Western Gailes Golf Club

The links at Western Gailes command respect the moment you arrive. This is proper championship-calibre golf on the Ayrshire coast, designed by Willie Campbell back in 1897, and it shows - the course has teeth.

Unless you're a serious golfer with a handicap and club credentials, you won't be playing here. Visitors need to be accompanied by a member or have a legitimate handicap certificate. This isn't a pay-and-play operation. What you get instead is one of Scotland's best-kept links courses: tight fairways, firm greens, wind that actually matters, and views across to Arran and Ailsa Craig when the weather plays ball.

For golfers only, obviously. If your party includes a non-golfer, they'll be left twiddling their thumbs at the clubhouse - there's no walking the course as a spectator, and frankly the landscape, while coastal, doesn't offer much beyond the golf itself.

If you're staying at Parkdean Resorts Sandylands Holiday Park just down the road near Ayr, and you've got the handicap to back it up, it's absolutely worth the effort to arrange a visit. The course plays tough in the wind and rewards accuracy over distance. Allow a full four and a half hours if you do manage to get on. Check the website well ahead - this isn't somewhere you can just turn up and hope.