Scotland Golf Bible

A guide to green fee value for money

Category: Graeme Webster

149. Paul Lawrie Golf Centre. 6 Jul 22.

October 9, 2022 /

Sublime attention to detail at Paul Lawrie’s brilliant golf centre

Round £15. Par 29. Course Rating / Slope Rating (white) 29.2/94. Value (out of 5) – 5

This nine hole course opened in 2005 as the Aspire Golf Centre, named after a boat operated by trawler fisherman John Duthie, the original owner. Open Champion Paul Lawrie bought the centre in 2012 and it has gone from strength to strength, providing one of the best all round facilities in Scotland, equipped with ‘top tracer’ driving range, bookable practice areas, a large golf shop and excellent restaurant.

The tricky first hole at Paul Lawrie’s golf centre – avoid the right of the green!

The course itself is a beauty, designed by Old Meldrum’s Graeme Webster and built to US PGA standards. It could easily be argued as the best nine hole course in Scotland. Although short, it has four tee options providing a variety of challenges, it has been good enough to host national 9 hole Par 3 competitions. It only has two par 4s, when played from the white tees, which I used to play my round.

The 3rd green, the stroke index one hole at only 145 yards, which has a devilish bunker and water on the left side of the green, hidden from view from the tee.

The green complexes are challenging, with well positioned bunkers and undulating surfaces they force you to be mindful of where to miss. There are some particularly clever and deceptive run off areas which are blind from the tee. The rough is very whispy and gives some shots a links land feel – none more so than at the first, where I thought I had played into the right side of the green, only to eventually find my ball in the rough; there was a bonus of finding 6 other balls!

The aesthetically framed 4th hole, which plays as a par four from this tee.

To score well you need to have a first class short game, perhaps that’s what attracted “Chippy” Lawrie to buy the course. When I played, I saw Paul heading off to the driving range with a large number of clubs, testimony to the effort required to maintain your game at the highest standard.

The 5th, one of the two holes, which, from the white tees, plays as a par four.

The course is great value for annual membership at just over £300 and is sometimes used as a second club by members of nearby world class Aberdeenshire links courses because the practice arrangements are so good. I met up during my game with Murcar Links member, Alex Singer, who typifies these local golfers who make full use of the Paul Lawrie Centre.

Murcar Links member Alex Singer, chipping onto the 8th green.

On a windy day, I was very happy with my score of 38 – although 9 over par, this included two triple bogies, at the first and 4th, both short par threes.

The well maintained bookable practice area at the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre.

Every aspect of the Centre is first class, a testimony to Paul Lawrie’s attention to detail. Right down to the Seniors’ rate of only £12, that I paid, and the many Kids coaching courses the centre runs throughout the year. Well done ‘Chippy’, you are a legend.

Facts:

Course Type: Parkland

Par 29  (0 par 5s, 2 par 4s, 7 par 3s)

Distance (white): 1560 yards

Moly’s Gross score: 38

Moly’s Paul Lawrie Centre scorecard – 38, including 5 pars and 2 triple bogies!

147. Edzell West Water. 4 Jul 22.

October 5, 2022 /

Good nine hole course to sit alongside its wonderful big brother

Round £15. Par 32. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 60.8/99. Value (out of 5) – 3

The main course at Edzell is a well established heathland course and my blog from 2016 is here. This nine hole course, called “Edzell West Water”, was designed by the prolific Scottish golf course architect, Graeme J Webster, of Team Niblick of Inverurie, Aberdeenshire. The course has excellent views of nearby Fettercairn and was opened in 2001, following the period of buoyant economic activity in the 1990s.

Moly on the 9th fairway at the picturesque Edzell West Water

The course is an ideal adjunct to its big brother, albeit it is accessed via a separate road to the main club, and like many people, I suspect, we were directed to the course from the main clubhouse. We got the impression, the staff were fed up re-directing people!

Nonetheless, the welcome from the starter at the small hut serving the West Water course could not have been friendlier.

The tough 3rd hole at “West Water”, a par 3 of 157 yards.

The course is short, but certainly not easy, with several challenging holes. The first has a two tier green that will likely need 3 putts if you don’t reach the right level. Having secured a decent par, I then had a disaster at the par 5 second, including two air shots, trying a miracle shot from the heather to the left of the fairway!

Comprising five par threes, this is a course where good iron or hybrid play is needed to score well. The par four 5th hole, SI 1, is also an excellent hole.

Fran ponders the line on the 6th green, one of the shorter par 3s at Edzell West Water.

The course, which has great ‘heathland’ turf, was in good condition, with green complexes worthy of ‘bigger’ courses, albeit the greens were a little mossy in places, giving some variability in pace. The greenside bunkering is very good.

The entrance to the par four 5th green, the worthy SI 1 hole.

The green fee of £15 was actually for the whole day, which is a real pity if you want to only play 9 holes. That deflates the ’round’ value a lot. There is a good offer of a return fee of only £10, which I think they would do well to charge it someone only wanted to play 9 holes.

The 4th at Edzell West Water, one of only three par 4s.

There is also collocated driving range, which does present an OOB hazard, especially at the par for 7th hole, ‘Wirren’, where you need to keep your tee shot well left off the tee. I didn’t!

The 7th and 8th run alongside the “west water”, hence the name of this course, which is worth playing, but only if you want to play more than 9 holes in my opinion or perhaps combine with the main track.

Facts:

Course Type: Heathland

Par 32 (1 par 5s, 3 par 4s, 5 par 3s)

Distance (white): 2057 yards

Moly’s Gross score: 46

Moly’s Edzell West Water card – high winds didn’t really explain this poor round of 8 over net

76. Meldrum House. 19 June 2018.

July 8, 2018 /

Aberdeenshire’s “exclusive golf experience” is untypically Scottish and fails to deliver value   

Round £85 + hotel residency.   Par 70.  Value (out of 5) – 2

Let’s get something clear – Meldrum House is a beautifully crafted parkland golf course cut among the agricultural heartland of Aberdeenshire.  The quality and design, by Graham Webster, is of a very high standard.  However (yes, there is a big one), in establishing the course as “the exclusive golf experience”, Meldrum House feels so untypically Scottish.  It felt much more like playing, for example, the AA Golf Club in Epsom, than a Scottish golf course.

Perhaps that’s why there was a need to stock some Highland Cattle between the 17th fairway and the manufactured lawns of the Country House hotel of the same name, otherwise one might think you were playing the very many lookalike late 1900s courses developed in the southern counties of Surrey or Hampshire.

The rare Highland Cattle compliment the surroundings at Meldrum House – 17th hole behind.

The only way to play a single round is to stay at the 4-star Meldrum House hotel, which allows guests to play the course for a fee of £85.   Therefore, with dinner, bed and breakfast, a round here is going to cost at least £250+.  Hence why I’ve assessed its value rating as 2.

Meldrum House hotel provides great accommodation and the estate of the same name has a long heralded history, with the Barony of Meldrum dating back to the 13th Century.  So, if you were looking for an Aberdeenshire short break with a bit of golf and good food, it’s a great option.

For the record, individual membership (2018 prices) of Meldrum House golf club is £1,895, although for that the club does consider it “our privilege to have our members”.  Unsurprisingly, business memberships are available, and start at over £5,000.   Of course, there lies the likely clue to the golf course’s existence, which seems to rest on the wealthy oil industry of the North East.  I’ll wager that this course will not be around in it’s current format, once the North Sea oil is long gone.  Why pay these Meldrum House fees when membership of one of the world’s best courses, Cruden Bay, is £680, and only about 22 miles away?

Par 3 10th hole, one of the 7 water feature holes in the first 10 at Meldrum House.

The course has a headline length of over 7000 yards from the black tees, but I suspect most will play from the White (6203) or Yellow (5867) tees, the latter which I used while playing with my wife Fran who used the Red (5492).

There is water genuinely in play at 11 of the 18 holes, and at 7 of the first 10.   There is also many very deep bunkers.  To score well, you need to play strategically around here and pay close attention to the course planner (included in the fee!).  I did this pretty well other than at the 8th, the aptly named “The Lochans”, and the 18th (more of later);  the 8th fairway slopes left to right towards the water hazard, which I surprisingly found after a well struck drive;  the smart play is a hybrid from the tee to the left side of the fairway.

The beautiful 16th hole at Meldrum House, characteristic of the course.

Holes 11 through 15 play on the higher part of the course, with no water hazards, but the stretch starts with what can be described as a “gimmicky” 11th hole which has a disaster of 15 (yes 15) bunkers in front of the green approach.  I couldn’t help wondering what the record is for the most, separate, bunkers ever played from on a single hole??

The “gimmicky” long par 5 11th, with bunkers covering 70 yards of the green approach.

 

The course was in very good condition when I played other than one fairway (9th) which was poor.  The greens were beautiful, the tees and bunkers well kept and manicured.  It was also a very pleasant walk and, of course, there was hardly any other players!

The 18th, unusually, was a short to medium iron, par 3, played over 2 sets of marshy water hazards.  Unfortunately, I found both hazards for a 7, my second quadruple bogie of the day, along with the 9th, which ruined an otherwise impressive card.  I still shot 90 for 35 points.

13th green, site of my only birdie of the day at Meldrum House

Oh, I nearly forgot to mention – coffee & tee were “free” in the clubhouse;)

Facts:

Course Type: Parkland

Par 70 (3 par 5s, 10 par 4s, 5 par 3s)

Distance (yellow): 5867

Moly’s Gross score: 90

Moly’s Meldrum House Scorecard – 90 for 35 points

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