It ’ s 7.30 the following morning inside the breakfast room of the Polochar Inn just outside Lochboisdale . “ Going by the gannets that are heading south , I don ’ t think the rain is too far away lads ,” says local Neil Campbell , as we gaze out on a wild and wonderful scene of desolate islets punctuated by a lichen-encrusted standing stone from the early Bronze Age . “ The wind looks strong too . You ’ ll need a six-inch nail to keep your golf cap on today at Askernish Golf Club .” If Machrihanish is remote , then Askernish golf course is at the end of the world . First laid out by Old Tom Morris in 1891 , in recent years it has been unearthed and restored to its former glory by Gordon Irvine ( Master Greensman ) and Martin Ebert ( Canadian course architect ) using entirely traditional design principles . Environmental experts have hailed Askernish Old as “ one of the most natural links courses in the world ”: the dunes ’ natural contours form the fairways , no artificial chemicals are used in maintenance , and during winter months sheep and cattle graze the course . Irvine , who worked for free on the project , believes that based on his ability to distinguish natural landforms from man-made ones , he has correctly exposed and re-created the original layout . ( Only the eighteenth green had to be relocated ; the original now serves as a practice green .) “ We ’ ll never know for sure ,” he says . “ We can ’ t bring Old Tom back . But this course is as close as you ’ ll get to an original Old Tom Morris layout .” The result is a course right out of a time capsule that will appeal to purists and aficionados of links golf . Officially opened by Kenny Dalglish MBE , on the 22nd August 2008 , the 6164-yard layout begins and ends in understated fashion , but from seven through to seventeen it ’ s a roller coaster ride through terrain as violent as a storm-tossed sea . The par-4 7th runs south along the shore from a dune-top tee to a green sheltered by even taller dunes and the green at the eleventh , a long and spectacular par-3 played directly into a sea wind , looks as if it could only be reached using rock climbing gear . Perhaps the star of the Askernish show is the sixteenth called Old Tom ’ s Pulpit , a memorable short par-4 with a two-level green , the back half of which forms a punchbowl , where most approach shots including ours seem to end up . From Askernish at the bottom of South Uist , we drive along the distinctive one-track road ( with passing bays ) through the middle island of Benbecula to the top of North Uist all linked by causeways . It ’ s an absorbing journey – through a wild and unique landscape covered with a patchwork of peat bogs , low hills and lochans , with more than half the land being covered by water . Some of the lochs contain a mixture of fresh and tidal salt water , giving rise to some complex and unusual habitats - the haunt of dolphins , otters and numerous bird species including waders and the rare white-tailed eagle .