Mainly open parkland course, with a tough finishing stretch
Round £30 ( variable on-line). Par 68. Value (out of 5) – 2.5
Letham Grange, on the outskirts of Arbroath, has likely had more written about it in court proceedings than in golfing magazines! It is one of the failed attempts in Scotland to create an American style Golf & Country Club Estate similar to Gleneagles, or Wentworth in Surrey. Opened in 1987 as a full resort, the hotel and many facilities are long since closed.
Approach to the 2nd on the Glens at Letham Grange, a typical open parkland hole.
The club members, several living in the many fine houses which still adorn the fairways, now do a great job at keeping the Old course and the smaller Glens course open.
The Glens Course opened in 1992 and is at 5528 yards, much shorter and less demanding than the Old course. The parkland layout is very open for the first 12 holes, but the stretch from the 13th to 17th is much more challenging and will dictate your scorecard.
The 9th green at Letham Grange Glens course
In particular the short par 4 14th requires a very acurate tee shot; the dog leg 15th needs a straight shot of about 200 yards to the tree lined dog-leg; and the 17th is a pretty scary drive down an avenue of trees about 40 yards wide.
The condition of the course was pretty reasonable, with the highlight being the very well maintained teeing grounds. However, the bunkers though were actually terrible, with a thin covering of grainy sand over hard packed earth – unfortunately I found several bunkers eventually realising the only way to play them was to chip the ball cleanly off the sand.
The difficult to find small 15th green, part of the difficult stretch of 5 holes from 13 to 17 on the Glens course
The price of the Glens is £30 per round and I was able to play on the Carnoustie Country offer, and paid only £15. At the full price its not the best value by any means in Angus.
I had a good round with 37 stableford points (using the new 9/10s allowance), and played to my new handicap of 18, which included an 8 on the par 4 3rd, needing to take 2 shots to get out of a greenside bunker.
Some Facts
Course Type: Parkland
Par 68 (2 par 5s, 10 par 4s, 6 par 3s)
Distance (white) 5528 yards
Moly’s Gross Score 86
Moly’s Letham Grange Glens Scorecard – 86 (net par off 18)