Isle of Jura
We don’t often post a singular golf course on its own trip page, but we don’t often come across a golf course like Ardfin. This is a unique experience in a unique location and can be added on to almost any Scotland or Northern Ireland trip. Like so many other great remote golf courses, including Bandon Dunes and Cabot Links, this is golf’s Field of Dreams: build it and they will come. It is not easy getting there, and nor is it cheap, so you might as well take a helicopter.
What We Love About Ardfin
In 2010, Australian hedge fund manager Greg Coffey bought the Ardfin Estate on the Isle of Jura. Inspired by Kerry Packer, who created Ellerston, the uber-private golf course located 200 miles north of Sydney in Australia’s Hunter Valley. Coffey turned to Ellerston’s architect Bob Harrison to create something similar at Ardfin. A remote exclusive World Top-100 worthy golf course. (BTW, Ellerston is #77 in the world). You can hear Bob discuss the process on “The Thing about Golf” Podcast.
After a few years of private play only, outside play is welcome starting in 2021. While you will pay a pretty penny sterling, we are thankful for golf benefactors like Coffey to create such incredible courses. Always a passion play, rarely a money maker, Ardfin should be on your “Top Courses I Want to Play” list.
As with some of the other great old courses of Scotland, there are quirky obstacles and features like stone walls, ancient artifacts, ruins and walled gardens to navigate. Put this all on the country’s western coastline and soaring mountains and the setting is sublime.
The Ardfin experience is not just about the golf. The accommodations are outstanding, as you’d expect. The 18thC Jura House has ten rooms and is ripe for exclusive use, while Ardfin Quads had 13 rooms including a couple of apartments for those who want to stay longer.
Lastly, we love quirky tidbits, such as the band KLF Burning a Million Quid in the then-abandoned boathouse of the Ardfin estate.
Favourite Courses
Ardfin: The only course on the Isle of Jura, perhaps the only golf course of its kind in the world.
What does your trip look like?
Ardfin can be added to most Scotland and Northern Ireland trips. Yet, we love equally remote Machrie, Machrihanish and Mach Dunes. A trip off the beaten path to these gems would be epic.