Golf


It’s sometimes wet; it’s sometimes wild, but it’s also stunningly beautiful ... the ‘lost’ course of Askernish. Situated on the Outer Hebridean isle of South Uist, Askernish Golf Club has an amazing history. Originally designed by Old Tom Morris in 1891, it fell into disrepair and was finally reclaimed by the shifting sands. In 2005, a chance conversation led to a visit by Gordon Irvine and the restoration of the course began.


Allan MacDonald


Kevin Marks visited the Outer Hebrides early last year to meet Head Greenkeeper, Allan MacDonald. It takes an effort to get there, but for any golfer who has an innate love of the game, a visit to Askernish, the most natural golf course in the world, is a must


I


n June 1891, Old Tom Morris, accompanied by his companion Horace Hutchinson, travelled from St Andrews to South Uist at the request of the wealthy landowner, Lady Emily Gordon


Cathcart, the widow of Captain John Gordon, to inspect the machair lands with a view to laying out a new course. He eventually laid out the eighteen holes on the rolling dunes of Askernish farm, although he declared at the time that the choice of links land in that particular area was staggering. To the uninitiated, machair is a Gaelic


word meaning a fertile low-lying grassy plain, which occurs primarily on the exposed western coasts of Scotland and Ireland and, in particular, the Outer Hebrides. Here, sand,


12 I PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2015


Askernish Golf Club


As nature intended!


largely made up of crushed shells, is regularly blown ashore by the fierce Atlantic gales. Over time, the calcium rich shell sand and traditional Outer Hebrides crofting land practices have led to the development of a mosaic of fertile Scottish grassland habitats renowned for its outstanding wildflowers, birds and insect life. During its early years, the course would


have been used as a vehicle to entice visitors to the island, to be enjoyed along with the traditional pursuits of fishing and shooting. Some of the island’s residents were regular players, but these would have been mostly confined to the local clergy, doctors and teachers. It was maintained by local farm workers in the traditional way back then,


using scythes and other handheld implements. In 1922, the Scottish Land Settlement Act


ceded the grazing rights of Askernish farm to eleven crofters and a lack of consistent maintenance led to the course’s general decline. Then, in 1932, Lady Cathcart died and ownership of the South Uist estate passed into the hands of absentee landlords. The course was gradually reclaimed by nature and eventually disappeared into the shifting sands of the dunes. Northern and Scottish Airways began a


regular air service from Renfrew to Askernish in 1936. The manager of the Lochboisdale Hotel was in charge of the aircraft bookings and commissioned a resident of the hotel,


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