Why this Top 100 course is more than the ‘greatest’ 1st hole in the world

When Jack Nicklaus calls a course’s first hole “the best opening hole in the world,” you can bet the spot belongs in the World Top 100 conversation. At Machrihanish Golf Club the opener – Battery – is risk-reward golf at its purest: play conservatively and you’re left with a demanding second; take the bold line across a long stretch of white sand and the hole can turn into a short iron – or even wedge – approach.

That one tee shot gets the notoriety, but Machrihanish’s ranking isn’t based on a single postcard moment. It’s the many holes – especially a front nine that unfolds like a masterclass in classical link design – that make the course more than a pilgrimage for architecture enthusiasts. Machrihanish proves itself again and again, hole after hole, in every wind.

On the eve of his 150th birthday, Machrihanish has an origin story that reads like a Scottish golf primer. Like many clubs, the course started with fewer than 18 holes. The original course had 10 holes and was known as the Kintyre Club, after the peninsula it occupies. A few years later the club brought in Old Tom Morris, who expanded the routing to a full 18 while establishing that unforgettable first tee position, tucked between what is now the pro shop and the Atlantic.

Part of Machrihanish’s charm is its setting – and the effort it takes to get there. On the map the course is closer to Northern Ireland’s major links than many of Scotland’s major courses, and reaching this corner of Argyll still feels like something of an expedition. That remote location has long appealed to those looking for an escape. Paul McCartney found his own version of it here during the height of Beatlemania in the 1960s.

Even the identity of the club fits the place. If there were a World Top 100 for logos, Machrihanish would have an argument: the emblem is a simple oystercatcher – black and white, with a bright orange beak – native to these shores. Like the course itself, it is understated, unmistakable and perfectly at home on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.