I love marketing using “it does exactly what it says on the tin“.
Most Scots know where the Kincardine Bridge is, but few know where Tulliallan is. Tulliallan Golf Club is less than a mile north of the Kincardine Bridge which crosses the Firth of Forth about 20 miles west of Edinburgh, at a cross roads of several Scottish Counties, including Stirlingshire, Fife and Perthshire.
The tough par four uphill 3rd hole, at well over 400 yards, rightly the stroke index 1.
‘Tulliallan’, meaning ‘beautiful knoll’ in Gaelic, was the name of an estate owned by the Lairds of Blackadder, which is unusual given the Blackadder Clan (now defunct) were from Berwickshire. The original 9 hole golf course was founded in 1902 with 5 holes occupying the ground of Blackadder Castle (sometimes called the Old Tulliallan Castle). For the record the New Tulliallan Castle, built in the 19th Century, is home of the Scottish Police College. The golf clubhouse bisects the two castles which are only a mile apart.
The short par four 262 yard 11th, a potential card wrecker or equally a birdie chance.
As with many courses of the age it was fairly quickly extended 18 although I couldn’t find out the architect, which is a shame as it’s a decent layout. The course makes good use of the gently sloping lands and excellent use of the burns. With some blind shots and sparse, but effective, bunkering, it’s slope rating of 122 means its a decent test.
The approach towards the par four 8th, at 389 yards, with water determining strategy from the tee.
The course was wet when we played, but other than some casual water on the first and last it had withstood the heavy rain well. To prevent mud paths, the club had introduced a clever winter routing altering the order of holes 7 through 13. The tee signs had been clearly marked, highlighting good course management.
The greens (here the long par three 4th) were in good condition, despite the heavy rain.
The highlight is the careful ordering of the holes, ensuring each presents a different challenge from the last. There was really good stoke indexing as well, other than the last, which I think should not be SI 18.
The course’s fairly wide fairways, good greens and very nice cafe/restaurant, as well as its decent pricing means its a good choice for a society outing, especially with its central location.
The 15th is the last of the four par 3s, a strong point of this well designed course.
Finally to ‘marketing’. One wonders how many more visitors this course would get annually it it was called “Kincardine Golf Club”? I actually searched and did find a Kincardine Golf Club – one of the oldest in Canada, founded in 1906, only 4 years after Tulliallan was founded.
Facts:
Round List Price £35.Actual Paid £17 through Golfnow.
Round £25. Par 72. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 68.5/124. Value (out of 5) – 5
Moly’s Score – 92
Balfron is a substantial village of over 2000 people in West Stirlingshire, only 16 miles north of Glasgow. Surrounded by the Campsie Hills and the Trossachs, I can’t sum up the golf course better than the clubs own promotional video;
Typical August day in Scotland? Moly putts out on the 12th one of the easier par four holes at Balfron’s Shian course.
The first Balfron golf course was established in 1905, but returned to agricultural use in 1939 to support the war effort. In 1991 a group of villagers founded the Balfron Golfing Society and a 9 hole course was finally established in 1994, no doubt after a great deal of hard work. The course was extended to 18 holes in 2001. The Balfron Society named the course “Shian”, which in Gaelic means peaceful.
Moly gets ready to tackle the par five 15th, his only birdie of the day.
The herculean efforts of the society has resulted in a really fine golf course, which feels more mature than it is. With outstanding views, lush moorland and the “honesty box” wooden clubhouse this is quintessential Highland Scottish golf.
The quaint clubhouse where Fran and Moly enjoyed an ‘honesty’ cuppa and chocolate bar.
When Fran and I played on a cloudy day in mid August, there was only one other two ball game on the course. It was certainly ‘secluded’ and we, in turn, felt ‘special’, playing that beautiful game of ‘millionaires’ golf that occasionally comes your way.
Fran tees at the 9th, amidst the scenic ‘blooming heather’ West Stirlingshire surroundings.
It’s certainly worth going out of your way to play The Shian course. At only £25, it is excellent value, since the course in no way feels a “self help’ set up. The greenkeeper Kevin Wilkie and his small team are doing a great job, with teeing grounds and greens both first class. There is excellent use of the natural surroundings and good use of the burn that runs through the 15th and 17th holes, these two holes being the stand out architecture, reminiscent of the great architectures of Braid or Alastair McKenzie.
The burn running towards the 15th green, the par 5 of 513 yards.
The course designer has done well to seamlessly join the original nine and the newer holes. Plus, the greens are worthy of note, being both undulating and at times bemusing. Thankfully, it’s also an open driving course, with almost no fairway bunkers, therefore the slope rating of 124 reinforces the trickiness of the remaining features.
A typical aesthetically pleasing hole at Balfron Golf Society’s Shian course. The approach to the par four 8th hole.
All in all, this is great fun golf. To top it off, do plan to have an ‘honesty” tea and snack in the delightful clubhouse. This is the sort of course that visiting tourists playing the established courses should take time to discover.
The long par 4, 17th hole, a challenging hole. Don’t you just hate when you reach a long par 4 in two to then 3 putt for a bogie.
With only around 300 or so members paying under £400, its critical for visitor income to ensure courses like The Shian survive.
On the day, I played solidly for a 92 and 32 stableford points.
Facts:
Course Type:Heathland
Par 72 (3 par 5s, 12 par 4s, 3 par 3s)
Distance (yellow): 5859 yards
Moly’s Gross score: 92
Moly’s 92, a decent round on this delightful course
Stroll the Gleneagles landscape at 20% of the cost.
Round £50. Par 69. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 65.7/114. Value (out of 5) – 5
Wonderful Perthshire views. Firm heathland turf. Magnificent greens and teeing grounds. It really could be Gleneagles. But whereas playing the PGA Centenary Course will set you back £250, next door Auchterarder will be £50 for a mid week summer round; I paid only £35 for a weekend twilight for a beautiful early evening game, representing incredible value.
Moly tees off at the 10th at Auchterarder, with the Gleneagles PGA course, venue of the 2014 Ryder Cup, in the background.
Having previously been brutally exposed on the Gleneagles Ryder Cup layout, I continually wonder why ordinary golfers like me are willing to pay huge fees for golf courses that just highlight their golfing deficiencies. I can well imagine the humour value for the Auchterarder members, who pay £670 for annual membership, looking across at the well heeled swings next door.
Challenging first hole, ‘Deils Dyke’, at Auchterarder – 360 yards from the yellow tees played into the prevailing wind.
Auchterarder was designed as a 9 hole course by the legendary Ben Sayers in 1913, some 6 years before The Kings Course at Gleneagles was laid out, making Auchterarder the senior member of the local golf courses. The course went through plenty of disruption around WW2, but was subsequently reconstructed and then extended to an 18 hole course in 1979, partly through the demand created by the Gleneagles Hotel establishing its reputation as one of the world’s great golfing resorts.
The brilliant golfing entrepreneur Ben Sayers, the designer of Auchterarder, here depicted in his younger and older self.
The current course is an absolute cracker. Short, at 5357 from the yellow tees most visitors will use, this course gives you a chance to play to your handicap, making it an attractive amateur open venue, especially given its highly rated kitchen.
The 16th, ‘Gulley Brae’, a long and challenging par three, needing driver for most.
Surrounded by hills the course itself is an easy walk, amidst well maintained pines and other trees that frame many holes but don’t overly narrow the generous fairways.
The typically picturesque short par three 8th hole at Auchterarder.
The course is very well maintained and was in immaculate condition, the bunker sand in particular being in perfect order. The greens were firm, but gave good purchase for well struck irons. Beware the rough though, which was very whispy and will wrap the club for most players.
The brilliant green at the par 4 seventh hole, one of Moly’s disasters.
My only misgiving with Auchterarder was that it is set on a fairly small parcel of land, which means there is some ‘criss-crossing’ of holes, with some slightly reverse walks between greens to tees, to facilitate the yardage. A few times I came across ‘lost’ balls in the fairway which could have come from one of two adjacent holes. I can imagine many balls being ‘found’ that were actually ‘in play’ for others. These comments are perhaps a little over critical.
Fran at the short par four 13th, ‘Ochil View’, with the Gleneagles backdrop in the distance.
I played really well for my 83, especially my back nine of 38. My 14 over par, included two triple bogie 7s; one of those was on the very aptly named ‘Dinnae Stray’ seventh hole, where having hit two good shots onto the front of the very large green , I proceeded to take 5 shots to get down and they were not all putts!
Auchterarder is 5 star value golf. Take note of the clever hole names, which are a delight.
Forget the industrial surround to experience Scottish golfing value at its best
Round £15. Par 70. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 69/121. Value (out of 5) – 5
As long as courses like Grangemouth remain open and accessible, Scotland will easily retain its lead in providing the best value golf worldwide. At only £10 for a ‘winter round’ or £15 for summer, this is as good value golf as you can get.
You quickly realise the quality on offer at Grangemouth, with the approach at the first hole.
But Grangemouth Golf Club and it’s courses, have not always had a guaranteed existence and the Scottish golfing community can’t take venues like Grangemouth for granted – its history is worth dwelling on.
The current parkland municipal course, opened in 1974 by the local council, is just outside the village of Polmont and close to junction 4 of the M9 motorway. However, the first Grangemouth golf course can be traced back to the mid 1890s, and its growth and decline are charted on the excellent web site “Forgotten Greens of Scotland”. After a few false starts, a 9 hole course opened in 1908 at Abottsgrange, including greens created through “beating, rolling, sanding, cutting”. A “small shelter was built to protect against the ‘Sudden Blast'”. Initially there were 113 men and 67 lady members, highlighting the non sexist nature of golf in Scotland. A clubhouse was soon built but burned down in 1924, with the most informative comment being the sad loss of 200 sets of clubs, “only those few who took clubs away at the weekend were saved”.
The original Grangemouth members. We should never take the longevity of courses for granted.
By the early 1950s the course, now with 18 holes, became a victim of a mix of expanding urban growth, the building of a new Scottish Central airfield and political wrangling within Stirling County and the local Town councils. This led to the closure of that course in 1954, now the sight of a school and housing estate, with the political promise of a new replacement course on Polmonthill. It was finally established 30 years later! Politics.
The long par four 8th, “Gambler’s Gap” (you can see it), the most difficult hole.
Arguably, the current course was worth the wait. At well over 6000 yards, this undulating layout, bordering Polmont Woods, is very challenging. When I played, on a fine March day, along with my old friend Frank Crowe and two of his friends, Colin Campbell (a local member) and Ian Ponton, it was in remarkable condition. It beggared belief that it is maintained by only two greenkeepers; the greens were first class.
My playing partners in action. Top – Ian Ponton at the 2nd; Bottom left Colin at the 15th; Frank at the 18th.
The course has won a “Scottish Municipal Course of the Year” award in the past, and you could see why. The bunkers, where admittedly more rakes were needed, and tees, could have been a bit sprucer; but this was golf costing about the same as two pints of beer, with high summer rates still being well short of £20. If any international tourists wanted to see what is on offer elsewhere in Scotland, other than the heady courses in nearby Fife or East Lothian costing over 10 times the green fee, this would be a great course to play.
There are some memorable holes, not least the brilliantly framed par fours first and fourth holes, both played uphill into well bunkered greens. The signature hole, “Reflections”, the par three seventh at 178 yards, played over a resevoir, left me ‘reflecting’ how I racked up a 7, including my first ball finding the water.
The par three 7th. Is there a finer visual par three on any other UK municipal course?
The greens were very tricky, as my seven 3 putts attest; this was due to the large and sloping nature of them, not the surfaces which were true. My gross 90, therefore, indicting my otherwise decent ball striking.
The overall layout has a nice variety of dog leg holes, blind shots, and some easier respite holes to catch the odd birdie or par. The four par 3s, collectively, are the course highlight for me.
The great framing on the par four 4th hole. A tough challenge to reach the green in two here.
It is worth getting ready for the industrial views of the refinery, which only comes into view on a few holes, most notably at the 11th and 12th. Also nearby is one of the largest land fill sites in Scotland, but local member Colin commented that there was never any impact from smells. I would not let the local industrial surround put you off playing Grangemouth, it’s actually a reason to go.
The very difficult long par four 11th (a par five from the white tees), with the inset showing the view at the tee of Colin, Ian and Frank (L to R)with the Grangemouth refinery in the background
The course, laid out as 4 loops of holes, makes it easy to just play a few holes, or cut out some of the track. As I was leaving, I saw a local member, taking advantage by jumping onto the back nine. He was a old guy, in jeans and t-shirt, whose clubs looked like they could have survived the 1924 fire. “Could be the Algarve” I said, commenting on the unseasonal weather. “Aye, yer right, ma five pals have gone tae Turkey and its pissing down and four o’ them have caught that ‘covee’, ****ing brilliant eh!”
Frank and I, played Colin and Ian, in a tightly contested four ball game that went to the last. Well played everyone, a memorable day’s golf on one of the finest municipal courses in the world. Now that is “****ing brilliant”.
Play Grangemouth. Its currently going through a change from municipal to private management, so you never know how long it might be there.
Course Type:Parkland
Par 70 (2 par 5s, 12 par 4s, 4 par 3s)
Distance: 6077 (yellow)
Moly’s Gross score: 90
Moly’s 90 scorecard at Grangemouth, for 31 stableford points, on this brilliant value golf course.
