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| Nairn |
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Nairn Golf Club, a beauty and a beast© 2009, Richard & Mary-Alice JafollaWant to know how good a golf course Nairn Golf Club is? Ever hear the expression "you can tell a lot about a man by the company he keeps"? Well, the Walker Cup has been played at the finest venues in the world including Pebble Beach, Cypress Point, Portmarnock, Brookline, and St. Andrews. In 1999 it was played at Nairn Golf Club. How's that for keeping good company? You say you want more proof. Okay, Golf World 2008 rated it the 25th best golf course in the United Kingdom and rated their green among the top 10. James Briad, one of the greatest and most famous of the Scottish golf architects, said about Nairn, "The texture of the turf and the character of the greens is unrivaled."
Nairn Golf Club is a great golf course, no doubt about it "Formidable" would be a better word to describe it. It's one of those special traditional Scottish links layouts that is in sight of the sea on every hole and flirts with the sea on about half of them. It's an out and back links golf course with the first 7 holes built right along the edge of the Moray Firth, so slicers beware. It's the kind of golf course that lulls you into submission with its beauty on the front nine only to mug you when you least expect it on the back nine. The first nine holes, in fact, do play much easier than the back nine. It's not that one thru nine are easy--not a chance. It's just that if you are going to score, do it early. It will be a struggle to do it late because the degree of difficulty builds. By the time you get past the run of 12, 13 and 14--three of the finest and most difficult consecutive holes in Scotland--you will be happy to be facing an innocent looking #15, a 309 yard par 4 . But don't let even this seemingly tame hole fool you because the green is plateaued with a severe fall off in the back and you still have a 516 yard finishing hole with nine statregically placed bunkers and gorse and out of bounds on your right. Oh, the green is pretty well protected too. It's the kind of hole that can easily cost you a double or triple bogie and make you cry if you are playing a good round up to this point.
This is a physically beautiful golf course as well as being a difficult one. The views across the Moray Firth to Black Isle and beyond are spectacular. I played the golf course on a gorgeous day with fluffy white clouds in an azure blue sky. The gorse was blooming and the golf course was in spectacular shape. (But then it has a reputation of always being in spectacular shape.) The wind was relatively mild. Lucky for me because I'm not a big hitter and the first seven holes play into the prevailing wind, which can often cost you 2 to 3 clubs in length. And the wind will exaggerate any slice and send ball after ball into the Firth. On a very windy day, forget par and just hold on for dear life. A few words about some of my favorite holes at NairnI'm a golfing masochist, I guess, because my favorite holes always turn out to be the most difficult and most treacherous--usually the ones that I score highest on. Anyway, numbers 3 and 7 on the outward nine are two of these. Number 3 is played with the Firth to your right but it demands a slight draw--something I certainly can't do on demand!. However, there are strategically placed very large fairway bunkers located between 238 and 257 yards from the tee on the left. So the water is right and bunkers are left. That leaves the center of the fairway, but the 257 yard bunker sticks way out into the fairway so the tee shot has to be VERY accurate. I'm not even going to go into the lumps and bumps that make up the fairway. The second shot on this 377 yard par 4 is to a green that falls off precipitously in the back. Better hold it or your third shot will be very difficult. The 7th hole at almost 500 yards demands another precise tee shot or the ball will be gobbled up by gorse. Lots of luck getting par if it does.As I said, 12 thru 14 are among the best consecutive holes I've ever seen, number 13 being the best (or worst) of the three. It requires another very precise tee shot to the narrowest of fairways. Again, bunkers in the middle of the fairway and protruding out into the fairway make this a pretty tough task. And the green sits atop a severe false front and is further guarded by 4 bunkers. Oh, and did I mention the green has a ridge running right through the middle? The next, number 14, will become one of your all time favorite par 3s. First of all it's 206 from the medal tees. I don't know about you but that's about all I can handle on a par 3 and if there's a wind in my face, I'm hitting driver!. It has 4 bunkers guarding the green, but the two forward ones are a deceptively far distance from the green and so give a false read. The green itself is severely sloped in the very front so any ball coming in too short will not roll too far onto the green. And the green itself has two ridges in addition to the usual undulations.
Play this relatively undiscovered treasure. If you are in the area playing Royal Dornoch Golf Course, stay an extra day and play Nairn Golf Club. I promise you you'll be very, very glad you did. Golf Nook Scotland rates Nairn Golf Club a solid EAGLE
Miscellaneous Info Nairn Golf Club has one of the best clubhouses in ScotlandNot only is the clubhouse physically beautiful, it's comfortable and the surroundings are pleasant. You can watch the golfers coming in on the 18th green while you sip your lager or ale or stout or fine Scottish single malt (is there any other kind of whisky?--that's the correct spelling, by the way). And the food is terrific and well-priced. How about this for a typical day's lunch menu selection:Starting with appetizers: Salad of beef tomato & mozzarella dressed with extra virgin oil & balsamic vinegar. Chicken liver pate with cumberland sauce and warm toast. Slices of galia melon with tropical fruits. Chef's homemade soup of the day. Cocktail of poached salmon & prawn marie rose. Enterees include, Deep fried crispy Buckie haddock, peas & french fries (typical fish & chips) Crispy fried scampi, buttered peas and french fries Breast of chicken filled with banana coated in coconut served with mild curry cream sauce Fettucini pasta, bound in bacon, tomato chill and shallot. Hold on, you're not done yet. There's a bunch of home-made desserts in addition to Italian ice creams, sorbets, cheese and biscuits, coffee and mints. And that's only lunch! Heck, you could spend the entire day at Nairn Golf Club and not even play golf and still be happy! Rates: Nairn is one of the more expensive golf clubs in Scotland. Check out their website for the latest prices. Location -- on the west side of the town of Nairn, along the shore on Seabank Road. Book at: bookings@nairngolfclub.co.uk Nairn Golf Club Seabank Road Nairn, IV12 4HB Secretary: David Corstorphine (0) 1667 453208 Fax: 1667 456328 Professional: (0)1667 452787 Fax: 1667 451315 www.nairngolfclub.co.uk |
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