Machrie Golf Links

If you talk to even the most seasoned golf travelers, you’ll likely get a never-heard-of-it-look when you tell them you’re heading to Scotland to play at The Machrie Links. The Machrie, which opened in 1891, was built by Willie Campbell, the famous Scottish golfer who finished in the top 10 at the Open Championship eight times in nine years but never won.

To the unknowing, The Machrie looks as timeless as any Scottish links. Sheep often wander onto the fairways, and most of the holes are sequestered by the property’s rolling dunes and high fescue grasses. The par-72, 6,782-yard layout has many memorable holes, including a fantastic stretch from the sixth to the ninth. The 404-yard sixth has a green surrounded by dunes covered in fescue on three sides. On a windy day it looks like a gallery of wispy ghosts have come to watch you putt. If the wind is behind you, the 303-yard seventh, which runs parallel along a pristine beach, is drivable for many. The par-4 eighth requires an approach over a steep drop in the fairway. And the 143-yard ninth is one of the most scenic par 3s in Scotland, with an elevated tee box overlooking a bay known as Loch Indaal.

Perhaps the most interesting one-two punch on the course is the 12th and 13th. The first is a 509-yard par 5 easily reachable in two if it’s playing downwind. But you better make birdie, because the next hole is a 456-yard par 4 into the wind that can be unreachable without two of your healthiest blasts. Although the 526-yard 18th is a great finishing hole—straightforward, fair, and getable even in a headwind—the 17th might be the back nine’s most interesting. Head golf professional David Foley will tell you not to hit driver on the blind, dogleg right hole that finishes with another green surrounded by high dunes. But make a gentlemen’s agreement now: Everyone must hit driver on that hole. Then let the search begin. --Ron Kaspriske, senior editor. Read his full feature on the Isle of Islay and The Machrie here.