Golf World’s 2014 Golf Escapes – Award-Winning Mach Dunes

Scotland, the Home of Golf, is blessed with dozens of superb options for your next golf getaway – places with illustrious names, historic pedigrees, and unforgettable links golf courses.

But when it came time to select the one golf resort in Scotland that offered the very best of everything, the members of Golf Tourism Scotland chose one that had been open just four years: The Village at Machrihanish Dunes.

In November 2013, Machrihanish Dunes earned the coveted GTS Gold Standard Award for ‘Best Resort Experience’, beating off high-calibre competition from such notable names as Gleneagles and Turnberry.

So what makes Machrihanish Dunes so special? For a start, its location.

Machrihanish Dunes is situated on Scotland’s west coast, on the primordial Kintyre Peninsula – right next door to famed Machrihanish Golf Club.

Old Tom Morris, designer of that beloved course, proclaimed that “the Almighty had golf in his e’e when he made this place,” and with two superb courses on offer there now, it was only a matter of time before the world discovered what a magnificent golf setting it is. 

The GB&I Top 100 David McLay Kidd-designed links at Machrihanish Dunes features five tees and six greens at the ocean’s edge. It has been called “The world’s most natural golf course” for its raw, minimalist design. As Kidd said upon the completion of the course: “This is purist golf. You’re going to get some good bounces and some bad bounces. You’re going to see some fascinating views. You’re going to see things you’ve never seen before – things you never thought possible on a golf course before. But it is nature, just the way I found it.” The course, which played host to the 2013 International Pairs competition, has earned rave reviews from golfers of all standards – and from all corners of the world. It’s authentic links golf, with blind shots, vexing bunkers and greens that will challenge every part of your short game.

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