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macrihanish dunes

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chas

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I live in Scotland and we have many fine courses to play. While surfing arround i came accross this course http://www.machrihanishdunes.com/course/ and it looks a fab course to play and the funny thing about this course is they only use hand mowers for the greens and teeboxes, the rest of the course is kept in check by the local sheep grazing. Would be a very tough course to play when windy. I plan to play it in the next month or two.
 
Neat website! Thanks for sharing.
 
Awesome, post a review please afterwards. The Tribute Golf Club here in Dallas has a replica hole that I think is from this same golf course. I had never heard of it until we played there a few weeks ago. Check out the 6th hole at the Tribute which is the 1st hole at Macrihanish and let me know if it is close to the real thing.

http://thetributegc.com
 
pjcedog said:
Awesome, post a review please afterwards. The Tribute Golf Club here in Dallas has a replica hole that I think is from this same golf course. I had never heard of it until we played there a few weeks ago. Check out the 6th hole at the Tribute which is the 1st hole at Macrihanish and let me know if it is close to the real thing.

http://thetributegc.com
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I will post my thoughts after i play it, realy looking forward to it, macrihanish has 2 courses the old machrianish links course which has one of the holes you mentioned and the newer machrihanish dunes course recently opened. I hope to play both, but might only mange one.
 
chas said:
I will post my thoughts after i play it, realy looking forward to it, macrihanish has 2 courses the old machrianish links course which has one of the holes you mentioned and the newer machrihanish dunes course recently opened. I hope to play both, but might only mange one.
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Great, sure after, I realized looking at the caption on the Tribute site that it says links course, you have to admit the Texas version looks pretty good. I think it was a birdie hole for me that day.
 
pjcedog said:
Great, sure after, I realized looking at the caption on the Tribute site that it says links course, you have to admit the Texas version looks pretty good. I think it was a birdie hole for me that day.
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it does look pretty good, mind you, you wont have the wind blowing a gale like it probably will be when i go .
 
Hey Chas, I've been considering playing the dunes course for a while, and one of the guys I regularly play with has contacted them about a deal they have on. Seems like they're offering a b&b deal with a round of golf at a very good price at the moment, still waiting to hear back though.

I've played the Machrihanish links quite a few times, that's a great course. The last couple of holes are a bit disappointing, but the start is fabulous. That gale you mention does make it interesting! I think the dunes course is in a bit more of a hollow, so with the wind blowing, it might be tougher to judge!

I remember them having a bit of an argument between the courses too. The links course didn't want dunes to use the name Machrihanish, as it isn't strictly in the town, and they were concerned they'd lose custom over it. I thought it might actually entice more people to the area.
 
the_paulo said:
Hey Chas, I've been considering playing the dunes course for a while, and one of the guys I regularly play with has contacted them about a deal they have on. Seems like they're offering a b&b deal with a round of golf at a very good price at the moment, still waiting to hear back though.

I've played the Machrihanish links quite a few times, that's a great course. The last couple of holes are a bit disappointing, but the start is fabulous. That gale you mention does make it interesting! I think the dunes course is in a bit more of a hollow, so with the wind blowing, it might be tougher to judge!

I remember them having a bit of an argument between the courses too. The links course didn't want dunes to use the name Machrihanish, as it isn't strictly in the town, and they were concerned they'd lose custom over it. I thought it might actually entice more people to the area.
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they are doing an offer just now in may during the week for £49 per person based on 4 peaople sharing a cottage you get one night b & b and a day pass for the dunes course.

I have the bunkered offer to play for free and we wanted to stay over as well, but the times we need are sold out.

We might just do it all in one day, although the drive is putting me off a bit as its about 3-4 hours drive to get there.
 
chas said:
they are doing an offer just now in may during the week for £49 per person based on 4 peaople sharing a cottage you get one night b & b and a day pass for the dunes course.

I have the bunkered offer to play for free and we wanted to stay over as well, but the times we need are sold out.

We might just do it all in one day, although the drive is putting me off a bit as its about 3-4 hours drive to get there.
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I'd recommend the overnighter, as it is a bit of a drive. Ideally you want to be able to enjoy the round properly, get a bite to eat and not be rushed. There's a couple of pubs in Campbeltown worth investigating too!

49 quid for that is a great deal!
 
chas said:
it does look pretty good, mind you, you wont have the wind blowing a gale like it probably will be when i go .
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We have some pretty stiff winds around here from time to time, but you are right about the gale force winds, when we get that going here the golf courses are pretty much empty except for me I will play in anything as long as there is no lightning or baseball sized hail.
 
Course looks very good and this along with Castle Stuart are two new links courses in Scotland that I would love to play. if you do play it, any pictures would be greatly appreciated!
 
Well Worth Playing

Well Worth Playing

I played here twice last year at the end of September after my Dad had played it a couple of times and said I had to play it. It is a great layout with some lengthy walks between greens & tees, I believe they have swapped the nines round after people complained of the walk from the clubhouse to the first tee!! They don't, or didn't, have golf carts but they do have trolleys. I usually carry my bag but was glad I had taken a trolley.

Although it is a links course don't expect to see bunkers with riveted faces. It is difficult to describe the bunkers but they fit in with the rest of the course which isn't manicured like other modern courses but was still in great condition, partly down to the sheep that were wandering the fairways. The greens aren't fast due to the slopes but they rolled very true.

There are some cracking holes like the par 5 7th that runs along the coast in between the dunes and the 8th where you play your 2nd shot across a small wetland area. I think my favourite part of the course was 13, 14 & 15. This is a driveable par 4 with the green hidden behind a dune followed by 2 par 3s that run in opposite directions.

I would thoroughly recommend playing here if you get the chance. It is a long drive, mine was made longer after wrecking a wheel on a massive pot hole, but it is well worth it.
 
I played Machrihanish Dunes again last week after getting a voucher for a free round for signing up to their mailing list at the Scottish Golf Show and really enjoyed it again. The course was in much better condition than it was 4 years ago and has less of a "new course" feel to it. The greens were much better, even with them being recently verticut, as they were cut much shorter so were a bit quicker while still rolling true. They have cut back a lot of the thick rough and reduced the number of areas that are off limits due to SSSIs which makes the course more playable.

The walks between the greens and tees seemed longer than the last time but that could have been a result of playing of the yellow rather than white tees, which also made the experience more enjoyable. I believe you can now rent golf carts but you also have to hire a caddie to drive it!! Think this is to stop you driving it where you shouldn't as there are no cart paths.
 
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