Par Excellence

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Never drink and drive — unless, that is, the drink is some of Scotland's finest whisky and the "driving" is confined to one of the world's great golf courses. This happy combination is to be found at the Machrie Hotel and Golf Links on the island of Islay off Scotland's west coast. So it's surprising that the Machrie, close to such venerable distilleries as Laphroaig, Ardbeg, Bowmore and Lagavulin, has managed to remain one of golf's best-kept secrets. It was not always so.

Ten years after it first opened in May 1891, the Machrie attracted the legendary golfing triumvirate of Harry Vardon, John Henry Taylor and James Braid by offering top prize money (at the time it was £100) for its Open. But thereafter the Machrie became the course that time forgot. Now the Machrie is waking from its century of slumber: plans are afoot to extend the links and develop the Machrie Hotel, which serves as clubhouse and 19th hole. "If it goes well," says manager Ian Brown, "future visitors will be able to experience a course very similar to the one that Vardon and Co. played."

But this daunting course will remain both a beauty and a beast: thanks to the extreme undulations of these links, even the lowest handicap players have to play the majority of their fairway shots without being able to see their target. Get to Islay on flights from Glasgow (two per day unless the Scottish mist intervenes) or by ferry from Kennacraig on the Mull of Kintyre. And save time for some of the seven local distilleries: those who are let off lightly by the Machrie can drink a dram or two in celebration; for the rest of us they offer the spirit of consolation.