Scotland Golf Bible

A guide to green fee value for money

Category: Private (Page 1 of 4)

139. Balbirnie Park. 19 May 22.

August 2, 2022 /

One of the top parkland courses in Fife

Round £50. Par 71. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 69.3/126. Value (out of 5) – 4.0

Most people who live on the East Coast of Scotland, will know of Markinch as a railway station on the main Aberdeen to Edinburgh line. Like me, they may have passed through here hundreds of times, but never stopped.

Markinch actually had its own town sited golf course in the first half of the 20th century, but it closed just after the second world war due to disrepair; however, I understand that the “golf club” retained some sort of existence playing at other nearby courses.

The challenging par four 3rd hole. A dog leg right, of only 327 yards (yellow), yet the SI 6 comes from the hazardous green complex. Par is a very good score here.

During the 1960s the Glenrothes Development Corporation purchased Balbirnie Estate, located between Glenrothes and Markinch, which had been owned by the Balfour family for almost 300 years. They commissioned a golf course, which Markinch GC leases.

The former Balbirnie estate house is now also a 4-star hotel, which is close to, but separately managed from, the golf club.

A characteristic layout, here at the 13th at Balbirnie Park, a shortish dog-leg (left) yet one of the tougher holes, this time dominated by the tee shot.

The current 18 hole course opened in 1984, and is set in a substantial wooded area, in two loops of nine holes, at well over 6000 yards, this undulating course is a tough walk. It is a balanced layout, with trees almost always in play, other than some of the par 3s, with the front nine being slightly shorter mainly due to having only one par 5.

Fran driving at the uphill mid to long iron par three, the best of the short holes at Balbirnie Park.

It has been well designed by Fraser Middleton, a relatively unknown architect, who surprisingly has only 2 other courses I could find on his CV – West Lothian and Hounslow in West London, what an interesting threesome of courses?

The raised green at the par four 9th hole, a strong end to the front nine at Balbirnie Park. You come in from the right here, the left part of the picture is to the first green

The abiding architectural characteristic I picked up on, was that at least half of the holes had either dog legs or blind tee or approach shots – some all three. This necessitates a good appreciation of your yardages and access to a hole planner is useful. It was especially pleasurable, therefore, to play with the same ball, not a common occurrence. This contributed to my decent score of 91, net 75, for 4 over my handicap of 16. A very good score for me on a windy, but warm, day.

The tight tee shot at the long par four 12th hole, the SI 1 hole.

The course was in superb condition, the only note of criticism I could give was the fringes of the bunkering was a little tired. The teeing grounds were delicious.

The par three eleventh green, typical of the rather open par threes, the weakest part of the layout – as can be seen, make sure you play long here.

In a land of Links, Balbirnie Park golf course may arguably be the best parkland course in Fife; albeit the ‘best parkland’ list might also include The Dukes (at St Andrews), Aberdour and Dunfermline (Pitreavie), all great courses.

The rather austere clubhouse at the fine finishing hole at Balbirnie Park. Beware the blind second shot, as the burn in front of the green is reachable for even mid handicaps players. I luckily reached the tree, leaving a simple chip for a birdie chance (missed!)

Nevertheless, this is easily in the top 50 parkland courses in Scotland, and represents good value at £50, but using the great offers on Golfnow I managed to pay just £22, an almost 60% discount, so really 5 star value if you get one of those last minute rates.

Moly’s approach at the 16th, a difficult par four and SI 3.

I suspect the pricing is depressed a little due to the distance Glenrothes is from both the St Andrews area, and Edinburgh. This benefits greatly those going to play here.

Course Type: Parkland

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

Distance: 5957 (yellow)

Moly’s Gross score: 91

Moly’s scorecard at Balbirnie Park – a 91 at one of the top parkland courses in Fife.

131. (Glasgow) Gailes Links. 23 Mar 22.

April 28, 2022 /

I wonder how many visitors drive to Killermont to uncover this true links test?

Round £110. Par 71. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 71.5/130. Value (out of 5) – 3

I probably know more than most about Scotland’s golf courses, plus I also lived in Glasgow; one of my son’s attended school in Killermont. Despite this, I find a geography lesson is needed for ‘Glasgow’ Gailes as I almost ended up back in Glasgow to play at the Gailes Links. That would have been a big mistake!

The bunkers at the first hole, a par four of 341 yards, serves notice of what lies ahead at Gailes Links.

Glasgow Golf Club was established in 1787 by the wealthy men of Glasgow making it the first club in the West of Scotland, and the ‘9th oldest club in the world’. It retains an exclusive air and its main headquarter club, based in Killermont in Glasgow, is not open for visitors, other than as a members’ guest. In 1892, the club built the Gailes Links course, initially designed by Willie Fernie, just south of the town of Irvine on the North Ayrshire coast. It is the most northerly of the great set of Ayrshire links courses, starting from Turnberry about 30 miles south. Since its inauguration the Gailes Links has been called ‘Glasgow’ Gailes, in part to distinguish itself from Western Gailes which it adjoins. Hence the confusion about its location. The Glasgow Golf Club might hold the record for the biggest distance between two club courses.

The ‘gorsy’ remains, where trees used to be, on full display at the 3rd, the challenging par 4, stroke index 1 hole, at Gailes Links.

The layout as it exists today, required a redesign by Willie Park Junior in 1912. Furthermore, and controversially, the course has undergone a complete transformation in the last few years, having uprooted tens of thousands of trees. I got mixed feedback from some members about the ‘carnage’ of the trees, which I understand is the reason that the Gailes Links course has been removed from the Open Qualifying rota.

The delightful fifth green complex at Gailes Links, with the social housing of Irvine in the background. A beautiful contrast.

One of the members said the resulting treeless course is much easier, as it has become a wide open links course. On at least two occasions I played from where trees would have been, likely saving me 4 shots. The courses main defense is now through clever and some severe bunkering – other than the westerly prevailing wind of course! This bunkering became sharply evident to me when, after a sound opening 5 holes, being called through by a 4 ball grouping, who then witnessed my 6, including 4 bunker shots, at a short par 3!

The 6th, the first of only three par 3 holes at ‘Glasgow’ Gailes.

My six at the 6th, provides a lesson how to score well at Gailes. Study the course guide and stay away from the bunkers, some of which are out of sight. I actually played well for my gross 88, albeit the course was playing short due to the very dry March weather. Along with no wind and sunny weather it felt more like the Algarve for the time of year.

The only blind tee shot at Gailes Links is at the 7th (bottom right of the collage). There is much more space right of the ‘eye’ line, especially with the large scale tree removal.

The course is long at over 6300 yards from the yellow tees, and comprises a zig-zagged ‘north/south out and back’ layout, with about 4 transverse holes. The resulting layout provides a great many subtle changes of direction, which must be very challenging when the wind gets up.

The 9th is the shortest par 4 at Gailes Links, at 304 yards, but well bunkered at a typical driving length for most players, who might be best to play a longish iron off the tee, to avoid the sand.

Without the trees, being wayward off the tees is not penalised, especially as there is only one ‘blind’ tee shot (par four 7th), and only one ‘blind’ approach, at the 14th, one of only two par 5s on the course. Along with only three par 3s, this makes the main challenge to score well, being your long iron/hybrid game being up to the challenge of the several par 4s over 400 yards. The resulting par is 71, although the yellow course rating is 71.5, with white being one more.

The approach at the 14th, a short but good par 5, where the long hitters will be tempted to reach the green in two, but will require to avoid a narrow bunker filled gap (above) about 100 yards short of the putting surface.

On the day I played, several of the bunkers were GUR, although not the ones I found at the 6th (my only bunkers of the day). I felt the winter rate I paid of £60 a little steep, with a few winter tees still in play, and despite the dry weather there was surprising indications of muddy locations – I wondered if that was a legacy of the tree removal, and impact on the drainage?

The local pro “Arthur” was really friendly and very welcoming, and therefore worth a mention.

If you get lucky with a winter rate in dry conditions, its fairish value, but the main fee of £110 for a mid week summer round, is not great value and getting out of range of affordability for most.

Course Type: Links

Par 72 (2 par 5s, 13 par 4s, 3 par 3s)

Distance: 6322 (yellow)

Moly’s Gross score: 88

Moly’s Gailes Links scorecard – 88, best round in a while.
October 29, 2020 /

This incredibly fun 9 hole course is like playing in Gordon’s Dream

Round £10. Par 31. Value (out of 5) – 5

Covesea, pronounced “Cowsea” by the locals, is a wonderful surprise. Built by Gordon Clarke in 2010 pretty much on his own and still maintained by him, Covesea costs £10 for 9 holes or £15 for the day. It used to have a cafe called the Tee Shack, which unfortunately burnt down in 2014. Overall, it feels like playing in someone’s dream.

The 5th green with the wonderful view back towards the Covesea Skerries Lighthouse

The course sits on the Moray coastline between the towns of Lossiemouth and Hopeman, set in a cove just west of the Covesea Skerries lighthouse. It is a magnificent setting for a golf course and my first thought on seeing it, was why had this piece of land never been developed as a course during the heyday of Victorian golf course building – unfortunately I wasn’t able to track down an answer, but there must be one! For those familiar with Scottish golf, Covesea has many resemblances with Cullen (1908), Anstruther (1890) and Shiskine (1896).

The dramatic and difficult tee shot at the 8th, with the sandstone structures enveloping the hole.

With it being basically a “one man band” operation, Gordon’s green keeping duties concentrate on the greens and their surrounds; this means the tees and fairways are, in places, very poor. However, if you can see past that, the condition of the greens are really good and must be the best in Scotland with a fee of “up to £10”.

The course comprises 5 par 3s and 4 par 4s, and several of these are very challenging holes.

The 2nd at Covesea, with a “Good, Bad and Ugly” feel – a very difficult pin to find.

In particular, the 5th through 8th, are dominated by the craggy rock formations and offer a lovely stretch of golf, with spectacular views from the 5th green and 6th tee.

The 8th green, clearly showing the variance between the fantastic greens and less well kept surrounds.

Overall, this is a brilliant “Value for Money”, and what a legacy for Gordon to have built. With good tees and fairways, I just wonder what the fees could be?

I played really well, other than a mess on the 2nd where I took 5 shots to get down from the left hand bunker – the resulting 7 dominating my overall score of 38, seven over par.

Facts:

Course Type: Links

Par 31 (4 par 4s, 5 par 3s)

Distance: 2000

Moly’s Gross score: 37

Moly’s Covesea Scorecard – 38, 7 over

99. Royal Musselburgh. 26th July 2019.

April 24, 2020 /

This ‘Royal’ 6th oldest club in the world is a bit like playing ‘Trigger’s broom’

Round £65. Par 70. Value (out of 5) – 2.5

When reading the history of the Royal Musselburgh GC on its website here I couldn’t help being reminded of the classic comedy sketch below….

This ‘Only Fools and Horses’ sketch came to mind whilst researching Royal Musselburgh GC

….don’t confuse the pedigree of the Golf Club, ‘founded’ in 1774 , with the pedigree of the Golf Course, which is much less prestigious, in my opinion. When you play Royal Musselburgh you’re actually playing a course opened only in 1925; although a pretty good course, it’s on a flat piece of land and it’s over-priced for the course quality, the price undoubtedly influenced by the ‘Royal’ patronage and the Golf Club heritage. In fact, the first 150 years of the history of ‘Royal Musselburgh’ is related to play at Musselburgh Links at the racecourse! Hence the comparison with Trigger’s ’20 year old’ broom! Please forgive my imagination.

The par 4 third hole at Royal Musselburgh, a typical hole on this flat track.

Musselburgh is the largest of the towns in East Lothian, situated on the coast about 5 miles from Edinburgh and close to the start of the great North Berwick coastal run of courses which includes Muirfield. There are actually three ‘Musselburgh’ courses: ‘Musselburgh Links’, which is in Musselburgh and recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest course in the world; plain old ‘Musselburgh’, which is actually in Monktonhall; and ‘Royal Musselburgh’, the subject here, somewhat nearer to Prestonpans than Musselburgh! I blogged about Musselburgh here and Musselburgh Links here.

The 6th hole at Royal Musselburgh, one of only 3 par threes on the course.

Although only open since 1925, the course does owe its design to the great James Braid, albeit I couldn’t help thinking that the remit was to make a challenging, but not too challenging a course. It is set on ground leased from the Prestongrange Estate, and its clubhouse is within part of Prestongrange House, which is an impressive building from the outside. The fairways are quite wide and the rough under the trees was cut short allowing balls to be easily found. It’s not surprising that Royal Musselburgh is attractive to society or group visits.

The 14th,the shortest of the par 3s, where club selection is crucial at this, “The Gulley”, hole.

The course has only three par 3s and one par 5, and with several similar par 4s, it was a little repetitive, for my liking. It was though in very nice condition when I played and the greens were very true. I actually played the best of the season, scoring 87 for 36 points, including a birdie at the stoke index 3, par 4 15th hole, including hitting one of my longest drives for years – it was the first time I’d played with my new fitted driver and the technology has helped!

The tough 18th hole at Royal Musselburgh, with a well protected green, with views of Prestongrange House to the right of the hole.

My advice would be it’s a nice course to play if you can get a good discount, otherwise play the two other Musselburgh courses, which have much more to offer, by way of both history (The Links) and quality.

Facts:

Course Type: Parkland

Par 70 (1 par 5, 14 par 4s, 3 par 3s)

Distance: 5880

Moly’s Gross score: 87

Moly’s scorecard of 87, best score all year made possible by first new driver bought for years.
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