Here is my hole-by-hole hands on look at the Turnberry Ailsa Course that was made available by EA Sports on March 20th as a free add-on through the PSN Store (left all settings on default for gameplay):
Hole 1 (Par 4 331 yds)- This first hole is a fairly straight forward hole with your typical narrow European fairway. My golfer that I have created is currently around 68 on most of the settings and I was able to drive within 25 yards of the pin, so it is a very short opening hole. I was able to birdie this one without any trouble (-1)
Hole 2 (Par 4 360 yds)- The tee shot on this hole can be tricky. There are are a couple of bunkers right in the middle of the fairway that can give you a little trouble (I nearly plunked my tee shot into the first one). Thankfully my tee shot avoided the bunker as I threw up a nice 2nd shot from about 80 yards out with a little backspin into the cup for eagle! (-3)
Hole 3 (Par 4 390 yds)- This hole is absolutely beautiful with the ocean sparkling off to the right. The foggy gray mist that is a part of Turnberry’s atmosphere makes the ocean look simply amazing in my opinion. As for the hole, it is very interesting. It is a narrow fairway the bends to the right at just about the point of your driving distance. What makes it interesting is a little bump on the right side of the fairway nearly 300 yards in which can make for some interesting caroms. I pegged a spectator off the tee for my first bad shot of the round, but recovered nicely from the rough to put it 9 feet from the pin and birdie. (-4)
Hole 4 (Par 3 114 yds)- Short, but not sweet. Any type of a gust of wind can really get you in trouble here. You miss left and there is a STEEP drop off down to never never land. Missing right isn’t as treacherous as there is a big steep hill which can carom your ball back to the green. Being too strong doesn’t make you pay (especially if you can have the TV tower stop your ball), but missing short give you a very deep pot bunker. My tee shot was great, 10 feet from the pin, but the hole placement was in the back of the green which has some tricky bends. Almost left the putt short, but did birdie. (-5)
Hole 5 (Par 4 388 yds)- Slight bend to the left on your tee with the typical narrow fairway here, the tee shot isn’t really too tricky here. You’ll want to leave your approach long if not spot on. This is because there are four pot bunkers littering the short end of the green. The approach is uphill, and I left it a little short; therefore, I had a tough putt which I overshot and settled for par. (-5)
Hole 6 (Par 3 215 yds)- This green is up a couple of feet so an extra club may be needed, and advised with a rather large pot bunker on the front right of the green. I decided to not up it a club with a little wind behind me, and still left it 20 ft. short of the pin. Was able to sink the 20 footer though for birdie. (-6)
Hole 7 (Par 5 415 yds)- Rated the hardest hole on the course, and for good reason. The fairway is in a valley basically, miss left and you quite possibly going to end up on the beach overlooking the ocean. You won’t pay as much if you miss right, as long as you don’t land in the bushes littering both sides of the hills. The fairway is narrow, but down 25 feet, so you can try to gamble if there isn’t a strong wind. I was able to hit the green in 2 being 200 yards out. I suck at downhill putting, so I left the eagle putt short, but thankfully managed a birdie. (-7)
Hole 8 (Par 4 386 yds)- Pretty straightforward tee shot here, the fairway is wider compared to most par 4’s on this course. A very large green with really not much trouble surrounding it either. Just a pot bunker off to the bottom right of the green, which you really have to try to hit it to get in it. Easy approach shot and easy putt give me a birdie on this relatively easy hole. (-8)
Hole 9 (Par 4 373 yds)- The tee shot is blind and uphill 4ft. The gallery is off to the right hand side with a rather large grandstand. The left side is fairly wide open but there are some troublesome bushes placed around there. About 310 yards out is a cart path that if you can manage to luckily hit, your drive will skyrocket. My current GameFace golfer isn’t completely beefed up yet so I drove it short. My approach was dead on, and I was able to get to the turn with another birdie. (-9)
Hole 10 (Par 4 336 yds)- A very narrow green with a slight draw to the left. If you are a power hitter there is a very interesting little trinket in the middle of the fairway. About 330 yards off the tee, an onion ring shaped bunker is placed right in the middle with an island of rough in the middle of it. The approach isn’t really tough and the green is massive. Not too many dangers surrounding the green, and I was able knock it 3 feet from the pin and grab another biridie. (-10)
Hole 11 (Par 3 130 yds)- Rated the easiest hole on the course, the green is huge, and the only real danger is a pot bunker on the short right side. There is also a mini bunker on the right. What caught me was the hole is 9 feet up and the wind was in my face, so I was left with a 30 foot putt for birdie with a tricky hole placement. The pin was placed on a steep slope downhill (my nemisis), and I just barely lipped out the 30 foot putt and walked away with a par. (-10)
Hole 12 (Par 4 354 yds)- This hole is very straight forward, but is also very neat. There is a monument which is dedicated to the airmen stationed in Turnberry during World War II who were lost. (Link to the photo of Monument) Nothing tricky around the green, it is an uphill approach shot. Combined with a fairly tricky cross wind, my approach shot was left on the short end of the green for a 20 foot putt, thankfully I nailed it for birdie. (-11)
Hole 13 (Par 4 329 yds)- This hole bends to the right, but anyone that can drive over 250 yds will not have a problem with the smattering of bushes on the right side of the fairway. The green is long an narrow, my pin placement was on the front side of the right tip which means I need to be accurate with my approach. I overshot it a little bit since the pin is so far to the front, but sank a 30 footer for birdie. (-12)
Hole 14 (Par 4 384 yds)- Another straightforward narrow fairway, but the difference here is if you miss left or right, you won’t really get punished as there are not many bushes littering the rough here. Therefore this is a good hole where you can just let it rip. I was able to approach this baby 3 feet from the pin for birdie. (-13)
Hole 15 (Par 3 160 yds)- The green is a fairly large target, but you want to make sure you hit it because there is a lot of danger surrounding the green. Two deep pot bunkers off to the left, along with a troubling steep drop off on the right side of the green make it tricky with a crosswind. Your best bet is to undershoot if if anything as the green doesn’t have much trouble short. There also is a little bit of a decline long with a pot bunker there too. I took too much off of the tee so I was left with a 40 foot putt THAT I NAILED!!! (-14)
Hole 16 (Par 4 339 yds)- I love this hole, very neat design here because you have to gamble if you wanna try to get on the green off the tee. About 300 yards out is a ravine with a little quaint stream running through it. The fairway is wider than average, so if you want to lay up, the only penalty is if you hit it in the grandstands to the right. I laid up and played it safe, but put too much backspin on my approach. Thankfully the green wasn’t too wild and I was able to sink a 30 footer. (-15)
Hole 17 (Par 5 394 yds)- The green is narrow here off the tee, and about 320 yards out it is VERY narrow with a pot bunker strategically placed off to the right. The green is elevated 15 feet with two pot bunkers to the right and one to the left. Missing the green long isn’t a problem, but if you miss left or right, you’re going to be in a world of hurt. HOLY COW, from 144 yards out I was trying to play it safe with a large green, but ended up playing the wind in my face perfectly for a double eagle! (-18)
Hole 18 (Par 4 359 yds)- Another straight narrow fairway off the tee. If you miss, you want to miss left because there are not many bushes there, but to the right are a load of them. Power hitters can hit the green in one very easily, but there are grandstands on both sides of the green and in the back….which not much room between the green and the stands. After my double eagle, I was cocky and decided to power to the green, I got the little cut shot making me thinking I was going to get another double eagle (back to back double eagles would have been a great GamerNet challenge). I ended up 30 feet short of the pin off the tee, and sank the eagle putt to put a nice finishing touch on my round! (-20)
This is a beautiful and fun course. The greens are not too terrible on default settings, only ran into a couple of tricky putts. Finishing 5-under on my last two holes was a nice touch. I have created two GamerNet challenges off this round. The first is my double eagle called Double Eagle w/ Cheese which is 298 points. The second is my entire round of 18 called Hot Turnberry Pie which includes shooting -20, having 16 birdies with an eagle streak of 2. This challenge is worth 1428 points.
Within the next few days, I will post my hands on look at the Doral Course.
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