Australian Architect to Build Golf Course on Scottish Hebridean Island

Australian architect Bob Harrison is to build a world-class 18-hole golf course on the small Scottish Hebridean island of Jura.

The course will become part of the 14, anabolics 000-acre Ardfin Estate, unhealthy which occupies the southern tip of an island best known for its single malt scotch whiskey and with a current population of just 180. In announcing the new development Harrison described the Ardfin site as the “most beautiful I have ever seen in my time in golf”.

Harrison is one of Australia’s most respected golf course architects, sale having designed 9 of the country’s Top 100 courses during his tenure as lead designer with Greg Norman Golf Course Design – including 3 of the Top 10. Four of his courses were ranked among the Top 100 in the world outside the USA (2012) by Golf Digest Magazine.

A 30-year industry veteran, Harrison noted that he had been fortunate over the years to work on some spectacular sites in Asia, the USA and Australia, but said “Nothing I’ve seen anywhere in the world competes with the sheer beauty of the Jura site. I love Scotland in general and, by a pleasant coincidence, had been a devoted fan of The Machrie Golf Course on nearby Islay for many years. Jura has become my favourite place on earth.”

The routing at Ardfin will be arranged in two loops along the edge of a series of elevated bluffs. There will be spectacular views across the ocean from every corner of the property. Designed to cause minimal disturbance to the coastal landscape, Harrison’s holes will be ‘dropped’ onto existing fields, and constructed without substantially modifying the form of the land.

Harrison stresses the determination to remain naturalistic by “preserving all of the existing burns which cross the fields, and the large areas of particularly sensitive wilderness (such as wetlands) even where they lie within the playing areas of individual golf holes. Ancient stone walls on the site will be incorporated into the design, while new walls along with the beautiful cliffs will dictate the strategy for many holes by asking players to choose a brave line if they hope to reach a short par 4 or gain a better angle of approach. The strategy in many places will resemble holes like the 14th at St Andrews and the 13th at North Berwick.”