On the 17th October 1860, the first Open Championship was played. A 12 hole routing was in place at Prestwick in the early years thanks to old Tom Morris who moved to Ayrshire following his split from Allan Robertson in St Andrews.

Willie Park Snr went on to win that first Open. The 12 hole routing as you will see is significantly different to the stereotypical ‘out and back’ links that many of the earliest clubs adopted. Holes of various lengths and shapes criss-cross around the course at Prestwick, with enormous amount of drama and challenge.

Prestwick have put in a huge amount of work to reestablish this course over the last 12 months as part of the 150th Open Championship celebrations in Scotland, with particular thanks to Dave Edmundson – course manager at Prestwick.

Whilst the 12 hole routing will only be in play for a couple of weeks, we hope this film allows those not able to play it a small chance to experience what the early course may have looked like.