Machrihanish Dunes

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A thrilling links and luxury accommodation in majestic Kintyre: the quintessential seaside resort.

On the southwest tip of mainland Scotland is a peninsula that stirred Sir Paul McCartney to song – the Mull of Kintyre. From here, on a clear day, you can look east and see the Isle of Arran, just beyond which lie Turnberry, Troon and the Ayrshire coast.

To the north-west are romantic Western Isles like Islay and Gigha. And south, a quick boat ride away, is the Antrim coast of Giant’s Causeway and Portrush. It’s here that you’ll find two of Britain’s true golfing treasures lying side by side – namely Machrihanish and Machrihanish Dunes.

While the former has been here for over 130 years, the latter has only recently emerged – on a site that’s as perfect for links golf as you could wish for.

“As a child I played golf on the original Machrihanish, where my father and grandfather were members,” said Machrihanish Dunes course designer David McLay Kidd.

“We looked across the fence and marvelled at the stretch of dunes to the north and imagined another links there. A generation later I got to create Machrihanish Dunes, possibly the most natural golf course ever created – even by Old Tom’s standards. In essence, this course is the poster child for minimalist design.”

The two courses were indeed created by similar means. Due to the environmentally sensitive nature of this splendid piece of Kintyre coastline, a government-protected Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Machrihanish Dunes was brought into being without the use of any heavy equipment.

Kidd identified 23 ‘natural’ golf holes winding in and amongst the pristine dunes – holes that fit so well into the landscape that only minimal effort would be required to ready them for play. He then chose the 18 best ones for the final routing.

Amazingly, of the 259 acres on which the course sits, only seven – that’s right, seven – were touched by the hand of man. Only the tees and greens were shaped. The rest is just as nature presented it.

What will you find at Machrihanish Dunes? A genuine links that serves up equal parts of delight and challenge. The sound, smell and sight of the ocean are never far away. (Six greens and five tees sit right at the ocean’s edge.) There are back-to-back short holes – the 14th and 15th; some long and testing par 4s – like the 476-yard 8th which dog-legs ever more towards the sea and into the prevailing wind; and drivable par 4s – the 5th, 10th and 13th all measure less than 350 yards even from the black tees.

What you won’t find is a single pedestrian hole. Perhaps the most memorable feature of ‘Mach Dunes’ are the green complexes; expect dramatically sloping surfaces with only the occasional flat shelves on which to locate the pins. Miss a green and you’ll need to use both imagination and creativity to find the best path to the hole; it’s not unusual here to aim a chip shot well away from the cup and utilise the roller-coaster contours to help you find your target.

The addition of this second exquisite course in Machrihanish means you now have two reasons to visit this unspoiled corner of Scotland. And you can add two more items to the list, since there’s now luxury accommodation nearby that’s just as good as the golf.

The developers of Machrihanish Dunes recently restored two historic hotels to four-star-plus standards. The Ugadale Hotel, just steps from the first tee of the Machrihanish GC and offering dramatic views of the sea, was named the 2012 “Golf Hotel of the Year” in the Scottish Hotel awards.

Next door, the plush, two-bedroom Ugadale Cottages (Golf Tourism Scotland’s ‘Small Hotel of the Year’ in 2010) are an ideal self-catering choice. And in nearby Campbeltown, overlooking Campbeltown Harbour, you’ll find the resort’s sister hotel, The Royal. Add to the picture two fine dining restaurants and two lively pubs and you’ve got a golf break brimming with possibilities.

Getting there

The journey to this magical place is part of the charm. You can take the most scenic drive of your life past Loch Lomond and down Sir Paul’s ‘Long and Winding Road’, hop on a 25-minute flight from Glasgow to Campbeltown on FlyBe, or come by water on the Cal-Mac ferry or the Kintyre Express Fast RIB – from Troon or (in the summer) Ballycastle.

Website: www.machdunes.com
Telephone: 01586 810 000

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