“The Almichty Maun hae had gowf in his e’e when he made this place.”

- Old Tom

Course History:

“Red, there are two courses that we need to play when we go to Scotland: Machrihanish Golf Club, way South in Kintyre and Cruden Bay, to the North. Both designed by Old Tom Morris.” Said our good friend Woody, as we walked the fairways of the Scarlett Course at OSU as teenagers.

Originally known as The Kintyre Club, The Machrihanish Golf Club, formed in 1876 by a small group of individuals that met in the Argyll Arms Hotel in Campbeltown. The Machrihanish Ladies Golf Club was formed in 1890. At first it played on its own 9-hole course (that later became The Pans course that lies to the right of the 1st and 17th/18th fairways along the road).

The initial layout was just ten holes, played according to the rules laid out by The Prestwick Golf Club. Prestwick’s professional at the time, Charles Hunter, redesigned the layout, extending it to twelve holes.

In 1879, Old Tom Morris further extended the course to eighteen holes. This is when the first tee, known as the greatest opening hole in golf, moved to its current location--what a great move that was! Just like all Old Tom’s courses, subsequent changes were made in 1914 by JH Taylor, and then shortly after WWII by Sir Guy Campbell.

The old/original clubhouse tragically burned down in December of 2018 but was replaced and opened in early 2021. I can say that the view from the top-floor pub/restaurant is awe-inspiring. We watched golfers, dogs, and an enthusiastic golfer/Dad, pushing his child’s buggy, golf bag over shoulder to the Pans Course. Precious dedication!

The Course:

Machrihanish Golf Club is one of the most natural links courses you will ever walk. I am quite sure it looks now as if the fairways were when Old Tom Morris first found them and marked the green complexes with bird feathers. A great routing through beautiful dunes, with gentle, varying, undulating, fast and easy to read greens. It seems to me that he followed his path of least resistance strategy and simply found the green complexes and routed the fairways through and around the dunes. I could say that about Askernish and Cruden Bay as well, same strategy. God created it, just stay out of his way!

It is just a sheer joy to play. It has fabulous sea views, undulating rippling fairways and beautiful rugged dunes. I remember having a grin on my face on every hole. It is magical, beautiful, romantic, calm, relaxing, and a leisurely walk. It meets and exceeds my favorite litmus test: If you only had one course to play the rest of your life, would this be the one?

It is not a long championship course, at 6,300 yards and that might be why I like it so much. I can still bunt my drives 240 yards give or take, and straight down the middle, but I really enjoy being able to have nothing more than a wedge to 5-Iron into most greens.

Simply said, the front nine is as good as they get in links golf. Fantastic routing, views, dunes and green complexes with a variety of holes that are as unique as they are challenging.

The first, Battery, is 423 yards and a gut wrencher of a drive over the beach to a fairway that is a diagonal from the tee. Your first key decision, how aggressive an angle should I take to the left? Should I be a hero, or play safe and have 180 yards to the green? After all, the beach is in play, not a hazard.

Number 2 (Machrihanish) is a wonderful, fun hole to play. A par four with a straightforward drive of no more than 250 yards to stay just short of the burn. Then, an uphill blind approach to one of my favorite greens in all of link’s golf. It lies about 30-yards past the crest of the hill—with two pot bunkers protecting the left side. In the front, a mini half/semi-punchbowl that dissects the saddle that runs from front right to rear left—emulating a redan and rewarding a draw on your approach. It must be one of the most unique greens I have ever seen.

Again, it looks as if Old Tom just found it as it was and let it do its thing. It also holds a special place in my golfing heart as I birdied it the first time I played it. The stretch of holes from two through six are one of my favorites in all of golf (along with 12 – 16 at Pine Valley and The Golf Club in Columbus, Ohio).

The third, (Islay) at 360 yards has a blind tee-shot, over sixteen green, a large rise that when you find your way to the top, reveals a rippling fairway and a beautiful long front to back, kidney-shaped green. The island of Islay in the distance beckons you. Two bunkers strategically.

placed, guard the front and back right of the green. It is a wonderful hole that I could play all day long.

The fourth—the only par-3 on the front—(Jura) is 130-yards from the whites and it Old Tom’s own version of the Postage Stamp at Royal Troon. It has three bunkers guarding any shot left or right, or long right. The only bail-out here is long left, and that is no picnic. You simply must stand up and hit a golf shot!

Then you get to experience links golf at its best, with two short par-4’s Punch Bowl, routed around a giant dune to the right side fifty yards out for a blind second shot into a true punch bowl green. Then, Balaclava, a rumpled roller-coaster of a fairway a bit wider than a bowling alley, gives you a chance to drive the green. Fun, fun, fun!

The back nine, conversely, has two par-5’s and three par-3’s. Old Tom put together a solid set of four par-3’s, just as he did at Cruden Bay. The three par-3 set on the back nine was reminiscent of Doak’s back nine at Pacific Dunes.

I am sure it was s strategy of the time but Old Tom’s focus had no pre-conceived notion of what total par and mix of holes should be, rather, walk the land, find the green complexes, find a tee box, and mark them with feathers. In other words, route the best holes through the dunes—as they appear in front of you.

Of course, their tools of the trade were spades, shovels and donkeys to “move the Earth” in the late 19th century,

The two par-5’s on the back are numbers 10, Cnocmoy, a wonderful, strategic hole, that doglegs left then slightly back right on the approach with a high dune framing the left side off the tee, and #12, called Long Hole that is equally as strategic--but as straight as a bowling alley. It is a testament to the solid links holes that Old Tom created that are inland from the Sea. Ten through sixteen are marvelous holes. Not all great links holes need to be hard by the sea.

It is only Seventeen and eighteen that end up with a whimper, as if he ran out of interesting land and had to “route” a couple holes back into the clubhouse. In my mind, Machrihanish GC as it exists now is a top one hundred course in the world. With a couple better, tantalizing, even simply strategic holes to finish it up and it could be in the top fifty! But who is counting?

Machrihanish GC quickly became an instant favorite of mine. I could not wait to get back out and play it again. I was in--as I mentioned at the outset of this article-- a Machrihanish State of Mind. I have had that feeling quite a few times, all at Links courses--with the only exception being The Golf Club in Columbus, Ohio. The others: Brora, Royal Dornoch, Royal Troon, Western Gailes, Cruden Bay, Lahinch, Ballybunion and St. Patrick’s. I hope to have that feeling again and find a few more that give me that same magical feeling—the one that makes me study and play Links golf--and it will keep me going till I cannot walk or grip a club anymore.

Why play there?

Very simply put, Machrihanish GC is links golf nirvana. There are only a handful of courses that give you that feeling and vibe.

Add onto that the experience of the Village at Machrihanish including the Ugadale Hotel and its courtyard—as Paddy and I dubbed it, our home office--the Clubhouse and the Old Clubhouse Pub and what more could you ask for? Well, since you ask, add Machrihanish Dunes (a DMK masterpiece and the latest links course built in Scotland) and Dunaverty, a quirky, gorgeous gem 20 minutes away and that could keep you busy for a 5-day (or more) Kintyre vacation. Oh, did I forget to mention that they are building another course next to Machrihanish Dunes?

Course Rating: Albatross

Cheers,

Old Tam