The Machrie Hotel & Golf Links, Islay, Scotland

To find the Scotland of your dreams, take a ferry to the island of Islay off of Scotland’s West Coast. Here, you will find a golf course that is even beyond your wildest dreams--The Machrie Golf Links, a time-capsule of a golf course virtually untouched by the hand of man since designed by Willie Campbell a century ago. It is much easier than it seems to get to Islay, just a relaxing ferry cruise along the beautiful Scottish coast, and what awaits when you do may make you never want to leave! The hotel, traditional and comfortable, with its outstanding food and atmospheric bar; the whisky, renowned throughout the world, strong and peaty, distinctive and unforgettable; the setting, gloriously remote on the beautiful sea; and the golf—enticing, captivating, enthralling, and perhaps at first maddening, with too many blind shots to list! And thank goodness for that, for if The Machrie were designed today these wonderful, hidden green locations would have been bulldozed to make room for something much more everyday. You will practically feel the ghosts of Harry Vardon and James Braid, who played in the 1901 Machrie Open for the then-largest purse in history, £160! Prize money may have changed since then, but the course surely has not with its natural dunes, blind shots, and beautiful views over the bay. Unless you’re unlucky, you’ll be the only group out on the course! “Keep Your Temper,” per the motto of the Islay Golf Club, and enjoy the difficulty, the mystery, the privilege to play holes you will never see the likes of again!