Going for Golf

Machrihanish Dunes

In Scotland, true links golf courses are not created, they are born of the land. More than 130 years ago "Old Tom" Morris recognised the potential for great golf here in this rugged, romantic corner of Scotland when he said, "The Almichty maun hae had gowf in his e’e when he made this place."

Today another Scot, David McLay Kidd, with the same professional eye and the same sense of place has been entrusted with this unique and precious landscape to mould it into the Machrihanish Dunes Golf Club.

Machrihanish Dunes Golf Club is the first golf course to have been built on a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSi) since the days of "Old Tom" himself. It is also the first 18-hole links golf course to be built on the west coast of Scotland in 100 years. Set hard against the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, Machrihanish Dunes shares breathtaking views with the adjacent Machrihanish Golf Club links laid out by "Old Tom" Morris in 1879, one of Scotland’s classic and most revered links. Measuring 7,300 yards, Machrihanish Dunes features six greens and five tees at the ocean’s edge.

True to The Way Golf Began, the site of Machrihanish Dunes links featured 23 "natural holes" (definition: a hole which fits so well into the natural landscape prior to construction that only minimal effort is required to ready it for play in terms of grading and shaping work). Course architect and Scotsman David McLay Kidd, who is internationally acclaimed for his design of Bandon Dunes in Oregon and the The Castle Course at St. Andrews, chose his 18 favourites to make up the inspired routing for Machrihanish Dunes. Measuring 7,300 yards, Machrihanish Dunes features six greens and five tees at the ocean’s edge.

"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," says David McLay Kidd. "For maintenance we will do a little mowing, but will mostly rely on the wandering sheep to keep the fescue in check - just like the old courses used to do. We are returning golf to how it should be played; no longer is it a gentle walk in a garden, it will be a full-fledged mountaineering expedition at this course."

In a world with over 32,000 golf courses, the development of an authentic links course (there are only 270 in the world) on the west coast of Scotland is most unique. Machrihanish Dunes promises to be a true testament to The Way Golf Began.

The two courses along with the creation of new luxury accommodations provide an even more compelling reason to seek out Machrihanish Dunes. Within a 35-mile radius lie five of the world’s greatest links golf courses. Four have hosted the Open Championship while the fifth is ranked amongst the most beautiful golf courses in the world. Turnberry, Prestwick and Royal Troon in Scotland, Royal County Down in Ireland and Royal Portrush, the only Irish golf course ever to host the Open Championship, are all less than an hour away.

At Machrihanish Dunes, golfers will also be able to relax and unwind in the Clubhouse (scheduled to open in 2011). Distinctively Scottish in design, the Clubhouse will have its own restaurant and pub along with men’s and women’s locker rooms.

Machrihanish Dunes promises to be the world’s next great golf experience. One that beckons those with a deep passion and true respect for the roots of the game. One that is naturally born of the land and yet, has been molded to extract its most superb attributes. One that instantly takes your breath away with its majestic beauty; along with its prolific challenges. One that offers a vast and wondrous links land that is centuries old, to be enjoyed for centuries to come.