‘Municipal’ feel course, with an Amen Corner worth playing
Round £25. Par 67. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 65.9/124. Value (out of 5) – 3.0
When you look at the economics of Scotland and its number of golf courses, it’s little wonder that courses have closed regularly over the year. Put simply, there is not the GDP to sustain the highest number of courses per capita in the world (for countries with more than 200 courses).
The par four 5th at Canmore, a typical looking hole at this Dunfermline course.
Canmore, is one of those courses that over time is at threat, in my opinion. Sited in the Headwell area on the north of Dunfermline, there are about a dozen courses within a 10 mile radius, a number of which are much better, such as Pitreavie. Although competitively priced with a headline rate of £25 for a peak season round and with Golfnow rates available, I paid only £16, other than a few holes it was a rather forgetful experience.
The green at the difficult par four 10th hole.
Founded, apparently, on its present site in 1902, Canmore is a parkland course at just over 5000 yards long. It actually doesn’t feel that old a course, and without any history on its web site, it’s difficult to find any background context, including its designer.
There is however, a very difficult set of holes around the turn, which are worth testing your game against.
The 9th, a dog leg par four of 371 yards, has a ditch in play for the long drivers and worthy of being stroke index 4.
The 10th, played into the prevailing wind is a more difficult hole (in my opinion), with out of bounds all the way down the left of a sweeping horseshoe shaped hole – keep right at all costs.
The 11th, the signature hole, must be a banker for home matchplay games, with the yardage of the second shot, played over a marker post to a sunken hazard surrounded green, being critical to judge. A bogie is a good score at this SI 2 hole, I really couldn’t work out why it wasn’t SI 1.
The 11th the signature hole, a par 4, at Canmore.
Finally, the 12th, is a really challenging long par 3 (nearly 200 yards), played uphill to semi blind green.
The course was in okay condition when I played, albeit all areas could have been mown, a mark of understaffing on greenkeeping.
The long par three 12th hole, the end of the treacherous stretch of holes
This is not a course that will attract many holidaying tourists, and I wouldn’t be recommending going out of your way to play here. At just over £500 for an annual membership, its probably a decent course if you like your local golf and tend not to travel around.
On the day, I shot 90, for 28 points, and did well to overcome two 7s at the par fours 5th and 6th holes. Plus, I didn’t blob any of the tough stretch which I was very pleased with indeed.
The difficult par three 4th hole, with clubhouse in view.
Other than its Amen corner (9-12), this feels like a standard ‘municipal’ course. I was made very welcome by the staff in the pro shop.
Modernity and Tradition collide full on at this South Ayrshire Council course, which exposes the real challenges facing Scottish Golfeverywhere – if you become a local councilor, beware the “golf brief”
Round £dynamic – typically £37. Par 71. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 70.1/123. Value (out of 5) – 4
Scotland has a tradition of great municipal courses, some of the world’s best. However, green fees and subscriptions often don’t cover costs, taxpayers paying the deficit, making municipal golf a political hot potato.
The 18th green at Darley with the impressive clubhouse serving the 3 Troon Links Municipal courses.
‘Golf South Ayrshire’ operates 8 municipal courses; Troon Links (Lochgreen, Fullarton, Darley), Belleisle Park Ayr (Belleisle, Seafield), Ayr Dalmilling, North Carrick Maybole, and South Carrick Girvan. In 2021 the Council’s new golfing strategy, to address a £300,000 annual deficit in the golf budget, resulted in annual 7 day membership to play all 8 courses rising by almost 50% to just over£500. This received extensive press coverage including “South Ayrshire golfers hit out at council’s ‘enforced changes’ to sport”, (Daily Record).
An overplayed and under cared for Troon Darley course.
In stark contrast, I recently visited Monteray in California, where a green fee at any one of the three headline ‘public’ Pebble Beach courses (Pebble Beach Links, Spyglass Hill and Spanish Bay Links) would have cost nearly $700. So, the price to play all eight Golf South Ayrshire courses as often as you want in a year, is about the same as a single green fee at a Pebble Beach course.
Why can’t you play with your practice swing? – Moly at the 11th, a par four over 400 yards. The fairways were pretty rough.
It’s little wonder, that golf holidaying Americans think golf is still cheap in Scotland, even when paying £300+ for a round at Royal Troon. The clubhouses of municipal Troon (Darley) Links and Open venue Royal Troon are less than a mile, but yet a world, apart.
There are two tiers of access to golf in Scotland. First, courses for the masses, like Troon Darley Links, which is incredibly affordable. Second, courses in the (say) top100 Scottish golf courses for the lucky local residents and/or those often professionally or family connected to existing members. These second category courses, have visitor green fees ranging from £140 to £300+ per round , equivalent to as much as about 25% to 50% of the lucky members’ annual subscriptions. Members of these affluent courses never relinquish membership readily and only wealthy visitors can afford green fees (Kingsbarns rate for 2023 will be £374, or more than £20 per hole).
The four par 3s at Darley, clockwise from top left; 4th, 9th, 12th and 16th. The highlight at Darley.
The truth is, the vast majority of the Scottish golfing public playing “The People’s Game” will never play an Open venue.
Admittedly, the concept of “Scottish Resident” rates have emerged at the very expensive courses, but these are still sometimes up to £200. Scottish Golf have also introduced lotteries for members of all Scottish clubs to play at the great courses, typically at about £300-£400 per 4-ball, but these are limited and only available in the winter season.
Add into the mix the growing use of Golf discounted green fee apps, such as Golfnow, and you have an interesting time for golf pricing. Interestingly, the top clubs never appear on Golfnow, in fact you can probably gauge the wealth of a club by how many tee time are available on these apps.
Fran teeing off at the par five 6th hole, at 535 yards from the red tee.
Strategically, looking at the bigger economic picture in Scotland, which still has well over 600 courses, it has more courses per person, per GDP, than any other country with more than 200 courses. In effect, the economy is not big enough to sustain the cheaper “courses for the masses”. This is one of the reasons behind the number of course closures since 2000.
I played Darley, one of the 3 Troon Links courses, on an unseasonably warm March day. I paid only £16.99 (via Golfnow), against the typical £37 for the summer rate, albeit the Troon Links website does advocate ‘dynamic pricing’, responding, in part, to users using the competing commercial green fee apps.
The course was basically ‘beaten up’, by the volume of winter play. I met a number of people who are based in Glasgow, whose courses are waterlogged in winter, and who make the short trip down the coast.
The burn in front of the 14th, a fairly long par four, which was a card wrecker for Moly, carding an 8.
The greens had held up, but the tees, fairways and bunkers were unkempt. There were very few rakes in the bunkers (the pandemic was ending and no longer an excuse). On advising one of the three people who were chatting in the green fee kiosk of the rakes situation, I got the comment “we thought all the locals would have all had a rake by now!”
Maybe the Ayrshire golfers complaining to the Daily Record, had contextualised their criticism on fees, with the ‘condition of the courses’. And there lies another conundrum – it takes effort and money to produce a course in great playing condition, and increasing fees restricts the volume of demand, making it good for the members. I’m not saying all this is easy to balance.
The tee shot at the 5th at Darley, the stroke index 1 par four a 411 yards, displaying the links land.
The Troon Links clubhouse has been a major investment for the Darley, Lochgreen and Fullarton courses.
As to the Darley course itself, between the pretty benign opening two holes and the closing two holes, the holes 3 through 16, represent a decent links layout, on firm turf, several good bunkers, with gorse lined fairways, and some tricky greens. Its a good test of golf, albeit the signage to navigate between holes would be a good investment. The four par 3s are the highlight for me, with the 9th standing up well to many more expensive club par threes; its the really stand out hole at Darley.
The 158 yard par three 9th hole, the absolutely stand out hole at Darley. Brilliant green complex.
I had a mixed round, with birdies at the 4th and 10th, but then 2 triples and 1 quadruple bogie at the 14th. So my gross 91, equated to 32 points off 15. Not bad for me.
It must be said that South Ayrshire Council probably leads the way in the provision of Municipal golf in Scotland. I would advocate more investment on the courses please, even if the price needs to rise a little. A good value course, which could have been really great value with a little more attention.
Incidentally, I decided not to play the main Pebble Beach courses, instead I had a good walk around ‘The Links at Spanish Bay’, and nearly had to pay excess baggage for the about 150 golf balls (All grade A) I found in less than an hour!
Course Type:Links
Par 71 (3 par 5s, 11 par 4s, 4 par 3s)
Distance: 5984 (yellow)
Moly’s Gross score: 91
Moly’s Troon Darley scorecard. 91, but a very mixed bag with a couple of birdies and 4 blobs.
Round £10. Par 71. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 69/124. Value (out of 5) – 4
South Lanarkshire Council state on their website they are “proud to operate six quality golf courses” – and so they should be if Strathclyde Park represents the offering, being one of the two 9 hole golf courses in the package which can all be played by subscribing to their season long Rover deal.
Looking back from the 8th green at Strathclyde Park, towards the Hamilton Racecourse grandstand.
Having been brought up on Caird Park “9 holer”, a Dundee Council course, I was expecting a similar set up from Strathclyde Park. How wrong I was – this is a serious and ‘meaty’ golf course. A little under 6000 equivalent yards (from the Yellow), this is a a big challenge, especially for those taking up the sport.
The nice fairway on show at the 1st, a good starting hole at well over 350 yards, making you realise this is not ‘pitch ‘n putt’, with the natural edge bunkering dominating the approach.
Set in Strathclyde Country Park, adjacent to junction 6 of the M74, with the backdrop of Hamilton racecourse on the finishing holes, I really enjoyed this great value course.
The view from the 4th tee at Strathclyde, the SI 1 hole.
Because there was one winter green still in play and still being on the winter rate (even though I was able to play in shorts on an unseasonably warm March day), I paid only £5.40 for 9 holes. The tees were in poor condition, but the fairways were very good as were the bunkers. The greens are varied in size, shape and contour with many very challenging (I three putted several times).
There is plenty of wildlife on show at Strathclyde, with the adjacent nature reserve. Here, some residents sharing my journey to the 3rd green, a difficult par 3.
I got to thinking, at only £10, for the high season rate for 18 holes, what is the value of a course as the price tends to zero? Or put another way, how do you really offset course quality and value?
Overall, this course is probably 2 out of 5 for ‘quality’ on a national basis, but at such a low price it is 4 for ‘value’, a score I would say provides an upper bound for the quality – even if free, because you still have to spend the time playing! It’s a great debate.
The second par three, the uphill 7th, requiring your 180+ yardage club.Against the backdrop of the housing developed alongside the Racecourse.
The course is well designed with a rounded mix of two par 3s, two par 5s and five par 4s – a classic combination. The fairways were wide, and very firm for the time of year.
I played better than I scored with several three putts in my gross 48.
We were staying in our caravan in Strathclyde Country park, which is a great location to set down to play all the courses on offer from South Lanarkshire Council.
Course Type:Parkland
Par 36 (2 par 5s, 5 par 4s, 2 par 3s)
Distance: 5891 (yellow)
Moly’s Gross score: 48
Moly lost count of the number of 3 putt greens on this tough 9 hole council course. Played better than 48 suggests.
Good ‘family friendly’ 9 hole “Pay & Play” course is no ‘pitch ‘n putt’
Round £14.50. Par 32. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 30.0 /98. Value (out of 5) – 3
Look at Melville Golf Centre web site and you would think it is just a ‘Top Tracer’ driving range. However, alongside the ‘family friendly’ range is a nice little 9 hole course that, according to the web site, is built to US PGA Standards. There is no trace of the course architect, unfortunately.
My partner Fran at the 7th with the Pentlands in the background.
The course is only a few miles outside Edinburgh, near the village of Lasswade, not far from the intersection of the A720 Edinburgh bypass and the A7 route to the Borders. It is therefore ideally located to pick up transiting golfers, albeit the range has stiff competition from the nearby Kings Acre golf course.
The tricky 2nd green, a short par four.
Dig a little deeper, and you find that the Melville Golf Centre has attracted EU and Scottish Government funding through an organisation called “Tyne Esk LEADER”, a development vehicle for the ‘River Esk – River Tyne’ region, basically covering The Lothians, which of course is one of the best areas in the world for golf. Why some of this public money should be needed to help develop ‘Family Friendly’ golf, in an area rich in golfing history, with more golf clubs per head than any country in the world, is a sad indictment of the state of Scottish Golf and the lack of funds going from richer clubs back into the grass roots of the game.
The uphill par four 5th hole, which needs good distance judgement with the approach.
Set aside the politics, and Melville Golf Course does indeed provide an excellent setting for introducing people to golf. No frills, and in decent condition, there are a good variety of holes to test the full game. Set in relatively open parkland, you’re not likely to lose too many balls either.
The greens, fairways and tees were all pretty good. Along with great views of the Pentland Hills, from a number of the holes, and this is a handy way to spend a little more than an hour grabbing a very quick game of golf.
The makeshift greenkeeping at the par three 8th hole, with the bricks shoring up the bunker lip:)
The highlights of the course for me, were the tricky uphill par three 3rd, where a difficult club choice awaits, followed by the long par four 4th (SI1), then the uphill par four 5th. Other than these 3 holes, the rest are birdie opportunities for many golfers.
The 4th at Melville, clearly the most difficult hole off yellow (par 4), but a relatively easy par 5, from the white.
This is no ‘pitch ‘n putt’, it’s a nice little course if you have a couple of hours free. I shot 39, seven over the yellow card of 32. This included a 6 at the par four 9th, where after losing my first drive right, my second drive went through the green at 270 yards – it was windy!
Why it attracted EU and Scottish Government money, is blog article for someone else.
