Birdie every hole to leave the island:
How We Filmed a Golf Challenge on the Edge of the World… IN DECEMBER
When Manors first pitched the idea of filming a golf challenge on the Shetland Islands in the middle of winter, we all thought we’d lost it. We joked with Manors how they always come to us to shoot the non-glamourous, outrageously ambitious shoots which require pure grit and toil.
Cold, dark, remote, unpredictable — all accurate. But for Manors Golf, a brand built on the belief that golf should be an adventure, not a ritual, on reflection, it was actually exactly where we needed to be.
Setting Sail Into the Unknown
The journey began with a ferry crossing from mainland Scotland to Shetland. December seas. Pitch black. Winds that could knock over a tripod — or a grown man. Onboard were our crew, our cameras, and James, a professional golfer with one simple but brutal challenge:
He couldn’t leave the island until he birdied every hole.
It sounded poetic in the brief — almost romantic. But when you’re standing on a windswept fairway that feels like some bizarre land between the sea and a wet marshland, days from civilisation, at 3pm and the sun’s already setting behind a pure wall of haar, romance turns to realism very quickly.
The Island Tests Everything
Shooting this project was as much a challenge for the crew as it was for James. Keeping camera gear dry and functional was a daily battle. Lenses fogged. Batteries froze. equipment and bodies seized up. The rain didn’t fall — it came sideways.
Every day we’d wake up to new problems: not enough light to see a ball down the fairway, greens that were more water than grass, hands too numb to focus pull… oh yeah, and the actual challenge itself. The landscape was breathtaking, but in that rugged, unforgiving way that reminds you nature is very much in charge.
But that’s what made it special.
Because the point wasn’t to make golf look easy — it was to show the fight that happens when passion meets environment. When a sport built on precision collides with raw, unpredictable nature.
Light in the Darkness
As daylight slipped away earlier and earlier, we found ourselves inventing ways to keep shooting. One evening, with just minutes of usable light left, we parked the INEOS Grenadier at the edge of the green, switched on its floodlights, and turned it into an impromptu film rig. Replaying the hole for as long as we could to get the days final birdie.
It wasn’t planned. It wasn’t polished. But it looked incredible.
That’s filmmaking in places like this — pure problem-solving, driven by instinct.
The Longest Six Days
James battled through wind, rain, and fatigue for six relentless days. There were moments of frustration, even doubt — but that’s what made the final birdie all the more meaningful. It wasn’t just a golfing achievement; it was a triumph of perseverance.
When he finally sank that last putt, there wasn’t a crowd to cheer — just a handful of us, soaked and exhausted, gazing into the Shetland wind. But it felt like a win for everyone: James, Manors, and the crew who had weathered every element to capture something real.
Adventure, Not Perfection
For Manors, this wasn’t just another campaign — it was a statement. Golf doesn’t have to be confined to manicured lawns and summer days. It can be wild, imperfect, and deeply human.
The final film — a long-form YouTube piece — reflects that ethos. It’s not glossy or staged. It’s raw. It’s emotional. It’s the sound of wind, or James’ desperation howling through a mic. It’s the light of a Grenadier cutting through the dark.
It’s golf at the edge of the world — and storytelling at its most honest.
