LIGHTHOUSE keepers brought with them many things to help survive when stationed on Fair Isle. One of the lesser known traditions was golf.

The six-hole course on the Skaddan grounds at the South Lighthouse has been restored by one of the isle’s newest residents, Tommy Hyndman.

The course was on croft land, with competitors often playing among the sheep and the seabirds. The cups were tin cans and the pins broom handles stuck in the ground nearby. Golfers had to go round three times to get a full 18 holes.

Set up on jagged rock cliffs almost surrounded by the sea within the watchful eye of the lighthouse and its long shadow, even in light winds the course was very challenging and an adventure to play. It has been said the game always ended with an argument, then a dram of whisky followed by a long story.

The newly reinstated “Lighthouse Keeper’s Course” is much the same but with real cups and flag-pins. Still only six adventurous holes, the humble grounds and greens are still mostly maintained by the weather and the sheep.

“Fair Isle golf course comes out of the bunker.” The Shetland Times, 8 August 2008.

More resources:

“On an island best known for birdies, a golf dream hatches,” The Scotsman, 19 September, 2008.

Tommy H. Hyndman: Extreme Golf Fair Isle Lighthouse Keepers Golf Course, on YouTube.

Fair Isle’s Lighthouse Keeper’s Golf Course, by Graeme Fish.

Ryan Taylor, “Fair Isle visit keeps trio on course for golfing challenge,” The Shetland Times, June 19, 2013.

Archive.org’s archives:

Signature Special Golf: Fair Isle Lighthouse Keeper’s Golf Course Shetland Islands Scotland

Scotland’s Golf Courses: FAIR ISLE Lighthouse Keeper’s Golf Course