Machrihanish Golf Club Review: Golf as it's meant to be - if you can get there

Machrihanish Golf Club Fact File

• Location: On the Kintyre Peninsula, three hours from Glasgow
• Year Established: 1876
• Par: 70
• Length (yards): 6226
• Green Fees (weekdays): £155
• Signature Hole: Hard to say anything other than the 1st (the 3rd is incredible)
• Website: machgolf.com

Machrihanish began life as The Kintyre Golf Club in 1876. Three years later Old Tom Morris was brought in to turn it from a 12-hole layout to 18 as new land was added. Part of this was the 1st hole which is always the first port of call when discussing the great opening holes, more of which later. 

The hardest and most rewarding part of a trip to Machrihanish is just getting here. The course is located around 20 miles from the Mull of Kintyre and Sir Paul McCartney's video was filmed on a nearby beach.

You're rewarded from your three-hour drive down the gentle and beautiful A83 by a golf course that sits inside the top-40 courses in GB & Ireland and a top 20 in Scotland. You can supplement your stay with rounds at Machrihanish Dunes and Dunaverty and return to normality far richer for the overall experience.

Morris described the land here as 'specifically designed by the almighty for playing golf' while Tom Doak wrote that it's the 'only course in Scotland that still seems just as raw and natural as the first time I was there 35 years ago'.

JH Taylor made some alterations in 1914 and the final changes were made by Sir Guy Campbell in the 40s but nothing here looks designed, more that the golf course sits perfectly in the terrain that has always been here. In the past few decades more of us have caught on to Machrihanish and we're all the better for it.

Machrihanish Golf Club Review

Around 15 years ago three of us set off on a six-hour drive to Machrihanish, which was then quickly cut down to three when the SatNav didn't take into account that what lay between us and the golf course was water and the Isle of Arran, before reverting back to six. We were away for just one night, packed in 54 holes and got back at 2am and it was comfortably the best use of any of our time before or since.

All three courses are quality in their own right but the front nine at Machrihanish is off the charts. Golf Digest (64) and Golf.com (93) have it in their World Top 100 courses, as does Golf Course Architecture.  

The back nine doesn't live up to what's gone before but that needn't matter, it's still fantastic golf played in a remote setting with sensational turf.

The 1st, Battery, greets you with the words 'The best opening hole in golf' which is hard to disagree with. The reality is that you can bite off far more than it looks and most of us will make the hole play longer than it needs to be, the fun part is to miss the fairway and play your second shot of the day from the beach. Another way of playing it is to hit your approach shot, as one of us managed, to the 17th green.

The 2nd is singled out in Dr Alister MacKenzie's book and designer Clyde Johnson has it in the Fried Egg's Eclectic 18 in the UK.

"The 2nd green at Machrihanish might be one of the most beautiful in all of links golf. At the front, a central bowl disrupts entry into a banking saddle. This saddle sweeps in from front right to rear left to aid a drawn approach. It’s a true lay-of-the-land green; any artful intervention from man is barely recognisable."

For me the 3rd is the hole that I recall the fondest of any hole. The tee shot is played over the 16th green, is blind and promises very little of what's soon to come. The big reveal is a fairway and the distant backdrop of the Paps of Jura and a fairway that provides plenty of help. A left-hand pin can be located with help from the land, the bunkering is supremely clever and it's a hole that you could keep on playing all day.

The next, bizarrely, is the only short hole on the front nine and there are small shades of the Postage Stamp and then you are into a succession of par 4s, long and short with a minimum of sand, which are quite possible to score well on.

The two par 5s come at 10 and 12 and you have back-to-back par 3s at 15 and 16, aptly named Rorke’s Drift, so it's not your traditional layout in terms of a scorecard. Everyone will point to the final two holes as being a bit of a let-down but don't let that even slightly put you off from making the pilgrimage here.

Final Verdict

You'd imagine that plenty has changed since our visit. Certainly the clubhouse has after a devastating fire destroyed the old one in 2018, thankfully most of the memorabilia and records were saved, and we now have a new clubhouse that offers even more spectacular views of the nearby course.

But it's all the little bits that made this visit so memorable. A pro shop that was packed with affordable goodies, the very simple markers and old-fashioned tee boxes which provide the hole names and relevant info. Some courses might try and kid you that you're playing a course that's as natural as any but few truly get away with it.

Machrihanish truly does. The bunkers are small and generally hidden away and, unless it's blowing a hoolie, it won't beat you up. The 1st is Stroke Index 3 so most of us may well get off to a flying start and it never gets beyond 6,250 yards.

Last year five-time Open champion Tom Watson, the archetypal lover of all things links golf, popped in for 18 holes.

Next year the club celebrates its 150-year anniversary and there are a host of Open days to get involved with. This is a true bucket-list experience in a part of the world where you can quickly chalk off three courses that will live long in the memory. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

For more information, please visit the club's website here