{"id":1880,"date":"2022-04-20T15:46:08","date_gmt":"2022-04-20T15:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/?p=1880"},"modified":"2022-04-27T17:42:14","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T17:42:14","slug":"130-kilmarnock-barrassie-22-mar-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/?p=1880","title":{"rendered":"130. Kilmarnock (Barrassie). 22 Mar 22"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A course to play to help appreciate “Golf; from a new angle”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Round \u00a395. Par 72. Course Rating \/ Slope Rating (yellow) 71.9\/125. Value (out of 5) \u2013 3.5<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ayrshire coast is home to some of the finest golf Scotland has to offer. Barrassie used to be a village in its own right, but is now considered part of the town of Troon. Ironically, it was the ‘long’ distance from Troon golf course, that caused the locals of Barrassie to establish a course in 1894, designed by the Prestwick professional, John Allan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was in the early 1930s that a new 18 holes course was designed by Matthew M Monie, who was an author who wrote under the pseudonym ‘Theodore Moone’. As for the course in play today, it comprises nine holes from Moone’s 1930s design and nine new holes built in 1997. Nine of Moone’s original holes are retained as a 9 hole course called ‘Hillhouse’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The scientist, golfer and author, Theodore Moone, proved that golf course architecture was also one of his numerous talents<\/strong>, with Barrassie being one of only a few courses he designed.<\/strong> I suspect we all recognise the subject of the book’s cover!<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Search for Moone on the internet and you will be presented with opportunities to buy his book, “Golf from a New Angle”, based around fictional letters about the fundamentals of golf. Look a little deeper and his scientific approach to golf, may have been way ahead of his time – I suspect Bryson DeChambeau may be a fan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The brilliantly designed approach at the par four 3rd, the stroke index 3 hole. Note the obscured view to the left hand side of the green and the sharp left to right slope towards the front right bunker; coupled with the burn 40 yards short of the green, this is a great hole, typifying Barrassie’s architectural guile.<\/strong> It is stroke index 1 on the Ladies card<\/strong>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Although no sea is in sight, this is unquestionably a classic links course of a high standard. Playing at almost 6500 yards from the yellow tees, and with several dog leg holes and semi-blind approaches, this is also a course with plenty of guile. It was handy that I played in a group that included a long term member, who was on hand to offer advice when needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The aesthetic, or terrifying, view of the par three 4th hole, at 150 yards. Here, old pals, from left to right, Brian, Douglas (our host) and Stephen, look happy – before teeing off!<\/strong> I think this might be one of the most obvious “lateral hazards” in Scotland?<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, I suspect you need to play Barrassie a great many times to appreciate which sides of the greens to play into, as there are often ‘hidden’ gullies and slopes which make getting up and down impossible for all, but the most gifted players, if you are “short sided”. The club has a delightful video on it’s website here<\/a> – once viewed, it is clear why Barrassie has hosted many top amateur competitions and is also an Open Final Qualifying venue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The majestic framing around the newly re-built par four 13th hole. <\/strong> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The course was in magnificent condition for a mid March day, with the fairways and greens playing as if it were already June. The bunker conditioning was the only thing I would criticise, but even that was likely down to the legacy of the pandemic which was just easing off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Barrassie member Douglas driving at the 401 yard par four 17th hole.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We all played about the same with respect to our handicaps and my partner, Brian, and I, halved a closely fought 4BBB game against Douglas and Stephen, having come back from 3 down (well played Brian!). It is always nice for a ‘friendly matchplay’ (although an oxymoron for some) to be in the balance until the very last putt is holed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Stephen eyeing another fine drive down the middle – almost right through the eye of a needle.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

One thing about Barrassie worth mentioning; the winter golf rate of \u00a345 is brilliant value, especially when compared with the \u00a395 summer fee, an amount reflecting the significant recent price growth I’ve witnessed across Scotland. I think this has been driven by both the increased demand for golf due to the pandemic and also the ongoing tussle between clubs’ loyalty to their membership versus serving the needs of the peripatetic golfer, for whom membership is not desired. The latter conflict is a matter of fierce debate within the Scottish Golf Union organisation.
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The 17th green, showing the great conditioning of the course in mid March, and the little gully left being a treacherous ‘leave’, for two of us.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I once heard the great football manager Bill Shankly describing a Stallworth player as “honest” meaning they always gave their all and could be completely relied upon. That’s how I felt when playing Barrassie – it is an “honest” links golf course, if such a thing is possible.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Course<\/strong><\/em> Type<\/em>:<\/strong> Links<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Par 72 <\/em>(3 par 5s, 12 par 4s, 3 par 3s)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Distance<\/em>: 6460 (yellow)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moly\u2019s Gross score<\/strong><\/em>: 96<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Up and down round of golf. Gross 96, but still 29 stableford points.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A course to play to help appreciate “Golf; from a new angle” Round \u00a395. Par 72. Course Rating \/ Slope Rating (yellow) 71.9\/125. Value (out of 5) \u2013 3.5 The Ayrshire coast is home to some of the finest golf Scotland has to offer. Barrassie used to be a village in its own right, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,22,46,36,51,19,29,32,9,15,10,31,38,2,18,118,20,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-18-holes","category-1851-1900","category-4-star-overall-value","category-4-star","category-ayrshire-arran","category-course-architech","category-course-owned-by","category-course-quality","category-course-type","category-holes","category-links","category-members","category-overall-value","category-price-range","category-region","category-theodore-moone","category-when-course-established","category-80-99","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1880"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1900,"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1880\/revisions\/1900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}