Dunaverty golf club played on 15 September 2020
The description of our visit to this golf course differs from most of the other reports we have made.
Reason is that we didn’t plan to play the course before our arrival, but changed our minds after a short visit. After playing this round I decided that the club and the course deserved to be mentioned.
We arrived to the south of Kintyre Peninsula the 13th of September.
That day we first drove to the Machrihanish golf club to have a look at the facilities and book tee times. That done we headed to the Dunaverty golf club just about 5 miles south east of the Machrihanish club. Here we decided to make room in our plan to play the course.
It was a good experience to visit and play Dunaverty especially because of the contrast between this club and the Machrihanish club and courses.
There is a big difference in the history between the two clubs, though not when it comes to the time when the clubs were established and courses were build.
The Machrihanish was open for play in 1879 and had the famous Old Tom Morris as the architect.
The Dunaverty was founded in 1889, and set up by a small group of people from the surrounding farms and community of Southend. There is no mentioning of the architect of the course.
There is a big difference between the two clubs and courses.
The one have more than 800 members – of which many are long distance members from all over the world.
The other have 300 members. The clubhouse is small and not with the range of service you get at the naboer Machrihanish Golf Club.
But it is good to know that you don’t need a club pro, driving range and other practice facilities or a modern club house to develop good golfers and to enjoy playing the golf course. Maybe sometimes it is the other way around. This is what the club is writing about the issue:
“Dunaverty has produced many fine golfers over the years although none with more renown than Belle Robertson. Belle grew up on a nearby farm and developed her early golf skills at Dunaverty before going on to win just about every honour available in the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s including the Scottish Ladies’ and British Women’s Championships as well as representing Britain and Ireland in the Curtis Cup.”
I went to play the course in the afternoon the 15 of September after having played Machrihanish in the morning.
And of course there is a big difference between the 2 courses, but the fun and the joy of the walk and the pleasure of playing it is not less.
The nature is fantastic. It is not a grandeur design, but interesting.
Facts about the course.
The par for the course is 66.
The course record is 58 strokes made by a Mr. G.A. MacMillan.
Green fee is £30 and £35 in weekends. Free play for a week is £110
You get the impression that there are nothing but golfcourses in Scotland. 5 Miles apart! Do all Scottish people play golf? Of cause, it is a wonderful thing to do – for all ages. You should see our trainers Jens and Steven with 20-30 youngsters 8-9 years, playing, I mean playing, on the putting green once a week. It’s a sight!
Elizabeth I think I agree with you that all Scotts play golf and must say there are also loads of walkers many with dogs. Sometimes we struggle to get tee-times. I love Scotland was a really nice trip. Hope to see you soon