Dunaverty

Dunaverty

Nearby Courses

27 miles away

Machrihanish

26 miles away

Machrihanish Dunes

17 miles away

Shiskine

Dunaverty was founded in 1889 by those farming the land surrounding the hamlet of Southend, which is right on the tip of Kintyre just a few miles from the twin attractions of Machrihanish.


Southend's notable landmark is Dunaverty Rock, a site for fortification that once sheltered Robert the Bruce although the castle is long gone, raised to the ground by Covenanters who besieged the Royalist garrison.


Dunaverty's course was initially all laid out beyond Conieglen Burn but was redesigned before the Second World War and then revitalised after it had fallen into disrepair.


The 'new' holes next to the clubhouse might lack the aesthetic appeal of those perched on the beach or, more pertinently, high above it, but they do include on their fringe arguably the very best of Dunaverty.


The blind, short 4th played to a slender green situated in a dell is the kind of hole that today's course architects dream of.


The 4th begins the best section of a links that is routed on predominantly sandy terrain whose marked fluctuations in elevation give rise, literally, to breathtaking coastal views in the manner of Crail, Portpatrick or Castle Stuart.




The blind, short 4th played to a slender green situated in a dell is the kind of hole that today's course architects dream of.



The 6th is another fine par 3, with the beach to the right and evil hollows short of the green that are frequently in play given this is a uncharacteristically stout 245 yards.


It is followed by another short hole featuring a rare bunker – we counted just one on each nine – guarding a saucer-shaped sloping green. Then the dog-leg 8th, with Sanda Island in the distance, plays along a narrow fairway with gorse aplenty in view off the tee.


The back nine then twists and turns and rises and falls as you thread your way home, offering even better views if not the same calibre of hole. The highlight is 'The Burn', the 412-yard 17th with out of bounds all the way down the right that ends on a back-to-front sloping green positioned over the road and the burn.


Curtis Cup player Belle Robertson, who developed her golf skills here, probably had no trouble with it. For the rest of us, it is a six waiting to happen. Chris Bertram