Dunaverty Golf Club Course Review

Dunaverty Golf Club, with its distinctive square greens, enjoys an enviable setting at the southern end of the Kintyre Peninsula

Dunaverty Golf Club - general view
Dunaverty enjoys a breath-taking setting
(Image credit: Dunaverty Golf Club)

Dunaverty Golf Club Course Review

GF Round: £20-£35wd, £25-£40we; Day: £30-£50wd, £25-£55we
Par 66, 4,799 yards
Slope 97
GM Verdict – A short course with a magical setting that you’ll remember for its never-ending views and unusual square-shaped greens.
Favourite Hole – The par-4 17th is about as tough a test as you’ll find on a course of this length thanks to its potentially long approach over a wide burn.

Dunaverty Golf Club - general view

Dunaverty is renowned for its square-shaped greens and stirring views both inland and out to sea

(Image credit: Dunaverty Golf Club)

Dunaverty lies at the southern end of the Kintyre Peninsula and you can fly to Campbeltown (ideal for Machrihanish Golf Club and Machrihanish Dunes) from Glasgow in 20 minutes or take a couple of short ferry hops to drastically reduce the road mileage. But even if it takes some three hours from Glasgow Airport, nothing beats driving up the A82 past one of the UK's most exclusive clubs at Loch Lomond, turning onto the A83 with its magnificent mountain scenery, and then finally taking the road south out of Lochgilphead with its stirring lochside and ocean views.

Dunaverty Golf Club - general view

The courses enjoys a glorious coastal setting at the southern end of the Kintyre Peninsula

(Image credit: Dunaverty Golf Club)

Distinguished by its unusual, square-shaped greens, the stunningly located course at Dunaverty Golf Club provides a delightful links experience, running along the shoreline with dreamy views out over the sea and up into the surrounding hills. There are seven short holes and a solitary par 5 in the course’s modest, but endlessly enjoyable, 4,799 yards. You can see as far afield as Ayrshire and Northern Ireland on a clear day but dominating the more immediate vista from many holes is the imposing Dunaverty Rock headland. Nowhere is this more prominent than on the short par-4 3rd, which plays from a tee overlooking the beach and is eminently drivable downwind, one of several par 4s you could knock it on in the right conditions.

Dunaverty Golf Club - Dunaverty Rock

The imposing Dunaverty Rock headland is visible from nearly all part of the course

(Image credit: Dunaverty Golf Club)

But despite a potential wealth of birdie chances, the course bites back too from time to time via rocky outcrops, gorse, the beach and the odd blind shot. And then there’s the 17th… a real shock to the system late-on demanding a long approach to a shallow target across a wide burn that fronts the green before flowing on out to sea. Club up, would generally be the advice here! If you are lucky enough to visit on a still day, you might expect to score well. You may not, of course, but fun is what we play for, isn’t it, and courses like Dunaverty deliver that in abundance.

 

 

 

Jeremy Ellwood
Contributing Editor

Jeremy Ellwood has worked in the golf industry since 1993 and for Golf Monthly since 2002 when he started out as equipment editor. He is now a freelance journalist writing mainly for Golf Monthly. He is an expert on the Rules of Golf having qualified through an R&A course to become a golf referee. He is a senior panelist for Golf Monthly's Top 100 UK & Ireland Course Rankings and has played all of the Top 100 plus 91 of the Next 100, making him well-qualified when it comes to assessing and comparing our premier golf courses. He has now played 1,000 golf courses worldwide in 35 countries, from the humblest of nine-holers in the Scottish Highlands to the very grandest of international golf resorts. He reached the 1,000 mark on his 60th birthday in October 2023 on Vale do Lobo's Ocean course. Put him on a links course anywhere and he will be blissfully content.

Jezz can be contacted via Twitter - @JezzEllwoodGolf


Jeremy is currently playing...

Driver: Ping G425 LST 10.5˚ (draw setting), Mitsubishi Tensei AV Orange 55 S shaft

3 wood: Ping G425 Max 15˚ (set to flat +1), Mitsubishi Tensei AV Orange 65 S shaft

Hybrid: Ping G425 17˚, Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro Orange 80 S shaft

Irons 3-PW: Ping i525, True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 R300 shafts

Wedges: Ping Glide 4.0 50˚ and 54˚, 12˚ bounce, True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 R300 shafts

Putter: Ping Fetch 2021 model, 33in shaft (set flat 2)

Ball: Varies but mostly now TaylorMade Tour Response