We had an email this week from a member of Askernish (http://www.askernishgolfclub.com), asking us whether the GoKart can cope with steep hills (of course), and giving a link to his course. So we took a look, and what a gem it proved to be! It’s now very high up on our list of courses we have to visit at some point.
Designed in 1891 by Old Tom Morris, Askernish lies on the island of South Uist, in the Outer Hebrides. Over time the course had lain dormant, grown over and been modified, but when golf course consultant Gordon Irvine came across it in 2005, he restored it back to its former grace with a passion that can only come from a true love of the game and the land that it’s played on. The result is a course that’s been described both as ‘the Holy Grail’ and ‘the most natural golf course in the world’. The holes are now exactly as Old Tom had intended them, and they aim for conditions to be as close to those in 1891 as possible, with no pesticides or herbicides, and animals allowed to graze on the course in winter (bet they use mowers though!)
As scenic as somewhere as Augusta might be – with its flowers, blue, blue water and manicured fairways – in our opinion this sort of golf course is far more beautiful. And you can just go and play it (which sadly isn’t the case at Augusta, we’ve tried very, very hard!) Getting to it might be a bit like a scene from ‘Planes, trains and automobiles’ but doesn’t it look like it’s worth the effort?
