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.
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 ‘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.
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].
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.
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 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
