The Up and Downs of a Life in the Sky: The Magnificent Twelve

Alex Frolish has been a pilot for approaching 20 years and now travels to all corners of the globe in his role as a commercial airline pilot. His passion for flight is only equalled by his passion for golf and golf travel. Having picked up a golf club over 35 years ago when aged just 3 years old, Alex has played nearly 600 courses across every continent on planet earth furnished with a fairway. Over the next few months you’ll be able to follow Alex’s golfing travels as he brings you anecdotes of his life both in the air and on the course.

The month of June couldn’t come quickly enough. Since the international recovery from the pandemic, my flying roster has slowly built back to pre-pandemic levels, and the start of 2023 has felt particularly manic. Luckily, June was a month with the majority my calendar filled with annual leave, booked in part to head on a family holiday to Spain and afterwards, on a golfing pilgrimage to Scotland.

Spain was a week dedicated to time away from golf and spent with the people I love the most. It didn’t mean I wasn’t filled with excitement for my Scottish trip the following week however. My good friend Joe and I had crafted a trip containing the perfect blend of Top100 bucket list courses and slightly less heralded (but no less special) gems. Prestwick, Machrihanish, Machrihanish Dunes and Turnberry (Ailsa) were the four big hitting names, with an addition of two courses I’d wanted to visit for many years, Dunaverty and the exquisitely crafted 12 holes of Shiskine located on the Isle of Arran.

I dragged myself out of bed a little after 4.45am on the morning of our drive north. The birds had barely begun to stir. A little over 10 hours later, as the clock struck 3pm on the clubhouse clock on Prestwick’s clubhouse clock, I drew back my 5-iron and sent a ball off in the general direction of one of the most elusive 1st links fairways in the world. Those of you that have played it will know, but the 1st hole at Prestwick is one hell of an opening par 4, bordered tightly on the right by a train line and to the left by some tangled and gnarly looking rough. The anticipation (and nerves) grew as we watched groups negotiating the 1st as we took on some well needed pre-round food and drink after our long drive. I was glad to see my cautiously chosen 5 iron find the short grass, and it left me about 180 yards to the green into a gentle breeze. I played one of the best shots of my life to hit my approach to around a foot away, for an improbable birdie on the 1st. What a way to start the trip! Prestwick left me quite in awe of its majesty, unimaginable quirkiness, memorable features and all the while, oozing in history. This was an opening scene that was going to be a tough act to follow.

If the previous mornings alarm call had been painful, the 3.50am alarm on day two exceeded it by some margin. I really think you get an insight into someone’s level of golfing obsession by how early they are willing to set an alarm to head off to the course. Our early start was due to our long drive and early tee time at Machrihanish Dunes, the relatively new David McKay-Kidd design located on the western edge of the Kintyre peninsula. It was a beautiful morning, clear skies and not a breath of wind touching the waters of Loch Lomond as we passed by.

Mach Dunes is a routed amongst the most beautiful of links landscapes. The dune land is protected and thus, the course was carefully constructed using non-invasive construction techniques. Maintenance wise, the course surrounds are left as much as possible to their own devices. It really does feel like the course has been here for 100 hundred years or more, and that is credit to all those that have been involved so far in this brilliant project.

In the afternoon, the revered links of Machrihanish Golf Club awaited us. June had been excessively warm and dry in Scotland and the world famous fairway of the 1st hole was looking decidedly crispy, just how I like my links courses. Our host Robbie navigated us through the quite magnificent opening nine like a tug boat captain steering an ailing ship into port. The truth was that we were flagging after two long days on the road and in the heat, but Robbie’s measured advice meant we managed to keep our balls (for the main part) on the path Old Tom Morris had intended. I don’t think my head touched the pillow before I was asleep that evening in our B&B in Campbeltown.

Dunaverty followed by Shiskine was a day that I will never forget. Many of you may have heard of these two courses, while some may need the aid of Google to familiarise themselves with them. Dunaverty offers the type of golf that is full of pure enjoyment, golf that is good for the soul, the course positioned in the most glorious spot, clinging to the southern coastline of the Kintyre peninsula in touching distance of Northern Ireland. We played early, the first to venture on to the course, moving watering hoses aside as we putted out on the opening 6 greens. I stopped on a number of occasions as we played and took a moment to take it all in. You couldn’t help but smile at the setting and the fun nature of the holes here. I will be back to visit this magical place again some day.

The drive to the ferry to Arran was around an hour and we had crafted our schedule in such a way that meant we had little room for manoeuvre. We hadn’t accounted for the last 8 miles to the ferry station being on a single track road and being against the flow of traffic leaving the very ferry we were racing to board. As we waved our boat goodbye from the jetty of the Claonaig ferry terminal, having missed it by just a few minutes, we both silently accepted that sometimes, plans are just that, and everything on a golf trip has an element of fluidity to it.

Delayed but undeterred, we teed off a little over an hour after our scheduled time at Shiskine, but it didn’t matter in the slightest. Light wasn’t an issue for us and we were in no rush. Shiskine is a mind-boggling and breathtaking natural assault on the senses, crammed into 12 of the most characterful golf holes you could wish to play by the sea. It was so good, we played it twice in a little over 3 hours. We stopped, we took photographs, we laughed at the sheer audacity of the holes and marvelled at the brilliant use of the land. Don’t overlook Shiskine because it is a little hard to get to (or because there are only 12 holes here), it is worth the effort.

Tunrberry Ailsa was our final act, one that probably deserved to be played by golfers with a few more yards left in their legs. My round began as it had done at Prestwick, with a regulation birdie, but soon enough the course began to bare its teeth, and Joe and I played the majority of the run for home from areas on the periphery of the line of play. Politics aside, Ailsa is peerless to me in the list of links courses I have played. It’s beauty is matched by its character, strategic brilliance and supreme conditioning; a quite powerful quartet. We couldn’t have hoped for a finer finish to the trip.

Spain and Scotland had filled my battery back up in many ways, but it was now time to head back to the skies. My first flight back was to Mumbai, where the summer rains meant no golf was played. And a trip to Singapore and onto Sydney spanned the month boundary between June and July, so I will tell you about the golf in Australia next time. Apart from that, trips to Boston, San Francisco and Pittsburgh are planned in July, with plenty of scope for some bucket list golf. I also have a trip to Wales planned, to play a couple of lesser known courses I’d been wanting to visit for some time. Until next time, wherever you are and whatever you have planned, I wish you the straightest of drives, well negotiated four- footers and happy rounds.