I've just got back from a golf trip that included a game at Nairn, where I had only played once back in 2009. Before heading off, I'd seen this thread and had also checked back on my own photo tour from back then. I remembered a solid Championship links course but with the holes near the house being a bit flat and dull, while those at the far end were okay but unspectacular, and in the middle of both nines a bit more character (3,4 and 5 on the front, and 13, 14 and 15 on the back). On reading that 14 green was being changed and 15 approach undulations evened out I was somewhat disappointed as I felt those to be a strong point of the round.
Now whatever you say about M&E they are certainly considered a safe pair of hands by many and so its no surprise clubs, especially those with relations with the R&A, tend to engage with them. I'm not commenting on that here, what I am commenting on is how pleasantly surprised I was at the overall Nairn experience now they've done their work.
Standing looking out from the clubhouse, I remembered a bland view, mostly a sea of green with a few pot bunkers. Instead, the new bunkers and their surrounds have been positioned and cleverly shaped and blended in, in such a way that its only when you are walking through the first few holes that you realise its quite flat. The funny mounds and ditch on the second have gone thankfully. Changes to the fairway bunkering on the 5th havent harmed it at all and its still my favourite on the course. By the time you reach the 7th its again no longer a bland and forgettable hole, but instead a pair of bunkers on the corner test the drive between those and the beach, and the new green is close to the beach also, testing your approach shot while never relying purely on an instagram moment, as its not immediately obvious how close the green is. One of the most obvious fairway bunker changes was actually on 12 where instead of a pair off to the left almost out of play, a pair pinch the drive zone.
What of 14 and 15? Well I'd only played the once so am clearly no expert, but the 14th green was pretty much what I remembered so perhaps they only changed some of the surrounds and enlarged it slightly, as the valley through the middle was still there! On 15 a new pair of bunkers about 100yds from the green lead into an area of undulating land that again felt very similar to how it was before. Maybe they had softened them slightly but if I hadnt known I wouldnt have been able to tell.
So all in all, some clever remodelling and repositioning of bunkers has turned Nairn from what I felt was solid but I'm afraid to say dull, into an improved challenge with improved aesthetics, without getting rid of those few key moments of character (the 5th hole, 14th green, 15th approach) which were the shining lights previously.
Cheers,
James
ps, sorry for the lack of photos which would have made this a much better post!
