4-Star Accommodation Keeps Getting Better

Few awards are as exciting and satisfying to us here at The Village at Machrihanish Dunes as those that come from our guests.  That’s why we were ecstatic when Bunkered Magazine readers voted us “Scotland’s Best Resort Experience for 2013”, and why we’re now thrilled to receive TripAdvisor’s “2014 Certificate of Excellence” for The Royal Hotel and The Ugadale Hotel & Cottages!

What does the certificate really mean?  What are the criteria?  And why are the accommodations at Mach Dunes deserving of this honour?  Well, it’s simple really – the criteria are the only thing that really matters: what our guests think of us.  Or, more specifically, what our guests say about us on TripAdvisor.  And what are they saying?  Here are a few [unedited] examples: The Royal Hotel Superior Room

Jackie358:  This is a wonderful hotel. The whole place has been refurbished with good taste and quality materials. The pride of ownership is apparent from the front door all the way through the building. The rooms are luxurious, the beds extremely comfortable… So very happy with our stay here. Would definitely go back.

StuartM:  We regularly go to the Royal and their other hotel the Ugadale in Machrihanish,
Both hotels are first class, the management and the staff go out of their way to accommodate you, service and customer care is second to none, looking forward to our next visit. Serenity Spa at The Ugadale Hotel

Alibro1984: 13 of us have just enjoyed a stay in the cottages for a hen party! The cottages are absolutely stunning a true home from home! Everything needed is provided! We all had treatments in the Serenity Spa located within the Ugadale hotel, the girls were amazing and made us all feel so relaxed and welcome nothing was too much hassle, we also enjoyed nibbles and bubbly provided by the spa. We then had a meal in the Ugadale restaurant and could not fault a thing all meals were thoroughly enjoyed! All staff were extremely attentive and regularly checked to see if we needed anything. I would highly recommend the cottages for any future hen parties!

Jrlimited:  All I will say about this hotel is that probably 80% of the UK hoteliers should come and stay here for at least one night and find out how to really treat a customer. This was a truly wonderful experience, and I was so sad on Sunday that I was only staying for one night, totally relaxing, rest assured I will be back 10 out of 10, well done.

You may be noticing a theme.  A staff that goes out of their way to make their guests happy.  Top-notch accommodation with plenty of space and plush beds.  And while you may already know Mach Dunes is a great place to come and play our GB&I Top-100 championship golf course, you may not have realized we also have a fantastic spa, making our resort an excellent getaway for a ladies’ holiday! Ugadale Hotel in Machrihanish

There are plenty more reviews where that came from – you can find more for The Ugadale Hotel & Cottages here, and for The Royal Hotel here.

TripAdvisor offers us something very rare, and that’s the opportunity to listen to everything our guests have to say about their stay.  And it’s that praise and those pieces of constructive criticism that has helped us mold The Village at Machrihanish Dunes into such a magical experience.

Thank you for all your reviews, all your comments, and for once again helping Mach Dunes get recognized forall we do for our guests!

Machrihanish Dunes Golf Course Update – June, 2014

Our monthly golf course update from our Head Greenkeeper, Simon Freeman:

I am usually the first to moan about the weather, but in truth it has been quite kind to us during the past month. The result of this favourable spell (and a lot of hard work by the Dunes greenkeeping team, of course!) is that we have managed to improve the greens to the point where we are now able to concentrate our efforts on steadily improving the surface of the greens and making them better to putt on. Annual meadow grass is a major component species in our greens, and our efforts have been hampered by the usual forest of seedheads that this grass produces during May and June as part of its survival strategy. Cutting it shorter does not reduce this grass’ ability to seed, so we have been attempting to refine it by regularly verticutting (to remove as much lateral growth as possible) and then topdressing with sand and seeding in the bare patches (using a specially tailored mixture of fescue cultivars designed to offer maximum resistance to salt damage at low levels of fertility).

15th greenView from the newly rebuilt 15th fairway, looking toward the 14th fairway

As with all mechanical practices, we need to be careful that we do not over-do the verticutting as it can pretty quickly impact plant health, and the motion of the cutters will mercilessly rip out the new seedlings that we have worked so hard to cultivate. Maintaining a healthy chemical, biological and mechanical balance and working towards an agreed long-term goal will yield the best results.

The weather conditions have helped to thicken up the fairways as well as the greens, and it has allowed us to mow in some good early-season definition. The effects of our cutting program has been overshadowed recently by the display of wild flowers growing in the roughs – despite our best efforts to present the playing surfaces in as attractive a manner as we can, it is impossible for us to compete against nature`s ability to capture the attention with this impressive display of colour. It definitely softens the blow of having to search for a wayward pro-v1 when you get to admire acres of buttercups, orchids and bluebells along the way!

Early season orchid in the rough areaEarly season orchid, surrounded by buttercups, in the rough area

Now that we almost have a full covering of grass back on the greens, our focus over the next few weeks will shift towards competition preparation. First up, we have the Scottish Area Boys Team Championships on Sunday 8th June (a  very prestigious event, and one we are proud to be hosting), and then we have the second coming of our annual Campbeltown Open on Saturday, June 28th. We hope to see as many of you as possible for that–it should be a fantastic event!

We look forward to seeing you out on the course over the next few weeks.

Sincerely,

Simon Freeman
Head Greenkeeper

Pinehurst’s “Back to the Future” Design Echoes Machrihanish Dunes’ “Way Golf Began”

Photo Courtesy of Pinehurstnumber2.com

With the U.S. Open being contested this week over the recently redesigned Pinehurst No. 2 course—and the U.S. Women’s Open being played on the same course a week later—much is being said about the changes that were made to the course at the hands of golf architects Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. Coore and Crenshaw’s goal was to restore the course to what it looked like back in the1930s and early ‘40s, when original designer Donald Ross was still tweaking the layout, consider by many to be his masterpiece.  The duo removed more than 35 acres of rough, replacing it with sandy areas spotted by native plants including wire grass and, dare we say it, weeds!  The U.S.G.A. then conditioned the course to play firm and fast, with so little water being given to the turf that the course started browning out in spots even before the first tournament shot was hit. It’s estimated that with the removal of all that thirsty Bermudagrass, the course’s use of water has been reduced by more than 60 percent, making No. 2 a far more environmentally sustainable field of dreams—and also a model for what future courses should be like.

The applause for the changes to No. 2 has been heard far and wide. “This is what a golf course is supposed to look like,” many have said. ‘It looks so much more natural.’ And they’re right. What Coore and Crenshaw did at Pinehurst was to create a far more natural course—one that hearkens back not just to the 1930s but, to borrow a phrase, to “the way golf began.”

None of this is anything new to golfers in Scotland—and particularly to those who have made the pilgrimage to Machrihanish Dunes. Unlike Pinehurst, though, Mach Dunes will never have to re-engineer itself, primarily because it will never see acres of American-style rough intrude on its idyllic landscape. The course that David McLay Kidd uncovered on this pristine Kintyre seashore, set as it is on environmentally protected land, will forever eschew the onslaught of all things modern. If it rains, the course will be green; if it doesn’t, it will be browner—and play even firmer and faster. There’s no irrigation system at Mach Dunes except for a couple of hose points, and there never will be.

Truly, this is golf as it was meant to be played, with Nature’s hand always dealing the cards. Just as in the day when Old Tom Morris was turning linksland into golf links, it’s about accepting the land for what it is and doing battle with it—and with par—on its terms rather than Man’s.

Machrihanish Dunes and the new Pinehurst No. 2 are excellent examples of how paying homage to yesteryear can also be a model for more environmentally intelligent golf course development in the future. Let’s hope the rest of the golf world is paying attention. 

Machrihanish Dunes Podcast With Jimmy Kidd: Part 3

par 3
Hole 3, Par 3 at Machrihanish Dunes Golf Course
David: I know this is an impossible question to answer for anyone who’s involved in the golf design business, but do you have a favorite golf hole on the Machrihanish Dunes course?

Jimmy: Number three, par 3. Number three is one of the most beautiful par 3s. Since we took the mound down in the front of the green to allow us to see more of the green surface and we’ve raised the tee up, we’ve got a little bit of a Nicklaus situation here, where we’ll get tee up and green down. The green contours are extremely special.

Number one and number three, which is number 10 and number 12 that are going to be one in three next year because that’s the way we designed it. We designed it with the softer nine first, and then the tougher course nine second. All the signage is done so that it will be played that way forever in the future.

Number one green and number three green and those two golf holes, a nice beautiful dogleg par for which you can drive, if you take it on, on the [inaudible] lane. You can play it as a dogleg, right to left. It’s a wonderful green. Number 10 or number one is absolutely wonderful. Number three is a shot [inaudible] gorgeous. I actually prefer it to number 14.

Number 14 has the background. Every golf hole has to have a foreground, middle ground, and background. Number 14 certainly has the background. Number three, the symmetry of the golf hole is all there for me. I love it. You want to hear the one I don’t like?

[laughs]

David: Yeah.

Jimmy: I don’t like number 17 or number eight. I think the green is in the wrong location. We were given that location. I’d love to bring that green back to the edge of the ravine, we play with a driver and a middle to short iron. Then, take the tees for number 18, up on to the location that number 17 is at the moment, and play 18 in a different direction, we can see the green from the deep.

I don’t think the drive on number 18 is one of the most interesting drive in the golf course with the rocks on the left and up through the gully. That’s the next big discussion with Gregg.

Those are my best holes and those are my weakest holes. If you had a long iron or a long wood into number 17 and the green just doesn’t hold the shot terribly well these days. It all fires through the back into the rough. If we bring the green forward, it would be a wonderful second shot.

David: I’m with you on that, having hit 5 woods and hybrids into that green, or tried to. I’m in your camp on bringing that one a wee bit closer.

Jimmy: I don’t think we have to worry too much if we’re losing a little bit of land to the golf courses these days. I remember many, many people, developers, when we arrived on site; first thing we’ll ask of them is, “What do you want”? They’ll say to my son, “A championship golf course.” “What do you mean?” “Something around 72, 74 par, 72‑73.”

We’ll say, “Have you ever played the Queen’s Course at Gleneagles, sir?” They’ll say “Of course I have.” [laughs] It’s a par 65. It’s only five and 650. “Did you enjoy it?” “Yeah, it was the toughest of the three courses.”

David: It really is.

Jimmy: It’s a bit royal.

[laughs]

David: That’s a very good point.

Jimmy: That proves the point. It’s not about land anymore. I certainly believe that golf courses will become shorter. I think greens complexes will become more difficult. I think greens will go back to the whole contours in them. Guys like Donald Ross and his creations, greens creations will be looked at in the future more closely, like Pinehurst No. 2 with his up-down [inaudible] and these small fronts.

If you hit the front of the green, the ball runs back off the green, but it doesn’t run back straight off the green. It runs back to the left or it runs back to the right. It ducks itself in behind the bunker. You’re then left one of the most difficult pitch shots in the world to get you forward.

That’s where I think the game is going to go. I’ve talked a bit about that for years. I think the other thing that’s going to happen in golf courses is we’re going to create many, many more nine-hole complexes, where guys can go and play for two of those and be back home for lunch.

David: Hallelujah!

Jimmy: Hallelujah.

[laughs]

David: Jimmy, thank you very much for your time. Before you go, I’d be remiss if I didn’t get your prediction on the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles. Are the European players going to hang on to the cup, or do you think the U.S. has a chance to grab it from them this year?

Jimmy: I don’t think this is going to be a runaway win for either team. This is going to be one of the most closely fought contests, having watched the championships in the U.S. over the last two or three weeks.

Some of those guys like to read at the weekend, playing such good golf and some with a measure of humility. Some with a measure of arrogance. Arrogance at the weekend, humility the week before.

Tiger is a little bit susceptible in such a leg. Rory is the same. It’s going to be a very close-fought contest. I don’t think the golf course is going to excite a lot of people, but don’t quote me on that.

[laughter]

David: That’s a good non‑answer, Jimmy.

[laughter]

Jimmy: I know Tom Watson very, very well indeed. I won’t tell you what he thinks of it. [laughs] We’re doing a co-design with Tom at Cadbury’s in London as you probably know, which is very interesting, because Tom’s obviously the captain of the American team.

David’s doing a co-design with him in London. I was 25 years at Gleneagles. The Ryder Cup’s at Gleneagles, you got to believe in coincidence I’m telling you.

David: Yeah. That’s great. That’ll be exciting.

Jimmy: I haven’t even got me a ticket, David.

David: They’re not easy to come by from what I hear, but I’m sure that somebody can sneak you over the fence up there somewhere along the way.

Jimmy: I think I’ll probably enjoy the club in the first year when Machrihanish streams real close to the boys, and have a few beers at the same time and get right into the excitement, a few guys from your part of the world here that’s for sure. It’s going to be a pretty exciting year for Machrihanish.

David: It has been already, and we’re only into March, full speed ahead. I hope to see you over there in the next couple of months, James.

Jimmy: I look forward to that. I really do, David, and thanks for including me in your blog. I hope we’ve done something that’s worthwhile.

David: This is terrific. Thank you so much, and take care. Give my best to June as well.

Jimmy: To June all the best. Thank you very much David. See you soon.

David: All right, cheers. Bye now.

Jimmy:  Bye‑bye, David.

 

Preparing for the Golf Season in the Wild, Wild West – of Scotland!

A Machrihanish Dunes course update from the club’s Head Greenkeeper, Simon Freeman:

As many of you are keenly aware, the winter of 2013-14 will go down in the record books as one of the worst that Great Britain and Ireland have ever experienced.  Storm after storm rolled in off the Atlantic and the resulting wind, rain and sometimes even snow made everyone’s lives miserable—especially those of the Machrihanish Dunes greenkeepers!  But I’m happy to report that this is a case of ‘all’s well that ends well.’

Machrihanish Dunes is a relatively young golf course and one that is situated on an environmentally sensitive site. One of the reasons why it is a protected area is because its dune structure is relatively loose and fragile.  In addition, the golf course is laid out over a rootzone which has historically been less biologically active and less enriched with nutrient and mineral supplies than other, more mature British seaside courses.

A view of the updated Scottish Golf Course at Mach DunesThe ground that Machrihanish Dunes is situated upon is extremely exposed, too, even for the West coast of Scotland. The Atlantic breakers do not stop for breath on their way in here.  There is no land between Machrihanish and America, and there are no shallow reefs to slow down the progress of the waves as they smash their way into the West Sands. The local surfers will tell you that this is what makes the place so perfect, but from a greenkeeping point of view, I’d like to change that storm pattern! The greens along the shoreline suffered in an unprecedented way from storm damage and salt contamination this past winter and when the ferocious storms also stripped a percentage of the grass cover off the 5th, 6th, 15th and 16th greens, the decision was made to take the opportunity to re-contour and returf the 5th, 15th and 16th and to completely re-design the 6th in a new, more protected location.  As in previous off-seasons, the owners of Machrihanish Dunes remained committed to providing the investment and resources required to keep improving the golf course in every way possible.  And as a group, we are very proud of the results.

There is no doubt in my mind that from an architectural point of view, the changes have been a resounding success. The signature 5th green (formerly the 14th—the nines have been switched back to the original routing) has been successfully softened without losing its character.  In fact, it now has far more possible pin positions and is much more fair, and yet you could easily look at it and not realise that anything has been done to it.  The same can be said about the greens at the par-5 15th and the par-4 16th.



The par-3 6th is the pick of the bunch, though, not least because its semi-blind tee shot previously made it one of the course`s weaker holes. We moved the green inland so that now you play to a completely visible green from a high tee that’s protected by the dune wall and yet still offers breathtaking sea views.  This new 6th hole is a cracker, and I know that players are going to love it. New golf paths were built to link these new greens and tees together, too, and the whole lot was turfed with the very best materials—a classic fescue/browntop bent mixture for the greens, grown on rootzone designed to match that found on-site, a soil-based fescue/bent turf for tees, and an extremely hard-wearing and attractive ryegrass mix for the pathways.

All this work was carried out over the space of just 3 weeks during a cold, wet February—just a matter of weeks before golf fans were sitting down to enjoy the visual splendour of The Masters, something which annually serves to raise the interest and expectations of the hibernating Scottish golfer. The pressure was on to produce new playing surfaces that the visiting golfer could enjoy, but of course this had to be balanced against protecting the integrity and health of the fragile new surfaces during a period when soil temperatures had not increased sufficiently to support any new growth. 

The pin on Scotland's Best Golf ResortWe rolled the greens with handmowers on a thrice-weekly basis, before finally taking the plunge and applying the first trim at 10mm on April 2nd. The rolling had helped smooth the surfaces, but what we really wanted to do was to topdress them with sand to fill in the hollows and to help fill the remaining gaps around the turf edges. We know from experience, though, that it is very easy to smother the crowns of new plants by topdressing too early, as this can drastically reduce the rooting potential of new turf. So again we backed off, concentrating on regular mowing at a safe height and applying regular doses of an organic foliar spray package that was individually tailored to provide the nutrients and additives in a way that would ensure that maximum advantage was taken of the relatively high midday air temperatures we were fortunate to experience throughout April.

Finally the time came to topdress, which allowed us to lower the mowing height sufficiently to produce a surface that we were happy to allow our guests and friends to enjoy playing on.  And that was it, the new greens were open. By this time the tees and pathways had also matured remarkably well, and although the cutting heights are still comparatively high even now, we believe that they are providing golfers with an experience that they can really enjoy.  And they should enjoy these new greens all the more with the knowledge that whenever they return to Machrihanish Dunes, whether it be weeks, months or years from now, they will be able to enjoy an even more stable, better balanced set of stunning links golf holes.

So yes, every cloud does have a silver lining.  Not only has the vast amount of work done in just a few short weeks provided golfers at Machrihanish Dunes with new surfaces which will very quickly reach maturity, but the amazing new par-3 6th and the clever touches made to the other redesigned greens will all serve to further enhance the overall layout of this spectacular U.K. Top-100 golf course. 

It’s a case of the very good getting even better.

Machrihanish Dunes Podcast With Jimmy Kidd: Part 2

David: I mentioned earlier that you are down in lovely Machrihanish now, and I know that your family has been visiting and living down there in a part of that area for a long time. Tell us a bit about your family’s history with Machrihanish, and that part of Mull of Kintyre.

Jimmy: My wife and I met when June was 13 and I was 15. We were both at school and we lived in the same village, and we lived on the same street 150 yards apart. June’s mum and dad would come to Campbeltown on the steamer, on the boat from Gourock to Campbeltown every single year on holiday.

When June and I met up I joined the family, and basically dated June for seven years between her village of Bridge of Weir and their holiday period here in Campbeltown. We then got married when I was 22 and June was 19 or nearly 20.

Our children ‑ David, my son, David McLay Kidd ‑ and my daughter were brought up in the beaches of Machrihanish right under the first tee of the Machrihanish Golf Club, and June would sit on the beach with the kids while I would go and play the old Machrihanish course, which is about 130 years old. One of the finest links golf courses in the whole world, with the most famous tee in the world where you play across the beach of the Atlantic Ocean.

We’ve been coming back and forward here now for over 50 years, and we’ve set up a home here where we spend about six months in a little bay called Bellochantuy. It’s called the fairy pass, or the fairy glen, and it’s a large bay, very similar to Machrihanish Bay. It looks right across the western islands of Scotland where the sunsets are spectacular, and beyond that to the east coast of America.

It’s a very special place, and the one thing that impresses me about Machrihanish is that if you go around some of the old graveyards here, nobody dies any younger than 81, David. People live longer down here.

[laughs]

David: Well, it’s not surprising. It is such a gorgeous, natural place. It’s really, in a sense, the land that time has forgot. Very little modern development has happened there, and I think even recent developments like the restoration of the hotels at the Machrihanish Dunes Resort have been done with a real eye toward preservation and maintaining the beautiful natural qualities of that area.

Jimmy: The modernization of the two hotels, the Ugadale and the Royal, have been so sensitively done that they just look as though they’ve been here hundreds of years, and the history is in a sense reinstated.

We’re into the second stage or third stage of a really historic period with two beautiful buildings in incredible spots, the Ugadale looking right across the Atlantic Ocean, and the Royal Hotel looking onto this old historic natural harbor of Campbeltown, which in itself has a wonderful history of trading with the rest of the world.

It’s just wonderful to see it all come to life again or come back to life, and coupled with that a beautiful new golf course, which in itself has created a destination, David.

You well know in the sales and marketing of golf I’ve never in my entire life sold a game of golf, and yet I was director of golf operations in the estates of Gleneagles for 22 years, a member of the board there, and the same at Sandy Lane, but never sold a game of gold.

People say, “What do you mean?” I say, “Well, I’ve always sold a golfing experience.” It’s much more than a game as David, my son, knows. What we tried to do is create an adventure through the landscape we’re given, and the landscapes here are just quite incredible. You get a lift from them.

David: Yes, that’s true, the bracing air, the fescues waving in the breezes, and seeing the flora and fauna out there, the rare orchids that they have on the site. It really is a nature expedition as much as a round of golf when you’re playing on that Machrihanish Students’ course, isn’t it?

Jimmy: It is. You just have to stop at times and take it in, and a lot of people do. People who see it for the first time are just enthralled by it. They’re mesmerized, and they’re in awe of it.

We had some people here last week. I had a PGA professional here. He said, “Why has it taken me so long? I’ve been reading about this place for four or five years, and I kept putting it off, and now I’m kicking myself. I think I missed out four years.”

[laughs]

Jimmy: He’s quite right, and I think a lot of people are feeling that. I can come to terms with it because I know the area, but it’s just amazing the comments that come through from the first timers, and they all say the same thing, “Why have I taken so long to get here?”

David: Yes, yes. You must have been very excited when you heard about the project to build this second course, and your son David’s involvement in that. Can you tell us a little bit about how that all came to pass and a bit about the creation, if you will, of the golf course there?

Jimmy: My son and I from a very early age, and I’m talking 30, 40 years ago when David would fish the river that sails past or through Machrihanish and down through Machrihanish Golf Club. He used to fish the river. I’d play golf or he’d walk the golf course with me.

As he grew older, and I would look over the fence lovingly on these beautiful natural dunes that are now part of Machrihanish Dunes, and I would say to my son, “I wish I was a golf architect or a designer. Boy, would I love that piece of land to build a golf course on.”

David, eventually, went to college in London, had a degree in landscape architecture. During that period of time, I found a position for him with the [inaudible] organization. At that point, he says “Landscape architecture is fine, but Dad, I’m seriously going to be a golf course designer.”

One thing led to another. He became extremely successful following, as I would call it, a very good brick, was Michael Kaiser at Bandon Dunes in Oregon, where we created the first course there.

David’s reputation grew for sensitivity, his reputation for creating golf courses which fitted so well into the natural environment and looked as though they’ve been there for many, many years. We gained the reputation for that.

When Brian Keating and Southworth Development decided to do something down here, we were very, very honored to be given the opportunity. It’s very difficult to describe what we felt when that opportunity came around, considering what I’ve just said, David, about looking at it lovingly 40 years previously and saying “Would we like to do something with that land”!

I don’t know what more you can say, like that is an incredible honor, privilege. It almost feels a little bit surreal.

David: I’m sure there was a lot of pressure that you felt just on yourself, not to mention the expectations of others, but just wanting to get it right. Of course, because that was environmentally protected land, SSSI land, if you will, that added a whole another level to the burden that you guys had to work with the land, as you said, and create such a great championship course.

Jimmy: There were many occasions. We have to admit. During the construction period, when we were working in harmony or in conjunction with the botanists on site and with Scottish Natural Heritage, when we felt that just maybe many of the restrictions that were being placed upon us, the golf course may suffer from it, if I could say it like that.

At the end of the day, it actually enhanced it. It continues to enhance it. The trust has been built up between the authorities and ourselves over the years. It’s something to behold. We’ve set a precedent for golf design and construction in Europe, whereby the authorities would not be averse to another golf being built on SSSI sites if they’re kind of sensitively as this one was.

To the desires of Southworth, the owners themselves particularly wanted to do something very, very different and for it to be something very special environmentally, something to show the public and the players that we have protected a very valuable piece of land. You’d have to agree with most of that, David.

David: Absolutely. In fact, in talking one evening with Malcolm Campbell, the great Scottish golf writer about Machrihanish Dunes, he made a very good point, I thought, which you’ve just touched on.

That Machrihanish Dunes is not only a bit of a throwback to the way golf courses were designed 100 and more years ago by people like old Tom Morris, but also a great model for the way courses, perhaps, should be built in the future. With less moving of earth and less digging up and replanting and shaping and all of those things, really working with the land that is there.

I remember, years and years ago, coming out to that site, after the project had been announced, with Bryan Keating and with Colin Dalgleish from PerryGolf and standing up around, where the current golf house is there and just looking out at those dunes. Sure enough, you could see where some of the fairways were going to go.

They were going to run between those dunes there. That looks like a great place for a green site. The land certainly was well suited for the creation of that kind of course.

On the other hand, as a model for the future, building something like that with a very light touch and not having to spend tens of millions of dollars to create a golf course. Not putting in all the expensive irrigation and drainage that drives up the cost of building courses. It does seem like a good model for the future, doesn’t it?

Jimmy: It does indeed. You said it so well yourself. You don’t really need me, David. [laughs] That’s everything I should have said.

David: No.

Jimmy: All I can say is one of the people that I really admire in golf was James Braid. It was one of the first Triumvirate of Taylor, Braid, and Vardon.

James Braid, from my point of view, is one of the finest designer and architect ever in golf. He said about the King’s Course at Gleneagles, and many others did the same, that “God created the golf holes. It was my job to find them within the landscape.”

That could be more than just a little true about what happened here at Machrihanish Dunes. The golf holes were there. The golf holes were created by nature and climatic conditions and God over the years, if we believe in the holy whatever. It was the designer’s task to find those golf holes in the landscape. Then convince SNH that this was a lovely place for golf.

During the period of construction and commercial play and commercial operation, we could continue to protect that landscape in perpetuity.

David: That’s exactly what’s happened, hasn’t it?

Jimmy: Exactly, yes. That’s exactly what most people admire about the project. The other thing I really enjoy was the comments from Ian Hose, the PGA Professional, the other day. He described it something similar to what you said and what I’ve said that the golf holes were there within the landscape. “You guys have done a great job in finding them. They all look as if they were placed there by God’s hand or by nature itself.” He also said “Each golf hole just follows on one after the other naturally and it’s an absolute joy to play golf.”

David: It sure is.

Jimmy: Nice to hear it.

Machrihanish Dunes Podcast with Jimmy Kidd: Part 1

David DeSmith: I would like to say hello to Jimmy Kidd. Good morning, Jimmy.

Jimmy Kidd: Good morning to you, David. Good afternoon, I should say.

David: That’s right. I should point out that I am calling from the east coast of the US, and Jimmy is over in Machrihanish, where it’s afternoon, and you mentioned that it’s not the sunniest of days.

Jimmy: It’s a very typical sort of spring day here, with [fog] coming off the ocean with a little bit of a chill in the wind at the same time. But it’s healthy, as they say.

David: [laughs] Very nice. Perfect golf weather, in other words.

Jimmy: Yeah, typical Scottish golf weather, David.

[laughs]

David: Jimmy, you have been involved in the golf business for many, many years. How did you get started with the game of golf?

Machrihanish Dunes golf
Scenic landscape of Tarbert Loch Fyne in Kintyre

Jimmy: I’m 69, and I came into golf at the age of 15 and a half from a farming background. I’m the oldest of sevenScenic landscape of Tarbert Loch Fyne in Kintyre children. I was relatively clever in high school. My family wanted me out of farming and decided they would put me into a scientific area, a laboratory. Would you believe, in the leatherworks?

After six months, I realized that that’s not where I wanted to spend my life. In the ‘60s, when I got my first apprenticeship at Ranfurly Castle Golf Club, I realized that I was forever destined to work in the great outdoors with the freedom and the natural aspects of the environment, which have always enthralled me.

That’s basically why I came into the game. That’s when I came into the game, the early ‘60s. Golf was blooming in those days, David. Gleneagles, in those days, were doing 100,000 to 117,000 runs a year on three golf courses. I thought to myself, “Coming into this business as a superintendent with some brains, I could really progress through the ranks.” That’s exactly what’s happened to me.

David: Progress you did, culminating in the position that you held for a long, long time at Gleneagles.

Jimmy: Yeah, I had 22 or nearly 23 good years at Gleneagles. I hosted and coordinated, set up the golf courses on the estates for 17 major European tour events, including eight consecutive Bell’s Scottish Open Championships, four Johnny Walkers, I think I had four McDonald World Match Play Invitationals for the LPGA.

I had a Dunhill Cup, and many other special events. Plus, I was actively involved as the estates director in setting up the shooting schools for Jackie Stewart, and the equestrian school for Captain Phillips.

I suppose the highlight of my life was the coordination for the bid for the Rider Cup in 2014 with a small team of people, which was successful and, of course, culminates in September this year over the PGA Centenary Course. Which was, of course, the Monarch’s Course.

I was client representative on that project, working with Nicholas, for four years. Two years in planning and two years in construction. Then we had two final years in grow in.

It takes about four years in this part of the world here, from construction start to first day play, because our seasons are so short. To get any kind of maturity on the new grasses on golf courses here takes at least two seasons. It was a wonderful time. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

When the bid was successful in 2002, I decided it was time to move on from there after those 22, 23 successful years. I was offered a position at Sandy Lane Resort in Barbados as general manager of golf and properties. I hosted a world cup event there, and also grew in two courses, the Green Monkey, and the country club. Very interesting times.

David: You also hosted another fairly interesting event down at Sandy Lanes, as I recall, being the marriage of Tiger Woods.

Jimmy: I married Tiger Woods. I tell everyone that. I married Tiger Woods. I remember the honorable Mister Dermot Desmond coming to me and saying he had a very grand affair coming up, and he wouldn’t tell me what it was.

Being in control of all of golf, the club house and the properties, such like, I was destined to set up the club house for a wedding, he said, at 5:20 on a Tuesday afternoon with the setting being the Caribbean ocean and the sunset.

A couple of weeks before it, he divulged it would be Tiger Woods. We had Tiger there with his beautiful wife and her twin sister. We gave them all 111 bedrooms for free for his guests, a yacht on the ocean. It was a spectacular time. There were very few reports of it. I don’t think a photograph of it ever appeared in the press anywhere. It was so secret.

David: Yeah, you did a good job on the security there.

Jimmy: Yeah. It was good fun.

David: I bet it was. It’s one thing to be overseeing one golf course, but obviously at Gleneagles, you had three. The King’s, the Queen’s, and the Monarch’s, now the PGA Centenary course. What kind of staff did you have behind you to manage all of those golf holes?

Jimmy: Well, I actually had four, David. We had King’s and Queen’s. We had the Prince’s course, and we had the Glendevon. Then we decided as a group that we needed three courses of commensurate quality to offer our guests rather than the Prince’s and the Glendevon being second‑rate courses, King’s and Queen’s being the preferred courses for our guests; we wanted to have three.

We also wanted to attract, if you can remember a while back the Greg Norman world tours, he was proposing eight different venues worldwide for world tour events.

We decided we’d go into the market for a Ryder Cup or an extended World Championship or a Greg Norman World Tour course, and we invested a considerable sum of money.

We took the Prince’s course and the Glendevon golf course, and another parcel of land that we purchased for a few million bucks. We created in conjunction with Jack the Monarch’s course at that time, which eventually became the PGA, which eventually is now, of course, the Ryder Cup venue course this year.

Gleneagles now has three courses of commensurate quality, the guests can choose each and either, rather than having the offer of a second-rate course if the King’s and Queen’s are not available.

Staffing-wise, I didn’t have that many, would you believe? On those four golf courses, we had less than 60 staff, that’s four superintendents and about 56 staff. Managing golf courses with short seasons in the United Kingdom and Scotland in particular is not as intensive as it is in other parts of the world.

I suppose I’m particularly talking about the U.S. nowadays, where equivalent to that I think you would probably have had 100 staff at four golf courses in the U.S., maybe 18 to 25 staff for 18 holes.

David: What can we expect from the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles this year? Obviously some further work has been done to the golf course over the last two, three years in preparation for the event. What are you expecting to see when the U.S. takes on the Euros there?

Jimmy: I’m expecting that it will be a very close finish this time, because I don’t think any of the players are going to enjoy it very much if the PGA Centenary Course throws up, or I should say the climate is what it normally is in September in that part of the world. It can be very wet and cold, or at least if it’s not cold it’s wet.

Most of the players these days are not into that kind of stuff. They seem to follow a pattern around the world following the sun around the world. The American tour does it. The PGA European tour does it. They go into South Africa, they go to the Middle East, they go to Asia, and they’re following the sun.

Coming for the Ryder Cup in Scotland, a very, very long golf course, and I mean a very long golf course. I don’t just mean it’s 7,280 or 7,300 yards. The walks between some of the holes are quite extraordinary between two and three, between eight and nine, between 10 and 11, between 11 and 12. There’s a lot of long walks between those golf holes, and it’s a very tiring course.

I expect a lot of the games to finish well before 18, that’s for sure. It’ll be a trial of durability. The strongest men will win, the guys who can walk that every single day and still feel fresh going back out if they have to play two rounds in a day.

David: The U.S. should be thankful they don’t have Craig Stadler on the team this year, then, perhaps.

Jimmy: Well, I think they’re going to need some really tough characters in there. But David, all of these guys are equal these days. There’s so many of our PGA European tour people playing maybe 15 to 17 events in America a year or more, and they’re playing in sunshine.

Rory McIlroy, for example, does not like playing in the rain anymore, which surprised me when we all know that he’s a member of Royal Portrush. He must have grown up in the wind and the rain, but any time he comes back here to play in the British Open, and he made a mess of himself not so very long ago by saying, “I don’t really enjoy playing in this anymore.”

[laughter]

David: Yes, that’s right. I remember that.

Jimmy: I know a lot of them do. I can see them wrapped up in Pollenex, and sweaters, and waterproofs, and brawlies just trying to keep dry during the week. It has to be remembered that the last two rated cups in Europe between the King Club and Celtic Manor have been washouts.

David: Yes, that’s right.

Jimmy: Both of them have been very, very wet, and the tented village areas and the walkways of spectators have become mud mired, mud quagmires, and the PGA Centenary course has an edge over the other two in a way that it has a beautiful trolley park or cart path around it which will contain a lot of the spectators.

But you can’t contain 10,000 or 15,000 people following one fore ball. That’s not easy in a cart track. The weather will play a major part in the event, and I also think that the strongest guys will win out, that’s for sure, mentally and physically.

David: Very good. Well, let’s just hope it doesn’t sleet or snow while they’re in town.

[laughter]

Jimmy: I don’t see that in September, David.

David: OK, good.

Jimmy: You can never tell.

Introducing our New Head Greenkeeper!

Simon Freeman
Machrihanish Dunes Golf Club is pleased to announce the appointment of Simon Freeman as its new Head Greenkeeper. Simon will oversee all day-to-day golf operations at the resort’s U.K. Top-100 seaside links course. Having worked most recently at The Machrie, he brings more than 15 years of turf management experience at championship courses to The Machrihanish Dunes Golf Club.

“I am delighted to be joining the team at Machrihanish Dunes and look forward to focusing my energies on maintaining and, where possible, improving this magnificent golf course. I particularly look forward to mastering the challenges of working on the West Coast with its alkaline sand and extreme winter weather,” said Freeman.

“Simon brings a wealth of experience in golf course turf management that will continue to improve the experience for our golf club members and resort guests at Machrihanish Dunes,” said David Southworth, CEO and Founder of Southworth Development, an affiliate of which owns Machrihanish Dunes.  “We look forward to Simon and his family moving to Campbeltown and joining the team.”

Campbeltown, Pubs May Be Good For Your Health

Gentlemen, when you raise a glass to your health, do it with confidence!  The Scotsman recently reported that heading out to a pub for a couple pints with the boys is actually good for your health – well, mental health, anyway.

Royal_SpecialLabelWhisky_Detail[2]_MRMaybe you’ve always felt you thought a little better when your lips were a little wetter, but now it’s been proven.  The Medical Research Council released a report titled Drinking Attitudes in Midlife, which definitively states that sharing a round of drinks with friends has positive effects on the mental well-being of men 30-50 years old, loosening the constitution of even the most masculine of men to the point where they feel comfortable articulating their emotions.  The study goes on to proclaim that sitting down for a few rounds with your mates expedites the bonding process, bringing you emotionally closer faster.

The study is careful to point out that alcohol itself isn’t the sole reason for these spirit-lifting results.  It’s not so much the pints that cause men to open up to their buddies; it’s the revelry that comes with sharing the experience with friends.   In fact, the study shows that a group of friends buying rounds for each other causes a particularly poignant feeling of inclusion and recognition – much more than the act of consuming.

Old-Clubhouse-Night-ExterioThe study confirms what we here at The Village of Machrihanish Dunes have pretty much always known.  Our pubs, The Old Clubhouse Pub in Machrihanish and The Black Sheep Pub in Campbeltown, have always been a place to gather with friends over a wee dram or a pint or two.  With themed nights, live music, delicious food and smiling faces behind the bar, they’re great places to let your troubles wash away and spend a few hours making merry with friends—or just as good, making a few new ones.  We’ve always felt that what makes a pub isn’t just superb supper and suds (although that helps)—it’s the feeling of camaraderie that comes from a good group of people coming together for a good time.  And now, we have the science to prove it!

Scotland’s #1 Golf Resort Experience

The Village at Machrihanish Dunes has received well over 30 notable recognitions since 2008 – and that doesn’t even include invitations to join select organizations such as the Great Golf Resorts of the World.  It’s a fact we try not to let go to our heads – after all, it’s history and nature that’s given us the framework for what we have now.  The UK top-100 golf course is considered one of the most natural in the world, and the four-star Royal and Ugadale Hotels were stunning pieces of history just waiting for someone to breathe new life into them.  So when we receive compliments on our course or our hotels, we certainly stand with pride, but we have to give a lot of the credit to that which came before.



However, this past year, we received two exciting accolades that just sent us through the roof.  Golf Tourism Scotland named us Resort Experience of the Year, and Bunkered Magazine readers voted us Scotland’s Best Experience – and we are celebrating!  Why are these particular recognitions so special?  Two reasons:

  • One – because they were bestowed upon us by those who  know Scottish golf holidays best
  • Two – because these awards didn’t just say we had the best hotels in Scotland, or the best links course in the nation, or the best restaurant in Campbeltown.  They named The Village at Machrihanish Dunes the best resort experience.


These accolades acknowledge all the pieces of this seaside resort in one fell swoop.  They don’t just speak to what it’s like to play 18-holes of links golf with the Atlantic by your side, or to watch the sun set into the ocean from the window of your luxury accommodation, or even what it’s like to get a facial at the spa, a pint at the pub, or a perfect steak from one of the restaurants.  It doesn’t just speak to the service provided by our expertly trained staff, or how we love our jobs and it shows with the joy with which we perform them.  It speaks to all of it – how it all comes together, and how we at The Village at Machrihanish Dunes complement all the amazing elements that nature and history of provided for us.



And when we think about it that way – and realize that it’s some of Scotland’s most dedicated golfers and golf tourism professionals making the call – well, we couldn’t help but be a wee bit proud.

So, we’re celebrating with special #1 offers and events all year long that our guests can enjoy.  We hope you’ll come out and celebrate with us, and join us in enjoying all the beauty this magnificent seaside resort has to offer.