Travel & Holidays
Isle of Arran Golf: Scotland's Most Underrated Golf Island
Arran has seven golf courses, a 55-minute ferry from Ardrossan, and essentially no queues. The island is extraordinary and most Scottish golfers have never played it. Here's how to make the trip.
The Isle of Arran is described in tourist brochures as "Scotland in miniature" — which is either a profound observation about how much landscape is compressed into 165 square miles, or a marketing phrase, depending on how you feel about tourist brochures. Either way, the claim has some basis. Arran has mountains in the north, rolling agricultural land in the middle, a mild coastline in the south, and Goatfell — a proper 874-metre mountain — dominating everything from the northeast.
It also has seven golf courses and very few people playing them.
This is worth thinking about. Arran sits in the Firth of Clyde, 55 minutes from Ardrossan by CalMac ferry, and is accessible enough that a serious golfer could be on the first tee at Brodick by 10am if they left Glasgow at 7:30. The island receives around 400,000 visitors per year, but the proportion who come to play golf is small. The courses don't feel empty — they're well used by residents and weekend visitors — but they operate without the seasonal overcrowding that makes golf elsewhere in Scotland frustrating in summer.
The three courses that anchor a trip
18 holes, par 62, parkland. Green fee: £20–£50 depending on season.
Brodick sits below Goatfell, the mountain in full view behind the 18th green. The course is shorter than a standard 18-hole links (par 62, under 4,500 yards from the white tees) and is parkland rather than coastal in character, but the setting elevates it considerably beyond what the par or yardage suggests.
The mountain backdrop on the approach shots to several greens is one of those views that makes you stop mid-swing to look at it. The 13th hole has a green sitting directly below the Goatfell ridge and is the most photographed scene on the course.
Brodick's greens run fast and true. The condition is consistently good — this is an island course with no budget for waste. Tee times can be booked directly with the club; in most seasons you can walk on the same morning.
18 holes, par 64, heathland. Green fee: £30–£35.
Lamlash is on the eastern side of the island, looking out over Holy Isle (the small island in the bay that houses a Buddhist retreat — one of those Arran details that sounds invented but isn't). The course climbs above the town across heathland terrain, with views across the bay from the upper holes.
It is shorter and gentler than Brodick but the exposed upper section of the course catches wind that the valley-sheltered holes don't, and on a breezy day the back nine requires more thought than the card suggests. An honest, enjoyable round for £30. The clubhouse is welcoming and the post-round food is as good as a small island club should be.
12 holes — not 9, not 18 — on the links at Blackwaterfoot on the island's west coast, looking across the Kilbrannan Sound to Kintyre. Green fee: £40–£42. Shiskine is the most famous golf on Arran: a genuinely unique course that regularly appears in lists of the best short courses anywhere, with blind shots, cliffside greens and a routing that has barely changed in a century. If you only know Arran golf by reputation, this is the course the reputation belongs to. It sits about 11 miles from Brodick across the String Road, which is why the honest itinerary gives it its own half-day rather than squeezing it into the Brodick–Lamlash loop. Full profile: Shiskine Golf & Tennis Club.
And four more
The island also has small clubs at Whiting Bay, Corrie, Machrie Bay and Lochranza — modest, scenic, visitor-friendly places where the golf costs little and the views cost nothing. None of them justify the ferry on their own; all of them reward a spare evening if you're staying over.
The ferry
CalMac runs the Ardrossan–Brodick ferry. Crossing time is approximately 55 minutes. Ferries run multiple times daily; in summer the early morning sailings can be full with cars, so book a vehicle crossing in advance if you're taking a car.
Foot passengers can almost always get on without booking — useful if you're coming from Glasgow for the day and not taking a car.
From Glasgow Central to Ardrossan Harbour by train takes 50 minutes. Ardrossan Harbour station is adjacent to the ferry terminal.
Brodick ferry terminal is approximately 1.5 miles from Brodick Golf Club — walkable in 20 minutes with a trolley, or a short taxi ride with a bag.
The case for doing both courses in a day
Brodick and Lamlash are 4 miles apart by road. Both courses are par 62–64 and take under three hours to walk at a reasonable pace. Playing both in a day — 36 holes — is achievable and popular among visitors who've made the ferry journey.
A suggested structure: early ferry from Ardrossan, tee off at Brodick at 9am, finish by noon. Drive or taxi to Lamlash for a 1:30pm tee time, finish by 4:30pm. Evening ferry back (or stay overnight, which is the better option).
Staying overnight
Arran has accommodation in Brodick, Lamlash, and several smaller villages. The Auchrannie Resort in Brodick is the largest, with spa facilities and two restaurants. More useful for a golf trip: the self-catering cottages scattered across the island, often with sea views and garden space, available through ASSC-member agencies.
If you're organising this for a group, the Isle of Arran group-trip itinerary plans the ferry, the courses and a base town for a party of four or more.
A night on Arran changes the nature of the trip significantly. Instead of a day-return dash from the mainland, you have an evening walk along the Brodick seafront, dinner in the Douglas Hotel, and the island to yourself after the day visitors have gone back on the 6pm ferry. Accommodation starts around £60/night for a B&B room; self-catering cottages from around £80/night.
When to go
May and September are the best months. Long daylight hours, reasonable weather probability, and fewer school-holiday visitors. The island's west coast benefits from the Gulf Stream, which keeps temperatures milder than Fife or Angus in spring and autumn.
July and August are busier on the ferries and in the accommodation. Golf on the courses is still fine — the island doesn't get overcrowded in the way that mainland courses do — but booking everything in advance is sensible.
March and October are possible for the golf (the courses stay open) but the Goatfell weather can be Atlantic-severe and the accommodation options thin out.
Combining with Kintyre
Arran is a natural base for combining with the Kintyre peninsula, accessible by a short crossing from Lochranza (the northern tip of Arran) to Claonaig. From Claonaig, Machrihanish Golf Club is 45 miles south — one of the finest links courses in Scotland and one of the most underplayed. The Kintyre extension adds a day's driving and another green fee but turns an Arran trip into something more substantial.
Dunaverty Golf Club at the southern tip of Kintyre is another option — a short, characterful links above the sea with history dating to 1889 and a green fee of £30–£65 depending on season.
For Brodick's full profile: Brodick Golf Club. For Lamlash: Lamlash Golf Club. For Shiskine: Shiskine Golf & Tennis Club. For Kintyre golf: Campbeltown, Golf and Whisky: Three-Day Weekend.
About the author
Gary
Editor and founder of Birdie Brae. Based in Glasgow, 14.5 handicap, playing since 2022. Has played 40+ Scottish courses and started this site because most Scottish golf content is written by people trying to sell you a package holiday.
More about Gary →Courses in this article
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