A guide to green fee value for money

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158. The Heritage Links, at Playsport Golf EK (East Kilbride). 19 Aug 22.

Like watching a ‘tribute band’, very enjoyable but at times a bit ‘corny’.

Round £15. Par 32. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 32.1/116. Value (out of 5) – 4

Moly’s Score – 44

‘Playsport’ is a multi-sport commercial site in north East Kilbride, a town of almost 80,000 making it the 6th most populated conurbation in Scotland. ‘Playsport Golf’, the golfing brand of the business, operates a two-tier driving range, a very large golf store and a 9 hole course, called Heritage Links.

The 5th at The Heritage, inspired by the 4th at Royal St George’s with it’s “Himalayas” Bunker on show. Both this hole and the inspiration from Sandwich are similar length.

As the name suggests, Heritage Links is a homage to Open Championship venues, with each hole inspired from a specific hole of the world’s best links courses.

The final hole at The Heritage, homage to Royal Lytham’s short 9th hole, the only hole numbered the same as the doner inspiration for the hole.

East Kilbride lies on a plateau, just south of Glasgow, and the golf course is fully exposed to the elements; on the day I played there were 40 mph winds and some heavy showers. These are ideal conditions to go alongside the course’s design aim of replicating some the challenges faced in The OPEN. In addition, the course has outstanding views.

The 4th, inspired by the 16th at Carnoustie, with the Playsport sports arenas in the background. My par 3 score highlights it plays much shorter than its inspiring hole!

Although this could feel a little ‘corny’, the resulting course is a great test of your game, not least because it’s the bunkering from the host courses that are mainly used to create the inspirational feeling. However, this is not “replica” golf, so take it for what it is and enjoy the layout.

The opening hole at The Heritage, inspired by Turnberry’s 2nd, shows the good ‘links’ quality of the course.

The course opened in 2009, built to high specifications, and has become a popular venue. Despite the inclement weather forecast when I played it was very busy, so ensure to book ahead. With multiple sports on the same site, there are activities for non-golfing partners and kids.

The 6th, based on Muirfield’s 13th, shows the top quality of the bunkers at Playgolf EK.

Although heavily played the course was in very good condition, with greens and bunkers excellent. At £15 for 9 holes, this is very good value.

The 8th hole, showing the “road hole” bunker from St Andrews.

Playing as a singleton, a 4-ball kindly let me tee off first, then watched me rack up a 9 and the par 4 first, playing into the teeth of the wind. I got much better after that, when they weren’t watching. Don’t you sometimes hate getting asked to ‘play through’.

Facts:

Course Type: Parkland/Faux Links?

Par 32  (1 par 5s, 3 par 4s, 5 par 3s)

Distance (yellow): 2307 yards

Moly’s Gross score: 44

Moly’s 44, or 37 net (5 over net), with a 9 and the par 4 first!!

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!

148. Ballumbie Castle. 5 Jul 22.

Perennial struggle for Ballumbie Castle

Round £25. Par 69. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 68.3/122. Value (out of 5) – 2

With good municipal courses still available in Scotland, but declining in number due to council budget cuts, the race is well underway to see whether courses like Ballumbie Castle survive.

The dog leg right 2nd hole, the common feature on this fairly uninspiring and ‘tired’ course

I know this course and area well, it being a stone’s throw from my wife’s family home. I was intrigued during the late 80s and 90s when several courses were built in the wider area, including Letham Grange, near Arbroath, which finally closed in 2019. I was skeptical about the business case for these courses, often heralded as part of housing or leisure developments. My question was why pay more to play Ballumbie than nearby municipal Caird Park or Monifieth Links? Moreover, why pay more for Letham Grange when as an Angus resident you qualified for nearby world class Carnoustie?

The par three 11th, the best hole on the course, not surprisingly the area dominated by overlooking houses.

Look closely at the 20 years of Ballumbie Castle’s history and you uncover a repeated saga of dissolved companies or companies in administration and protracted housing development applications. The last point is the open secret, the land’s inherent value is in housing, not golf which is often a means to an end. The former dream of living in a golf development must be a bitter pill for those still housed overlooking the former Letham Grange course landscape. Ballumbie Castle Estate householders must wonder how long their golf course views will remain.

Fran at the par three 4th hole, where we both nearly made birdie.

The course itself is laid out in 4 varying sized parcels of land around a small hill and housing access roads, with fairly long walks between the sections. There is a nice mix of holes, but the predominant feature is of dog-leg right par fours, with seven of them. Not great if you are a mid length fader of the ball, like most mid to high handicap right handers. Low handicap faders though must revel on this course.

12th green at Ballumbie Castle, a short par three at 141 yards

Over the years, the course condition has declined steadily, matching the financial struggles of each management regime. Whereas the tees were previously pristine with great tee box markings, those days are long gone, with only one tee box marker (the 17th) being left from its glory days.

The greens and fairways were still okay, but the bunkers could have been better kept.

Moly at the 11th green, a long par 3, which should have a higher stroke index in my book.

I played very well, shooting 82, the best I’ve done here, picking up birdies at the par three 4th and the par four 9th. But my decent round doesn’t deflect from the general ‘tired’ state of Ballumbie. If you get a good deal, through golfnow as I did, it’s worth playing, but there’s better value to be found nearby at the full price.

The very strong par four finishing hole at Ballumbie Castle, take at least one club more to get up to the green, take two more if the oin is on the upper level.

The current planning application for housing being debated will see several of the holes being replaced with housing, so it remains to be seen the golfing future of Ballumbie Castle.

Facts:

Course Type: Parkland

Par 69  (2 par 5s, 11 par 4s, 5 par 3s)

Distance (yellow): 5716 yards

Moly’s Gross score: 82

Moly’s 82 at Ballumbie, including two birdies and two 7s.

123. Melville Golf Centre. 24 Jun 2021.

Good ‘family friendly’ 9 hole “Pay & Play” course is no ‘pitch ‘n putt’

Round £14.50. Par 32. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 30.0 /98. Value (out of 5) – 3

Look at Melville Golf Centre web site and you would think it is just a ‘Top Tracer’ driving range. However, alongside the ‘family friendly’ range is a nice little 9 hole course that, according to the web site, is built to US PGA Standards. There is no trace of the course architect, unfortunately.

My partner Fran at the 7th with the Pentlands in the background.

The course is only a few miles outside Edinburgh, near the village of Lasswade, not far from the intersection of the A720 Edinburgh bypass and the A7 route to the Borders. It is therefore ideally located to pick up transiting golfers, albeit the range has stiff competition from the nearby Kings Acre golf course.

The tricky 2nd green, a short par four.

Dig a little deeper, and you find that the Melville Golf Centre has attracted EU and Scottish Government funding through an organisation called “Tyne Esk LEADER”, a development vehicle for the ‘River Esk – River Tyne’ region, basically covering The Lothians, which of course is one of the best areas in the world for golf. Why some of this public money should be needed to help develop ‘Family Friendly’ golf, in an area rich in golfing history, with more golf clubs per head than any country in the world, is a sad indictment of the state of Scottish Golf and the lack of funds going from richer clubs back into the grass roots of the game.

The uphill par four 5th hole, which needs good distance judgement with the approach.

Set aside the politics, and Melville Golf Course does indeed provide an excellent setting for introducing people to golf. No frills, and in decent condition, there are a good variety of holes to test the full game. Set in relatively open parkland, you’re not likely to lose too many balls either.

The greens, fairways and tees were all pretty good. Along with great views of the Pentland Hills, from a number of the holes, and this is a handy way to spend a little more than an hour grabbing a very quick game of golf.

The makeshift greenkeeping at the par three 8th hole, with the bricks shoring up the bunker lip:)

The highlights of the course for me, were the tricky uphill par three 3rd, where a difficult club choice awaits, followed by the long par four 4th (SI1), then the uphill par four 5th. Other than these 3 holes, the rest are birdie opportunities for many golfers.

The 4th at Melville, clearly the most difficult hole off yellow (par 4), but a relatively easy par 5, from the white.

This is no ‘pitch ‘n putt’, it’s a nice little course if you have a couple of hours free. I shot 39, seven over the yellow card of 32. This included a 6 at the par four 9th, where after losing my first drive right, my second drive went through the green at 270 yards – it was windy!

Why it attracted EU and Scottish Government money, is blog article for someone else.

Course Type: Parkland

Par 32 (5 par 4s, 4 par 3s)

Distance: 2057

Moly’s Gross score39

Moly’s 39, 7 over par at Melville Golf Course
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