{"id":2336,"date":"2022-12-14T15:32:41","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T15:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/?p=2336"},"modified":"2022-12-22T09:46:09","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T09:46:09","slug":"155-hirsel-12-july-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/?p=2336","title":{"rendered":"155. Hirsel. 12 July 22."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Missed opportunity as the “First and Last” in Scotland.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Round \u00a332. Par 70. Course Rating \/ Slope Rating (yellow) 68.8\/124. Value (out of 5) \u2013 3<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moly’s Score – 98<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How many fuel stations or pubs on borders proclaim “First and Last”? Like many people, I suspect, I had no idea exactly where Hirsel Golf Club was. Conversely, ask Scots where Coldstream is and most would know the border town famed for the Coldstream Guards, the regiment formed in 1650 making it the oldest continuous serving unit of the British Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The picturesque 10th hole at only 93 yards.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hirsel Golf club, sits on the Hirsel Estate in Coldstream, the home of the son of the former Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home. A 9 hole course was designed and built by members in 1948, after the original course in Coldstream, called Lennel Golf Club, founded 1879, fell into some disrepair, a story covered in the website Forgotten Links<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The interweaving layout is evident, with the first green on show here from the 2nd tee.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hirsel GC remained a 9 hole course until extended to 18 in 1996. The resulting layout is a rather jumbled affair, with a number of tee\/green cross overs, which must make Open events a potentially hazardous affair. There is also a significant range of hole design quality, which comes I suspect from the extension. I find the club’s website banner headline “Arguably one of Scotland’s best kept secrets” true in the sense that it’s “unknown”, but the inference of it being a “Hidden Gem” is not what I found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The very disappointing bunkers on show, despite the rakes fully in use, here at the difficult 5th hole, a 369 yard par four.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Despite the main Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns being over, I found a course in poor condition, with some bunkers appearing to imitate 19th century photos featuring Old Tom Morris himself. Nevertheless, with perhaps half dozen really good holes, I can see why it is a popular society day out, especially with the substantial club house overlooking the final green.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The tough par three 7th, with “Leet Water” in play for one of the few times.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It does indeed have some tricky holes, notably the tough uphill par 3 third, played with a blind tee shot at well over 200 yards; it will play as a par four for most. The fairways are generous but miss them and card wrecking is the order of the day, as there are OOB on more than half the holes. As a testimony, I amassed 15 over par on only 3 holes, including a 10 on the 363 yard par four 17th. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The stroke index 2, ninth hole, a long par four, the longest hole on the front nine, with both par fives coming after the turn<\/strong>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Despite several holes being routed around “Leet Water”, a tributary of the Tweed, the river doesn’t come into play much. The best aspect of the course was the variety in hole lengths, the use of dog legs (on 5 holes) and the use of quite small greens often sloping front to back. Collectively the slope rating of 124 felt spot on for me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The par 5 18th hole, played downhill it gives a good birdie chance to finish.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At only \u00a332 for a round, with discounts on offer though Golfnow (we paid only \u00a322) it’s okay value, but with a bit of work, especially to the bunkers, it would be really worth playing at that price point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As to the course name, here’s a suggestion. “Coldstream Golf Club – The First and Last in Scotland”. That would remove the secrecy.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facts:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Par 70 <\/strong><\/em> <\/strong>(2 par 5s, 12 par 4s, 4 par 3s)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Distance<\/em> (yellow): 5820 yards<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moly\u2019s Gross score<\/strong><\/em>: 98<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Moly’s 29 points despite his 98 including 15 over collectively on holes 5, 13 and 17. Golf!<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Missed opportunity as the “First and Last” in Scotland. Round \u00a332. Par 70. Course Rating \/ Slope Rating (yellow) 68.8\/124. Value (out of 5) \u2013 3 Moly’s Score – 98 How many fuel stations or pubs on borders proclaim “First and Last”? Like many people, I suspect, I had no idea exactly where Hirsel Golf […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,24,34,44,19,29,32,9,15,31,128,38,11,2,18,62,20,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-18-holes","category-1946-1980","category-2-star","category-3-star-overall-value","category-course-architech","category-course-owned-by","category-course-quality","category-course-type","category-holes","category-members","category-original-members","category-overall-value","category-parkland","category-price-range","category-region","category-the-scottish-borders","category-when-course-established","category-20-39","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336","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=2336"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2357,"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336\/revisions\/2357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}