Machrihanish Golf Club (Championship Course)

Campbeltown, Argyll · Designed by Old Tom Morris · Est. 1876

8.9/10Edge Score

££££Green fee

70Par

6,462Yards

18Holes

Why this Edge Score: A cult 1876 links on the remote Kintyre peninsula reshaped by Old Tom Morris, Machrihanish opens with one of the most famous tee shots in golf, a drive played across the beach. Worth every mile of the journey, it earns a place in our Scottish top twenty.

Out on the remote tip of the Kintyre peninsula, Machrihanish is one of the great cult links of the game — laid out in 1876 and reshaped by Old Tom Morris, who is said to have declared the ground "specially designed by the Almighty for playing golf." It runs along the dunes of Machrihanish Bay in a natural, rumpled, out-and-back rhythm that has barely changed in a century and a half.

It is famous above all for its opening tee shot: the 1st, "Battery" — a 423-yard par four that Jack Nicklaus rated the finest opening hole in golf — asks you to drive diagonally across the beach and the Atlantic, biting off as much of the crescent bay as your nerve allows. Few first holes in golf are as thrilling — or as intimidating with a card in your hand. From there the links tumbles through the dunes over crisp turf, with small greens and the wind off the ocean as the main defence.

Getting there is part of the appeal: Kintyre is a long, beautiful drive from Glasgow or a short hop to Campbeltown airport. The reward is a genuinely wild, timeless links — and its modern neighbour Machrihanish Dunes next door makes the trip a two-round pilgrimage.

Holes worth knowing

11st "Battery" (par-4, 423 yards) — rated by Jack Nicklaus as the finest opening hole in golf: from an elevated tee on the shore you drive diagonally across the beach and the edge of the Atlantic, taking on as much of Machrihanish Bay as you dare. Bite off too much and it is lost; play safe and you face a long second.

Highlights

Cult 1876 links, expanded to 18 by Old Tom Morris in 1879
The 1st "Battery" — Jack Nicklaus's pick as golf's best opening hole
Remote, timeless Kintyre golf; pair with Machrihanish Dunes next door

Good to know

→Kintyre is a commitment — roughly three and a half hours by road from Glasgow down a gorgeous single-carriageway coast, or a short flight into Campbeltown. Build the journey into the trip rather than fighting it.
→Machrihanish Dunes, a modern links laid over protected duneland, is right next door — most visitors play both and stay locally to make the long trip worthwhile.
→It is genuinely exposed Atlantic golf: bring layers and a low, controlled wind game, and do not let the fabled 1st tee shot wreck your card before you have started.