Of all the world’s great courses, only one demands that you cut over a corner of the Atlantic Ocean on your opening tee shot, with the beach beckoning down below, surely the most thrilling opening drive in golf! This is the Machrihanish Golf Club, which also happens to be perhaps the last, great, truly undiscovered championship course in Scotland. Machrihanish is located on the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland’s “mainland island,” often confused with Islay and Arran but actually attached to mainland Scotland, and is only a mere 2 ½ hour drive from Glasgow Airport. The beach is entirely in play on the first, and if you hit it down there, prepare to visit the many locals fishing, walking their dogs, swimming, etc., your ball is still in bounds! And if you bail out to the right, well, you may have longer in for your second shot then you did when you were on the tee! The rest of the course is no letdown whatsoever, a traditional out-and-back links that finds ways to change directions bringing the different winds into play, full of appealing undulations, with some beguiling blind shots as well. The view of the town, coastline, and distant hills on the way back in is one of our favorites in the British Isles. But even without the great course, the beautiful setting, the wonderful remoteness, the charm of Campbeltown, if all there was at Machrihanish was just that exhilarating first tee, you would still cross oceans to play it! We encourage you to find it before everyone else does!