Machrihanish GC
Spoiler Alert - I thought this place was brilliant…
A lot is made of that opening hole - teeing off from the small peninsula known as ‘The Battery’, immediately outside the pro shop. Over the beach and Atlantic to an oblique fairway, it instantly sets the tone for what is to come.
What impressed me most, was the unrelenting quality of the subsequent holes. The first dozen are the equal to any links I’ve played. After those first few, you don’t get many more glimpses of the sea - but you are never in any doubt you’re playing an authentic links course. Towering dunes and rumpled fairways - bliss.
The fine fescues of Machrihanish were once described by Old Tom Morris ‘as perfect for golf as any I’d seen’. All these years later, I am inclined to agree. The links wasn’t ‘manicured’, but it was as well presented for true links golf as any I’d seen. Rough in the parts that didn’t matter, but damn near perfect where it did.
The inward half dozen are played alongside the adjacent farmland, and they don’t quite reach the heady heights of the earlier holes. But they are still great golf holes. Perhaps this slight wrinkle of relative consistency is why Machrihanish doesn’t feature higher in many peoples’ rankings. The fact those less dramatic holes are the ones fresher in the mind as you finish your round. But for me, this is a world class links.
2 comments
John – thanks very much for your kind words. Glad to hear the trip is well received!
I echo your Machrihanish thoughts – thought it was excellent.
Mach Dunes next door, a little over 10 years old and built by David McLay Kidd (Bandon Dunes and Castle Course fame) is great too. Because it’s built on SSSI land, they were seriously limited in what they could do during construction. As a result, you get some long walks from green to tees – but I think its a fair price to pay. There are also a few large ‘native areas’ that might have otherwise made good golf. You do feel the course is slightly compromised by the restrictions, but if they weren’t complied to the course would never have been built!
Over all, really enjoyable – but, call me old fashioned, not quite in the league of Machrihanish…!
Sam Cooper
I’m greatly enjoying following your trip. Machrahanish has always been a favourite of mine. We used to do their golf week in the 90’s, an interesting week to say the least. Campbletown was like the land that time forgot. The White Heart
Where we stayed was run by an eccentric Englishman. The trip advisor reviews made great reading, well shut low I believe. What was the new course Nextdoor like?
John Cole
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