The Isle of Arran
Each Summer for the last 20 years, I have travelled with three close friends I have known forever to spend a few days golfing somewhere in the UK, talking a huge amount of nonsense and laughing a great deal. We always try to find somewhere new and different, and this June we headed up to Arran in the Firth of Clyde. A long day’s drive from our homes in the south-east, it proved to be infinitely more than worth the effort to get there.
The ferry from Ardrossan or Troon takes about an hour, but this only increases the anticipation as you near this mountainous, picturesque island. We based ourselves on the west coast at the Kinloch Hotel in Blackwaterfoot; smart and comfortable but not at all stuffy, with extremely friendly service, great and varied food, and a swimming pool and snooker room. We all felt that it offered terrific value.
Shiskine
The hotel is just a 2-minute drive from Arran’s brightest star, the exceptional 12-holer at Shiskine Golf Club which very rightly is renowned for its scenic beauty and modest green fee. Here, we enjoyed one of those ridiculous four-seasons-in-two-hours experiences with strong winds and calm, squally rain and bright sunshine, hailstones and dramatic skies.
This is a stunningly beautiful course that will play and look different every day, and while there may be only four par 4s and a single par 5, this is irrelevant as it’s packed with charisma, charm and challenge. In the most positive meaning of the phrase, this is the very definition of perfect holiday golf.
Machrie Bay
Just up the coast, Machrie Bay is a very natural 9-holer run by its members that is great fun and was featured in Golf Monthly in the August issue this year in a Spotlight On feature focussing on lovely 9-hole courses. It is run by the members for the love of the game, and all the better for it. Five miles across the firth to the west, Carradale is another fantastic 9-holer on the Kintyre peninsula that is also home to Machrihanish.
Corrie
Over on the east coast, we absolutely loved the very sporty 9-hole rollercoaster at Corrie where we were treated to the sight of a young golden eagle hunting behind the 3rd green. It has amazing variety throughout its compact setting, and is one of those courses that keeps you constantly wondering what will come next. It will also keep you constantly smiling!
Overlooked by the surrounding mountains, it is a thrilling place to play and the coffee shop by the entrance is definitely worth a visit.
Low on yardage, high on charm
Yardage is the one thing lacking on Arran, but the topography and natural landscape and hazards more than make up for this. There are three 18-holers on the east coast, none stretching to 5,000 yards, but all of them extremely enjoyable and challenging in their own way. Two are heart-pumpingly mountainous, Whiting Bay and Lamlash, where unusually and entirely because of this, I would recommend taking a buggy. The views at both are as breathtaking as the climbs, and each has plenty of very enjoyable holes that both look lovely and make you think.
Whiting Bay
The course at Whiting Bay runs up, across and back down the slopes above its charming, pavilion-style clubhouse. There are 9 par 3s and the same number of 4s, but as evidence of the undulating landscape, one of the former, the blind 7th, is actually longer than the opening two-shotter!
This is another really fun course with some unique holes and sensational views, and definitely a one-off - but you might just want to take a buggy!
Lamlash
Just up the coast at Lamlash, there is a similar configuration with one more par 4, and it is equally beautiful and enjoyable, and yet somehow completely different. This just serves to show how dramatic and ever-changing the scenery and topography are all over Arran.
Brodick
The course at Brodick Golf Club is easy-walking and parkland in nature, but a fine alternative to the more rugged beauty on offer elsewhere with two cracking par 3s, the 4th and 15th, which call for nerve as you play over the river that bisects the course. Somehow, all of these relatively short courses play substantially longer than you think they will, so there is no need ever to feel short-changed on yardage.
Unbeatable Value
Travelling off-duty, my friends and I had opted for the Arran Golf Pass which offers you a round on each course on the island for a quite ridiculous price of £140. We opted to pay a supplement to enjoy a second joyful meander around Shiskine, but all of this came to less than the cost of just one round at many of Ayrshire’s more famous courses, and not only those in the Golf Monthly Top 100. Outrageous value! I am so pleased I finally made it to Arran. As golf course enthusiasts and lovers of nature and scenery, my friends and I have already agreed to make an exception to our previously firm rule about not returning to the same destination. This time, so long as the golfing gods are kind enough to smile on us in our dotage, we will be back!
