Scotland Golf Bible

A guide to green fee value for money

Category: 4 star (Page 4 of 20)

146. Auchterarder. 3 July 22.

September 14, 2022 /

Stroll the Gleneagles landscape at 20% of the cost.

Round £50. Par 69. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 65.7/114. Value (out of 5) – 5

Wonderful Perthshire views. Firm heathland turf. Magnificent greens and teeing grounds. It really could be Gleneagles. But whereas playing the PGA Centenary Course will set you back £250, next door Auchterarder will be £50 for a mid week summer round; I paid only £35 for a weekend twilight for a beautiful early evening game, representing incredible value.

Moly tees off at the 10th at Auchterarder, with the Gleneagles PGA course, venue of the 2014 Ryder Cup, in the background.

Having previously been brutally exposed on the Gleneagles Ryder Cup layout, I continually wonder why ordinary golfers like me are willing to pay huge fees for golf courses that just highlight their golfing deficiencies. I can well imagine the humour value for the Auchterarder members, who pay £670 for annual membership, looking across at the well heeled swings next door.

Challenging first hole, ‘Deils Dyke’, at Auchterarder – 360 yards from the yellow tees played into the prevailing wind.

Auchterarder was designed as a 9 hole course by the legendary Ben Sayers in 1913, some 6 years before The Kings Course at Gleneagles was laid out, making Auchterarder the senior member of the local golf courses. The course went through plenty of disruption around WW2, but was subsequently reconstructed and then extended to an 18 hole course in 1979, partly through the demand created by the Gleneagles Hotel establishing its reputation as one of the world’s great golfing resorts.

The brilliant golfing entrepreneur Ben Sayers, the designer of Auchterarder, here depicted in his younger and older self.

The current course is an absolute cracker. Short, at 5357 from the yellow tees most visitors will use, this course gives you a chance to play to your handicap, making it an attractive amateur open venue, especially given its highly rated kitchen.

The 16th, ‘Gulley Brae’, a long and challenging par three, needing driver for most.

Surrounded by hills the course itself is an easy walk, amidst well maintained pines and other trees that frame many holes but don’t overly narrow the generous fairways.

The typically picturesque short par three 8th hole at Auchterarder.

The course is very well maintained and was in immaculate condition, the bunker sand in particular being in perfect order. The greens were firm, but gave good purchase for well struck irons. Beware the rough though, which was very whispy and will wrap the club for most players.

The brilliant green at the par 4 seventh hole, one of Moly’s disasters.

My only misgiving with Auchterarder was that it is set on a fairly small parcel of land, which means there is some ‘criss-crossing’ of holes, with some slightly reverse walks between greens to tees, to facilitate the yardage. A few times I came across ‘lost’ balls in the fairway which could have come from one of two adjacent holes. I can imagine many balls being ‘found’ that were actually ‘in play’ for others. These comments are perhaps a little over critical.

Fran at the short par four 13th, ‘Ochil View’, with the Gleneagles backdrop in the distance.

I played really well for my 83, especially my back nine of 38. My 14 over par, included two triple bogie 7s; one of those was on the very aptly named ‘Dinnae Stray’ seventh hole, where having hit two good shots onto the front of the very large green , I proceeded to take 5 shots to get down and they were not all putts!

Auchterarder is 5 star value golf. Take note of the clever hole names, which are a delight.

Facts:

Course Type: Heathland

Par 69 (3 par 5s, 9 par 4s, 6 par 3s)

Distance (yellow): 5357 yards

Moly’s Gross score: 83

Moly’s very solid 83 at Auchterarder

142. Kingsknowe. 23 May 22.

August 5, 2022 /

Brilliantly priced golf course with divergence of views

Round £35. Par 69. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 68/113. Value (out of 5) – 4.5

When I played Kingsknowe, pronounced Kings-NOW, on a magnificent May day, with clear skies and beautiful views, I was struck by how much the surroundings of the golf course must have changed over the last 100 years, since its foundation in 1908. It has literally ‘lived’ amongst the great social changes of the 20th Century.

Great downhill par three first of 167 yards, a tough par to start, with longstanding views towards the Queensferry Crossing, the Tillicoultry Mountains and Ochil Hills

Sitting on the western side of Edinburgh, Kingsknowe is only 4 miles from Edinburgh Castle, obviously well within the city boundary. However, go back over 100 years, and the course would have been surrounded by countryside. At the time, the nearby Union Canal, was one of the main traffic routes near the course.

The long third hole, 470 yards, into the prevailing wind, with Arthurs Seat in the background.

Initially laid out by the 1902 ‘Champion golfer of the year’ Alec Herd, the first major impact the club suffered was the loss, during WWI, of 27 of its members, commemorated by a plaque in the clubhouse and recorded on the Imperial War Museum website here. During the second world war, by which time James Braid had been commissioned to implement some architectural changes, some of his changes were turned to farming use to support the war effort.

The justifiably chosen stroke index 1, par four, 5th hole, at well over 400 yards.

The course opens with a tricky par three, very untypical of a Braid Course, which normally has a straight forward short par four to get things going. The course character is further reinforced with the dog leg right 2nd, then a long par five into the prevailing wind. Playing to handicap through the first three is a challenge.

The 10th green, with the dominating views of Wester Hailes housing estate. Many of the holes could be named “Wester Hailes”

With several more undulating and dog legs, I was very surprised by the Slope Rating of only 113 (yellow), but I guessed this may be due to its relatively short length and the fact that there are no – yes zero – fairway bunkers. This bunker situation makes me question the validity of Braid’s involvement in the design, as he placed so much emphasis on this element of architecture. If anyone knows of his exact involvement, that would be interesting.

The actual “Wester Hailes” hole, 12th par 4, surprisingly not the one with most views of the estate.

Another great social change, is highlighted at the 12th, “Wester Hailes”, a mid length par 4. Named after the revolutionary housing development immediately to the north of the course, the social housing is actually visible on a great number of the holes. The large and formidable wrought iron boundary fence, tells only a fraction of the story.

Following slum closures elsewhere in Edinburgh, in the 60s, Wester Hailes, a development of over 4000 homes was to be one of the most ambitious housing projects in Europe. It transpired within 20 years into a haven of crime in which parts of the development were referred to as “Vietnam”. The Edinburgh News writes about “How a field of Dreams turned into a Concrete Jungle“. The building of the housing required the culverting of the Union Canal.

Whilst the ‘polis’ were dealing with major crime one side of the golf course, just over the fairways sits Merchiston Castle, the last all male boarding school in Scotland. Such a contrasting start to life, so close to each other. I wonder what percentage of the membership is from Wester Hailes?

17th, “Plateau”, a short par 4, where like many I suspect I grossly under-clubbed with my second shot. Take 3 more clubs.

Back to the golf – tree lined, but not interfering too much, Kingsknowe, with its fine clubhouse, serves as a excellent society day. It’s is very well priced for visitors, I got a rate of only £22 through Golfnow, but the full summer fee of £35 still represents excellent value.

The course was in excellent condition, especially the teeing grounds. The greenside bunkers were great, highlighting the lack of fairway bunkers hadn’t diminished the green keeping skills.

The magnificent clubhouse as a backdrop to the welcoming 18th green.

In a very high wind, up to 30 mph, I shot 87, four over net. This included almost driving the short par 4 finishing hole, but ending in a small copse left of the green. I won’t describe the rest of my play in recording a 7, but still came back in 40 shots.

Well worth playing at this well manicured and highly enjoyable course, where the hole names are also worth taking note with their clues – “Wee Drap”!

Course Type: Parkland

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

Distance: 5728 (yellow)

Moly’s Gross score: 87

Moly’s Kingsknowe scorecard, 87. Good back nine of 40, including a tripple bogie on 18th!

139. Balbirnie Park. 19 May 22.

August 2, 2022 /

One of the top parkland courses in Fife

Round £50. Par 71. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 69.3/126. Value (out of 5) – 4.0

Most people who live on the East Coast of Scotland, will know of Markinch as a railway station on the main Aberdeen to Edinburgh line. Like me, they may have passed through here hundreds of times, but never stopped.

Markinch actually had its own town sited golf course in the first half of the 20th century, but it closed just after the second world war due to disrepair; however, I understand that the “golf club” retained some sort of existence playing at other nearby courses.

The challenging par four 3rd hole. A dog leg right, of only 327 yards (yellow), yet the SI 6 comes from the hazardous green complex. Par is a very good score here.

During the 1960s the Glenrothes Development Corporation purchased Balbirnie Estate, located between Glenrothes and Markinch, which had been owned by the Balfour family for almost 300 years. They commissioned a golf course, which Markinch GC leases.

The former Balbirnie estate house is now also a 4-star hotel, which is close to, but separately managed from, the golf club.

A characteristic layout, here at the 13th at Balbirnie Park, a shortish dog-leg (left) yet one of the tougher holes, this time dominated by the tee shot.

The current 18 hole course opened in 1984, and is set in a substantial wooded area, in two loops of nine holes, at well over 6000 yards, this undulating course is a tough walk. It is a balanced layout, with trees almost always in play, other than some of the par 3s, with the front nine being slightly shorter mainly due to having only one par 5.

Fran driving at the uphill mid to long iron par three, the best of the short holes at Balbirnie Park.

It has been well designed by Fraser Middleton, a relatively unknown architect, who surprisingly has only 2 other courses I could find on his CV – West Lothian and Hounslow in West London, what an interesting threesome of courses?

The raised green at the par four 9th hole, a strong end to the front nine at Balbirnie Park. You come in from the right here, the left part of the picture is to the first green

The abiding architectural characteristic I picked up on, was that at least half of the holes had either dog legs or blind tee or approach shots – some all three. This necessitates a good appreciation of your yardages and access to a hole planner is useful. It was especially pleasurable, therefore, to play with the same ball, not a common occurrence. This contributed to my decent score of 91, net 75, for 4 over my handicap of 16. A very good score for me on a windy, but warm, day.

The tight tee shot at the long par four 12th hole, the SI 1 hole.

The course was in superb condition, the only note of criticism I could give was the fringes of the bunkering was a little tired. The teeing grounds were delicious.

The par three eleventh green, typical of the rather open par threes, the weakest part of the layout – as can be seen, make sure you play long here.

In a land of Links, Balbirnie Park golf course may arguably be the best parkland course in Fife; albeit the ‘best parkland’ list might also include The Dukes (at St Andrews), Aberdour and Dunfermline (Pitreavie), all great courses.

The rather austere clubhouse at the fine finishing hole at Balbirnie Park. Beware the blind second shot, as the burn in front of the green is reachable for even mid handicaps players. I luckily reached the tree, leaving a simple chip for a birdie chance (missed!)

Nevertheless, this is easily in the top 50 parkland courses in Scotland, and represents good value at £50, but using the great offers on Golfnow I managed to pay just £22, an almost 60% discount, so really 5 star value if you get one of those last minute rates.

Moly’s approach at the 16th, a difficult par four and SI 3.

I suspect the pricing is depressed a little due to the distance Glenrothes is from both the St Andrews area, and Edinburgh. This benefits greatly those going to play here.

Course Type: Parkland

Par 71 (3 par 5s, 11 par 4s, 4 par 3s)

Distance: 5957 (yellow)

Moly’s Gross score: 91

Moly’s scorecard at Balbirnie Park – a 91 at one of the top parkland courses in Fife.

137. Dunnikier Park. 17 May 22.

June 28, 2022 /

Fife Golf Trust knocks it out the park with this brilliant value course.

Round £26. Par 72. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 69.9/128. Value (out of 5) – 5

Dunnikier Park golf course, in Kirkcaldy, in the very heart of Fife, is one of 7 courses managed by the Fife Golf Trust which was established in 2011 to take over Fife Council’s directly managed courses; the course is arguably their flagship.  The Dunnikier Park Golf Club is private, like many Scottish clubs associated with public courses.

The first, a par 4 of nearly 400 yards, at Dunnikier Park. A brilliant municipal golf course.

The course was established in 1963, build on land given by the Oswald family to the “people of Kirkcaldy” and was the local town council’s very first municipal course. And what a beauty it is. Designed by J E Strutt, It has generous fairways, is well bunkered and with many undulating holes, it is a tough walk at well over 6000 yards. The golf club website also contains a delightful history written to make the 50th anniversary of the course here.

The par five 9th green, with Dunnikier House hotel the former Oswald family residence.

Fife Golf trust offers incredible value golf. A “Fife Rover” season ticket to play all their seven courses is only £347. Many golfers will then choose to join one of the collocated golf clubs, for all the normal club social and competitive benefits, which for Dunnikier Park is only £120 per year.

The greens at Dunnikier are first class, here shown at the greenside of the long par three 3rd hole.

The course is very balanced, with each nine having two par 3s and 5s. A burn runs through the course and comes into play on about half the holes; it is often submerged in under fairway piping, but opened up and cuts into the fairways on each side, often at the typical amateur’s driving length. The best example of this being the par 5 “Lang Whang” 9th hole. It’s worth buying the course planner book, to check this unusual feature out, the book being another measure of the professionalism of Fife Golf Trust.



The 8th, a 350 yard par 4, at Dunnikier Park, typical of the course and showing its undulating nature.

The course was in excellent condition when I played, with bunker conditioning on a par with many of the top courses I’ve played. My only slight criticism is that the greens could have done with being mown – but that does not detract from the green consistency and quality.

The tough uphill par four 17th hole, stroke index 5. Many a match play will be settled here I suspect.

It I ever write a golf book it will be called “Golf, it’s a Fucking Mystery”. My round immediately prior to Dunnikier Park had many disasters and I had started to shank my irons and afterwards threatened to ‘give up golf’. My very next round is then at Dunnikier and my best ever blog game, shooting gross 84, for 40 points, with no blobs and a nice birdie on the par four 4th hole. Like I said, “A mystery”.

Of course, any golfing book I write will not be a game improvement book. Except with one exception perhaps, a story of encouragement. As a member of Monifieth GC for several years I played a number of times with and against “Hutch”; in our Seniors Winter league on the Ashludie course (par 68; SSS of 65), “Hutch” was allocated a handicap of plus 6, as he was after all in his mid 70s. When I mention this golfing handicap to others, a state of their disbelief descends upon me.

How delighted I was, therefore, to read in the history of Dunnikier Park, one of their own great golfers, Davie Gray, who won their club championship a dozen times and about every club open in Fife – an impressive CV. He was asked for the history about the best golfer he ever played with, he said:

“Without equal, Ian Hutcheon of Monifieth, and I’ve also played with, when they were top amateurs, Nick Faldo, Lee Westwood, Colin Montgomery, Andrew Oldcorn, Andrew Coltart and Stephen Gallacher”.

So it was at Dunnikier Park, I once more came across the legend of Ian “The Hutch” Hutcheon.

Course Type: Parkland

Par 72 (4 par 5s, 10 par 4s, 4 par 3s)

Distance: 6116 (silver)

Moly’s Gross score: 84

Moly’s best blog score for a long time. Gross 84.
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