It wasn’t that long ago that Machrihanish was considered the end of road – if not the end of the world. People made the trek to the town for the golf or the beaches, but it wasn’t a quick journey and when you were done enjoying the area you pretty much had to turn around and go home.
Not anymore. Thanks to The Kintyre Express, CalMac Ferry, Flybe air service, and government takover of the A83 road down to this rugged corner of Scotland, Machrihanish is now at the heart of some of the best links golf on the planet. The Kintyre Express offers fast-RIB service that can whisk 12 passengers at a time from nearby Campbeltown over to Ayrshire or Northern Ireland faster than you can play nine holes. And the new summer CalMac ferry service from Ardrossan means that the trip over from Glasgow is even easier, and you can even take your car across!
So now you can fly into Glasgow and do a loop that easily includes the robust pairing of Machrihanish GC and Machrihanish Dunes plus Ayrshire courses like:
- Turnberry’s Ailsa and Kintyre courses
- Prestwick
- Royal Troon
- Dundonald Links
- Western Gailes
- Glasgow Gailes
Going the other direction, you can fly into Dublin or Belfast, play the great courses of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and then hop over to Machrihanish. Some of the courses that could on that itinerary include:
- Royal Portrush
- Portstewart
- Royal County Down
- Castlerock
- Ballyliffin
Whichever route you take, you’ll be able to have a go at some great championship courses and add to your trip the gems of the Kintyre peninsula in beautiful Machrihanish. Anyone who’s ever done such a trip will undoubtedly tell you what a good idea that is.
