The creator of a world class golf course on a remote island will share the story behind the project with some of the sport’s leading designers at a major conference in Inverness next month.
Leading Australian golf course architect Bob Harrison designed and built the 18-hole championship course on the Ardfin Estate on the Argyll island of Jura.
The £7million development, which includes a nine-hole ‘pitch and putt’ course, is due to open later this year and Mr Harrison was commissioned in 2012 by Australian hedge fund manager Greg Coffey.
It is expected to provide a major economic injection for Jura, where the 200-strong population is outnumbered by 5,000 deer.
Mr Harrison will speak at the Design Masters: The Scottish International Golf Course Architects Conference, which will take place in the Kingsmills Hotel from February 28 to March 3.
The event will celebrate the legacy of greats such as Old Tom Morris, James Braid, Donald Ross, Willie Park Junior and Alister MacKenzie and their enduring effect on modern day design and internationally known courses.
Mr Harrison, who has designed nine of Australia’s top 100 courses, has described the new course on Jura as “one of the most beautiful and spectacular courses in the world.”
Initially the project’s feasibility was questioned due to Jura’s remoteness and peat and rock ground conditions – and Mr Harrison devised 14 different concepts before settling on the current routing.
He added: “If you get land as attractive as this, you don’t want to leave anything untried in order to get the best from it.”
Other guest speakers at the conference will include leading clubhouse architect Mungo Park, Tom Mackenzie, president of the European Institute of Golf Course Architects, and Thad Layton, senior golf course architect at the Arnold Palmer Design Company which is to build a second championship course at Castle Stuart.
