Category: 3 star (Page 2 of 14)

167. Uphall. 15 Oct 22.

July 19, 2023 / Moly McMillan

Quirky opening fairway at club with “progressive” ambitions.

Value for Money (out of 5) – 4

As a friendly Starter briefed me, I was pre-occupied by two groups of golfers only 40 yards in front of the first tee – one group on the 16th tee the other on the 2nd green. As a wayward driver, I was trying to remember if I had paid my annual golf insurance. His summarised message had been, “take great care!”.

**The good conditioning of Uphall seen from the 1st tee. It’s a hazardous area, with both teeing ground and greens in immediate view – take great care.**

Uphall’s first and second holes share a fairway with a green at either end, which I reasoned may have been okay at the turn of the 19th century, when balls didn’t travel so far and times were less litigious. I kept musing on this somewhat dangerous layout, my feelings later reinforced when I met a long standing member who told me “someone’s going to get seriously hurt one day”.

**The par 3 third hole – Uphall’s best hole in my opinion, where one has to avoid the Brox Burn.**

The golf course (in the village of the same name) sits either side of the A899 with holes 1 to 3, and 15 to 18 on the north side, and holes 4 through 14 on the south. It is near Junction 3 of the M8, and therefore very accessible from any direction.

**Autumn colour on display into the trickily placed 5th green, a short par 4.**

This Central Scotland location, coupled with the interesting course layout makes for a good society venue, albeit at the time of writing the club are yet to rebuild the clubhouse which was sadly burnt down during the Covid Pandemic.

**The mature Uphall parkland on view here as Fran drives at the tough par four 8th hole.**

Much of the course lies amongst mature parkland, once part of the Houstoun House Estate. The estate ‘castle’, dating back to 1598, is now a MacDonald Hotel, and sits behind the 4th, 5th and 6th holes.

At just 5366 yards from the yellow tees, with a slope rating of 113, I should have been challenging 80, whereas I didn’t break 100 in the wet and windy autumnal conditions. My score wasn’t helped by losing 3 balls in the leaves. It was very picturesque though with the trees in good colour.

**The par three 16th, “burn”, where good club selection is needed at this 95 yard hole (yellow).**

With four par threes and only one par five, the courses variety was aided by a good variety of par fours, from the drivable downhill second hole of 293 yards, to the stroke index 1, 14th at over 400 yards.

**Moly’s short approach into the par five 11th at Uphall.**

The course was in decent condition, with good turf, and is likely a delight on a dry Summer day. I paid only £18 through golfnow.com, a sizable discount on the £30 list price. Overall, I give this 4 out of 5 for value, and worth checking out. Just take great care on the first tee shot.

**The short dog leg right par four 17th hole at only 240 yards is a good birdie chance, but be mindful not to run out of fairway like Moly did.**

It’s worth noting the Club’s commitment to junior golfers, with its website declaring “a strong focus on the development of our Junior players”, well done.

Facts:

Round List Price £25. Actual Paid £18 using Golfnow.com

Course/Slope Rating (yellow) 65.9/113.

Course Type: Parkland

Par 69 (1 par 5s, 13 par 4s, 4 par 3s)

Distance (yellow): 5366 yards

**Moly’s scorecard – high winds didn’t help, but it was a poor day.**

157. Balfron Shian. 18 Aug 22.

January 6, 2023 / Moly McMillan

Quintessentially Scottish

Round £25. Par 72. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 68.5/124. Value (out of 5) – 5

Moly’s Score – 92

Balfron is a substantial village of over 2000 people in West Stirlingshire, only 16 miles north of Glasgow. Surrounded by the Campsie Hills and the Trossachs, I can’t sum up the golf course better than the clubs own promotional video;

“Scenic, secluded, special“.

**Typical August day in Scotland? Moly putts out on the 12th one of the easier par four holes at Balfron’s Shian course.**

The first Balfron golf course was established in 1905, but returned to agricultural use in 1939 to support the war effort. In 1991 a group of villagers founded the Balfron Golfing Society and a 9 hole course was finally established in 1994, no doubt after a great deal of hard work. The course was extended to 18 holes in 2001. The Balfron Society named the course “Shian”, which in Gaelic means peaceful.

**Moly gets ready to tackle the par five 15th, his only birdie of the day.**

The herculean efforts of the society has resulted in a really fine golf course, which feels more mature than it is. With outstanding views, lush moorland and the “honesty box” wooden clubhouse this is quintessential Highland Scottish golf.

The quaint clubhouse where Fran and Moly enjoyed an ‘honesty’ cuppa and chocolate bar.

When Fran and I played on a cloudy day in mid August, there was only one other two ball game on the course. It was certainly ‘secluded’ and we, in turn, felt ‘special’, playing that beautiful game of ‘millionaires’ golf that occasionally comes your way.

**Fran tees at the 9th, amidst the scenic ‘blooming heather’ West Stirlingshire surroundings.**

It’s certainly worth going out of your way to play The Shian course. At only £25, it is excellent value, since the course in no way feels a “self help’ set up. The greenkeeper Kevin Wilkie and his small team are doing a great job, with teeing grounds and greens both first class. There is excellent use of the natural surroundings and good use of the burn that runs through the 15th and 17th holes, these two holes being the stand out architecture, reminiscent of the great architectures of Braid or Alastair McKenzie.

**The burn running towards the 15th green, the par 5 of 513 yards.**

The course designer has done well to seamlessly join the original nine and the newer holes. Plus, the greens are worthy of note, being both undulating and at times bemusing. Thankfully, it’s also an open driving course, with almost no fairway bunkers, therefore the slope rating of 124 reinforces the trickiness of the remaining features.

**A typical aesthetically pleasing hole at Balfron Golf Society’s Shian course. The approach to the par four 8th hole.**

All in all, this is great fun golf. To top it off, do plan to have an ‘honesty” tea and snack in the delightful clubhouse. This is the sort of course that visiting tourists playing the established courses should take time to discover.

**The long par 4, 17th hole, a challenging hole. Don’t you just hate when you reach a long par 4 in two to then 3 putt for a bogie.**

With only around 300 or so members paying under £400, its critical for visitor income to ensure courses like The Shian survive.

On the day, I played solidly for a 92 and 32 stableford points.

Facts:

Course Type: Heathland

Par 72 (3 par 5s, 12 par 4s, 3 par 3s)

Distance (yellow): 5859 yards

Moly’s Gross score: 92

**Moly’s 92, a decent round on this delightful course**

151. Hazelhead Pines. 8 July 22.

October 27, 2022 / Moly McMillan

Decent course that highlights beautiful municipal pricing.

Round £27. Par 67. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 67.2/119. Value (out of 5) – 3.5

Sport Aberdeen is the local council’s vehicle for publicly funded sport, with its golf offer being managed under ‘Golf Aberdeen’. They manage 5 courses in total, with three of them ( two 18 holes and one 9 hole course) being at Hazelhead Park in the west of the city. The other two courses not at Hazelhead Park are Balnagask and Kings Links.

**First green at Hazelhead Pines, a straight forward par 3 to start. The clubhouse is in the background.**

All Golf Aberdeen 18 hole courses are priced at £27 for an individual round; albeit I was able to access Hazelhead Pines for only £22, through the Golfnow app.

The Pines course was originally a 9 hole course, but extended to 18 holes in the 1970s; it was designed by the golf architect Roger Dyer with the well known golfers Brian Hugget and Neil Coles. The three also designed other courses, including nearby Auchmill.

**The 5th, a par four over 400 yards, a characteristic hole at Hazelhead Pines**, **highlighting the rather tired looking teeing ground**

The best value option at Hazelhead Park, if your body can cope, is to pay the day rate of only £37, for which you can play all three of the park’s courses, which includes their “Jewel in the crown” – the MacKenzie Championship course. That being Dr Alister Mackenzie, one of the most pre-eminent golfing architects of all time, whose credits include Cypress Point, the West Course at Royal Melbourne and Augusta National.

**17th at Hazelhead Pines, with far reaching views over Aberdeen**

This highlights a pricing anomaly. The Pines course is a nice, but pretty basic layout. Fairly short, with generous fairways that have few bunkers, a number of the holes are unmemorable. The greens are good and some are well bunkered. Other than the teeing grounds, the course was in good condition and the price tag represents decent value. The Hazelhead Park MacKenzie course on the other hand, deserves its “championship” label – a much more sophisticated track, by one of the worlds greatest architects, could attract a much higher price than The Pines. But one could argue that providing both courses at the same price, is the hallmark of good municipal golfing management.

**Gary Fleming, of Dullatur GC, another golfer trying to play all Scotland’s golf courses**

One of the delights in playing Hazelhead Pines, was meeting up with fellow “Scottish Golf bagger” Gary Fleming, a member of Dullatur GC in Glasgow. Gary, a similar standard golfer to me, had played over 400 Scottish courses, and I was keen to pick his brains for any tips about value and planning. He had played in many Open competitions, winning a few of them – well done Gary and good luck with completing them all.

**The brilliant 8th green (shared with 13th) at Hazelhead Pines, showing one of the good greenside bunkers.**

Perhaps inspired by Gary, I played well, shooting 83, just 2 over net. Admittedly, the course actually played much easier than the excellent flyover videos available on the Sport Aberdeen website here would suggest – it’s not nearly as tight as it looks. In that regard the slope rating at 119 for the yellow tees feels a little high.

**Stroke Index two 4th at The Pines, a really tough par 4.**

It’s worth playing the Pines course, but if you can I suggest playing both on the same day for greatest value. That was what Gary did – he planned better than me!

Facts:

Course Type: Parkland

Par 67 (1 par 5s, 11 par 4s, 6 par 3s)

Distance (yellow): 5592 yards

Moly’s Gross score: 83

**Moly’s Hazelhead Pines scorecard – a solid 83**

147. Edzell West Water. 4 Jul 22.

October 5, 2022 / Moly McMillan

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

Category: 3 star (Page 2 of 14)

167. Uphall. 15 Oct 22.

157. Balfron Shian. 18 Aug 22.

151. Hazelhead Pines. 8 July 22.

147. Edzell West Water. 4 Jul 22.

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