If you have the means and the interest to build the ultimate Scottish golf Shangri La, the ideal property might have just come on the market. Sanda Island sits just off the Mull of Kintyre (you know, the one in the Paul McCartney song) in the North Channel separating Scotland from Northern Ireland. It’s 180 hectares (450 acres) of rolling pasture punctuated by craggy cliffs and show-stopping views of the distant Antrim Hills.
Building out a future World’s 100 Greatest golf course wouldn’t even require starting from scratch. The island already has seven cottages that have undergone various degrees of renovation, a fully functioning (but dormant) pub and a picturesque lighthouse. Access is by boat from Campbeltown in Scotland, 21 kilometres across the sea or by helicopter to the landing pad built near the road that connects the two groups of cottages.
For $A4.8 million, you would get Sanda (and its native herd of 55 sheep) along with the adjacent Sheep and Glunimore islands, which total an additional 14 hectares (35 acres). Just taking a trip to check it out would be a bucket-list holiday. Campbeltown is one of Scotland’s five core whisky regions, and its single malts are some of the world’s best. The airport is accessible by private jet or puddle-jumper connections through Glasgow, or you can take the ferry across from Ballycastle, Northern Ireland. The Old Tom Morris-designed Machrihanish and its modern David McLay Kidd-designed counterpart, Machrihanish Dunes, are just 24 kilometres as the crow flies from Sanda.
Money can’t buy happiness, but it sure can buy privacy and the perfect palette to try to build it.
