Turnberry, Scotland (CNN)Willie McDines looks back towards the luxurious new clubhouse at Trump Turnberry before describing the transformation he has witnessed over the past 18 months. "I've seen quite a lot of comings and goings here over the years," the veteran caddie master says. "But this is the best one yet."
McDines, 59, whose father and grandmother were also Turnberry caddies, has worked at the historic golf resort on Scotland's rugged southwest coast for close to 30 years.
He recalls witnessing Tom Watson claim his second Open Championship during the 1977 "Duel in the Sun" with Jack Nicklaus. Nine years later, he caddied for American amateur Sam Randolph when the Open returned in 1986.
Yet when billionaire businessman and now presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump, snapped up the iconic facility in 2014, announcing extensive refurbishment plans of its three golf courses and 132 room luxury hotel, McDines admits to harboring some doubts.
"When they started talking about redoing the course, I was saying to myself ... 'are they going to ruin this?'" But McDines is quick to add he believes those early worries were misplaced. "When you see (the results), it's absolutely stunning. Mr Trump has done exactly what he said he would."