Photo by Iain Lowe

Machrihanish's stellar opening hole is matched only by its panoramic views of mountains and the sea.

Besides its remoteness (five hours from Glasgow on torturous but spectacular mountain and loch-side roads) Machrihanish Golf Club is known for possessing the greatest opening hole you can play on a Scotland golf vacation, or possibly any golf vacation.

After the long automobile ride, with no warm-up, and in plain view of Ken Campbell’s pro shop perched above the beach, you must drive the ball through the wind and over the crashing waves of Machrihanish Bay.

The first fairway of this 1876 Old Tom Morris design (which has since been redesigned and modified several times), curves around the bay and runs diagonally from the tee off to the left, a classic example — perhaps the original example — of the heroic hole, one where you must reconcile the amount of carry you can handle with the resulting ease or difficulty of your approach shot.

The hole primarily rewards those drive the ball 230 yards or more and flirt with the left side, since a safer shot toward the center of the fairway may roll into one of a cluster of pot bunkers on the right.

Those with first-tee jitters or a dysfunctional driver have the option of an easy bail-out to the right (another characteristic of great holes) which is not much more than 100 yards across the water, but choosing this line almost always requires more than two shots to reach the green, since it lengthens the hole’s 423 yards.

Regardless of which route you take or what score you make, playing this epic hole will undoubtedly be a highlight of your Scotland golf vacation.

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