Girvan Golf Course  -  “operated on behalf of the community by South Ayrshire Council.”

 

A municipal by any other name. A title that perhaps once carried something of a stigma in England but which, in Scotland, has long been a proud crown to wear. For proof of which, look no further than St. Andrews and Carnoustie. Or, indeed, the eight hidden gems of South Ayrshire of which the splendid Girvan is one.

 

It’s a curious neck of the woods, this South Ayrshire. Home to the course on which the first ever Open was played, way back in 1860, as it is also to another two current Open venues. Prestwick, Troon and Turnberry. Names that are rightly part of golfing folklore. And yes, they are certainly more than worth a visit. But just watch the locals. Golfers who know a thing or two about the game. They smiled as they watched the tourists go by, knowing that they’d probably never even heard of such courses as Belleisle, Seafield or Dalmilling. And knowing, therefore, that their secrets were safe.

 

But no longer. For the truth is out and may that awakening be led by a course such as Girvan. Eight glorious links holes along the edges of the Firth of Clyde, followed by ten parkland fairways painted against the towering backdrop of the Galloway Hills.

 

First laid out in 1902 by the redoubtable and ubiquitous James Braid, Girvan is a hugely attractive but by no means straightforward course. It boasts, for example, a par-3 that is deemed to be one of the most difficult in Scotland. And, putting it thus in the august company of such monsters as The Postage Stamp,  that is praise indeed,. Just for the record, it’s the 8th, known locally as the ‘Right Scunner.’ What a Scunner might be is something you will never know until you’ve actually played it.

 

At 5064 yards, Girvan is markedly shorter than its illustrious neighbour, Turnberry’s Ailsa, but there is, nonetheless, that same magic of the Ayrshire coastline. Maybe it’s the light. Or the ever present sense of the Western horizon and its totemic sense of opportunity. Or maybe it’s simply the dominating presence of Ailsa Craig herself. That glorious dome of granite that has brooded over the shoreline since time immemorial.

 

Girvan Golf Course. Operated on behalf of the community by South Ayrshire Council. And Amen to that, for few can have done it better.

 

(NC.)