Askernish

My particular friend Fred recently asked me if I had read the article about the newly-rediscovered Askernish golf course in the April 20th New Yorker magazine.

(Two side notes: a) he didn't so much ask as say "I presume you read . . ." I'd like to be cool enough to read the New Yorker, but b) Have you seen the New Yorker? Every article is like 15 pages long. Dense, typewritten pages. And it comes out every week. I just don't think I have the time to keep up with that much text.)

I finally - after much wailing and gnashing of teeth - secured a copy of the magazine in question, and . . . wow. I went from an apathetic "meh, my golf trip is never going to happen, so what?" to "oh-my-god-I-have-to-plan-every-detail-about-my-trip-right-this-second".

A well-written article, it follows the uncovering of a Tom Morris gem on the tiny island of South Uist (off the west coast of Scotland), which seems to be everything I would want in the a golf course: original, natural, as-you-found-it linksland. I'm smitten.

Completely.

So, it's gotten the juices flowing, and once again I'm dying to set off on my adventure. Over the last couple of days, I've been researching the kind of old-school, true links courses I want to play. Askernish is, of course, the top of that list. And Machrihanish has never left the list. But, just like last summer when I was planning this trip, more and more times I find a Scottish course I want to play, it turns out to be in Ireland.

One other thing I had forgotten is my home-base/cottage idea. A stroke of genius, that. So, here's my new plan:

Fly into Dublin (or Belfast, if that's cheaper). the home-base for the first week is County Donegal, which is on the northwest coast of Ireland. There are a heaping handful of courses to play there: Connemara, Carne, Rosapenna, Ballyliffin, Nairn&Portnoo . . . the list goes on and on. Home base in a cottage in County Donegal, equidistant from all courses.

Then a drive over to the east coast to play Ardglass, which is technichally in Northern Ireland, but a not-to-be-missed course nonetheless. Then a quick pop up the coast to Larne, where we catch the ferry to Troon, in western Scotland.

From here, it's a series of bed-and-breakfasts as we hit Machrihanish, on the Mull of Kintyre, from where there is another ferry to the island of South Uist, on which lies the aforementioned Askernish.

After that? Maybe a drive down the west coast to Glasgow to see the sights and then across the M8 to Edinburgh. I think the trip culminates on the east coast of Scotland, with a late afternoon round at St Andrews. It seems silly to go all that way and not see the Home of Golf. And, while playing the Old Course typically requires a papal injunction, from everything I've read, that typically applies to a foursome, trying to book on a specific day, in the morning, in high season. I have read in multple places that a single can sign up in the morning and it is rare indeed that he does not make it out that afternoon. I'll take my chances.

The down side to this plan is that for any non-golfers in attendance, that first week is relatively uneventful. Across the country from Dublin, the most interesting non-golfing attraction is the potato famine museum. Which, you know, sounds thrilling and all . . .

Maybe I should go for a week, and then meet up with the others for a week or two? That way I get some unencumbered golf, and then we can do the more touristy parts of Scotland together? Hmmmmm.