A guide to green fee value for money

Category: Aberdeen City and Shire (Page 1 of 3)

153. Banchory. 10 July 22.

Dream society venue in this delightful Deeside setting.

Round £50. Par 69. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 67.1/123. Value (out of 5) – 4

Moly’s score – 91

Banchory golf course got me thinking about what makes for an ideal society venue. A course in great condition, with greens probably better than your home course. A beautiful and scenic surround. A challenge, but not one that will cost you half a dozen balls. A course that gives all handicaps a chance. Some short par 3s, to give a fun ‘nearest the pin’. Plus, a great clubhouse with good catering of course.

The short third hole, at 125 yards, where club selection will be a challenge for the visitor – I found the rear bunker ending up with a 6. Take two clubs less then yardage, into the right of the green.

I don’t think I’ve played a course that has greater society day credentials than Banchory; set in Royal Deeside in Aberdeenshire, the course is just over 5500 yards from the yellow tees. Set alongside the river Dee, the water only comes into play once, for any approach shot sliced into the par four 11th green. The course favours a drawer of the ball, with several OOB being to the right of the largely anti-clockwise routed layout. That was not always the case however – more of later.

The approach to the 4th, very typical of the course, where an umbrella is not normally needed for sun.

The course has six par threes and two par fives; it is rather imbalanced with a par of 32 for the front nine and 36 on the back. The par threes are the star here, with four of them (3rd, 9th, 12th and the 80 yard 16th) being both collectively varied and memorable.

The delightful par three 16th, the “‘Doo’ Cot” (in sight on the tower), at only 80 yards. Take a 95 yard club, anything longer will likely put you on the 1st fairway (like me), facing a daunting chip back.

The start of the course is marked by a nice memorial for Open Champion Paul Lawrie, who started his formative professional career here. Fittingly, ‘Chippy’s’ monument is made of granite.

The 12th, ‘The Wood’, aptly named as for lower handicaps that’s likely the correct club selection into this 171 yard par three, with a ‘hidden’ ditch guarding the green.

Opened in 1905, the original architect is not recorded anywhere I could find, but it is noted on several websites that the course was revamped in the 1990s, by architect John Souter. Speaking to a couple of local members about some unusually sited greenside bunkers, I was told that this was a result of the revamp which changed course routing, but didn’t redesign all the greenside bunkers.

The three ‘blind’ bunkers behind the 14th green, make sense when you realise they used to be on the left of the approach to this rerouted hole. This makes for an odd resulting architectural feature

We played on a spectacularly warm day, with the course in great condition. Fast running fairways actually caused some long drives to find bunkers I would never normally reach, but I was compensated by being able to reach the par five 15th, at 490 yards, in two, resulting in a 2 putt birdie, a rare event in my golfing life.

The approach to the dog leg right par four 8th hole, worthy of being SI 4 at Banchory.

Although fairly open parkland, the trees are widely dispersed and come into play a lot. You’re always likely to find a stray shot, but you’ll probably be penalised. Additionally, most of the bunkers are fairly deep, meaning they are a proper hazard, thankfully the sand is very good. The greens were true, but slower than anticipated. I felt I played generally well, but still racked up 91, 9 over my net handicap.

‘Laird’s Cast’, the 150 yard 9th hole, with the best green surround (in my opinion) at Banchory. I think it’s tougher that SI16.

Banchory is good value golf, especially when using a Golfnow discount – we paid only £23. I can understand why it is such a desirable and popular visitors course.

The impressive clubhouse, looking over the finishing hole at Banchory.

Facts:

Course Type: Parkland

Par 67  (1 par 5s, 13 par 4s, 4 par 3s)

Distance (yellow): 5567 yards

Moly’s Gross score: 91

Moly’s Banchory scorecard – 91

151. Hazelhead Pines. 8 July 22.

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

149. Paul Lawrie Golf Centre. 6 Jul 22.

Sublime attention to detail at Paul Lawrie’s brilliant golf centre

Round £15. Par 29. Course Rating / Slope Rating (white) 29.2/94. Value (out of 5) – 5

This nine hole course opened in 2005 as the Aspire Golf Centre, named after a boat operated by trawler fisherman John Duthie, the original owner. Open Champion Paul Lawrie bought the centre in 2012 and it has gone from strength to strength, providing one of the best all round facilities in Scotland, equipped with ‘top tracer’ driving range, bookable practice areas, a large golf shop and excellent restaurant.

The tricky first hole at Paul Lawrie’s golf centre – avoid the right of the green!

The course itself is a beauty, designed by Old Meldrum’s Graeme Webster and built to US PGA standards. It could easily be argued as the best nine hole course in Scotland. Although short, it has four tee options providing a variety of challenges, it has been good enough to host national 9 hole Par 3 competitions. It only has two par 4s, when played from the white tees, which I used to play my round.

The 3rd green, the stroke index one hole at only 145 yards, which has a devilish bunker and water on the left side of the green, hidden from view from the tee.

The green complexes are challenging, with well positioned bunkers and undulating surfaces they force you to be mindful of where to miss. There are some particularly clever and deceptive run off areas which are blind from the tee. The rough is very whispy and gives some shots a links land feel – none more so than at the first, where I thought I had played into the right side of the green, only to eventually find my ball in the rough; there was a bonus of finding 6 other balls!

The aesthetically framed 4th hole, which plays as a par four from this tee.

To score well you need to have a first class short game, perhaps that’s what attracted “Chippy” Lawrie to buy the course. When I played, I saw Paul heading off to the driving range with a large number of clubs, testimony to the effort required to maintain your game at the highest standard.

The 5th, one of the two holes, which, from the white tees, plays as a par four.

The course is great value for annual membership at just over £300 and is sometimes used as a second club by members of nearby world class Aberdeenshire links courses because the practice arrangements are so good. I met up during my game with Murcar Links member, Alex Singer, who typifies these local golfers who make full use of the Paul Lawrie Centre.

Murcar Links member Alex Singer, chipping onto the 8th green.

On a windy day, I was very happy with my score of 38 – although 9 over par, this included two triple bogies, at the first and 4th, both short par threes.

The well maintained bookable practice area at the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre.

Every aspect of the Centre is first class, a testimony to Paul Lawrie’s attention to detail. Right down to the Seniors’ rate of only £12, that I paid, and the many Kids coaching courses the centre runs throughout the year. Well done ‘Chippy’, you are a legend.

Facts:

Course Type: Parkland

Par 29  (0 par 5s, 2 par 4s, 7 par 3s)

Distance (white): 1560 yards

Moly’s Gross score: 38

Moly’s Paul Lawrie Centre scorecard – 38, including 5 pars and 2 triple bogies!

85. Portlethen. 2 Sep 2018.

The “Committee Only” Car Park sums up why Golf has to change to survive.

Round £45.   Par 70.  Value (out of 5) – 3

Portlethen, about 7 miles south of Aberdeen, on the A90,  is one of the fastest growing areas in Scotland over the last 30 years.  When the golf course was opened in 1989 the population was recorded as 1500, yet in 2011 it was over 7000 – no doubt driven by the North Sea oil boom.   With the opening of the substantial Aberdeen bypass imminent, Portlethen continues to grow, albeit the area is also suffering from the collapse in oil prices in 2015.

The welcome wasn’t warm at Portlethen – Beware of any clubs with “Committee Only” anything. No wonder some clubs are struggling.

The course, designed by the renowned Donald Steel, along with the substantial clubhouse, seems apt testimony to the ambitions of the area.  Yet somehow, for me, the course fails to deliver on the initial optimism demonstrated by the designer chosen.  When asked what I thought of Portlethen, my answer was “It’s OK”, which sums up my experience.

The 4th at Portlethen, one of the best holes.

It’s a generous parkland setting, and after a few ordinary holes, the 4th tee provides an excellent view of the par 5 signature hole;  after a good drive I hit an excellent 3 wood over the pond guarding the green – my best strike of the day – which caught the top of a large tree and ended in the water.  The 5th is also a picturesque water featured par 3.  After those highlights, I thought the course somewhat fell away in quality, other than the superb 15th, the SI 2 par 4, which also had a green fronted by water.

The difficult par 4 15th at Portlethen.

The course was in reasonably good condition.  But it was the lack of welcome which stuck with me.  As a www.teeofftimes.co.uk customer I was advised I would be paired together – not a problem, but expressed in a manner that made me feel a second class citizen.  However, shortly thereafter, I was advised I could play on my own as there was space on the tee!  Nevertheless, my round was very slow, and it was clear that people in front of me were determined not to let me through, even when there was space in front.

The aesthetic 5th at Portlethen, a short iron par 3.

This seemingly unfriendly approach by a couple of players cannot, of course, be judged representative – however, when I saw the size of the “Committee Only” car park, this seemed so representative of the welcome I’d received.

My overall assessment was that Portlethen was about a 3 for value.  The club’s website makes a big sell of “The Portlethen Experience” – but I must say, for me, it just felt a little bit pretentious overall.

On the day I played well for my net 71.

Facts:

Course Type: Parkland

Par 70 (3 par 5s, 10 par 4s,  5 par 3s)

Distance (yellow): 5747 Yards

Moly’s Gross score: 88

Moly’s Portlethen 88, with only 1 lost ball – which was the best strike of the day, including direction!

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