The Machrie making its mark both on and off the course

A decade or more later than should have been the case, I hasten to add, it finally happened and, as I was excited to let DJ know when bumping into him recently in the company of his great friend Ian Woosnam, he certainly wasn’t building it up without reason to do so.

What a place and, with the boutique hotel group, Another Place, now managing the hotel and golf course close to Port Ellen, one of two ferry ports, and also the island’s airport, exciting times - both on and off the course - look to be lying ahead.

“I was brought in to tweak the golf course in 2013,” said Russell of his handiwork at a venue that was founded in 1891, with the original layout being officially opened with a match between Willie Campbell, the designer, and the 1883 Open champion, Willie Fernie.

“But it soon became clear that we could do something really special,” added the two-time European Tour winner who has made East Lothian his home. “We gradually pieced together how to put 18 quality golf holes along the original layout.

“It’s a real links experience with wonderful dunes, dramatic changes in elevation, and the ever-changing Islay weather. It’s links golf as it used to be where the ball is played much closer to the ground than the modern game demands.”

Don’t be fooled by any impression on the first tee. “I don’t know if underwhelming is the right word,” said Alan Martin, an Eyemouth man who has found himself totally on the opposite side of the country after taking up the role as the hotel’s golf general manager just under a year ago, “but there is certainly a sense of mystique almost.”

Not for long because, once you get to the top of the hill halfway down the fairway, the character of the course and its stunning location on the east side of Laggan Bay are right in front of you. Then, by the second green, you are right on the beach.

“When you drive in, it’s hard to believe that behind the hotel and clubhouse there is going to be this incredible links land,” admits Russell. “I’m very proud that people are blown away by what they see. There are not many golf courses that have the same aura. It’s a very special place.”

Particularly, it has to be said, when you are standing on the tee at the ninth, a cracker of a short hole that plays towards the sea, but, in truth, every single hole has been designed to be memorable and visitors from all around the world are enjoying the challenge the course provides.

“It is very mixed,” said Martin, who started his career as a PGA trainee professional at Dunbar and also had a spell at The Duke’s in St Andrews before heading out to Asia, where, most recently, he was consulting as part of a team on a new golf project in Hong Kong, of where the visitors come from. “There’s no one market we are relying on. Obviously the tour operators do a vital role in selling it and getting people here. But I think our job is to go beyond that and get the customer going to the tour operator and saying ‘can you get us to The Machrie?’.

“The exciting bit is there is room for more. I think if we can improve the small touch points like a starter’s hut and a Halfway House while we have a few buggies coming with GPS just to satisfy the American market, all that would add to what we have.”

At this year’s Scottish Golf Tourism Awards, The Machrie picked up the prize for the ‘Best Course £100-£250’, recognition which the new management team hope will help it grow in terms of being on the map.

“Getting the message about The Machrie out there is one part of it because, when people do come here, I think it exceeds expectations,” observed Martin, who was thinking about heading back to Asia until being lured to Islay when he heard what was being planned for The Machrie under the Another Place banner.

“Part of that is maybe the unknown as they don’t know what they are coming to. Despite what you may have heard, you are still unsure. But then when you see it with your own eyes, it is a special property and a special golf course.”

Add in a six-hole par-3 course, a covered driving range and a mega-fun 19-hole putting green called ‘The Hebrides’ and The Race to Machrie, an end-of-season event for some of Scotland’s top juniors run by the Stephen Gallacher Foundation is probably not going to be the only event its hosts going forward.

“If we can get some form of professional event with TV coverage, I think the golf course would look awesome on TV,” declared Martin and he’s absolutely right about that. “The course can also play to just over 7,000 yards off the back tees, though it looks a lot further than that!”

Both the course and the 43-bedroom hotel are providing valuable local jobs on an island where whisky, of course, is the main attraction with no less than ten distilleries with three more imminent.

“We have a couple of local school-leavers who have joined the team as apprentice greenkeepers, so that is definitely part of the strategy,” said Martin.

“We also have a young lad, Jack Shaw, in golf operations who is going to go off to uni to study professional golf. We want to generate golfers and plan to bring in a full-time teaching pro who would work with the Islay Golf Club volunteers at coaching sessions. But we also want to generate future employees and get people into a career in golf.”

Exciting times, indeed.