Missed opportunity as the “First and Last” in Scotland.
Round £32. Par 70. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 68.8/124. Value (out of 5) – 3
Moly’s Score – 98
How many fuel stations or pubs on borders proclaim “First and Last”? Like many people, I suspect, I had no idea exactly where Hirsel Golf Club was. Conversely, ask Scots where Coldstream is and most would know the border town famed for the Coldstream Guards, the regiment formed in 1650 making it the oldest continuous serving unit of the British Army.
Hirsel Golf club, sits on the Hirsel Estate in Coldstream, the home of the son of the former Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home. A 9 hole course was designed and built by members in 1948, after the original course in Coldstream, called Lennel Golf Club, founded 1879, fell into some disrepair, a story covered in the website Forgotten Links.
Hirsel GC remained a 9 hole course until extended to 18 in 1996. The resulting layout is a rather jumbled affair, with a number of tee/green cross overs, which must make Open events a potentially hazardous affair. There is also a significant range of hole design quality, which comes I suspect from the extension. I find the club’s website banner headline “Arguably one of Scotland’s best kept secrets” true in the sense that it’s “unknown”, but the inference of it being a “Hidden Gem” is not what I found.
Despite the main Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns being over, I found a course in poor condition, with some bunkers appearing to imitate 19th century photos featuring Old Tom Morris himself. Nevertheless, with perhaps half dozen really good holes, I can see why it is a popular society day out, especially with the substantial club house overlooking the final green.
It does indeed have some tricky holes, notably the tough uphill par 3 third, played with a blind tee shot at well over 200 yards; it will play as a par four for most. The fairways are generous but miss them and card wrecking is the order of the day, as there are OOB on more than half the holes. As a testimony, I amassed 15 over par on only 3 holes, including a 10 on the 363 yard par four 17th.
Despite several holes being routed around “Leet Water”, a tributary of the Tweed, the river doesn’t come into play much. The best aspect of the course was the variety in hole lengths, the use of dog legs (on 5 holes) and the use of quite small greens often sloping front to back. Collectively the slope rating of 124 felt spot on for me.
At only £32 for a round, with discounts on offer though Golfnow (we paid only £22) it’s okay value, but with a bit of work, especially to the bunkers, it would be really worth playing at that price point.
As to the course name, here’s a suggestion. “Coldstream Golf Club – The First and Last in Scotland”. That would remove the secrecy.
Spectacular natural links, but undermined by misleading branding.
Round £100. Par 70. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 70.3/126. Value (out of 5) – 3
Moly’s score – 91
Golfers often stand on a tee and ask “Where’s the green?”. On Montrose’s first tee, I can imagine a newcomer to links golf asking “Where’s the course?”.
Montrose’s 1562 layout is one of the most natural of all links courses, and as such should be a priority for those wanting to experience this form of the game at its most basic.
Formerly named the Montrose Medal, the ‘1562’ label has only been used since 2018; ‘1562’ derived from the claim that golf has been played on the land from that year. The current course’s story and location actually begins in the 1860s, and evolved over a 50 year period during which a number of legends, starting with Old Tom Morris and ending with Harry Colt who designed the existing course in 1913. Colt had laid out the Montrose Broomfield course a few years earlier (My earlier blog here). So in fact, the more ‘junior’ of the two Montrose courses, ‘Broomfield’, actually pre-dates the ‘1562’ course!
Like a number of Scottish Links, there were several different golf clubs that played on the same course, often in club matches versus each other, but sadly only two of them – Royal Montrose Mercantile and Montrose Caledonia – still exist and can be used by visiting golfers.
The course is a really honest test of links golf, set on the robust and fast running links land of the Angus coastline. There are six northbound coastal holes, starting from the daunting 2nd, then turning back south for a couple of holes, before an east to west and back gorse-laden spur from holes 10 through 15.
The par three 16th and par four 17th are then two holes that are good enough for the Championship course of Carnoustie; fitting, as Montrose has been used as a Final Open Qualifying venue. Many a good round will have been destroyed on those late holes.
Unfortunately, when I played alongside 3 of my former Apex trustees, for the inaugural “Apex Trophy”, the course was not in great condition. We encountered the ‘choice’, but very accurate, language of a few local members of this hardy Angus town, mid way between the cities of Dundee and Aberdeen. I was ‘telt’ by an old guy (in his 80s, fully adorned in football colours) that “Son, the course is in its worst …… state I’ve ever seen and I’ve been a member for more than 50 years!”. It was certainly not conditioned good enough for the £65 twilight round fee, never mind the £100 daytime fee.
Nevertheless, the bunkers and greens were decent, and the quality of the layout and challenge was never in doubt, with the yellow tees still presenting 6137 yards in length. A strong wind would undo any golfer here.
I played pretty well for 91, but this was nowhere near good enough for the trophy with Gordon Samson shooting an excellent 83 (40 points), and will be severely cut for the next trophy outing!
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.
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 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.
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 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.
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.
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.
‘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).
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.
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 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.
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 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 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.
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!