The five-star Turnberry Resort in Ayrshire provides the best golf experience in Scotland, according to readers of bunkered, Scotland’s leading golf magazine.
They voted the destination the winner of the publication’s ‘Scotland’s Best Experience’ competition – run in conjunction with VisitScotland – ahead of other leading venues such as Kingsbarns Golf Links in Fife and The Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire.
Launched in September last year, the competition was designed to identify and celebrate the golfing venues in Scotland that offer visitors a truly memorable day out, as opposed to just an excellent golf course.
“In this day and age, people are demanding more bang for their buck,” explained bunkered editor Bryce Ritchie. “Getting value for money is one of the biggest considerations that the majority of people have when it comes to parting with their cash and, for golf clubs to prosper, they need to deliver a great experience from start to finish.
“Simply having a good course is no longer enough to satisfy the average golfer, particularly in Scotland where the client base is famously knowledgeable. That is precisely the reason why we held this competition.
“We received thousands of votes for clubs the length and breadth of the country, which, to my mind, proves that nowhere does a great day’s golf quite like Scotland. On behalf of everyone at bunkered and our readers, I would like to congratulate Turnberry on winning this competition. Having played there myself several times, I would have to agree that it is a richly deserving winner.”
Jordi Tarrida, the general manager of the Turnberry Resort, was delighted to receive the award and said: “On behalf of everyone at Turnberry Resort, I would like to thank all of the bunkered readers who voted for us in Scotland’s Best Experience. We are delighted to have won this exciting competition, particularly amongst some formidable competition. Scotland truly does offer a wonderful wealth of fantastic golfing experiences and we consider it an enormous compliment that what we offer at Turnberry is considered to be the best.”
Mike Cantlay, chairman of VisitScotland, added: “Everybody knows that Scotland is the Home of Golf but we also have a fantastic reputation for being an extremely hospitable and welcoming nation.
“Combining those two traits means there are some terrific golfing experiences in Scotland. There is no doubt Turnberry is a very worthy winner of this particular accolade but you only have to look at the diverse nature of the courses in the list to realise what a special golf offering we have and how well we welcome the world into our country.”
The top 20 ‘Best Experiences’ as voted for by bunkered readers are as follows:
- Turnberry Resort, Ayrshire
- Kingsbarns Golf Links, Fife
- The Gleneagles Hotel, Perthshire
- Aberdour Golf Club, Fife
- St Andrews Links, Fife
- Archerfield Links, East Lothian
- Castle Stuart Golf Links, Highlands
- Royal Dornoch Golf Club, Highlands
- Gullane Golf Club, East Lothian
- The Glen Golf Club, North Berwick
- The Duke’s St Andrews, Fife
- Dundonald Links, Ayrshire
- Tain Golf Club, Highlands
- CrudenBay Golf Club, Aberdeenshire
- Crail Golfing Society, Fife
- Carnoustie Golf Links, Angus
- Fairmont St Andrews, Fife
- Ladybank Golf Club, Fife
- Murcar Links Golf Club, Aberdeenshire
- Blairgowrie Golf Club, Perthshire
The latest edition of bunkered magazine, issue 122, is on-sale from Thursday 28 March.
bunkered www.bunkered.co.uk
VisitScotland www.visitscotland.com