Nairn Making Changes

[Stan Dodd]

The Nairn Golf club is undergoing some  modifications.  I was fortunate to play the course with the current Captain.  We had a great walk and talk about the Club and plans.  It was really  a enjoyable day.
I found the course to be a good test with some stern holes mixed in with some you felt you could attack.  Very windy and as has been said here before Nairn's greens are PURE.

http://www.nairngolfclub.co.uk/course-development.php

[Bill_McBride]

Our Gang of 8 spent a day at Nairn last June.  I loved the place, it's very cool and has wonderful greens, but that relentless cross wind off the firth just about beat us to death!  Even the holes that look easy on the card weren't because of the wind.

I did think the hole that went up the hill was a bit out of character on that linksy site, but it is a good one for sure.  That was made up for by the two downhill holes, long par 3 and short par 4, that were the only other holes that were not cross wind.

We saw the Walker Cup tees that were way behind the regular tees, some a long way!

I highly recommend Nairn, very good course.  Just be sure to play for that cross wind, even to the point of aiming out over the rough.  The wind really brought the OB into play coming home with the firth off to your left.

[JMorgan]

Great little club with lots of interesting design history.  Nice of them to post the changes on their site. Thanks, Stan.

[CJ Carder]

I played Nairn in August 07.  It's a very enjoyable, laid back course.... I honestly think the par 3 4th doesn't get nearly enough credit for just a visually cool looking hole from the tee, not to mention some interesting design concepts and bunker placement.  I didn't look at the proposed changes on all the holes, but I did like the addition of the bunker on #1 and #10 - particularly moving them closer to the fairway, which should force the player to really take on a great challenge if he wants a closer shot at the green.

I agree with Bill, the uphill par 4 was out of character, but the "heathland" feel that it gave the course really wasn't unwelcome. 

My only regret with that entire course is that it was the last of our 9 course / 15 round / 11 day trek and both me and my dad were completely exhausted after both holing out for par on #18.  Incidentally, that was a great way to close out the trip!

[Stan Dodd]

From the course website...

Dear Member
Proposed Alterations to The Nairn Golf Club: Championship Course
I would like to advise you that the Committee of Management have put forward some proposed
changes to our Championship Course. These are currently on show in the Bulmer Room of the
Clubhouse and available online for all members to view on our website (www.nairngolfclub.co.uk).
We have been fortunate to host many National events in the past and we would like to continue to
do so in the future. In order to be best placed to achieve this we have been advised that our
Championship course should be increased in length.
We employed the services of golf course architect, Mr. Martin Hawtree on a fairly open brief,
albeit we asked him to look at the course from a championship perspective so that we could test
the best golfers from the championship tee’s (without making it too difficult for our members from
the medal/ forward tee’s). This is perhaps not the easiest thing to do, but we are happy that the
changes Mr. Hawtree proposes will do this whilst not significantly altering the characteristic of the
course away from the James Braid design, for which we are known.
We would appreciate feedback from members on this as we are keen to proceed with any/all of the
proposals only with the approval of our members.
Yours sincerely,

[Bill_McBride]

Stan, all they need to do is make sure the wind is a fresh 30 knots, no problems!

[Stan Dodd]

I agree, Bill.

[Andrew Mitchell]

I played Nairn about three or four years ago.  A very good track which doesn't get as much publicity as it probably deserves.  It's a little off the main tourist routes.

The greens were the smoothest I'd ever played on - they appeared to have been ironed rather than rolled!