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A PLAYER'S GUIDE TO TRAIGH GOLF COURSE

Introduction

The course is laid out on traditional links land next to the white sands of the Traigh beaches from which it gets its name.

Out to sea, the golfer can gaze at the chain of Inner Hebridean islands - working from the south, Muck, Eigg , Rum and The Isle of Skye - that fill the horizon

Inland, the steep rocks of Craig Mhor rise up out of the heather.

The white clubhouse is modelled on the traditional Highland cottage - the 'but and ben ' of generations of crofters.

Touring golfers are always welcome and can hire clubs here.

 

First Hole
Captain's Caper - Tobar an Steallan - 130 yards Par 3

The first green

• Plays much longer than its yardage as it rises very steeply from the clubhouse up onto the higher dunes.
  
  
• The Captain's Caper is the name of a Highland dance, and the hole is named in honour of a former captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews.
  
  
• He struck the first shot to open the redesigned course in 1995. He used a three iron off a very high tee which soared way beyond the green in keeping with a piece of good advice for anyone hitting an opening drive - 'for God's sake, don't be short!'.
  
  
• For the rest of us... well, local opinion varies hugely, but depending on weather conditions, somewhere between a six and a nine iron will generally suffice...
  

  

Second Hole
- Spion Kop - An Sgurr - 452 yards Par 5

The second fairway

• This is the moment of truth for many golfers. You are on the highest point of the course and you have a difficult decision to make.
  
  
• From the men's tee, a player must either take on a carry of nearly 200 yards hemmed in by gorse bushes, long thick grass if you don't make it and out of bounds on the right, or else bail out to the left to plod round the flat country below and make the hole play its full 452 yards.
  
  
• "Real men" generally lose this hole.
  
  
• Spion Kop was a formidably inaccessible fort in the Boer War - the hole has similar defenses from the tee!

Third Hole
Road to the Isles - Rathad nan Eilean - 173 yards Par 3

Driving on the Third

• Perhaps the most striking feature of Traigh Golf Course are the three short holes that require the golfer to play down from the high dunes straight out at the stunning view of the islands. (See gallery)
  
  
• This hole normally demands a full five iron into the prevailing wind from the west - but pause as you watch your ball plummet towards the flag to look out at the distinctive peak of the island of Eigg, ten miles beyond the green across the Atlantic.

Fourth Hole
Jimmy's Choice - Tagadh Sheumais - 257 yards Par 4

• A relatively short par four, slightly up hill and is another difficult choice for the big hitter - the flag flutters through a gap carved between two belts of gorse bushes had straddle the landing zone for a full driver.... It is possible to go for glory, even to reach the green, but failure certainly means playing three off the tee.
  
  
• Jimmy Macdonald was the head greenkeeper at Royal Lytham St. Annes golf course, which he prepared for several British Opens. He was brought up near Traigh and learned to play golf on the rudimentary course that preceded the current layout. The redesign benefited greatly from his experience and knowledge of course conditions, and he selected this as his favourite hole.

Fifth Hole
The Bridge - Alt an Asaidh - 135 yards Par 3

Bridge on the fifth

• Another testing par three played out to the islands, this time towards the Sleat peninsula on the Isle of Skye with the Red and Black Cuillins behind.
  
  
• At high tide the stream below the green fills up to form a wide lake crossed by the wooden bridge from which the hole gets its name - constructed by several times club champion Hamish Smith.

Sixth Hole
McEachen's Leap - Leum MhicEachainn - 283 yards Par 4

Approach to the sixth green

• This hole is not a happy hunting ground for anyone with a tendency to hook the ball - it requires a straight drive away from dense bushes on the left and then a carefully placed blind second shot to a bowl green bordered by more gorse bushes.
  
  
• The name commemorates the heroic efforts of long-standing member Tommy McEachen who leapt into the lake created by the high tide to rescue an earlier incarnation of the bridge that was beginning to drift away towards America...

Seventh Hole
The Lang Whang - Strac Fada - 485 yards Par 5

• The course now changes character for a couple of holes, as the sea is now out of sight and views dominated by the rock and heather of the hills rising towards Loch Morar.
  
  
• This is the hole to relax and take out your biggest gun. There is plenty space and you have to go quite badly wrong to get into trouble off the tee.
  
  
• Against the prevailing wind even the longest hitters will seldom reach Lang Whang's green in two, and the overambitious can plunge out of bounds on either side of the fairway.
  
  
• For the second, and probably third, shot the message is ' keep as right as you dare!'

Eighth Hole
Local Hero - Gaisgeach Ionadail - 367 yards Par 4

• This is a quintessential links hole - another testing drive followed by a blind second shot requiring anything from a four to a nine iron depending on wind conditions.
  
  
• If you were hitting big on the seventh, don't get lured into a false sense of security. Not only is it further than it looks, but anything above the row of white posts on hill on the right is out of bounds so accuracy is required.
  
  
• The film Local Hero starring Burt Lancaster, features scenes on the beaches in the district, many of which are visible from the eighth green.
  
  Anecdote: Legend has it that during the making of the film a large lorry full of power supplies, movie stars and make-up asked to park on the course. Hoping for some free publicity for the course the green keeper reluctantly agreed, only to come back 10 minutes later to discover that it had parked right in the middle of the fourth tee. "I'm sorry, but that's the fourth tee!". "But there's nowhere else..." "BUT THAT'S THE FOURTH TEE!" "But there's nowhere else...". Well, he didn't get to stay there, but there again neither did Traigh Golf Course make the film.

Ninth Hole - Traigh Mhor - Machair Thraigh - 180 yards Par 3

Chipping home on the ninth

• Before taking on the tee shot to the elusive final green tightly banked down below, the golfer should surely take one more look at the panoramic view of the islands, the white beaches and the rugged coastline.
  
  
• 'Traigh Mhor' means 'mighty beach' , and why not do another nine holes now that you know the course before walking off the course onto the silver sands?

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