Machrihanish Dunes

[Bart Bradley]

Played Machrihanish Dunes today with my son for the first time. Very enjoyable round. Admiittedly, it is a long and fairly arduous walk with significant green to tee transitions.  In a 20-30 mph wind I still found the course fun and playable. I lost one ball but that was a mystery as I seemed to have lost it in the mown rough.  The course is not as good as Machrihanish Old, but it offers a very rustic links experience.


Before I went, some who played the course years ago told me to skip it. Apparently they have made great strides making the course better. It is well worth a look if in the area.


Bart

[David Davis]

I wanted to bump this thread, it was the best one I could find on Mach Dunes and admittedly late to the game I just managed my first visit to the area which was absolutely a blast.


First I will say, that the course we played hardly resembles the course Simon and others described in 2011. However, the night we arrived we ran into this small group of Scotts that suggested they were all low single hcp'ers and that they took 5 hours to play the round there (not too mention there were low winds that day). They said their were extremely long walks between tees etc.


I guess that set the stage. When we arrived the wind had picked way up to around 3-4 clubs and was a solid gust even for the locals. What we found on the course was hardly anything that I can personally relate to Simon's initial experience. There was so much width and having played with Simon I know there is almost no way he could lose a ball now even if he tried. The course was a wonderful, natural links experience with that rugged wild landscape similar to that which you encounter at Prestwick which I simply love and I know receives a fair amount of admiration from the doghouse. The walks between the tees was not at all an issue for us. The best part was there was almost no walking back, I don't love back tracking to get to lengthened tees as that seems to lose the flow in some ways. There are a couple longer walks maybe like 200 meters as mention but only a couple. The greens, some of which were small are surrounded by short grass making them play much larger than their actually size and opening up a variety of options for super fun short game recovery shots.


The club has managed to all but lose any mowing restrictions and the course is as wide and playable as any links I've played and at this stage I consider myself fairly well travelled having seen a wide spectrum of links courses.


As to the routing and amount of blind shots. Every tee has an indicator on the ground and there is a board with a hole layout on each set of tees. We played back and our group consisted of a 4 hcp, a 5hcp and a pro. Not once did we find the blind shots unfair nor did we think there were too many to render the course anything other than a fun challenge. Don't forget the high winds we played in. Go out on something like Royal County Down or Royal Portrush (two of my favorites) in these winds and you can learn what getting beat up is.


We started on the tee closest to the clubhouse that plays as a dogleg left par 4. I really enjoyed the back 9 as well and the added quirk on some of the holes. starting at 11 which was a great hole in the hard left to right breeze.


The finishing holes we also tremendously enjoyed and found a fitting end. They had adjusted the back tees appropriately on the day so the 18th was playing up given the tee shot was straight into the wind.


Our 3 ball finished in 3 hours and 20 minutes without rushing and walking in normal pace, on the back 9 we were stuck behind a Scottish 2 ball that refused to let us play through, it took us two hours waiting on every tee starting at 11. Again we didn't search for balls at all. I think it's a course that can easily be played in 3 hours if it's quiet at a normal pace and perhaps 3.5-4.0 hours if it's busy with 3 and 4 balls.


I'd call it a must see course, it's my favorite DMK design to date by a long shot, so yes I like it far better than Bandon even. Combined with Machrihanish Old it's a great spot for a long weekend and yes the Ugadale Hotel is a refreshing change for the UK golf scene. It's a great place to stay if you ask me, decent but still Scottish food to be fair (it's all a bit heavy and greasy for my liking) but a wonderful location.

[Niall C]

David


Thanks for bumping this thread as it served to remind me of a very enjoyable day at Mach Dunes. I have to confess I haven't yet gone back but would love to do so. I can understand the comments from the locals about long walks as relative to your average UK course, as there are several fairly long walks although no real slogs from what I recall.


As an aside, coincidentally and unknown to me my brother was playing at Machrihanish the same day I was at Mach Dunes. After Machrihanish he took the ferry over to Islay and played Machrie. He came back swearing about the rough at the Machrie. Even with his wife acting as fore caddie he lost 7 or 8 balls. I hope that's one thing they fixed with the redo.


Niall

[Bob Montle]

Double thanks for bumping the thread!
I can't imagine it beating out Old Mach but I surely do want to see for myself now.

FWIW, I have stayed at Tarbert on my only two visits.   
And I cannot afford a caddy, but it has never detracted from my enjoyment of Scottish links courses.

[Andy Shulman]

I played Mach Dunes last August and agree with David's review of the course.  There are a lot of very good golf holes out there.


It is not, however, an easy walk or a course that tends to play quickly.  The combination of several steep hills, that handful of modest walks from one green to the next tee and one or two moments where we weren't quite sure where the next tee was added a few minutes here and there compared to most links.....and the course was basically empty.


It's absolutely, positively well worth a play, but you're not likely to want to turn right around and play another 18 there when you're done.

[Niall C]

And I cannot afford a caddy, but it has never detracted from my enjoyment of Scottish links courses.

Bob


99.9% of Scots don’t use caddies even when they are playing a course for the first time. Caddies are for tourists. Best to play the game like a local and enjoy discovering the course for yourself without a “new best” friend getting in the way.


Niall

[David Davis]

It is not, however, an easy walk or a course that tends to play quickly.  The combination of several steep hills, that handful of modest walks from one green to the next tee and one or two moments where we weren't quite sure where the next tee was added a few minutes here and there compared to most links.....and the course was basically empty.

Andy is right here in that it really all depends on your perspective and what you are use to. If you are use to taking a buggy and driving everywhere in daily life and are carrying more than a few extra kilos around then there are a lot of tough walks out there. This is totally subjective. My home course is what I'd consider a pretty tough walk and I've never taken a buggy on it, no one does unless you are handicapped. Mach Dunes is a much easier walk and again it's all relative but I don't see little dunes as being steep hills necessarily.


Maybe this puts my idea of walks into perspective:


Easy walk: West Sussex, Sunningdale, Woking, Walton Heath, Rye, Deal, Royal St. Georges, Muirfield, Prestwick, North Berwick, Dornoch, Lahinch, Royal Portrush, Cypress, Valley Club of Montecito, Seminole, NGLA you get the picture.


Hard walk: Noordwijkse, Royal Hague, Ellerston, Dismal if you count the slog from the clubhouse to either of the first tees and back, Sand Hills if you count the same slog. Any courses with extreme steep properties with serious climbs or huge gaps between several holes. Huge for me is 200-500 meters. These last ones are courses where you would really want to ride to save your feet on golf trips. Or where you would almost insist on riding your last 18 holes on a 54 hole day. (36 hole day for some).

[Adam Lawrence]

I don't think Mach Dunes is a hard walk, it's just quite a long one. This is because the course itself is quite long (though they have shortened the number on the card since opening) and the walks through the environmentally sensitive areas. Not a lot that could have been done about that, except to build a shorter course I suppose.

[Marty Bonnar]

We've just booked a weekend in November staying in the cottages. Judging by these pics, I may never come home!
Thanks, Eric.
Yippee,
F.

Since that first trip, we've been over to Machrihanish/Campbeltown every year, including a fabulous New Year trip with no golf - too windy, believe it or not!
Have to agree with all said here. The course has been more and more playable every time. New mowing regimes, additional drainage, path surfacing and so on have really improved the walks. The service at the course and both hotels is great. Food and drink offerings hearty and reasonably priced. They even offer free soup and sandwich lunches at the course now (along with an MD-labelled wee miniature of Springbank - yum!)
All in all, it's now easily one of Scotland's best all-round golf experiences. Can't wait to go back.


F.

[Marty Bonnar]

Oh, yes.
F.


PS Not Springbank, it's the Campbeltown Loch!

[Niall C]

All together now......."Oh Campbeltown Loch I wish you were whisky, Campbeltown och aye.."

[Marty Bonnar]

All together now......."Oh Campbeltown Loch I wish you were whisky, Campbeltown och aye.."

LIKE!
 
F.

[Tim Gallant]

Phew! Just read through the entire thread to ensure I didn't repeat anything.


I must say that I didn't find the course to my liking at all, which is a real shame because I can't quite place my finger on why I didn't quite enjoy it as much as I should have. I love links golf, love rugged terrain and am a sucker for blind shots (hellllloooo alps and Himalayas!).


I didn't mind the walks too much, although coming from North Berwick where you practically pick your ball out of the hole and re-tee, the walks between holes were noticeable, but pleasant enough.


The greens were wild, but not in the good way to my eye. However, I couldn't argue that they weren't at least fun!


And the rough wasn't bad - in fact, I lost more balls at Old Mach the day before than I did at Mach Dunes (granted I was wild with the driver at Mach Old).


No, what irked me most about Mach Dunes were the holes themselves. Recalling my round one year later, I can hardly think of more than 7 or 8 holes. I know they are different, but in my mind, it just sort of all blends together in a state of rolling fairways, seemingly random bunker placements, wild green, nice view, repeat...In fact, I couldn't even recall the stretch from 6-8 without looking back on an old review.


The other thing that really made me disappointed was that for all the movement in the fairways, I seemingly always had a flat lie, and could see lots of divots around where my ball finished. These gathering areas were common as the mounds and humps are too severe to allow for side-hill/uphill/downhill lies. I recall smashing a drive on 11 straight down the middle, and ending up in an area with 20 divots around my ball, whereas the rest of the fairway looked nice and baked. It seemed to me, given the tilt of the fairway from right to left, that you either ended up in this collection area, or you ended up off the fairway.


And that is the point I suppose: there are those who praise Mach Dunes for its randomness, but in my mind, the randomness is much less than at many other places, which is sad.


I spoke with a member at Mach before I made the trip out with a fellow GCAer and good friend, and this member told us to skip Mach Dunes. I laughed a bit as I wasn't going to come all that way and skip Mach Dunes. But now I see what he was saying. If I had 100 rounds to play between the old course and the Dunes, I would choose 100 at Mach Old.

[Niall C]

"No, what irked me most about Mach Dunes were the holes themselves. Recalling my round one year later, I can hardly think of more than 7 or 8 holes. I know they are different, but in my mind, it just sort of all blends together in a state of rolling fairways, seemingly random bunker placements, wild green, nice view, repeat...In fact, I couldn't even recall the stretch from 6-8 without looking back on an old review. "

Tim

I think I know what you mean. There is a lot going on. I wonder if you played it half a dozen times that you might start to appreciate more of the nuances. I say that as much for myself as for you. I just think it is a course that takes a bit of learning which is no bad thing.

Niall

[Tim Gallant]

"No, what irked me most about Mach Dunes were the holes themselves. Recalling my round one year later, I can hardly think of more than 7 or 8 holes. I know they are different, but in my mind, it just sort of all blends together in a state of rolling fairways, seemingly random bunker placements, wild green, nice view, repeat...In fact, I couldn't even recall the stretch from 6-8 without looking back on an old review. "

Tim

I think I know what you mean. There is a lot going on. I wonder if you played it half a dozen times that you might start to appreciate more of the nuances. I say that as much for myself as for you. I just think it is a course that takes a bit of learning which is no bad thing.

Niall

Quite possibly you are right! I don't mind not solving a course on the first go, or even 'figuring it out', but there needs to be enough interest there to make me want to go back, and I just didn't quite get that. I will no doubt give it another crack at some point - maybe we both need to play it together with a gang from Edi/Glasgow!

[Niall C]

Tim


Great idea but when to arrange it for ?


Niall

[David McIntosh]

I played Mach Dunes for the first (and only) time in 2013 but wasn't too impressed by the course, which seems at odds to some of the more recent posts.

Four years on, I too can recall very few of the holes (judging from their website gallery, the first hole when I played is now the 10th), which is quite unlike me, and I can relate to Tim's comment about a lot of the holes blending in together. I would say that the few holes I can remember were of good quality with the green sites being the highlights.

I didn't have any issues with the walks between greens and tees (certainly not a major factor in me not taking to the course) and don't remember the rough being overly penal. One of my abiding memories of Mach Dunes however was the poor quality of the turf, particularly on the holes closer to the sea. The ground was not links-like at all and had the feeling that it hadn't properly bedded in yet - I distinctly remember the turf crumbling away on impact on some of the early holes, which was a bit of a disappointment.

I'm possibly judging Mach Dunes harshly in comparison to Mach Old (I know I shouldn't), which I played the following day along with Dunaverty. I really enjoyed Mach Old and Dunaverty whereas Mach Dunes didn't compare favourably. I haven't felt compelled to return to play Mach Dunes again but perhaps some of the more recent glowing reviews are a sign I need to get back for another look.

[Niall C]

David
 
I think that’s all fair comment however as you appreciate you are comparing a relatively new course with well-established courses that have had over a hundred years of refinement, tweaking and bedding in. No doubt over time future generations will leave their mark, might even make substantive changes and of course the turf will have had a proper chance to bed in. I suggest you wait another 50 years at least before making final judgement    .


Niall

[Ally Mcintosh]

David
 
I think that’s all fair comment however as you appreciate you are comparing a relatively new course with well-established courses that have had over a hundred years of refinement, tweaking and bedding in. No doubt over time future generations will leave their mark, might even make substantive changes and of course the turf will have had a proper chance to bed in. I suggest you wait another 50 years at least before making final judgement    .


Niall

Going back to David's post, were the fairways at Mach Dunes not just mown out?


How much more links like can your soil and grass be?

[Niall C]

Ally


Someone like Adam Lawrence might be able to give a definitive view but from what I recall there was a limited amount of shaping, for some reason I seem to recall the figure of 17 acres mentioned, and where there was reshaping they used hydraseeding to establish the fairways. I seem to recall also that someone posted some videos of the work on this website.
 
Niall

[David McIntosh]

Niall,

Stay & play package now in the diary for 2067 - will let you know the final verdict then  .

I definitely acknowledge that Mach Dunes is still in its infancy when compared to Mach Old and therefore the turf issue, whilst not exactly a positive for MD, doesn't have any real bearing on my preference for the Old. I just felt there was a lot more of interest on the Old course and I would say that even if the turf conditions at the time of my visit were reversed.

Ally,

That's an excellent point I hadn't considered before - I too was under the impression that the fairways at Mach Dunes were 'found'/mown out as opposed to being created and shaped. This makes the crumbling fairways I experienced all the more strange because if DMK did very little to the land and dunes when laying out the course then wouldn't the soil already be reasonably well bedded in?

[Brian_Ewen]

I wonder if there is any jobs going at Machrihanish Dunes 

[Ally Mcintosh]

I wonder if there is any jobs going at Machrihanish Dunes 

I am regularly out of touch with the golf “business” so I have no idea what you are referring to here, Brian?

[Adam Lawrence]

I wonder if there is any jobs going at Machrihanish Dunes 

I am regularly out of touch with the golf “business” so I have no idea what you are referring to here, Brian?

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scots-golf-club-worker-claims-23390674


FWIW.

[jeffwarne]

Where men are men and sheep(and men) are scared