Places

It would take something out of the ordinary to induce Victorians to travel to the remote island of Islay. Willie Campbell, the course architect from Bridge of Weir, set out to create just such a magnet by producing a course of enormous length and difficulty. The 'basic' course was over 6000 yards long when it was opened by Mrs Lucy Ramsay driving the first ball using a club with a silver head in 1891 (see photograph) but, in case this was still too easy, an extra green was added to allow an option of the 8th being 750 yards and the 9th, 620. The opening was marked by a challenge match between the course designer, Willie Campbell, and Willie Fernie, the 1883 Open Championship winner and four time runner-up. £100 plus a gold medal to the winner made it a very serious challenge indeed. The course designer triumphed 7 and 6 but Willie Fernie gave an object lesson in sportsmanship saying he was happy to play his friend Campbell on the same course again and it was the best course he had ever seen. Come they did. The Rev John MacNeill, writing in 1900, tells us 'The devotion of the Scottish clergy to the royal and ancient game of golf is a matter of history .... some .... have gone as far as Islay with golfing parties and played over the fine course at Machrie. This splendid course is second to none in Scotland .... many of our foremost statesmen, titled and untitled, are here frequently seen on the golfing links'. The 750 yard hole involved too much self-excoriation even for presbyterian ministers and was not used and changes were made in 1894 creating two short holes. In its original form there was no hole less than 200 yards in length. It was still a tough course. Harry Vardon once described the 17th, Mount Zion, as ' the hardest hole I have ever seen.' (Its appearance around the turn of the 20th century can be seen in the second photograph.) How did visitors get there? An article in The Scotsman in April 1891 explained. '.... Leave Glasgow at 8:30 am by train to Greenock, embark by the SS Columba for East Tarbert, Loch Fyne which was reached given fine weather by noon. A fifteen minute drive by coach followed to West Tarbert where the SS Glencoe was waiting to take you to Port Ellen where you arrived some 4 hours later. Alternatively, those for whom a round of the Mull has no terrors may prefer to travel by the Islay, leaving Glasgow in the late afternoon and reaching the island shortly after modnight'. In the early 1890s, golfers would probably make their way to the White Hart hotel in Port Ellen run by Lachlan McCuaig, founder member of the Islay Golf Club and its first treasurer, 'thoroughly versed in the history and geography of Islay, rich in humorous stories and racy anecdotes' according to the Golfing Annual of 1893-94. The same Mr McCuaig became involved with Machrie House, now the Machrie Hotel which owns the course, which had been extended to become a guest house for golfers. It became the 'real 19th hole' for the course in 1899, after McCuaig's death, when alterations to the course placed the 1st tee and 18th green adjacent to the hotel. The colour postcard shows golfers arriving at the hotel at the beginning of the twentieth century. The professionals came too. In 1901 Machrie held the first open tournament in Britain to offer prize money of £100 (see the separate article on this). By 1936, the guide books were still enthusing that it was 'the finest links in Scotland. Many golfers, enthusiasts in their praise, say there is no better natural golf course in the world'. Earlier in the twentieth century there were also shorter courses at Gartmain and Uisgeantsuidhe on the island and a nine hole course has been claimed for Port Askaig. I am indebted to Tom Dunn and Islay Golf Club for the use of pictures accompanying this article.