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"Mention the words 'golf` and 'Scotland` in the same sentence and most people reel off names like St. Andrews, Carnoustie, Troon and Prestwick. Others more in the know might also come up with Muirfield, Turnberry and Dornoch,. Until recently, only the real aficianados mentioned Southerness, but that is fast changing. Over the last ten years the Mackenzie Ross designed course, opened as recently as 1947, has gained the recognition so long denied it by its youth and the relative lack of accessibility. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club, the Scottish Golf Union, the Scottish Ladies Golf Association and the Ladies Golf Union have all held a championship here. The 1985 Scottish Amateur Championship, won by David Carrick, was the first. Three years later Shirley Lawson lifted the first of two consecutive Scottish ladies Championships. In 1989 Helen Dobson was crowned British ladies strokeplay champion, and most recently Sweden`s Matthius Gronberg shot a course record 65 on his way to becoming the 1990 British youths champion. The Scottish Amateur championship was held for the second time in 1995.
Such a curriculum
vitae is impressive enough, but there`s more.Take a look around you 
.
One view of this magnificent links, set beneath the breathtaking Galloway Hills
along a particularly beautiful stretch of the Solway Firth coastline, should
be enough to satisfy you that this is a course deserving your best attention.
And for further confirmation, take a glance at the card. The par of the course
may be 'only` 69, but the standard scratch score is three shots higher. That
should tell you something. But equally, don`t get the wrong impression. Southerness
is no assault course. This is links golf at its best. From the crisp, sandy
turf to the rolling fairways and greens. Southerness is a joy to play. The abundant
heather and gorse is nice to look at too, from the middle of the fairway! Get
any closer and its charms will soon pale amidst your effort to excavate your
ball back to the short cut grass.
Perhaps the strength of the course is that, like all true championship tests, Southerness demands that you drive the ball well. Straight is good; straight and long is better. No where is that more true than at the 12th hole, a 421 yard left to right dogleg, running away from the Clubhouse, towards the sea and into the prevailing wind. The drive is tough, calling for both the aforementioned length and accuracy but it is nothing compared with the approach that follows. A long iron or fairway wood is usually placed to a semi-blind green sitting atop what appears to be a small shelf set amidst some decidedly uninviting humps and bunkers. Hit it well and you will have a reasonable chance of securing your par, a bogey at worst. But strike it poorly and all sorts of horrors await. The scenario is typical of Southerness. Your bad shots are punished, your good shots get their reward. What could be better? Enjoy your round."
by John Huggan,
Instruction editor for golf digest magazine.