Scotland Golf Bible

A guide to green fee value for money

Category: Local Authority (Page 3 of 6)

127. Winterfield. 26 Sep 21.

April 9, 2022 /

The greens might be the firmest in Scotland – any fast bowling attack would like them!

Round £31. Par 65. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 63.2/103. Value (out of 5) – 4

When I played Winterfield golf course, on a blustery, but warm, late September day, certain questions and thoughts kept going through my mind:

  • This is the most fun golf I’ve had in years.
  • The West Indies fast bowing heroes of my youth could bowl on these rock hard greens!
  • Tiger Woods couldn’t get near this pin – it’s impossible!
  • This is mickey mouse golf!
  • How can this be assessed as a 103 slope rating, with 4 par 3s well over 200 yards?
Fran at the very difficult par 3 opening hole, which is a par 4 for the ladies.

Winterfield golf course is located in Dunbar on the “golf coast” of East Lothian. Overshadowed by the magnificent Dunbar golf course, which is also known as the “East Links” course in Dunbar, Winterfield is close to the “West Links” area of Dunbar where golf is first recorded as being played in 1616. Therefore, there is arguably a greater historical story with Winterfield, albeit the course was only established by the local town council in 1935, without any note of the course designer in the club website.

The Bass Rock dominates the backdrop of the 5th green, where Moly was putting for birdie (missed!).

The golf course sits on a beautiful piece of ‘links’ land around the fine clubhouse, called St Margaret’s House, which is home to the “Fairways” restaurant.

The 18 hole course is not long, at only 4817 yards from the yellow tees most visitors will use. However, the slope rating of only 103, belies the real challenge of the course. It has some of the toughest and long par 3s in the area, starting at the opening hole which is 224 yards long, over a long carry. It deserves the Stroke Index 3 rating. Play the first hole as if a par 4, and be happy with a bogie is my advice, as the holes 3 through 6 is the easiest stretch on the course and enable you to get under your handicap; the long par four 7th, SI 1, will challenge the best and has the most difficult green on the outward 9.

The wonderful par three 14th hole “The Point” (192 yards from yellow), here pictured from behind the green towards Dunbar Beach.

The back 9 is where the course presents the coastal challenges, with a number of the holes skirting Dunbar beach. No more so than at the aptly named “The Point”, the long par three 14th hole. With a very strong wind and fast running fairway I played a 9 iron (normally my 115 yard club) to the front of the green at the 192 yard hole! I four putted for a 5!

The last of the par 3s – the long 15th at 223 yards (yellow). The wind helped Moly reach the green here.

There are fantastic views views across the Firth of Forth towards The Kingdom of Fife, with the Bass Rock headlining the vistas. It is a nice walk for any non playing partners.

If you want a low cost links experience and challenge, in non stuffy surroundings, Winterfield is an ideal venue. But this is no easy holiday golf course and only the very top golfers will par many more than half of the par 3s on this course. The club also boast of a number of members who went on to play top amateur or professional golf.

The 18th, a short par 4, with St Margaret’s house in the background.

I felt I played well for my 88, which although 10 over net, was 30 stableford points. The greens were treacherous; very dry and fast, impossible to get any check spin on. The positions of the pins were also very difficult. The green side bunkering is also pretty tricky, and you should try and navigate away if you can.

There is tough bunkering at Winterfield, here shown at the par five, 17th hole; where the tough pin positions meant it was nigh impossible to flirt with the pins.

In summary, don’t be fooled by the slope index, which I imagine will adjust higher after several years data is compiled. I think if felt more like a 115 course.

Great value golf, but the hard greens devalue it a bit, hence only 4 rather than 5 for value.

Course Type: Links

Par 65 (1 par 5s, 9 par 4s, 8 par 3s)

Distance: 4817 (yellow)

Moly’s Gross score: 88

Moly’s decent round of 88, for 30 stableford points, including a 10 at the par four 12th hole!

91. Musselburgh Links, Old. 23 Oct 2018.

July 21, 2019 /

The oldest golf course in the world. A Must Play 9 holes.

Round  £15.30.   Par 34.  Value (out of 5) – 5

Called either Musselburgh “Links” or Musselburgh “Old”, this course is the only one of the three ‘Musselburgh’ courses actually in Musselburgh, the East Lothian town 5 miles east of Edinburgh. If you are in any way interested in the history of golf, you have to play here because, quite simply, it is the oldest golf course in the world, recognised as such by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Moly and Fran at Musselburgh Links, The oldest golf course in the world.

People mainly associate the origins of the game with St Andrews, but there is a much richer history in Musselburgh Links. The record books for the course talk of Mary, Queen of Scots, King James VI and Oliver Cromwell; albeit if you check their dates of birth they certainly never played a 3 ball.

Move forward a couple of hundred years, the record book speaks of an early Open Championship venue, between 1874 and 1889, won by the likes of Mungo Park, Willie Fernie and Willie Park Jr.

The tough 6th green at Musselburgh Links

The Old Course at Musselburgh also must have another record. It has been the home of more golf clubs and societies than any other course; not any old clubs either and includes The Royal Musselburgh, The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, Royal Burgess Golfing Society and the Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society, all either formed or were based at Musselburgh. Plus a further 60 clubs or societies of note.

The club sits on Common Good land, and the land’s use was extended in 1816 by building a race track around it, which is still in use today.

The long par 3 8th hole at Musselburgh.

Which left me wondering whether a links course could be sited inside a racecourse? The answer is undoubtedly yes – this feels very much a links, with firm turf, deep revetted bunkering, whispy rough and wind! It was actually gusting over 40 mph when I played and unsurprisingly Fran and I were the only players! In the wind, my score of 45 against the par of 34 was about the best I’d played for a while.

The course is basically a clockwise loop of holes, with a out and back layout. It starts with a great par 3, then three par 4s of increasing length with the 4th hole, the stroke index 1, called Mrs Foreman’s, after the name of the pub behind the green. Then you turn for home, with the 8th on the way back being a long par 3, the most noteworthy.

This course is very well maintained and greens, fairways and bunkers being in really good condition.

The wind shows at the 9th at Musselburgh, with the racetrack grandstand in the background

Its also worth noting the world’s first golfing competition for women took place on New Year’s Day in 1811, competed for by the town’s fishwives. I wonder if the date was set by The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers?

At just £15, this is unrivalled value to grab a piece of genuine golfing history.

Some Facts

Course Type: Links

Par 34 (1 par 5, 5 par 4s, 3 par 3s)

Distance:  2954 yards

Moly’s Gross Score  45

45 in a 45 mph wind was very good!

81. St Andrews Old Course. 30 Jul 2018

August 15, 2018 /

The Home of Golf – thanks especially to The Champion Golfer of 1995, Mr John Daly! WOW!

Round £180.   Par 72.  Value (out of 5) – 5

A few weeks before playing at The Old Course, I received a surprise call from Richard Rooney of D C Thomson, the Scottish Media conglomerate;  “Congratulations, Moly, you’ve won our St Andrews Memory competition run by The Courier newspaper.  The prize includes joining the D C Thomson 4 ball in the Rolex sponsored “Patrons Day” on the Monday following the Senior Open”.  WOW!

The Auld Toon of St Andrews provides the backdrop to Moly playing at the 16th from just in front of the “Principals Nose” bunker.

I’d actually forgotten I had entered a competition some weeks earlier, but no matter, there I was standing on the Championship 1st tee at 8am on Monday 30th July 2018,  only about 40 yards from where Miguel Angel Jimenez was crowned the Senior Open Champion a little over 12 hours previous. WOW!

The Courier report of the Competition which won Moly his Old Course round. Thanks John!

Assisted by local caddie, John, from Kingsbarns, and along with Keve Hodgson, fellow winner, and our 2 D C Thomson hosts, conveniently both called Richard, we played The Old Course in beautiful links conditions (a fair westerly breeze), using the Sunday pin positions.  WOW!

I shot a stroke-play 87, including 8 pars, with the same ball. WOW!

Including par 4s at the 1st and 18th, from the championship tees, the 18th where I played a 150 yard 6 iron into the breeze to only 15 feet, with Caddy John announcing as my ball launched  “its all over it!” and received a round of applause from the 30 or so spectators milling around.  Putter in hand, the walk to the green was “golfing heaven”.  WOW!

A typically huge and undulating double green – the 2nd and 16th (Keve putting up the green)

If you are reading this blog, you probably don’t need me to tell you much, if anything, about The Old Course, as it’s embedded in the very essence of golf.   So many great players have made so many comments, I’ll just quote my favourite:

“This is the origin of the game. This is golf in its purest form and it’s still played that way on a course seemingly untouched by time. Every time I play here, it reminds me this is still a game.” – Arnold Palmer.

6th tee – a typically bind tee shot, where a Caddy becomes invaluable

 

I’ll therefore use this blog to discuss the concept of value, the prime measure I make of Scottish golf courses, which takes on an added mystery when applied to the Old Course at St Andrews.  It’s by no means the most difficult course in the world, or anywhere near the most expensive; albeit at £180 its not cheap.  However, it’s arguably the most accessible great sporting location in the world – anyone is free to walk its hallowed turf on Sundays when the course is closed to play.  By all accounts, turn up on Christmas day and play for free (without the flags though!).

Lining up a putt for bogie at 17, with the iconic backdrop. Oh for the day to go on and on….

In deciding how to assess its value, I came up with this conundrum.  Ask any golfer the world over this question:  “Regardless of price, you can play golf once only in your lifetime at either The Old Course or Course X (name any course) – which would you choose to play?”.  Other than perhaps Augusta, The Old Course would likely come out top every time.  Therefore, for me, this defines the top price one should pay for a round of golf anywhere.  Any course costing more than £180 can’t be worth it, by definition, if you would actually rather play the Old Course anyway instead, regardless of price.

Of course, its only my opinion!

The beautiful par 4 7th hole, short at only 359 yards (white), but a true SI 4 hole.

So, play it once in your lifetime.  Hire a caddy if you can afford to.  Walk the hallowed turf and pray that you hit some nice shots.  Hope for a nice day, but also hope that the wind gets up sufficiently to understand its defence.  Hope for some “Sunday pins” to wrestle with a pro’s dilemma.   Hope you (maybe) find one or two of the almost mythical bunkers that dot the course.   Hope…..for so many things!

Four very happy golfers – for the record the DC Thompson Richards won the match play game 2 up,

I only found one bunker, Hill, on the par 3 11th …..thank goodness:)   I made a miraculous bogie, which was somehow symmetrical, as it was John Daly’s miraculous bunker shot from “Road” bunker, that won me the round of golf!  WOW!

Facts:

Course Type: Links

Par 72 (yellow:  2 par 5s, 14 par 4s,  2 par 3s)

Distance: 6387 yards

Moly’s Gross score: 87

Moly’s Hope; a well played round of 87 at The Old Course, St Andrews.

75. Arbroath. 6 May 2018.

May 14, 2018 /

A must visit course for US Historians, fish lovers and record book chasers!       

Round £40.   Par 70.  Value (out of 5) – 4

Arbroath is the largest town in Angus and it’s golf course sits about 2 miles to the east of the town and only 6 miles from Carnoustie.  It probably gets bypassed by many visiting golfers moving north from Carnoustie towards the wonderful links courses in Aberdeenshire – this would be a wasted opportunity.

Arbroath has a remarkable claim for it’s influence on the modern world.  The “Declaration of Arbroath”, a Scottish declaration of independence of 1320, is regarded by several historians as the model for the American Declaration of Independence.

The delightful par 3 7th hole at Arbroath (159 yards)

The golf course can also argue a potentially unrivaled and rich architectural history.  Designed by Old Tom Morris, it opened in 1878,  was redesigned by the Troon professional Willie Fernie about 30 years later, then James Braid remodeled the tees, to add length, and bunkers in 1931.  That’s a strong golfing pedigree.

The course is predominantly an out and back layout.  The first 7 holes are played westward into the, normally very strong and cold, prevailing wind, before turning back for the 8th to 10th;  westward again for the 11th and 12th, then with 5 of the last 6 holes played eastward downwind back to the clubhouse.  Strategically, 11 of the holes have reachable out of bounds to the right, so right handed slicers may wish to consider their options off the tee.

The Stroke Index 7, 375 yard 6th hole at Arbroath, a typically difficult par 4 on the opening stretch of holes.

Viewed from the tees, Arbroath seems at times flat and innocuous, but it has been very cleverly bunkered by Braid, and I’m sure the locals will have many advisory comments on where to miss the greens.  The greens were also very hard when I played and difficult to hold (for all I guess other than very good golfers).  Playing off the yellow tees didn’t give  much respite either, as the 2nd and 17th both played as long par 4s, rather than par 5s from the white tees.  There are also 3 ditches that cross the course, and these need to be carefully considered, especially as the flat terrain makes them invisible to the eye.

I rather suspect first time visitors rarely score much above 30 stableford points.

The very difficult green to find in 2 at the 13th at Arbroath, with the railway OOB on the right

The highlights for me were the par 3s, all of which had good surrounds, with the two on the back 9, the 14th at 200 yards (white at 232) and the 16th, being especially difficult.

It’s a well kept course, with good tees, greens, fairways and bunkers.  The clubhouse has a friendly staff and good food, where you can try the Arbroath Smokie, the local smoked haddock delicacy protected by EU Trade regulations.

The wonderfully bunkered par 3 16th green at Arbroath

The other Arbroath claim to fame is the local Football Club, which holds 2 world records – the highest professional scoring record (winning 36-0), and their ground, Gayfield Park, being the closest to the sea in the world – only 5 and 1/2 yards away!  Apparently, one famous game was abandoned after all balls were “lost at sea!”.

Not a great day for me, I lost 3 balls (6 shots) and 3 putted 7 times!  I suppose that explains completely my 13 over par net!  Oh, and yes, the greens are rather large and difficult!

Well worth a visit.

Facts:

Course Type: Links

Par 68 (14 par 4s, 4 par 3s)

Distance (yellow): 5826

Moly’s Gross score: 98

Moly’s Arbroath scorecard – 98

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