Though all the Open venues have their own particular charm and beauty, it would be a brave man who tried to deny that it is Turnberry that stands above them all in terms of scenic beauty. It’s a beauty that offers plenty of scoring opportunities — the winning aggregates in both 1977 and 1994 are among the lowest recorded in Open history — but when the wind blows the elevated and exposed cliff-top holes are treacherous.

The opening three holes work back and forth parallel to each other, ensuring that at least one of the holes plays into whichever wind is blowing. Following that, the course turns to run along the shoreline from south to north, meaning that the prevailing south-westerlies will often help the player. From the 12th, however, the course turns back inland, constantly changing in both character and direction as the Ailsa makes its way back to the clubhouse.

Though once a relatively short Open venue, the Ailsa has now been extended to over 7,200 yards, though the final yardage for the 2009 Championship is yet to be confirmed. As at Birkdale last year, 20 new bunkers have been added primarily to tighten up the course, with many driving areas now invaded by sand at the 280-yard mark.

The biggest changes come in the final three holes, however: the 16th, once a straightforward and relatively short par-4, has been extended and its fairway moved to create a more challenging approach shot to a green protected by a deep burn. At the 2008 Amateur Championship, with the wind blowing into competitors’ faces, many players needed to woods to reach a green that used to be a drive and a wedge. The 17th, the course’s only par-5 and often seen as an excellent eagle opportunity, has been extended to around 560 yards. And finally the 18th has been made significantly tougher, with the tee having been moved from the right of the 17th green to the left, making the new hole a tough right-to-left dogleg that is likely to encourage plenty of final hole drama.

Like many of the great links golf courses of Britain, the coming of golf to Turnberry went hand-in-hand with the coming of the railways: the original hotel and golf course were built in the early 20th century by the Glasgow and South Western Railway Company, who employed Willie Fernie — the 1883 Open Champion — to lay out the course.

Before long, however, it wasn’t just golf balls that were flying around this corner of Ayrshire. Though the course was already winning plaudits and hosting top-level golf competition before the First World War, with the coming of the conflict Turnberry began to be used as a landing strip by the Royal Flying Corps. Between the wars golf became the top pastime once more, but with the outset of the Second World War in 1939 Turnberry became a base for RAF Coastal Command, which dispatched planes from the location to protect the transatlantic shipping convoys. Much of the existing golf courses were lost to aircraft hangars and runways.

With the war over, however, golf once again became the primary function of this stunning piece of natural links land. Philip Mackenzie Ross redesigned the Ailsa Course from scratch, and from the moment it was opened in 1951 the course was recognised as being a truly special golf venue. Several important championships came to Turnberry — including the Amateur Championship, which was played at the course for the first time in 1961 — but it wasn’t until 1977 that The Open came to the Ailsa for the first time.

And what an Open that was: Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson, the two greatest players of the age, were neck-and-neck at the top of the leaderboard after the opening two rounds, and went head-to-head over the final 36 holes. They proceeded to throw endless birdies and eagles at each other over the closing stages, with Watson coming out on top by a single shot after two rounds of 65. The Duel in the Sun, as it has become known, was without doubt one of the greatest golf championships ever played and cemented Turnberry’s place in golfing folklore.

The other two Opens so far held at Turnberry were very different, albeit also dramatic. In 1986 Greg Norman came to the event having lost final day leads in the previous two Majors, but this time held his nerve to record his first Open victory; and with a couple of holes left in 1994, Sweden’s Jesper Parnevik seemed to have done enough to lift the Claret Jug until his final hole faltering and a staggering 50ft eagle putt on the 17th by Nick Price secured the trophy for the South African.

We might be a long way from the first shots being hit in anger but the 2009 Open is already shaping up to be a fascinating event, witnessing Padraig Harrington going for a historic third consecutive Open title — a feat not achieved since Peter Thomson won his third straight Championship in 1956 — and world number one Tiger Woods coming back for his first Open since injury forced him onto the sidelines for much of the 2008 season. July 16 can’t come round fast enough.