Machrihanish

[Foxholer]

Proper links golf!!
It's been really dry up here for a while...they were watering the greens at Machrihanish yesterday!

Not convinced! Though rather more forgiving of severe conditions.

Plenty of green on this one

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&so...GWexyfgyGdRp4TypIDxP9Y2A&ust=1365459750866696


Or this one.

http://www.craigielawgolfclub.com/

I'm definitely a links fan though and especially enjoy the facts that a) it's never the same conditions so variety is guaranteed and b) the rough reduces in Winter meaning that, with the naturally hard&fast fairways, the course automatically compensates for the Winter conditions.

 

[thecraw]

Not convinced! Though rather more forgiving of severe conditions.

Plenty of green on this one

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&so...GWexyfgyGdRp4TypIDxP9Y2A&ust=1365459750866696


Or this one.

http://www.craigielawgolfclub.com/

I'm definitely a links fan though and especially enjoy the facts that a) it's never the same conditions so variety is guaranteed and b) the rough reduces in Winter meaning that, with the naturally hard&fast fairways, the course automatically compensates for the Winter conditions.

What's not to be convinced about? The camera doesn't lie! The courses up here are bone dry and need a bit of rain. Machrihanish are watering the greens and tee boxes! The links you have posted were certainly not taken this week.

 

[stevek1969]

Fantastic track and as Craw said its been bone dry up here until today that is,my course is running fast and the greens are hard already and a bit of pace in them, that sleet today will only make them better.

 

[Dodger]

Great to hear that this beautiful course is on it's way back condition wise,it is a course that every person should play before they pop their clogs.

Talking of which I am getting wed across that way in October so I feel a game with the old man coming on to ease my nerves pre ceremony.

On the subject of weather,I had my 1st game for 3 weeks yesterday at Goswick and it is like mid July during a drought.....crazy seeing as 3 weeks ago it was still a tad 'wet'.That harsh easterly wind we have had for a month is drying it to a crisp.

 

[Val]

Never thought I'd say it this early but we need a bit of rain up here, just as long as it remembers to go off again.

 

[Snelly]

Nice photos!

I loved Macrihanish when I played it. 5 under for 10 holes then dropped 13 on the way back. The wind was more than fresh!

We stayed in a fisherman's stone hut about 5 miles past Campbelltown, right opposite St Kierans Cave on Davaar Island. You had to cross three field just to get to it. Lovely and right on the beach. First morning we woke up to see two otters fishing about 25 yards from our bedroom window.

That view, a wonderful golf course (especially the first hole), my Lurcher coursing after mountain hares behind the cottage and plenty of Springbank are my lasting memories. Also remember seeing a submarine cruise past which was impressive!

 

[bigslice]

Never thought I'd say it this early but we need a bit of rain up here, just as long as it remembers to go off again.

defo need some rain

 

[scratch]

The scorecard paints no pictures. A par 4 went down on the card.


Topped 3 wood off the tee.
Smashed 17 hybrid.
Duffed pitch.
18 foot putt - BANG!


Easy par, where's the controversy?

Get your story straight guys...was the putt 8ft or 18ft? :ears:

 

[Val]

Get your story straight guys...was the putt 8ft or 18ft? :ears:

I dont know how long it was but it was off the heel :rofl:

 

[thecraw]

Get your story straight guys...was the putt 8ft or 18ft? :ears:

My account is 100% accurate. Who cares where it came off the putter face when its nestled nicely at the bottom of the cup.

 

[Val]

My account is 100% accurate. Who cares where it came off the putter face when its nestled nicely at the bottom of the cup.

No pictures and all that.

 

[Iaing]

Get your story straight guys...was the putt 8ft or 18ft? :ears:

That'll be 18 "forum" feet.

 

[thecraw]

That'll be 18 "forum" feet.

No, it wasn't 80 yards!

 

[Colin L]

Just returned to my hotel from a great whack round Machrihanish in brilliant sunshine .... and a penetratingly cold easterly wind. Pure enjoyment of a great course all the way round and loads of memories of many games on it in my younger days. It all made up for the extreme disappointment of my first game on Machrihanish Dunes which is just a hotchpotch of 18 holes scattered around with no coherent shape or pattern as a golf course and ridiculously long, irritating hikes from green to tee. My friend and I travelled down on Sunday for a 4pm tee time, having checked that sunset time was around 8pm so plenty of time for a round. That was a laughable mistake as we gradually discovered that although playing the yellow tees we actually had to walk the championship course - a difference of nearly 1000 yards - plus the absurd distances between green and tee, plus the 300 yard trail from clubhouse to 1st tee, plus the 200 yard crawl from the 18th green to the clubhouse, plus the extra distances wandering around trying to find the unsigned way from the 9th green to the 10th tee and the 17th from the 16th. We ran out of time and strength and I cannot really comment on the golf since annoyance and fatigue drained away the enjoyment.

The Dunes bills itself as golf as it used to be, but there we were today on an Old Tom Morris* course that is coherent, planned in the typical links layout of 9 holes out and 9 holes back, with silly old fashioned ideas like having each tee near the previous green. Pity the Dunes wasn't modelled on that kind of "how it used to be".

*Old Tom Morris of course being a recent upstart in the business of golf course design who could not be trusted to know how golf used to be.

I'm just so thankful we played the courses that way round so that we countered the disappointment of Sunday with the joys of today. Thursday sees me introducing my friend to the quirky delights of Dunaverty and to the best greens of the 3 courses - thanks in no small measure to the years of dedication of Willie MacMillan.

 

[Foxholer]

Not played either, though I have a standing invite from an associate who has a house overlooking the course(s) so it's on the list - though after Turnberry, Troon and Prestwick, and maybe Western Gailes and a return to Dundonald.

Not having the hardware available to modern course designer/developers, Old Tom Morris was an expert at bringing to the fore what God had already laid out!

I used to frequently play a course in Kent that was built with the expectation that buggies would be the main method of transport - Japanese market. Nice course, but one heck of a trek around the hills and nearly as much between the holes as along them. Ok if you know what you'll get, but I remember being very unimpressed first time round it. It's no longer a golf course now! Same group of players went down to Sandwich and played Princes. As my first experience of links golf it was pure pleasure getting lost and playing the wrong holes a couple of times!

 

[stevek1969]

Just returned to my hotel from a great whack round Machrihanish in brilliant sunshine .... and a penetratingly cold easterly wind. Pure enjoyment of a great course all the way round and loads of memories of many games on it in my younger days. It all made up for the extreme disappointment of my first game on Machrihanish Dunes which is just a hotchpotch of 18 holes scattered around with no coherent shape or pattern as a golf course and ridiculously long, irritating hikes from green to tee. My friend and I travelled down on Sunday for a 4pm tee time, having checked that sunset time was around 8pm so plenty of time for a round. That was a laughable mistake as we gradually discovered that although playing the yellow tees we actually had to walk the championship course - a difference of nearly 1000 yards - plus the absurd distances between green and tee, plus the 300 yard trail from clubhouse to 1st tee, plus the 200 yard crawl from the 18th green to the clubhouse, plus the extra distances wandering around trying to find the unsigned way from the 9th green to the 10th tee and the 17th from the 16th. We ran out of time and strength and I cannot really comment on the golf since annoyance and fatigue drained away the enjoyment.

The Dunes bills itself as golf as it used to be, but there we were today on an Old Tom Morris* course that is coherent, planned in the typical links layout of 9 holes out and 9 holes back, with silly old fashioned ideas like having each tee near the previous green. Pity the Dunes wasn't modelled on that kind of "how it used to be".

*Old Tom Morris of course being a recent upstart in the business of golf course design who could not be trusted to know how golf used to be.

I'm just so thankful we played the courses that way round so that we countered the disappointment of Sunday with the joys of today. Thursday sees me introducing my friend to the quirky delights of Dunaverty and to the best greens of the 3 courses - thanks in no small measure to the years of dedication of Willie MacMillan.

Disappointed to hear you didn't like the course, i played it last year and really liked it , even tho it was in poor condition due to the horrendous weather they had incurred i could see past that and realised it could be a fantastic track

 

[thecraw]

What an absolute nonsense report on the Dunes. Did you play like a chomper?

The Dunes is a wonderful track and is a great compliment to Machrihanish and indeed Dunaverty. Even as a member at Machrihanish I can fully appreciate the Dunes and I think it has achieved what McLay Kidd set out to do. He has worked with the land and shaped a course which works with nature and the land.

It is long however if your pathetic enough to moan about walking to the first tee then I would question why you even bother playing golf, a game which includes walking and lots of it.

While I agree that its not perfect it is a work in progress and they are taking on board criticism and making changes. They have remodeled greens and shortened the carry on 17. (or 8 depending on what way you play the course) I've still to play a perfectly created golf course and the Dunes is not perfect but it is a bloody good test of golf with some absolutely fabulous golf holes. The natural bunkering and rolling greens are superb, the routing through the dunes is inspiring and the setting is perfect for golf in my opinion.

I would strongly urge you to play it again and appreciate the track for what it is. Open your eyes a bit more and just enjoy the course its fabulous.

 

[Foxholer]

Craw.

Seems to me that it's time you opened the other eye!

 

[Colin L]

What an absolute nonsense report on the Dunes. Did you play like a chomper?

It is long however if your pathetic enough to moan about walking to the first tee then I would question why you even bother playing golf, a game which includes walking and lots of it.

What I described of the course and the amount of walking between holes is factually correct - the reference to the distance to the 1st tee being only one part of that. I have no way of measuring accurately but I would estimate that there was a full mile of walking over and above the length of the yellow tee course. That this seriously affected my enjoyment of the game is also true and is the experience I was reporting on. I played well and my eyes were well open to many other aspects of the course which I didn't comment on.

It's fine that you have a much more favourable view of the course than I got on first acquaintance, but I see no reason for your being so insulting in your way of sharing it.

 

[Val]

It's disappointing to read Colin's view on the Dunes but I reckon it's possibly clouded a tad as he felt he had to rush round to ensure he got in before dark.

The Dunes ain't perfect but where is? What the Dunes is about is a testing golf course where you have to trust your lines and yardages because of blind shots and some quirky greens and not to mention the testing constant wind.

Play it again early in the ironing and take time to enjoy it's splendour with an open mind and I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Glad you enjoyed the Championship Course at Machrihanish, I've played it twice now and it's growing on me. Some truly great golf holes.