Nairn Golf Club Nairn, Nairnshire, Scotland JNSE Rendition by Brent Blackburn Card of the Course Out In 1 Sea 400 yards par 4 10 Cawdor 500 yards par 5 2 Achareidh 499 yards par 5 11 Gate 161 yards par 3 3 Nest 400 yards par 4 12 Table 445 yards par 4 4 Bunker 145 yards par 3 13 Crown 435 yards par 4 5 Nets 378 yards par 4 14 Kopjes 221 yards par 3 6 Ben Wyvis 183 yards par 3 15 Sutors 309 yards par 4 7 Long 507 yards par 5 16 Road 422 yards par 4 8 Delnies 330 yards par 4 17 Burn 361 yards par 4 9 Icehouse 359 yards par 4 18 Home 516 yards par 5 3201 Yards par 36 3370 Yards par 36 TOTAL 6571 Yards par 72 Sources: "Random House Int'l Encyclopedia of Golf" Malcolm Campbell "Classic Golf Links of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland" Donald Steel "The World Atlas of Golf" Pat Ward-Thomas Herbert Warren Wind Charles Price Peter Thompson Thanks to: many very talented JNSE designers, too numerous to mention, whose fine works inspired this project. John Kunyik, whose palette editor revolutionized course design with the JNSE designer. "The links at Nairn on the Moray Firth is one of the most underrated golf courses in world golf." Malcolm Campbell "Random House Int'l Encyclopedia of Golf" "The course's appeal is strengthened by the nearness of the Firth [of Moray], the ever-changing patterns of Black Isle and the splender of the distant mountains that conjure thoughts of Dornoch. The call of the Highlands is unmistakable but the golfing joys of Nairn stand on their own..." Donald Steel "Classic Golf Links of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland" * * * * * I have a passion for links courses. Maybe it's partly because I am a history buff, and that the Old Course at St. Andrews, Muirfield, Prestwick, et. al. are simply laden with great golf history. Maybe it is also because, in a very natural way, they are beautiful to look at. It just so happens that, as far as scenery is concerned, the British Isles have scores of Pebble Beaches. It also happens to be the case that the Brits have managed to lay out some fantastic golf courses on most of them. Good links courses are pristine, unspoiled, rough, spectacular, trying, but mostly memorable tests of golf. I hope I have captured those qualities in my JNSE design of the links at Nairn. I am new to JNSE design. I wanted to do a course, but most of the "famous" ones have already been done, so for a time I had to content myself with refining some of the OUTSTANDING courses I downloaded. I also wanted to do a more obscure course, one that I could TRY to replicate from a few pictures without everyone knowing I was "wrong" about the placement of objects, contouring of greens, etc. Nairn is a Royal Dornoch-caliber course that has , unlike Dornoch, remained a secret. In order to experience the feeling of playing a true links, you should play Nairn in high winds (that is, more than 15 mph) and with dry greens. This will aid in accurately simulating the bump and run, but not every hole at Nairn (or any good links) lends itself to this technique. Think about the shots that you want to play on this course. You will score much better if you do so. My best on this course is a 68, and that was in very benign conditions. On the other hand, I was in the mid to high 70s in most windy rounds, and I even had an (abysmal) 82 in a near-hurricane. I'm sure most of you "pros" will have no problems. * * * * * Nairn is remote, close to Inverness in the Scottish highlands. That remoteness, in part, makes it special. Like Royal Dornoch. I also liked the name. Nairn. Unabashedly Scottish. Nairn was designed in 1887 by Archie Simpson, and refined in 1889 by Old Tom Morris and James Braid. In 1889 it became the first golf club in Scotland to charge admission for a round of golf. It has hosted many Scottish professional championships in the years since. I have never played a round of golf at Nairn. Undoubtedly, my design takes a few creative liberties when it comes to elevations, scenery, and flora. I apologize for that. The logo is my own. I have never seen a photograph of Nairn's shield. I don't even know if Nairn has one. Perhaps in time I will achieve a perfect rendition of this fine course. Until then, I hope you will enjoy playing my vision of Nairn, one of the "best-kept secrets in golf." * * * * * A few notes about my design technique. As you will notice upon playing or editing the course for the first time, I have changed the color palette to better reflect the colors of the dryer, browner links terrain. I think this coloring looks a thousand times better for links courses than the preset terrain colors. If this doesn't suit your personal tastes, you can use any one of the pallate editors to "green up" the terrain palette. The same goes for the water colors. That bright blue was making me wonder if I'd EVER get that "perfect look", so I toned it down to look more like "real" ocean water. I don't know how many times I made revisions to this background so it would look as much like the real thing as possible. Each time I thought I had it just right, I disliked it even more when I played the holes. From the photographs I have, I believe that the background as it now appears is very accurate. If it isn't, it isn't because of lack of effort. While I took much inspiration from the designs of many of you great JNSE architects, the objects, as far as I know, are originals (if someone out there wants to take credit, do so by all means). Gorse and heather, as I'm sure many of you know, are very difficult shrubs to reproduce with the JNSE designer. I think I have done pretty well. Unless you're playing from right next to some of it, it doesn't look blocky. My advice for the best aesthetic experience on this course, then, is to stay out of the gorse. All kidding aside, I really put a lot of effort into this project, and I hope you like what I've done. Comments and [constructive] criticisms are always welcome. In addition, if anyone out there has any addition information about Nairn that might be of assistance to me in future updates of this course, I would appreciate hearing from them. Finally, if there is anyone out there who would be willing to collaborate on a JNSE rendition of Royal St. George's, site of the 1993 British Open, I would also be interested in hearing from them. (signed) Brent Blackburn 5304 Morgan Place Court Atlanta, Georgia 30324 (404) 636-9733 March 3, 1993