Golf Course Review

In June 1891, Old Tom Morris and Horace Hutchinson travelled to South Uist, Outer Hebrides and laid out Askernish Golf Club for a wealthy landowner in 1891. The original course was abandoned and transferred into a crofting tenure land 1922.

In 1936, regular air service from Renfrew to Askernish was established and a 12 hole course was laid out on the machair. The 12 hole course was in play until 1938 when the regular flights ceased with the course slipping into disrepair.

A third course was established in 1956 and lasted until 1982 after the prime motivator, Dr Robertson, left the island.

In 2002, Colin MacGregor began cutting the grass and soon had 9 holes to play on. Gordon Irvine heard of the course and arrived in December of 2005 to inspect the site and establish the credibility of the Old Tom Morris design.

Returning in March of 2006, Gordon Irvine, Martin Ebert, Chris Haspel and Adam Lawerence returned to find the original design. On a single day, the architects looked for the original green sites and then routed the course. In total, it is reckoned four of the original greens were found and have been included in the new routing. The rediscovered course was laid out in the typical Old Tom Morris fashion of 18 stakes on a Sunday afternoon. The course opened for play on August 22, 2008. Since then, Tom Doak and Mike Keiser have made further tweaks, fine-tuning the design.