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Keiser's Coul Links Project (Embo/Dornoch)

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Kris Shreiner:
Cabot is a whole different animal.
First course on a largely degraded mining site, with a town on the ropes. Hardly a Not Coul Links near Dornoch scenario...at all.
Half joking about using the Struie site? Why, that's where it should be going!
 If everyone is so hot for it...you know, all the townsfolk, members  and such, why not the most responsible place?  Existing footprint, historical use no-brainer. Steps from RD, not one ounce of petrol for shuttles or the need for them.
Tie in a funding deal for that tasteful, new club house the posh crowd has been lusting for...you know, a win-win for everybody.
You really would need to use the current Struie footprint, because below that is too low.  Tidal storm surges already nip at the edges of a few of the newer holes of the existing Struie. The extra, older holes could provide those not wanting a fulmonte their place. Member times could be part of the new course model.
There are all sorts of options for a group, and a club that really wanted to do the most responsible project to benefit the community.

On the...well the not Coul Links course would only take up a third of that Embo property.  It floods in a fair few places.  A sizeable portion of it is that dune slack scenario, which probably would need a good bit of it to stay as a coastal buffer. Then there is the SSSI.
 So until you really have all the constraint requirements nailed down, it's difficult to know what is actually even viable.
 That proximity disturbance doesn't just go away because you only use a third of the property. It's complicated...that is why you stay away from it and let it function beautifully....as it has for a very long time.

While it's easy to just joke about, or brush aside concerns for that Scottish Wildcat; it's fate is in serious question.
I find it rather shocking that so little has /is being done in Scotland to do some
comprehensve research and determine how best to stabilize/restore the population.
 It basically is the equivalent of the Bald Eagle in significance to Scotland. In some ways it transcends that comparison. It's found no where else on earth and it's current range is tiny in totality.
There is a great opportunity here for the club ( it is the subject of the logo after all) AND Mr. Keiser to forge a way to draw attention to helping the MOST threatened member of that Highland area community ...the Scottish Wildcat.
Why not actually take the lead on something that both golfers, and non- golfers would appreciate and support?
 When does golf do that. Almost never. And that's why so many out there look at golf as the sport of the uncaring elite and somewhat selfish.
What if both his project(wherever it would be built besides that Embo site)  AND the club agreed to donate a couple of quid per round, to a fund established to aid respected Scottish Wildcat research and preservation efforts?
Now THAT would a story to tell. The press coverage that storyline angle could  generate would be off the charts.
It would blow away any Top 50 whatever squalk that only a miniscule fraction of the world cares about.
Think about that. GOLF stepping up to do it's share, to save one of the planet's most endangered species. In Scotland, the real home of golf where it all began. It gets no better than that.
That story, with Keiser's new Wildcat Lnks on a responsible site, and a RD club, with the very species on it's logo, teaming up to make a difference.
That story would leave a not Coul Links in the dust. No matter how high it was ranked!
And who's to say something of equal stature couldn't be crafted at a more responsible site. With the talent of that team, it most certainly could.
Yeh, really nailing it in the way I've described is just a stupid pipe dream from some pie in the sky caddie from America.
It's too big an idea for most to grasp... that we can actually do the right thing.
I should just shut up and wait for the good people of the Highlands to implode their own superb way of life, with outside influence, chasing all that economic gain, that ends up exterminating the very symbol of their unique region.

I'm done. And sadly, so is the Dornoch I fell in love with...barring divine intervention.

No cheers,
Kris

Jon Wiggett:
Ally,


I found very few people in favor of Balmiedie and none of the people with a view of the property were.


Kris,


the Dornoch you fell in love was always going to disappear that is the way of the world, tings, place and people change. Dornoch has altered quite a bit in the time that I have known it and you cannot expect that not to happen just to suit your purposes. The area is in need of every job and developement it can get as long as it is justified and is sustainable. I know exactly what protection is in place to prevent ill suited projects from going ahead (unless the Scottish executive sticks its nose in) and so have no real worries that this project would go ahead if it were to have a significant impact.


DT,


if you go along the back coast road towards the driving range there is plenty of land out there though north of Dornoch does seem to offer more interesting oportunities.


Jon

Kris Shreiner:
No Jon, I  never felt that Dornoch specialness was always going to disappear. It doesn' have to, and that's the point.
There are places that continue to get it right in the modern era. The key is a solid respecting of what has provided that specialness and not selling out!
It's been a fantastic place to visit for golf, or do about anything on offer up there, since the 1880's!
  But when you blow something up, out of scale from that which is practical, that's where it all goes wrong.
As to being confident iabout the protections in place...you MUST be joking.
Balmedie was a poster child for gross abuse of any legitimate
 " process " at all.
And all you need to do is look at that Scottish Wildcat's plight to recognize your confidence in that purported protection is laughable.
You are not alone. Most folks hit the jobs  justification button every time.
So in the end, the need to make money trumps all.
Case closed. Before it even started.
Three cheers for progress,
Kris

Ian Mackenzie:
.

BHoover:
I have been watching Ken Burns' film series on the history of the National Parks, which has been re-airing this past week on PBS here in the USA. This discussion reminds me that it's ironic or perhaps symbolic that John Muir, a Scotsman in American, was so influential in getting Yosemite protected as one of the first national parks.

The point is that there are indeed areas of special interest that do need to be protected against economic development and preserved for posterity. I don't know whether this particular area is one of those, but Kris certainly seems to be suggesting that. If that is the case, then I hope the people of Scotland and their government will do the right thing and preserve this area. Economic development sometimes does need to take a backseat to the greater good. Unfortunately, however, that all too often does not seem to be the route we take.

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