The Machrie, Islay: Hole 9 development

[Marty Bonnar]

When the refurb of the venerable old links was completed, there were very few bunkers on the site. They’ve been - slowly - adding bunkers here and there over the past five years or so.
One of the major change areas has been around the lovely par-3 ninth. Cracking drop shot 3 to a lovely-contoured green.


Visually, and in the playing of, the purist in me LOVED the isolated green nestled in a sea of waving marram:



The latest iteration is - visually - a lot more complex:



As you optician might ask, “is it better, worse or the same?”


Whichever, it’s still a beautiful hole on a beautiful course in a beautiful location. The stunning backdrop (yes, it DOES matter!) luckily remains the same. I’d be interested to hear a variety of opinions.


Cheers,
F.

[Charlie Goerges]

I can't say the new one is better, maybe the same. That said, what an enchanting location. If the wind is up, it would be a challenging shot in either iteration, if the air is still, I can just hear the strike echoing across the valley and the pat of your footfalls on your way to the green.

[Ian Galbraith]

I've only played it before they put in the bunkers. Lovely hole at the end of a great stretch along the water.


When they put the bunkers in I could never figure out what the purpose of the front left one was. I seems so far out of the line of play to be mostly irrelevant.


Hope to get back there soon.

[Marty Bonnar]

I've only played it before they put in the bunkers. Lovely hole at the end of a great stretch along the water.


When they put the bunkers in I could never figure out what the purpose of the front left one was. I seems so far out of the line of play to be mostly irrelevant.


Hope to get back there soon.

Ian, agreed. It’s the one that has me scratching my head!

[Sean Walsh]

I prefer the bunkered version. I’m very partial to bunkerless greens but they probably work better when there is more places to runaway to and more going on contour wise on and around the green (think a shortened version of 14 County Louth). Going only from these pictures those factors seem to be absent.


I am very curious as to what function the short short left bunker serves. Seems an added expense for almost no effect on the playing of the hole.

[Philippe Binette]

The before version :
The hole was about the beauty of its location in the landscape


The after version :
Another par 3 with bunkers all around