Darley Golf Course

firstly, I'm a member at Troon Wellbeck, meaning our regular track alternates between Troon Darley and Troon Lochgreen. Darley, is a challenging course, tight driving holes with gorse/heather left and right are the norm, and the prevailing wind normally blows enough to make it a tough challenge to play near your handicap level. We've had a couple of weeks worth of nice warm/dry weather recently which has started to make for firm fairways, and firm greens, making finding a fairway hard, and holding greens even harder. It is links golf in summertime, after all. the course, and in particular the greens, are playable almost all year round, and I'd echo the comments from the South Ayrshire golf website, the greens in winter in particular are as good as you will find anywhere. There are a couple of points you should remember, public have access, and you may be held up a couple of times by the odd dog walker, but that should not distract from the course. The clubhouse is also undergoing a massive refurbishment, (little bit of foresight into the planning would have recommended this be completed BEFORE the golfing world's eyes are on Troon, but evidently this was overlooked) that aside, the temporary accommodation is serviceable, and caters for most of your needs, until the new clubhouse can be opened. For what your charged, you are getting a really good course, anytime of the year.

Played at Troon (Darley Course) on Sat 13th Oct 2012. I've played a lot of different courses this year, 20+, and it has been a very wet year, and recently most of the parkland courses I've played have shown signs of how wet it has been. All this changed as soon as we stepped out onto the 1st at Troon Darley. Very much links type fairways, and superb true running greens. A few reviews of this course have said its an easy start, but then shows its teeth from about the 5th onwards, and I would tend to agree, but I'd also add we got lost a twice before the 5th !!!, signage and directions could be inmproved there. The course itself has also been rated as the 4th hardest in Scotland to play to your handicap, and it is a testing course, too many holes spring to mind with testing tee shots, and that short par 3 (9th I think) you see a wall of gorse/bushes and just a red flag waving in the middle. Round was a little long, 4 and a half hours, but we got lost twice, and the 3 ball in front of us had 18/18 roughs in regulation !!!! After playing here, I now would not contemplate a nearby parkland venue until they were completely dried out. This wins for me hands down. Darley, great venue, excellent course, decent facilities and at a good price.

I played this course today and as with one of the previous reviewers I had had some mixed reports prior to the round. We played on a Saturday, so it was a bit slow (4h 20min) after the medal rounds, but you didn't really notice that much as it is a fairly long walk round. The fairways were in decent condition, the greens were a bit patchy on a few holes, but ran true. As for the bunkers, some had rakes, some did not, so a bit random when it came to the lie you got if you found one. The rough is forgiving although you may lose a couple of balls if you do go seriously off line. As with other reviewers, there was a lack of distance markers that make judgement of approach shots more or less guesswork, but I took more positives from the experience than negatives. If, like me, you enjoy seaside golf, it was a decent enough course, with several challenging holes that made it interesting. Saying that, I had read that it was a particularly difficult course, but don't think anyone with a high handicap (including myself) should be particularly wary - I kept to my handicap quite comfortably whilst hitting less than half of the fairways. In terms of difficulty, it is nowhere near as difficult as a number of links course on the Ayrshire coast. I'd also read in a couple of reviews that Darley was a litter-strewn mess - this seemed unfair as it was no less tidy than any other wind-ravaged links course, except for a couple of tees where it was a bit messy, so I wouldn't worry about that. Overall, it's a worth a go if you like links golf, but it is a little pricey if you play at the weekend. Probably better to play on a weekday, and your round may be a little more rapid too.

Played at darley and lochgreen about a month ago in a 4 day golf trip to Ayr,and was really dissapointed with both.The greens have been lost with the bad winter but wish we were told before making the trip,as said in another review no rakes on the course and the locals are not that friendly,if the greens were as good as other reports say maybe would have been ok,Best to check before you go about the greens as they said they will take a while to get back as they was.

I played this course last week and, despite reading some mixed reviews, my opinion is not in doubt. Fairways may well be tight but the rough is far more forgiving than this website suggests. Overall, not too challenging a course. I'm a 24 handicap and shot 19 over par, my friend is a 12 handicap and shot 6 over. Fairways in poor condition, bunkers poor with no rakes - however the greens are immaculate. What really spoiled the course was the distance markers. Usually you will find markers at 100yds, 150yds & on par 5's, 200yds. This course however had red, white & yellow fairway markers at completely random distances. For example, a red marker can be found around 250yds from one hole, on another hole we spotted a red marker within 60yds. Some holes had more than one marker of each colour on. I would suggest if you consider playing this course, you take a range finder - but you shouldn't have to. I wouldn't consider this course worthy of £10 a round - it only costs over £20 a round because it's in Troon. There are far, far better courses for that price all over Scotland.