Machrihanish, the Old Course on the Mullof Kintyre

By Anita Draycott

Machrihanish on the remote southern end of the Kintyre peninsula inspired Sir Paul McCartney, who has a farm in the area, to recorded his 1977 hit “Mull of Kintyre.” Locals will also tell you that McCartney’s ballad, “The Long and Winding Road,” is about the B842 running along the east coast to Campbeltown.

But my reason for taking the famous road was to hits the links.

The opening hole at Machrihanish, arguably the best in the world, requires a drive fired diagonally across the Atlantic Ocean to an undulating fairway skirting the beach. How much of the bay to bite off depends on your courage and the wind.

When Old Tom Morris was hired to create the 18-hole course in 1879 he remarked that the links “had been specially designed by The Almighty for playing golf.”

True links aficionados should put the venerable Machrihanish course on their list of places to play before they die

by Khadijah Brown on 04/25/2016 in Golf

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