GOLFERS make the pilgrimage to Scotland for a number of reasons.
Many dream of teeing it up at the Home of Golf at St Andrews. Others want to experience the spellbinding Royal Dornoch. Then you’ve got a number of courses to host The Open Championship, both past and present.
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This island in the Shetland Islands is home to the most northerly UK golf courseCredit: Alamy
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The remote nature of the club means sheep often graze the fairwaysCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
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Whalsay is home to around 1,000 people
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And it’s golf course has been described as ‘the loneliest in the world’
And for some it’s the allure of the somewhat mystical hidden gems in amongst the big names of Carnoustie, Muirfield and Turnberry.
But none will be as remote as Whalsay Golf Club, situated 130 miles off the north coast of Scotland.
Scotland has plenty of courses that are difficult to reach, including several off the beaten track of the North Coast 500.
Whalsay is the sixth largest of the Shetland Islands, however its population is dwarfed by SHEEP.
Just over 1,000 people live on the island and they are outnumbered 15 to one by their woolly friends.
The island is only accessible by boat and if you miss the last ferry home, you better make friends with the locals to find a kip for the night!
Luckily, those who chose to make ‘the Bonnie Island’ their home are as accommodating as they come.
Just ask Erik Anders Lang of the Random Golf Club YouTube channel, who visited Shetland to make the journey to Whalsay for what he called his “white whale”, a bucket list destination that had eluded him – until now.
Whalsay Golf Club’s location means it lays claim to the title of the UK’s most northerly 18-hole golf course.
It was designed in the 1970s by Shetland native Graeme Sandison, a former fisherman.
Everyone can see the golfers but you need 20-20 vision to spot 4 golf balls
During Anders Lang’s expedition to Whalsay, which was filmed for YouTube, Sandison told him the story of how the course came to be.
But before that, Anders Lang was given an insight into life on the Shetland Islands by local golfer, Stuart Fox.
He said: “You get some days when you wonder why you’re here.
“It’s island life. We’re in the middle of the North Sea, just off the Atlantic Ocean.
“It’s as exposed as it gets.”
Whalsay is home to a tightly-knit fishing and crofting community, around seven square miles in size. Winds regularly reach up to 30mph in the winter months and while that might not seem like the perfect place to play golf, as Anders Lang joked, “it’s too windy for trees”.
Sandison revealed that back in 1972 when the course was built, some of the locals had never any seen golf CLUBS, let alone a course.
He said: “We started to play golf here in 1972. There was a guy who stayed down in Edinburgh, a a Whalsay guy, and he came back to Whalsay with a set of Ben Sayers golf clubs from North Berwick.
“We’d never seen golf clubs, never seen a golf course anywhere in our lives.
“I didn’t have a clue. I just went out, put holes here, there, and everywhere.
“There’s about nine of the holes that are the same as I put out the first day I went out here. I don’t know how, but that’s true.
“Everyone has pulled their weight, and that’s the whole secret of this golf course. Everyone as a unit. That’s what we have here. It’s all voluntary.”
Anders Lang was blown away by the course which boasts stunning views thanks to being flanked by the sea on either side, yet it also has a tranquil atmosphere to go along with its unique design.
He said before his round: “I gotta say, I feel like I’m more excited to play here than anywhere I’ve played in years.
“Whalsay Golf Club has been on the top of my bucket list for years, sort of a white whale that keeps coming up in conversations.
“I can remember talking about it with Tom Doak (golf course designer), and he said, ‘Yeah, I’ve heard about it, it looks amazing, I’ve never been.’
“Because simply, it’s just too far away and too hard to get to.
“Some sort of one-way journey, and it’s been running away from me like water slipping through my fingers for the last five years.
“But now, I’m finally here.”
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Erik Anders Lang made it his life’s mission to play a round at Whalsay
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Whalsay was designed in 1972 by local man Graeme Sandison
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Many of the holes remain exactly as he laid them out over 50 years agoCredit: whalsaygolfclub
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They need to be seen to be believedCredit: whalsaygolfclub
Midway through his round, Anders Lang compared the course to some of the most famous venues in his homeland of the USA.
He said: “So many courses are kind of interesting and unique and special, kind of similar to this. But none of them are super challenging or hard. It really reminds me of Marion and Oakmont, some of the hardest, greatest tests in golf. And they’re both designed by one-off architects, who were just kind of guessing.”
Whalsay is a par 71 course and sheep can regularly be seen on the fairways doing their own bit of natural maintenance.
Unlike some other courses in the Shetlands Islands there are bunkers to be avoided on Whalsay, and golfers also have to get to grips with the treacherous winds and the amount of water hazards.
So when you factor those challenges in, on top of the difficulty in actually getting there, is it worth it?
Anders Lang said: “I came to Whalsay to answer a question: What is it like playing the loneliest golf course on earth?
“And I learned that there’s really nothing lonely about this place at all.
“But don’t take my word for it.
“There’s a ferry here with an open spot on it. You know, the course is special. It hits all my spots, you know?
“Hard as hell to get to. Unassuming people, unpretentious people. Welcoming people. A unique golf course. Truly unique.
“Beautiful, beautiful views. Not a tree to be seen. I think a great golf course has all those things. And then it also causes you to reflect on some level why you play this game.
“At Graeme’s golf course, you not only wonder how the universe began, but how the f****** golf course began. And how it even got to be so good. And just the whole origin story is so impossible, ridiculous.
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“Those things all add up for me.
“It’s one of a kind, you know? One of a kind. Truly one of a kind.”
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Whalsay is in the middle of the North Sea and closer to Norway than ScotlandCredit: whalsaygolfclub
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The rugged scenery at the golf course is something to behold
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