While the likes of Tiger Woods prefers to practise on links courses building up to an Open Championship, defending champion Ernie Els and Irish hope Darren Clarke are happy to be on an inland layout at this week's Scottish Open.
Although both Els and Clarke concede a links venue would provide the ideal preparation for next week's Open at Royal St George's, both say they will benefit from playing tournament golf over the next four days at Loch Lomond.
Clarke, who will play the first two rounds at Loch Lomond with Els and defending champion Eduardo Romero of Argentina, is happy to compete at the challenging venue.
"This golf course affords the opportunity to hit a lot of different shots into the greens - low, high, whatever you need to do," said the Tyrone golfer. "And that's what we are all going to have to do next week.
"In an ideal world, a links course would probably be more beneficial for the guys who are going on to play in the Open next week.
"But, in saying that, I think we still have a good balance of that here this week, because you do have to hit different shots into the greens."
Els is of a similar mind to the Irishman.
"I like to play the week before the Open championship," the South African told a news conference.
"Maybe it's not the most perfect preparation for an Open championship, with Loch Lomond being quite soft, but I played it yesterday and it's in beautiful condition.
"It's not quite a links course, but it's in the top five of my worldwide golf venues.
"I think the players would prefer to play links golf before the Open, but any kind of competitive golf, especially if you can play well on a tough golf course like this, will definitely help you.
"It will help the nerves going into next week," added Els, who won last year's British Open in a four-way playoff at Muirfield.