Scotland Golf Bible

A guide to green fee value for money

Category: 3.5 star (Page 2 of 10)

160. Ladybank. 21 Aug 22.

January 15, 2023 /

One of Scotland’s highest rated heathland courses.

Round £120. Par 71. Course Rating / Slope Rating (white) 73.6/133. Value (out of 5) – 3.5

Moly’s score – 97

Fife has some of the world’s greatest links golf courses, but at Ladybank, only 15 miles west of St Andrews, you will find a heathland golf course rated in Scotland’s top 50. Used as a final qualifying venue for The Open, when hosted in St Andrews, Ladybank is a great test of your game.

The green at the first at Ladybank, a good par 4 of 373 yards, lets you know what you are in for.

The course is in an area called the Howe of Fife, a low-lying strip of land that follows the course of the River Eden towards St Andrews. This flat piece of land was mostly marshland and peat bog before 1800, and the village was originally named Lady’bog’ by the monks of Lindores Abbey from Newburgh.

The par four 5th, so characteristic of Ladybank.

For some unrecorded reason the railway station, built in the 1840s, was called Ladybank, after which time the village adopted this name. So the golf course can trace its name to a railway station.

The 10th at Ladybank, a par 3 of 172 yards, with the beautiful heathland terrain on show.

Unlike the station, which is one of the most unchanged in Scotland, the golf course has undergone an evolution. In 1879, 6 holes were laid out by Old Tom Morris, who being 58 was past his golfing peak but golf course design was becoming much called for. The course became 18 holes only in 1962, designed by Laurie Auchterlonie (son of Open Champion Willie Auchterlonie), but you wouldn’t be able to choose which was the most recent 9, because the course flows so well.

Kilsyth member Ian Carstairs driving at the 14th, a very strong par 4 over 400 yards.

It’s a classic low-lying heathland setting. Flat terrain, fast running sandy turf, set amongst pine and silver birch trees, with great natural drainage. The club’s emblem is a red squirrel, the heathland setting providing an ideal habitat.

April Carstairs hits her second shot at the par 5 13th hole.

I can understand why some people find such heathland settings a little repetitive , with most holes being tree lined, obscuring any surrounding landscape. In Ladybank’s case, this is more than overcome by spectacular greenside design, a number of subtle dog leg left and right holes, genuine par 5s and a strong set of par 3s. This is the type of course better players will have to choose which side of the fairways to avoid being short sighted into the green. It deserves the high slope rating of 133 from the white tees.

The 3rd, with its brilliant green, a difficult par 4. Leaving it a bit short was a good result.

Fran and I played in the Mixed Pairs event, one of several open competitions held at Ladybank each year. Open events are a great Scottish tradition, which started in the mid 1800s, at the embryonic time of golf’s domestic growth. We paid only £60 per pair, incredible value. The full rate for a round of £120 is, I believe, starting to price out most Scottish peripatetic golfers, hence the growing popularity of open competitions. We were paired with Kilsyth members, couple Ian and April Carstairs, and we had a great time playing in their company.

The 9th, so characteristic of Ladybank.

We played well collectively, with a better ball 68 (3 under), finishing 27th of 70 pairs. The course was suffering from the recent dry spell with fairways burnt and incredibly fast running. The greens were firm and very fast. Despite the abundent trees, they were well managed and balls could easily be found. If I was to play again I would take more notice to the distances to the flags, as there was quite a lot of dead ground, which coupled to the length of greens could make 2 or 3 clubs extra needed to what a shot might look like.

Worth playing Ladybank, a great open venue.

Facts:

Course Type: Heathland

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

Distance (white): 6616 yards

Moly’s Gross score: 97

Moly’s individually kept scorecard of 97, which contributed to Fran and his net 3 under for the Mixed Pairs Open at Ladybank.

151. Hazelhead Pines. 8 July 22.

October 27, 2022 /

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

144. Lochend Craigentinny. 25 May 22.

August 14, 2022 /

Municipal courses like ‘The Tinny’ are at risk from green fee apps

Round £27.50. Par 67. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 64/108. Value (out of 5) – 3.5

Edinburgh Leisure, runs 6 municipal golf courses across Edinburgh on behalf of the council, including Craigentinny, an 18 hole course on the east of the city between Leith and Portobello, just off the A199.

From left, Gordon, Frank, Brian and Moly at the 18th, with 40 mph winds to help put 3 OOB.

“The Tinny”, as it is known, is a decent little course at just over 5000 yards (yellow). It has no par 5s, and only one of the par 4s, the 10th, is over 400 yards. With wide open parkland, light rough and only a handful of fairway bunkers to speak of – there were signs of some bunkers having been filled in – the Slope Rating of 108 (yellow) lets you know this is ‘friendlyish’ golf.

Gordon driving at the 7th, a par 4 of 274 yards, with the social housing that surrounds “The Tinny”

Perhaps uniquely, the most difficult two holes are par 3s; the long 13th (234 yards) and 4th (216 yards), being stroke index 1 and 2 respectively. I have never come across this situation with a golf course before. The five par 3s are the best of this course.

Moly at the well bunkered 6th, supposedly the easiest hole.

The course was in good condition, with the small greens being the highlight. There was potential to move on to the wrong holes, with a few long walks between green to tee and no tee box marking. Referral to the scorecard map is essential, as its easy to get waylaid looking at the fine views of Arthur’s Seat from many of the holes.

Brian played a good bunker shot at the 6th green.

I played alongside my former Apex Scotland board members. The charity continues to do sterling work supporting people with convictions back into the workplace and society.

We had a competitive game, albeit we all (bar Brian who scored a fine 32 points) suffered from the very high winds that got up to about 40 mph, especially on the back 9. No matter how easy the course is, 40 mph is going to be penal!

Frank playing one of his “Links” shots into the 9th, with Arthur’s Seat in the background.

There are no specific council facilities at the course, other than a kiosk, toilet and a basic vending machine in the “pavilion” style ‘clubhouse’. There is however, a co-located clubhouse for the Lochend Golf Club, named after the nearby Lochend Loch, which play at “The Tinny”, hence the blog and course is called “Lochend Craigentinny”.

Lochend Golf Club does have a lengthy history, dating back to the 1700s, albeit they didn’t play at “The Tinny” till it opened in 1908, a few years after the Council banned golf at the then open Leith Links. The club costs an additional £177 for its annual fee, to get access to to the usual club benefits. The clubhouse was closed when we played, hence why the lack of Council provided facilities were brought into focus. Thankfully, nearby Newhaven, where we retired to afterwards, has arguably the best fish restaurant in Scotland!

The par four 10th, over 400 yards, is the longest hole and typical of “The Tinny”

An annual 7 day ticket for the 6 municipal courses costs £500, incredible value. An individual visitor green fee on any of the 18 hole courses is £27.50, again decent value, but this pricing is starting to look relatively expensive when set alongside the offers available through golf fee apps, led by Golfnow. On any given weekday, you can play much better nearby courses than Craigentinny, at significantly lower than £27.50; including Newbattle, Baberton, Turnhouse and Royal Mussleburgh. Some Scottish Councils (such as South Ayrshire and Aberdeen) are offering discount pricing through Golfnow, and I think Edinburgh Leisure would do well to consider that.

The Stroke Index 1 hole – the long par three 13th hole, at 234 yards.

Overall, I would say this is “an average Municipal course”, and will need to keep a keen eye on visitor income, which will be an increasing challenge from apps such as Golfnow.

Facts:

Course Type: Parkland

Par 67 (0 par 5s, 13 par 4s,  5 par 3s)

Distance (yellow): 5141 yards

Moly’s Gross score: 88

Moly’s 88 at “The Tinny”, with the back 9 explained by 40 mph wind.

138. Cupar. 18 May 22.

July 21, 2022 /

Don’t get confused by historic rhetoric – you play the course, not the ‘club’.

Round £16. Par 33. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 31.9/114. Value (out of 5) – 3.5

Cupar is a quaint 9 hole course in the town of the same name, only 10 miles to the west of St Andrews.

The web site and a sign at the first hole declare you’re playing at “the oldest 9 hole golf club in the world”. Dig just a little under the surface and you realise this is just a trifle disingenuous.

The delightful and fun sign on near the first at Cupar.

Firstly, you play on a golf course, not on a golf club. So whilst Cupar Golf Club was founded in 1855, it was at a 6 hole course (note not 9) some distance from the current location, which is in the Hilltarvit area of Cupar.

The green at the short 6th, which plays much longer that the yardage, perhaps 3 clubs longer. Try and look closely you’ll note the greens could have been better.

After an interesting first 40 years of existence, during which the Cupar Golf Club located and played at Ladybank golf course, this current 9 hole layout which plays across the slope of Tarvit Hill was laid out in 1896, after a few years of a more “up and down” layout.

Moly at the 255 yard par 4 third hole from the well prepared teeing ground

Do some research and you uncover there are a number of 9 hole courses still in play from the early 1890s, with nearby Anstruther (click for my blog), being a good example.

Set aside the longevity, and you do have a delightful little fun course to play, along with its nice wooden clubhouse.

The tricky surrounds of the green at the 7th, a par 4 of 344 yards.

The course was in pretty good condition, although the greens were soft in places and many pitch marks had not been repaired, which was a shame.

Fran at the 8th, with long reaching views and showing the sloping fairways that await you at Cupar.

Although set on a hill, with great views over the town and surrounding countryside, many of the holes played across the slopes so it was a much easier walk that we had envisioned.

The last hole!

I played very well, in blustery conditions, for a 41, 7 over, which was about to handicap for the 9 holes. I drove to 4 feet at the last (see photo above) but missed my birdie putt.

It’s well worth playing Cupar, but don’t buy any of the “oldest” stuff, is my steer. But don’t take my word for it – check out the nice history overview on the web site here and make your own mind up.

Cupar GC allow bookings direct on their BRS system, where I got a decent discount and paid only £13 for 9 holes. Good value.

Lastly, don’t put Hill of Tarvit into your sat nav, as you’ll end up a few miles south at Kingarrock Hickory golf course, another place well worth a visit.

Course Type: Parkland

Par 33 (0 par 5s, 6 par 4s, 3 par 3s)

Distance: 2376 (white)

Moly’s Gross score: 41

Moly’s Cupar 9 hole scorecard – 41, net 34, 1 over par. A good day in blustery conditions.
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