Scotland Golf Bible

A guide to green fee value for money

Category: 4 star (Page 5 of 20)

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.

135. Bellshill. 28 Mar 22.

June 16, 2022 /

A great lesson in the use of internal OOB at this excellent course, built on a key social history site

Round £25. Par 69. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 68.3/120. Value (out of 5) – 4.5

I really liked playing Bellshill. Set in lovely parkland alongside Strathclyde Country Park, it is a popular venue for golfing societies given its central and easily accessed location. Founded in 1905, with 9 holes, and later extended to 18, it has an excellent history documented here by one of its former captains Alexander Gardner; it doesn’t record the course designer.

The quality is clear right at the start at Bellshill – here the long par four (449 yards) opening hole.

Look deeper into the course’s history and you uncover a remarkable story of societal development, that I suspect the vast majority of local golfers know nothing about.

It’s very fitting you enter the golf course through a humble, working class area. Go back 200 years and you would be sited on the Orbiston Community, set up by ‘Owenites’, the followers of the Welsh social reformer, Robert Owen (1771-1858). It was a community of ‘co-operation and equality and to social provisions, such as education and welfare’. Robert married a local Scottish woman, hence his association to Lanarkshire. Like many ‘utopian’ projects, it didn’t last forever, albeit the par three 8th hole is still called “Orbiston”.

Moly about to drive at the mid length 12th hole – the 351 yard par four, stroke index 6 hole. Beware the tree in the fairway at about 220 yards, just visible here.

The course has 9 holes either side of a main railway line, with the first five and last four being on the side of the clubhouse. There is excellent signage to navigate between holes and either side of the line.

If you look at the first hole and the last 4 holes, you get a sense that it was an experienced course architect who first laid out Bellshill. Variety, undulations, appropriate bunkering and good green surrounds are testament to the quality of the designer.

The brilliant short par four 6th hole. Both “easy” and a “potential nightmare”

There are some memorable holes, in my book most notably the sixth. A short par four of only 292 yards, from both white and yellow tees, it has a blind tee shot over a slight brow about 140 yards from the tee. With a green fronted bunker and a front to back sloping green, it is impossible to drive. I was very lucky to unknowingly hit driver, which came up just short of the bunker. With a front pin, it was then impossible to get close to. Somewhat lucky to get a par 4, I preceded to have an interesting conversation with a greenkeeper on the next hole. He said many members don’t like the 6th hole, but the more experienced golfers, “just hit two short irons hoping for a single putt”. Alternatively, with a good bunker game, a shot into the front green bunker is also an option. A good example of a short hole giving good options, at all levels.

Many courses can learn from Bellshill’s good use of an internal OOBs, here shown at the 4th hole where OOB is on the right of the hole.


The course had very few fairway bunkers, but that was compensated by many undulating greens, some very difficult. The good finish, from holes 15 to 18, includes some card wreckers, most notably the stoke index 4, 16th par four. The 18th, with OOB right, is also a difficult green to hit in two.

The 8th hole “Orbiston”, a tough par 3, named after the community founded by Robert Owen the 18th Century social reformer.

I had a solid game, scoring 88, or net 74, 5 over par. Any time over 30 points on a new course, I’m very satisfied. The condition of the course was superb when I played. At an annual membership just under £600, it represents a great value course to play on regularly amongst the many available in this urban area of Central Scotland.

The difficult par three 17th hole, ‘Babylon’, part of the very fine last four hole stretch at Bellshill.

I had a great and welcoming conversation with two local members in the changing rooms and did indeed get a feeling of ‘community’ which somehow felt right. They told me a great many members volunteer to maintain the course in such good condition. I was let wondering if they knew how fitting that was and how proud Robert Owen might have felt at that feeling of community.

Course Type: Parkland

Par 69 (0 par 5s, 15 par 4s, 3 par 3s)

Distance: 5818 (yellow)

Moly’s Gross score: 88

Moly’s 88 at Bellshill – a solid golfing day.

134. Fereneze. 27 Mar 22.

June 9, 2022 /

What a great surprise to find this course, so close to Glasgow

Round £30. Par 71. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 67.7/123. Value (out of 5) – 4.5

“Go and play Fer-En-Eeze”, said the helpful professional at Gailes Links in Irvine, when I told him my mission of playing all golf courses. “I’m talking about Scottish golf courses”, said I, thinking his suggestion sounded more Italian than Scottish. “It’s in Barrhead” he said. That, of course, didn’t make it any easier to understand the name.

The first, but by no means the last, magnificent view towards Glasgow. Here at the second, looking back towards the tee. A difficult short hole at 140 yards, playing at least 1-2 clubs longer.

Fereneze has been, to date, the most wonderful surprise of courses I’ve played. A quite remarkable heathland setting with exceptional views over Glasgow and the Clyde valley. Set only a few hundred feet above the tough town of Barrhead, a place more known for products most peed on by UK residents – i.e. Armitage Shanks porcelain!

The start of the moorland holes, the par five third, is also the most difficult hole at Fereneze. Keep your drive left to avoid finding the gorse at this left to right sloping hole (bottom right quadrant highlights).

The ‘rough’ town claim is well justified; when searching for information on Fereneze Golf Club you keep finding stories like local youths setting fire to the heathland or the greenkeepers spending much of their time cleaning up the cans and bottles from heathland parties. None of that, however, should put you off playing at Fereneze, which provides excellent value.

The lovely par three 7th at Fereneze at 148 yards.

As to the the origin of Fereneze golf club, little is really documented other than on its crest showing it was established in 1904. The club sadly no longer operates a web site. The course is situated on The Fereneze Hills and the origin of the name is reportedly from a Gaelic name “Fernieneese” as it is spelled in some old records—meaning, fern, or alder [reference: A History of the Parish of Neilston].

The drivable par four 9th at Fereneze, where Moly 4 putted from just off the front of the green….ouch!

Back to the golf course. The Gailes Links professional, was spot on. Fereneze is well worth a visit. After a severely uphill par four opening hole, followed by a tricky par three, your walk to the third tee leaves you in no doubt what you are then facing. A magnificent piece of moorland; dry fairways, gorse and broom in abundance. Thankfully, I played on an exceptionally dry and unseasonably warm March day. I can imagine this being a windswept landscape that takes no golfing prisoners.

A more successful hole for Moly, here just missing a birdie at the 320 yard par four 11th hole.

The course is a par 71, but relatively short at 5676 yards. Most of the variety is in the front nine, with the back nine having only one par three (the 14th) and the rest being par fours. That makes for a fairly imbalanced layout; with the last few holes being the most disinteresting. But there is still plenty of variety in the use of blind shots and dog legs, to retain your interest. The course was in excellent condition and playing like a June day, not a March one. For example, I nearly reached the green at the par four 9th (300 yards) and actually reached the green at the 377 yard 18th which was both downhill and downwind.

The severely downhill par four 18th hole at Fereneze, Moly 3 putted for par after driving the green. That typified the day really.

The greens were very fast and the sand excellent. Although generous off the tee, finding the rough or gorse tended to mean double bogie. Stay on the fairway, even if that means taking iron from the tees. I shot 92 for 30 stableford points, and felt I played more solidly than my score suggests.

The shop staff were a little cold, and not particularly helpful towards my wife in seeking where the ladies toilets were. It was the only downside of an otherwise memorable golfing day.

Course Type: Heathland

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

Distance: 5676 (yellow)

Moly’s Gross score: 90

Moly’s 90 at Fereneze, a course well worth playing.

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