Open @ Royal Troon

Shane Lowry, 148th Open winner

The Open

The Open Championship, is one of the oldest golf tournaments in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club, Scotland. Later the venue rotated between a select group of coastal links golf courses in the United Kingdom and managed by the R&A Limited.

Royal Troon joined The Open rota in 1923 and has hosted The Open nine times. The 152nd Open will be Royal Troon’s 10th hosting pleasure.

It is called The Open because it is in theory “open” to all,

Open Trivia

i.e. professional and amateur golfers. In practice, the current event is a professional tournament in which a small number of the world’s leading amateurs also play, by invitation or qualification. The success of the tournament has led to many other open golf tournaments to be introduced around the world.

PaR nz Golfing Holidays was at St Andrews in 2022 when Cameron Smith (Australia) was crowned The Open champion, and will be hosting a group of keen golfers this year at Royal Liverpool. Smith won with an aggregate score of 268, 20 under and one shot ahead of Cameron Young (USA).

• The first Open was held at Prestwick in 1860, with a field of just eight players.

• The largest margin of victory in the British Open was 13 strokes by Old Tom Morris in 1862.

• The record for the most victories is six, by Harry Vardon. He won in 1896, 1898, 1899, 1903, 1911 and 1914.

• The oldest winner was Old Tom Morris, who won in 1867, aged 46 years and 99 days.

• The youngest winner was Young Tom Morris, who won in 1868, aged 17 years 5 months 8 days. Young Tom Morris was also the youngest competitor when he competed in the event in 1865, aged 14 years 4 months, 25 days.

• The oldest competitor was Gene Sarazen, who was aged 74 years, 4 months, 9 days in 1976.

• The only time The Open was played outside England and Scotland was 1951, at Royal Portrush Golf Club, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The tournament returned there in 2019.

• The 2020 Open Championship was cancelled due to the coronavirus, the first time the event has been cancelled since WWII.

• The 2022 event was the 150th edition of the championship, which started in 1860, 162 years previously.

Rory McIlroy

Royal Troon – The 2024 Open Host

The Club, which now has a total of 45 holes, was founded in 1878, initially with five holes. It lies adjacent to the Firth of Clyde. George Strath was appointed in 1881 as the club’s first golf Professional and, together with 1882 Open champion Willie Fernie, designed the original course, expanding it to 18 holes by 1888. The two were assisted by Charlie Hunter, greenskeeper of the neighbouring Prestwick Golf Club in Troon’s early days.

The Club’s property lies between the Firth of Clyde on the west, adjacent to Prestwick Golf Club and a short drive to Glasgow Prestwick airport. Many a day the aircraft of the RAF can be seen overhead doing their stuff.

Royal Troon was redesigned for its first Open Championship in 2023 where five-time Open Champion James Braid, lengthened, and redesigned many of the holes. Granted Royal status in 1978, which coincidentally was during its centenary, what is played today is very much reminiscent of Braid’s work all those years ago. Take a look around the historic clubhouse which houses many club artifacts.

Designed in the traditional out-and-back manner of the Old

Course at St Andrews, Troon’s test begins with a gentle opening through some of the most striking links land to be found at any of the Open venues and concludes with a back nine as tough as any finish in the world. Troon most recently staged The Open in 2016, when Henrik Stenson prevailed in a stunning duel with Phil Mickelson.

Royal Troon is home to both the longest and shortest holes in Open Championship golf. Regarded as one of the top holes in the world, the par-3 8th hole (“Postage Stamp”) measures a scant 123 yards (112 m), but its diminutive green measures a mere 2,635 square feet (293 sq. yd; 245 m2). Two holes earlier, the par-5 6th (“Turnberry”) extends to a lengthy 601 yards (550 m).

The 11th hole (“The Railway”) is one of the most difficult holes in Major Championship golf. Now a long par-4, a blind tee shot has a long carry over gorse with out of bounds all along the railway on the right. The lengthy approach shot is to a small green that falls away, with nearby out of bounds.

Royal Troon

PaR nz’s Golfing Holidays 2024 Open Engravers Package

Engravers is one of the R&A’s most exclusive fully inclusive premium experiences at any Open – and the 152nd is no exception. With on-course views overlooking the 15th hole, you will always be at the heart of the action. Before or after your meal, you are ideally placed to get out amongst the crowd and walk the course. We will be treated to the finest cuisine throughout the day including Champagne and canapés and a four-course à la carte lunch.

This is what is included:

• Official Admission Ticket to The 152nd Open with Fast Track entrance

• Friday 19 July 2024

• Sunday 21 July 2024

• Located overlooking Royal Troon’s challenging 15th hole

• Stunning on-course views from the upper-level balcony

• Fully inclusive dining and drinks – Private PaR nz tables

• Reserved seating area in the 18th Green Grandstand (on either of one day we are there)

• Q&A with a past or present player

• Coach access – special entry to the grounds

• Souvenir programme order of play

• Full TV coverage of play

• Air-conditioning

Kyoto

• Private restroom facilities within the pavilion

• Welcome lounge and hospitality hosting staff

• Your choice of plated breakfast served alongside warm pastries, seasonal fruits and freshly squeezed juices

• Champagne and canapé reception

• Four-course á la carte lunch featuring local produce

• Full complimentary bar throughout the day, including fine wines, beer, Champagne, house spirits and soft drinks

• Afternoon tea served as your group returns from the course

Engravers Lounge

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

Turnberry Resort

proved too dangerous so instead Turnberry Point was chosen. The foundations of the lighthouse stand in what was the moat of Turnberry Castle, thought to be 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

152nd Open @ Royal Troon

Pool at Turnberry Resort

Ailsa Bar at Turnberry Resort

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.

1908 Restaurant, Turnberry Resort

The Ailsa Challenge

The Ailsa is one of the world’s most loved golf courses and has had the privilege of hosting The Open Championship four times, including the unforgettable 1977 Duel in the Sun.

Since acquiring the resort in 2014, The Trump Organisation and famed golf course architects Mackenzie & Ebert have completed a meticulous historic study and modern day review of the Ailsa course, creating a true masterpiece.

Named after the third Marquess of Ailsa, who owned the land on which it was built, this par-71, 6,474-yard Championship course is one of golf’s storied places – set alongside the glorious Ayrshire coastline, with Arran and Ailsa Craig as a stunning backdrop.

As part of the Trump £200million investment, a selection of inspiring changes have been implemented, including the creation of five dramatic and stunning new holes plus a range of alterations covering virtually every corner of the course. Since these changes have been made, the Ailsa has been ranked by Golf Monthly as the UK & Ireland’s number one golf course.

The Ailsa was also named ‘Redevelopment of the Year’ by Golf Inc Magazine , stating it as “an iconic property that has been restored immaculately without losing the proud history created over hundreds of years”.

Ailsa

Ailsa

The Lighthouse, Ailsa

King Robert The Bruce

King Robert The Bruce

King Robert The Bruce Links

Many people are unaware of the fact that the iconic lighthouse, which was built by the family of celebrated author, Robert Louis Stevenson, is situated amongst the ruins of Turnberry Castle. It was in this medieval castle that King Robert the Bruce was born in July 1274.

Turnberry is steeped in a strong history, leading to naming the new golf course after the King of Scotland, Robert the Bruce, the historical warrior who led Scotland to claim its right as an independent country in the Battle of Bannockburn in June 1314.

Don’t be fooled into thinking this course is second rate to Ailsa – it offers a very worthy Championship links challenge. Martin Ebert, who was the architect responsible for the reborn

Ailsa, was commissioned once more to create a world-class golf experience, which thrills golfers of all abilities.

Breath-taking vistas from the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th of King Robert the Bruce delights golfers, with spectacular views of Turnberry’s stunning coastline, castle ruins and the lighthouse.

The overall design concept for the course has been to introduce fairway bunkers with sand faces and marram grass “eyebrow” faces tempting “risk or reward” shots whilst greenside bunkers are shaped and neatly revetted to require perfect recovery shots. With 18 holes of magnificent golf, the King Robert the Bruce course reinforces Turnberry’s reputation as a true golfer’s paradise.

King Robert The Bruce

The Lighthouse, Turnberry

Royal Troon

2024 Open Package Inclusions

• Check into Trump Turnberry 18 July – 5 nights

• Pre- or post-nights possible, on request

• Deluxe King Rooms

• Breakfast included daily

• Dinner, daily; 3-Course Meal at any Turnberry outlet – 1906 Restaurant, The Grand Tea Lounge or Duel in the Sun Restaurant

• Reserved PaR nz tee times on King Robert The Bruce from 10.06am Thursday 18 July

• Reserved PaR nz tee times on Ailsa Championship from 10.10am Saturday 20 July

• Transfers / return Friday 19 July and Sunday 21 July

• Two days Open Hospitality including:

~ Official Admission Ticket to The 152nd Open with Fast Track entrance

~ Friday 19 July 2024

~ Sunday 21 July 2024

~ Located overlooking Royal Troon’s challenging 15th hole

~ Stunning on-course views from the upper-level balcony

~ Fully inclusive dining and drinks – Private PaR nz tables

~ Reserved seating area in the 18th Green Grandstand (shared seats on either of one day we are there)

~ Q&A with a past or present player

• PaR nz Golfing Holidays Open Souvenir Package

• Experienced tour hosts – Kim and Denise

• The Open Tour APP – for all schedules and venues