By Andrew Marshall
It’s a claim that’s often made – Machrihanish Golf Club situated miles from anywhere on the craggy west coast of the Kintyre Peninsula has the best opening hole in Scottish golf. With the Atlantic Ocean pounding away to the left, ever-present cross winds and a long beach carry, this 436-yard par-4 was a nerve-jangling start to our Scottish golf journey - travelling through spectacular and remote island and mountain landscapes while playing an old classic, a couple of new designs and a recently discovered gem.
Four-time British Open champion Old Tom Morris described the quirky duneland of Machrihanish as “Created by the Almighty to play golf on” and little has changed since he marked out his traditional links using seagull feathers during one weekend in 1876. Although it’s a devil to get to, it’s surprising how many golfers like ourselves find their way to Machrihanish, and professional golfer Brad Faxon, who’s passionate about golf course design once drove the 189 miles from Turnberry to Machrihanish Golf Club, just to check it out and play a round during the build-up to the Open.
Now there’s another reason to make the trip to the Kintyre Peninsula, because sharing the same breathtaking ocean views with the adjacent “Old Tom Morris” layout, is Machrihanish Dunes Golf Club - the first 18-hole golf course to be built on the west coast of Scotland in 100 years. Scotsman and course architect David McLay Kidd, who is internationally acclaimed for his design of Bandon Dunes in Oregon and the Castle Course at St Andrews has created a real throwback of a links, and this “new kid on the block” featuring six greens and five tees at the ocean’s edge looks set for stardom.
“We followed the lie of the land and unlike most courses around the world, we did not lay out the course and make the land change with it, we designed each hole around the natural terrain,” said McLay Kidd. “We are returning golf to how it should be played.” Because Machrihanish Dunes has been built on a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSi) the course’s routing in addition to the positioning of tees and greens was also dictated by several endangered species of flora and fauna. Tee blocks had to be excavated and flattened but virtually the rest of the course is natural.
Realistically you are not going to score well on your first visit to Machrihanish Dunes and course strategy requires a links mentality. Expect severely undulating greens, blind shots, straight shots that disappear over the hill and fairway maintenance by sheep (even the odd black one). And although markers on each tee clearly indicate the direction of the hole, its good to realise you might get lost here and there. Directional markers help on several blind second shots, but the distances to the green can be deceptive if you are not familiar with the course.
In addition to Machrihanish Golf Club and Machrihanish Dunes, another track worth playing is the shorter but equally delightful seaside links of Dunaverty Golf Club a few miles away near the pretty port of Campbeltown, a good base for playing this trio of courses. Often refered to as Scotland’s only mainland island, the Kintyre Peninsula is also the gateway to islands of the Southern Hebrides – such as the mountain wilderness of Jura, home to five thousand deer, a whisky distillery and a pub, and Arran also known as “Scotland in miniature” that has seven golf courses despite its small size. The pick of the bunch is Shiskine Golf Club’s idiosyncratic 12-hole layout nestled below Drumadoon Cliffs at Blackwaterfoot. And then there is Islay, famous for its whisky distilleries and home to the Machrie Golf Links – one of Scotland’s best island courses.
After a bracing round at Machrihanish Dunes we headed to the rustic clubhouse and ordered tasty sandwiches and mugs of hot tea. I chose ‘The Old Tom’ (grilled chicken, smoked bacon and lemon mayonnaise on wholegrain), while Paul went for ‘The New Kidd’ (ham, Kintyre cheddar and chutney on white). Refuelled and ready to go, we drove north up the coast to Oban to catch the 3.50pm ferry departure of Lord of the Isles – bound for Lochboisdale on the remote and beautiful Outer Hebridean island of South Uist.
It was 7.30 the following morning inside the breakfast room of the Polochar Inn just outside Lochboisdale. “Going by the gannets that are heading south I don’t think the rain is too far away lads,” said local Neil Campbell, as we gazed out on a wild and wonderful scene of desolate islets punctuated by a lichen-encrusted standing stone from the early Bronze Age. “The wind looks strong too. You’ll need a six-inch nail to keep your golf cap on today at Askernish.”
If Machrihanish is remote, then Askernish Old Course is at the end of the world. First laid out by Old Tom Morris in 1891, in recent years it has been unearthed and restored to its former glory by Gordon Irvine (Master Greensman) and Martin Ebert (Canadian course architect) using entirely traditional design principles. Enviromental experts have hailed Askernish Old Course as “the most natural links course in the world.” The dunes’ natural contours form the fairways, no artificial chemicals are used in maintenance, and during winter months sheep and cattle graze the course.
Irvine, who worked for free on the project, believes that based on his ability to distinguish natural landforms from man-made ones, he has correctly exposed and re-created the original layout. (Only the eighteenth green had to be relocated; the original now serves as a practice green.) “We’ll never know for sure,” he said. “We can’t bring Old Tom back. But this course is as close as you’ll get to an original Old Tom Morris layout.”
The result is a course right out of a time capsule that will appeal to purists and aficionados of links golf. Officially opened by Kenny Dalglish MBE, on the 22nd August 2008, the 6164-yard layout begins and ends in understated fashion, but from seven through to seventeen it’s a roller coaster ride through terrain as violent as a storm-tossed sea. The par-4 7th runs south along the shore from a dune-top tee to a green sheltered by even taller dunes and the green at the eleventh, a long and spectacular par-3 played directly into a sea wind, looks as if it could only be reached using rock climbing gear. Perhaps the star of the Askernish Old Course is the sixteenth called Old Tom’s Pulpit, a memorable short par-4 with a two-level green, the back half of which forms a punchbowl, where most approach shots including ours seem to end up.
From Askernish at the bottom of South Uist, we drove along the distinctive one-track road (with passing bays) through the middle island of Benbecula to the top of North Uist all linked by causeways. It was an absorbing journey – through a wild and unique landscape covered with a patchwork of peat bogs, low hills and lochans, with more than half the land being covered by water. Some of the lochs contain a mixture of fresh and tidal salt water, giving rise to some complex and unusual habitats - the haunt of dolphins, otters and numerous bird species including waders and the rare white-tailed eagle.
Beyond North Uist, on the dramatic and rugged island of Harris is another far-flung gem – the Isle of Harris Golf Club’s gorgeous 9-holer bordered on one side by the Sound of Taransay, leading onto the Atlantic Ocean, and all down the west side of the course stretch the white sands and turquoise waters typical of this part of the Hebrides.
When Nick Faldo visited the course in the early nineties prior to flying out to the US Masters, he described it as “one of the most beautiful settings for golf.” Back then, the green fee for a day’s golf was £5 (these days it’s still only £10), paid into an ‘honesty box’, a quirky arrangement that adds to the magic of the place. Faldo signed his £5 note, and ever since, the club members have competed annually for the ‘Faldo Fiver’.
Alas, on this trip we didn’t have enough time to drop our tenners into the honesty box at the Isle of Harris Golf Club. After spending a comfortable night at the Langass Lodge in Locheport on North Uist, the following morning we trundled aboard the M.V Hebrides vehicle ferry at Lochmaddy, dined on hearty Scottish breakfasts during the crossing and rolled off the ramp at Uig on the Isle of Skye a few hours later.
Skye is a 50-mile-long smorgasbord of velvet moors, jagged mountain ranges, sparkling lochs and towering sea cliffs. The stunning scenery is the main drawcard, but when the mist closes in there’s plenty of other attractions including picturesque villages, castles, cosy pubs, crofting museums, fine local produce and a 9-hole seaside course at Sconser Golf Club with spectacular views of the Isle of Raasay and North Skye.
After travelling over the Skye Bridge we were back on the mainland and soon headed past Eilean Donan Castle, standing bold and upright on the shores of Loch Duich, on a site that has been fortified for well over 800 years. The castle is somewhat of a filmstar and has been used in many productions over the years including the James Bond movie The World is Not Enough and Highlander starring Sean Connery and Christopher Lambert.
An hour or so later we experienced another iconic Scottish image, driving alongside the mysterious waters of Loch Ness where more ancient castles perched on heather-clad hillsides, home of golden eagle and red deer. At 22 miles long and up to 1.5 miles wide, no one knows for certain if monsters inhabit the near 1000-ft depths, but certainly its peat-darkened waters would be the perfect place for such a legend to hide. We joked to ourselves that there was probably a better chance of spotting ‘Nessie’ than shooting under our handicaps at the final course of our Islands & Highlands trip - the testing Castle Stuart Golf Links just east of Inverness.
The brainchild of Mark Parsinen, the American who gifted the world Kingsbarns Golf Links, his latest championship links course overlooks the Moray Firth and well-known landmarks that are synonymous with Inverness – the Kessock Bridge, Chanonry Lighthouse, Fort George and Castle Stuart itself - and enjoys similar topography to Royal Dornoch Golf Club further north, with an old sea cliff creating two tiered plateaus with six holes running alongside the inner Moray Firth. The course has been designed with wide fairways to offer plenty of lines of play on ground that is perfect for links golf.
We discovered that one of the great things about Castle Stuart is that you get a real sense of seclusion and most of the time you are not aware of other golfers out on the course. The views all around are fabulous, and from some tees and greens, the white 1930s Art Deco-style clubhouse can be seen sitting prominently atop its viewing perch. As Turnberry is to Ayrshire, Gleneagles is to Perthshire, and St Andrews is to Fife, Castle Stuart Golf Links has been conceived to be for the Highlands region and destined to be a future classic.
The addition of new courses such as Castle Stuart Golf Links, Machrihanish Dunes and the unearthed gem of Askernish Old Course along with the other over 550 members of the Scottish golfing arena give travelling golfers like ourselves a fantastic platform on which to design their own perfect golf trip in Scotland.
The Marshall brothers, travel writer Andy and photographer Paul, have travelled to 13 countries and played 65 golf courses during an 8-year period. Read more about their fantastic adventures on their blog at www.bogey.se and in their newly released E-book and audio book available at www.golfjourneys.net
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