‘World-class’: New £100 million golf course and resort expansion planned

Speaking to The Herald, Tommy Southworth, who took over his family’s golf development company five years ago, said he plans to turn Machrihanish Dunes in Campbeltown into one of the world’s best golf courses.

He aims to add a second links course plus expanded accommodation and training facilities with planning permission being accepted last week.

Work on the new course is expected to begin next year with the project expected to cost upwards of around £100m.

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The Boston-based golf firm, Southworth, has owned and operated Machrihanish Dunes since the course first opened in 2009.

Designed by David McLay Kidd, who created the legendary courses at Bandon, the Campbeltown course has been dubbed “one of the most natural golf courses in the world”.

Southworth told The Herald that he remains convinced the course on the far west coast of Scotland will appeal to future generations of golfers both in the UK and abroad.

“But one of the downsides of Machrihanish is it’s hard to get to,” he said.

(Image: Contributed)

“It’s sort of at the end of the Earth, and that’s its greatest blessing and its greatest curse.

“It’s a blessing in that that’s what creates this special experience, and so for years we’ve been talking about expanding and making Machrihanish a longer-term draw. We’ve seen this model work across a lot of golfing developments over the course of the last 10 years or so across the world.”

He added: “I think Bandon was the first to really popularise it, where if you could create this incredible golfing destination at the end of the Earth that had enough golf courses and an incredible, authentic golf experience, you could get people to go to the end of the Earth and stay there for three nights or five nights or seven nights.

“So, that’s sort of been our thesis, is that with enough critical mass in the area, we can draw visitors from across the world and all of the sudden the journey that it takes to get you there is absolutely worth it.”

Machrihanish Dunes is currently a 7000 yards par 72 course and is accompanied by two hotels, five restaurants and pubs, and eight seaside golf cottages.

Plans submitted and approved to the local authorities will add a third luxury hotel, a 35,000sq ft clubhouse and 50 golf cottages.

Once complete it will be one of the largest golf teaching facilities in the UK.

“Predominantly it’s an amenity for visitors,” Southworth told The Herald when speaking about the training resources.

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“We’ve seen that model work in the US quite a lot, where incredible teaching facilities are the draw in and of themselves. Folks will come in to work on their golf game, as opposed to just using it as a warmup facility.”

He added: “We’ve designed everything to potentially host large events and make sure we have facilities to cater to the world’s best golfers.

“That is certainly something that is on our roadmap, and it is early days, but we want to make sure we have the facilities that we could host a proper golf event.”

Machrihanish Dunes currently employs 77 people year-round and a further 30 seasonal staff during peak periods.

Those numbers are projected to rise to 90 and 50 respectively once the expansion is complete.