



			   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





