The best golf should be an adventure.
Whether you’re playing on the beach or among the trees, the golf courses take us to the same places that form childhood imaginations.
And the best golf trips involve the odd trip, too.
Meet another place, machrie on Hesridan island of Hebridan of Islay – Hotel and golf that eats a child with difficulty in all competitors.
If you want, there is a slower walking route to reach this magical place on the western edge of Scotland.
It is a long and winding road from Glasgow, through loch lomond, to the kintyre peninsula and a second hour ride from the top of the jura pass (where george orwell wrote in 1984 shortly after the second world war).
It’s a beautiful trail, full of wild scenery, but it’s a trick to pull off a 24- or 48-hour trip.
Fortunately, there is another interesting way, one that takes flights back to Glasgow Airport (the transfer of the famous whiskey, with a sample of the famous Islay whiskey, and the sand guardian garden of the large garden and the wild wild hot-tub and the hot tub.
It’s a day out for the ages, fulfilling every aspect of the golf-ad-adventure concept – and it starts from just £285.
Credit: Kevin Murray Golf Photography
Golf365 to Islay is a leisurely trip and would recommend it, but we also entertain the idea of a day trip.
In fact, while it was playing we watched the loganair plane land on an air line on an island not more than a few feet away from the ocean.
Imagine the pleasure of flying on an 8 am flight from Glasgow, across the Isle of Arran and Kintyre, sweeping after 45 minutes in the air and donning Harris Tweed Headrests and Tartan Livery.
After a few minutes after arriving you will have a good breakfast in the dining room in the dining room, overlooking the 18th hole, you build yourself a test before porridge, higyland haggis and argyll smoked salmon.
And then it’s time to hit the first tee.
The original course was laid out by Willie Campbell in 1891 and while it was regarded as a classic of its kind it had many guns and needed improvement.
DJ Russell was re-entrusted with the app and created what might be the most fun arrangement you’ve ever experienced.
His play is immediately apparent with a drive from the first tee that doesn’t introduce the drama of the setting – but, don’t worry, that’s part of the master plan.
Russell wants to get that game down: you hit it as you swing your ball into a cave that sits in the landscape. As you reach the top, the wide expanse of the lake reveals itself, as do the openings between you and the sea. It’s a great idea, all the delay penalty.
From this point in a course that sweeps in, across and to the head.
Every tee shot offers a great selection. In the 5th zone it is to attack the burn that takes the water from the mountains to the bottom of the sea, or to stay very far and reach the green safely.
Somewhere there are exciting times knowing that a pure strike will find the side of the fairway acting like a ski slope, but also knowing that a tricky shot will hit the ball a little harder depending on the problem.
Vegetables are tied in the corners between the mounds or built on top of them.
There are a few reeside movers, but many threats of a landslide. Russell is an astute model of mounds and holes. Indeed, they tend to be stronger (and hurt the score) that the pitcher is likely to be.
Remember the board game mousetrap? Carrying the ball will find its way through a page of routes, drops and other obstacles to its final goal. Social Media is full of creative forms of the game, which explains why they see balls drifting in houses and gardens.
The ugliness and joy of the mousetrap feels like it’s been replicated in Machrie – yes, it’s actually quite fun.
And when you leave the 18-year-old green, with a big wide grin, it’s time to go back to the restaurant to spend the lunch holes used to visit the best holes and toast Russell with your Islay Malt.
The return flight will even touch down after 7 in the evening.
The only problem then would be the treacherous frustration, as the plane rises above the course, of knowing you won’t have a second crack at it.
It doesn’t matter. You can also book this tour with an overnight stay, a second round in the morning and a distillery tour to sample more whiskey.
A short adventure is special, a long adventure is even better (and you can even see the northern lights).
Whichever you choose, the alternative, the machrie can be the best adventure you’ve ever had on the golf course alongside the joys of a healthy hotel with healthy food, drink and hospitality.
Note: Elsewhere, the machrie is closed from 17/11/2025-13/2/206.
