Golf in the raw

As Oscar Wilde's Lady Bracknell might have put it," says James Cusick in Conde Nast Traveller, "to lose a golf course is a misfortune, "but to misplace it for 80 years looks like carelessness". But that is what happened at Askernish, on the "wild and remote" island of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides.

The course, designed by Tom Morris - the man responsible for St Andrews' "classic layout" – fell into disuse in the Twenties and was soon obscured by long grass. Locals had "always known that a masterpiece links course lay out there", but it took painstaking detective work to unearth and restore it. The project began in 2005, and the course is due to reopen on August 22 this year. Of course, golf has "evolved" since those days; courses are more defined and the whole game is "tidier".

Askernish, by contrast, "remains golf in the raw", a "time capsule" untouched by "modern agronomy". Purists will be thrilled.

Contact: 07790 387167; askernishgolf club.com. Caledonian MacBrayne (0800 066 5000) sails from Oban. ·