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Machrihanish Dunes
August 15, 2009 by Fractional & Shared Ownership Property News & Reviews · Leave a Comment
Fractional Ownership Alongside Scottish Links and “The Way Golf Began”
In southwestern Scotland, on the tip of the Kintyre peninsula – called the Mull of Kintyre – sits the village of Machrihanish. Here in the “very cradle of Celtic Scotland,” the waves of the Atlantic Ocean crash into the shore and the air is thick with the sea.
And here, where land and water meet, is Machrihanish Dunes, a golf course reminiscent of The Way Golf
Began. These 18 holes hearken back to the original Scottish meaning of the word links: a golf course situated along coastal dunes, which is the oldest style of golf in the land where the sport was invented.
The area itself has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest by an independent public body
whose goal is “to protect and improve the natural environment and encourage people to enjoy and get
involved in their surroundings.”
Indeed, the surroundings here in Kintyre are captivating: Craggy cliffs alternate with smooth beaches, rolling hills meet green fields, and views of both Ireland and England compete for the traveler’s gaze. It was this area that Paul McCartney and Denny Laine immortalized in the song, “Mull of Kintyre”:
Mull of Kintyre
Oh mist rolling in from the sea,
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre
Given the beauty of the surroundings, it is quite understandable why Kintyre Development Company Limited is creating fractional residences here. But it is the seaside golf that is truly at the heart of the resort.
A Golf Heritage
Machrihanish Dunes Golf Club opened to the public on 2 May 2009, and is the first 18-hole links golf
course to be built on the west coast of Scotland in 100 years. Course Architect and Scotsman David McLay
Kidd, who is internationally acclaimed for his design of Bandon Dunes in Oregon and The Castle Course at St. Andrews, created the 7,175-yard course that features six greens and five tees at the ocean’s edge.
Machrihanish Dunes shares sea views with the adjacent Machrihanish Golf Club links (which was designed by legend Old Tom Morris and in 2008 was ranked 39th in Golf Digest’s “Top 100 Courses Outside the U.S.”). What’s more, five of the world’s top courses are within a 35-mile radius, with four having hosted the Open Championship. Courses including Turnberry, Prestwick and Royal Troon in Scotland, and Royal County Down and Royal Portrush (the only Irish golf course ever to host the Open Championship)
‘Natural Holes’
In golf course design, the term natural hole signifies “a hole which fits so well into the natural landscape prior to construction that only minimal effort is required to ready it for play in terms of grading and shaping work.” In creating Machrihanish Dunes, McLay Kidd had his choice of 23 natural holes and chose his 18 favorites.
“We followed the lie of the land and unlike most courses around the world, we did not lay out the course and make the land change with it, we designed each hole around the natural terrain,” explains McLay Kidd. “For maintenance we will do a little mowing, but will mostly rely on the wandering sheep to keep the fescue in check – just like the old courses used to do.”
McLay Kidd’s design is not merely aesthetic, though: “To historians of the game,” Kidd said, “Machrihanish Dunes may give us an insight into how golf looked and felt to my Scottish forbears centuries ago, as our intention was to create a course as ‘Old Tom’ would have done in centuries past… The land was respected, as were the native grasses. The green surfaces and tees were shaped a little and modern grasses replaced the native, but elsewhere almost everything is as we found it.”
The Ugadale Hotel and Cottages
While Machrihanish Dunes provides a golfing experience par excellence, the lodging options are top notch as well. Several projects are in various stages of completion at the Village at Machrihanish Dunes.
The Ugadale Hotel and Cottages are the official hotel and lodging accommodations of the Machrihanish
Dunes Golf Club. Currently, the historic Ugadale Hotel is undergoing renovation and restoration. The hotel overlooks the famous first hole at Machrihanish Golf Club (widely regarded as “the most spectacular opening hole in golf”) and will feature 22 rooms as well as a malt whisky bar and local-seafood restaurant. The restoration, scheduled to finish in early 2011, will act to complement the existing cottages and further the
services and amenities of the village.
The cottages are directly across from the first tee of the Machrihanish Golf Club and adjacent to the Machrihanish Dunes Golf Club. Each cottage has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a lounge.
The seven cottages are luxuriously appointed and have spectacular views of Machrihanish’s beautiful landscape and the Atlantic Ocean.
Next door, The Old Clubhouse Pub & Restaurant, once the original clubhouse for Machrihanish Golf Club, has undergone a complete interior transformation. Once again, the classic Scottish pub serves as a warm
and welcoming central meeting place for visitors and locals alike.
The Residences at Machrihanish Bay
The final development, The Residences at Machrihanish Bay, will be available as 32 two-bedroom cottages and houses overlooking the golf course and the Atlantic Ocean. Surrounded by unparalleled natural beauty and tranquility, each two-bedroom golf cottage is beautifully finished inside and out. Designed to blend with the natural landscape, each residence will be finished in highest quality stone and slate-roof exteriors with the traditional look of the cottages of the West of Scotland. Designs will include private courtyards and the option of an indoor swimming pool.
Each cottage has two bedrooms, each with a zipped king bed which can be separated into two twin beds.
In addition, each cottage has a pull-out couch which can accommodate an additional two guests, making it
possible for up to six people to share any cottage.
Interiors will be finished in natural stone, hardwoods and stainless steel and fully furnished and finished to
international four-star standards with an eye toward casual elegance. The cottages have been thoughtfully
configured to best accommodate visiting golfers and are fully serviced and professionally managed. A limited number of cottages are being offered to the public on a freehold fractional ownership basis, which provides a heritable title that will be registered in the Land Register of Scotland. The title may be sold or passed on to family. Freeholds are being sold in four-week fractions, which will be made up from a week in each season. Owners, friends and family will have full use of a cottage for those four weeks. Owners who do not wish to use their entire four weeks can lease some of their time through the management company to obtain a return on their cottage by accommodating visiting golfers.
Kintyre Development is constructing the cottages in three phases. Phase I of the cottages is complete, consisting of eight units ready for fractional ownership. Purchasers will be acquiring a 1/13th share in a cottage, and this share will be registered against the title to the cottage. Prices vary based on size, configuration, location and the specific weeks included.
In Phase 1, when a fraction is purchased, the owner (or, where the purchaser is multiple individuals or an entity, one identified nominee) will also receive the right to play golf at Machrihanish Dunes free of charge. Owners of fractions and their guests will be entitled to preferred tee times at Machrihanish Dunes Golf Club, as well as discounted greens fees. And despite the beauty, luxury and comfort of life at Machrihanish Dunes, that perk, at least for die-hard golfers, may be the single most-valuable benefit of ownership.
Machrihanish Dunes Facts
Machrihanish Dunes is located in the the Mull of Kintyre, just south of Campbeltown, in southwestern
Scotland. The golf resort is accessible by land, air or sea.
By Land: The scenic, three-hour drive from Glasgow follows the banks of Loch Lomond and Loch
Fyn and finally, meanders along the Atlantic coastal highway that was the inspiration for Paul McCartney’s lyrics in “The Long and Winding Road.”
By Air: Air access is direct into Campbeltown Airport. Both commercial and private jets can fly directly from the U.S., Europe or Glasgow and touch down on the second longest runway in Europe. Flybe (British Airways) currently operates flights twice daily between Glasgow and Machrihanish.
By Sea: The crossing by high-speed charter ferry to Campbeltown Harbour takes 55 minutes from Troon (on the Ayrshire Coast) and only 50 minutes from Northern Ireland.
Address: Site 1; D.E. Machrihanish, Machrihanish, Argyll. PA28 6NU Scotland
tel: (44) 1586 810000 fax: (44) 1586 810449 info@machdunes.com
Kintyre Development Company Limited (KDC), a U.K.-based company, is the owner of the project. The project is managed by Southworth Europe Limited, an affiliate of Southworth Development LLC, a U.S.-based golf, resort and residential development company that has served as developer, manager, consultant and/or
construction manager to more than 40 properties during the past 18 years through its affiliated companies.
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