For a golf experience you’ll never forget, try boating to the Scottish Islands
The vast majority of journeys to the golf course these days start and end in a car. A century ago, many relied on steam trains, and, indeed, some intrepid souls still refer to railway timetables before booking a tee time. It is the rare and fortunate golfer, however, who arrives by ferry.
Spend a week or two island-hopping in the Firth of Clyde and around the Inner and Outer Hebrides west of the Scottish mainland, and you’ll experience the somewhat atypical but singular joy of boarding a boat with your clubs. Most of the time, they’ll be safe in the trunk of your rental car, but if you’re a foot passenger carrying a golf bag, you’ll probably get a few stares from people who suspect you’re in the wrong place. There will be some, however, jealously knowing exactly where you’re going and silently wishing they could join you.
There are nearly 150 islands off Scotland’s west coast of which 54 have a human population. Four of them—Arran, Bute, Great Cumbrae, and Holy Isle—lie in the Firth of Clyde; 35 in the Inner Hebrides; and 15 across the Minch, a 15- to 45-mile-wide strip of Atlantic Ocean, in the Outer Hebrides. Some accommodate enough people to fill a Texas high school football stadium while others are home to a few families, a pub landlord, and the ferry terminal staff. Then there is Flodaigh, a 360-acre chunk of two-billion-year-old metamorphic rock whose official population hovers around seven.
Eighteen of these islands have at least one golf course and, all told, there are 29 locations to tee it up. Most are quiet, humble, locally owned, and community-driven sorts of places, seeking neither publicity nor excessive green fees. This is largely a world of honesty boxes, occasionally wild weather, quick rounds, basic maintenance (greenkeepers are often club members with a spare afternoon to cut some grass), small but functional clubhouses where you can change your shoes and get a pint, welcoming conversations (assuming you see anyone else), and, perhaps most notably, supernatural scenery that can put you in mind of fantasy movies.
The better-known courses are Ardfin, The Machrie, Shiskine, and Askernish. Ardfin, on the southern tip of Jura, opened in 2015 and was developed by Australian hedge fund manager Greg Coffey, who hired fellow countryman Bob Harrison to build a course he could play with family and friends. What Harrison produced, in fact, was something far more impressive than a casual knockabout playground but a course that entered the world’s top 100 in 2021. Built largely on rock rather than sandy linksland, Ardfin is part of a 12,000-acre estate where the exquisitely furnished hotel rooms go for £1,600 a night and the green fee is £500. Not surprisingly, given the cost of staying and playing, many guests arrive privately by air. But you can get to Jura by boat from Port Askaig on the nearby island of Islay, a ferry ride that takes less than 10 minutes and which is described as “largely turn up and go” (though prior inquiries are advised during summer).
Just a 10-minute ferry ride west of Jura (or two hours from Kennacraig on the mainland) is Islay, where the incredible Machrie Golf Links is located on the southwest coast. First opened in 1891, The Machrie was designed by Willie Campbell, who emigrated to the U.S. in 1894 and was hired as The Country Club’s first professional (he soon expanded the club’s first 6-hole course, which had been laid out by three members in 1893, to nine holes, and, by 1899, had created an 18-hole course). Built at a time when blind shots were considered perfectly acceptable, Campbell’s course at The Machrie had numerous natural obstacles between tee and green and, though it remained popular for over a century, it has been redesigned in the last decade by former European Tour player David Russell. The Englishman took out the blindness and rebuilt greens that had originally been set in hollows to take advantage of the moister ground. Russell’s ground-game-friendly course opened in 2018 and has risen dramatically in British course rankings.
Whisky lovers will want to spend a little extra time on Islay visiting one, or perhaps all 10, of its world-renowned distilleries. Islay produces more than 20 million liters of single malt a year, much of it with the smoky highly peated aroma that gives some of the island’s favorite tipples their character. Bruichladdich, Ardbeg, Lagavulin, and Laphroaig are the “peatiest” of the bunch and an acquired taste for many, but absolute nectar for some. The Diageo-owned Port Ellen, another very peaty whisky, made a welcome return in March after the distillery closed in 1983 because of recession and over production. There are other places in the islands to taste good whisky: Check out the Hebridean Whisky Trail (hebrideanwhisky.com).
The 12 striking holes of 128-year-old Shiskine Golf and Tennis Club, one of Arran’s seven courses (play them all for £140), have been well documented in recent years thanks to traveling golfers who probably hadn’t heard of it just a few months before playing but who invariably post numerous photographs and leave singing its praises in one loud voice. All dozen holes are along the water and blind shots are rampant.
Another remarkable links, Askernish, on the Outer Hebridean island of South Uist, was laid out by Old Tom Morris, who visited the site in 1891 alongside two-time British Amateur champion Horace Hutchinson. The course thrived at various times over the next few decades, but a lack of consistent maintenance and a fluctuating population saw it struggle to survive. By the 1990s, it had become a rather mundane 9-holer on the comparatively flat land north of the dramatic dunes on which Morris had laid out his course.
In December 2005, Master Greenkeeper and course consultant Gordon Irvine visited the island and came away thrilled to have walked what he described as “the finest piece of native Scottish linksland” he’d ever seen. The outstanding revival over the next few years was accomplished with input from Irvine, Martin Ebert, and Tom Doak, leading to its inclusion on the Old Tom Morris Golf Trail. Despite its remoteness, Askernish is undeniably worth the effort it takes to get there.
There are a few courses of note on the Inner Hebrides, especially the 9-holers on Coll and Tiree, and the adventurous 4,673 yards of the extraordinary Iona Golf Course. Scottish poet, novelist, and mountaineer Andrew Greig wrote about putting out on the uphill par-three 3rd hole at Iona: “It’s gorgeous from up here. The links is a pale green sprawl—there’s no fairway or rough as such—settled around the curving white-sand bay. What’s striking are all these outcrops and rises where bare rock, at once dark and pale, breaks the surface…This is my church. I play on entranced yet excited, dreamy but wide awake.”
To reach it, walk off the ferry (no outside cars allowed on Iona), turn left, and trudge a mile or so west on the single-lane road. If you’re lucky, a local on their way to the course will spot your golf bag, stop, and give you a ride. It’s free to play, though a scorecard—obtained at the post office—will set you back £1.
GETTING AROUND
Ferries among the islands are run by the government-owned Caledonian MacBrayne, whose website (calmac.co.uk) is easy to use and full of vital information with links to activities, events, lodging, and updated route status. “The CalMac experience is great,” says Jim Hartsell, an American golf writer who has made nine trips to the islands, “and the staff on the ships are always friendly and helpful. I really enjoy longer trips, like going to South Uist or Colonsay. I usually go up on the top deck to see the most stunning scenery in the world, and you can usually get breakfast or lunch. It’s a wonderful way to travel, an adventure in itself.”
For several years, however, CalMac has experienced serious problems with its aging fleet. Six new vessels are expected to be ready for 2026. “They can’t come soon enough,” says Billy Low, vice chairman of Askernish. “It can be difficult to plan a trip to play the island courses. In April, we had multiple ferries cancelled due to storms. Summer is always the best time to visit as the ferry timetables are usually more reliable.”
Terrific article, Tony & great photos too. I’m in for Ferry Golf!!!
Thanks, Rich. I have absolutely no doubt you would love it – provided the weather and ferries behaved themselves.
Askernish is without doubt the greatest piece of links land ever to see a golf course. Old Tom’s masterpiece.