On the “Listing” thread I drew attention to Machrie and it’s historical value.
The greenkeeper Simon Freeman has been doing a great job with a “junk yard” greenkeeping park ever since the course went bankrupt a couple of years ago.
In fact I rated the grass quality of his fescue greens better than the Machrihanish ones.
As I understand, it is mainly the infrastructure facilities that will be improved and obvious maintenance attention on the golf course, however I got the impression that no major changes were going to take place on the golf course itself.
In September I was over to visit the Islay Jazz Festival, passing by Machrihanish on the way where I played the Machrihanish Dunes twice but, unfortunately didn’t play the original Machrihanish this time, due to the remnants of Hurricane Katja that was blowing the golf bags off the course.
On Islay I played the Machrie twice, and my playing partners and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
While playing I reflected on the reasons why it appealed to me so much, considering the a lot of the course has blind shots to the greens or blind shots from the tee.
The remote location next to the sea, with practically no human habitation, gave a feeling timelessness and freedom, one could stand still and not feel the need to move.
The naturally wild undulation fairways set in a very natural dunelands was a feast of movement and dynamic, like a writhing sea, that demanded attention of the eyes.
On a lot of the holes, the green weren’t visible and somehow the focus of attention for the position on the fairway was heightened – maybe because a green in the distance didn’t distract – but mainly because the fairway undulations forced one to think where to place the ball in order to get the best attack to the line of the hidden green.
The approach to hidden greens required one “to get it right” - if short then inevitably you were left with a difficult “up and downer” off a sharp rise or drop.
This was the next most fun about the course – the greens being set in bowls are inevitably also undulating, so chip and runs from off the green required a lot of creative thought to choose the lines and lofts.
The greens themselves are magnificent in their variety, which goes a long way to making a great course.
That was just a short reflection without going into the different strategies of each individual hole which are each completely unique.
I recommend anyone who has the chance to do the West Highland run of Machrihanish, Machrihanish Dunes and Machrie ,and now you can add Askernish, for a great golfing adventure.