{"id":2372,"date":"2023-01-06T10:10:44","date_gmt":"2023-01-06T10:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/?p=2372"},"modified":"2023-01-11T17:21:22","modified_gmt":"2023-01-11T17:21:22","slug":"157-balfron-shian-18-aug-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/?p=2372","title":{"rendered":"157. Balfron Shian. 18 Aug 22."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Quintessentially Scottish<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Round \u00a325. Par 72. Course Rating \/ Slope Rating (yellow) 68.5\/124. Value (out of 5) \u2013 5<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moly\u2019s Score \u2013 92<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Balfron is a substantial village of over 2000 people in West Stirlingshire, only 16 miles north of Glasgow. Surrounded by the Campsie Hills and the Trossachs, I can’t sum up the golf course better than the clubs own promotional video;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Scenic, secluded, special<\/a>“.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Typical August day in Scotland? Moly putts out on the 12th one of the easier par four holes at Balfron’s Shian course.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The first Balfron golf course was established in 1905, but returned to agricultural use in 1939 to support the war effort. In 1991 a group of villagers founded the Balfron Golfing Society and a 9 hole course was finally established in 1994, no doubt after a great deal of hard work. The course was extended to 18 holes in 2001. The Balfron Society named the course “Shian”, which in Gaelic means peaceful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Moly gets ready to tackle the par five 15th, his only birdie of the day.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The herculean efforts of the society has resulted in a really fine golf course, which feels more mature than it is. With outstanding views, lush moorland and the “honesty box” wooden clubhouse this is quintessential Highland Scottish golf. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The quaint clubhouse where Fran and Moly enjoyed an ‘honesty’ cuppa and chocolate bar.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When Fran and I played on a cloudy day in mid August, there was only one other two ball game on the course. It was certainly ‘secluded’ and we, in turn, felt ‘special’, playing that beautiful game of ‘millionaires’ golf that occasionally comes your way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fran tees at the 9th, amidst the scenic ‘blooming heather’ West Stirlingshire surroundings.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It’s certainly worth going out of your way to play The Shian course. At only \u00a325, it is excellent value, since the course in no way feels a “self help’ set up. The greenkeeper Kevin Wilkie and his small team are doing a great job, with teeing grounds and greens both first class. There is excellent use of the natural surroundings and good use of the burn that runs through the 15th and 17th holes, these two holes being the stand out architecture, reminiscent of the great architectures of Braid or Alastair McKenzie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The burn running towards the 15th green, the par 5 of 513 yards.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The course designer has done well to seamlessly join the original nine and the newer holes. Plus, the greens are worthy of note, being both undulating and at times bemusing. Thankfully, it’s also an open driving course, with almost no fairway bunkers, therefore the slope rating of 124 reinforces the trickiness of the remaining features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A typical aesthetically pleasing hole at Balfron Golf Society’s Shian course. The approach to the par four 8th hole.<\/strong> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All in all, this is great fun golf. To top it off, do plan to have an ‘honesty” tea and snack in the delightful clubhouse. This is the sort of course that visiting tourists playing the established courses should take time to discover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The long par 4, 17th hole, a challenging hole. Don’t you just hate when you reach a long par 4 in two to then 3 putt for a bogie.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With only around 300 or so members paying under \u00a3400, its critical for visitor income to ensure courses like The Shian survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the day, I played solidly for a 92 and 32 stableford points. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

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

Distance<\/em> (yellow): 5859 yards<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moly\u2019s Gross score<\/strong><\/em>: 92<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Moly’s 92, a decent round on this delightful course<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Quintessentially Scottish Round \u00a325. Par 72. Course Rating \/ Slope Rating (yellow) 68.5\/124. Value (out of 5) \u2013 5 Moly\u2019s Score \u2013 92 Balfron is a substantial village of over 2000 people in West Stirlingshire, only 16 miles north of Glasgow. Surrounded by the Campsie Hills and the Trossachs, I can’t sum up the golf […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,24,35,48,19,29,32,9,13,15,58,31,128,38,2,18,20,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-18-holes","category-1946-1980","category-3-star","category-5-star-overall-value","category-course-architech","category-course-owned-by","category-course-quality","category-course-type","category-heathland","category-holes","category-loch-lomond-the-trossachs-stirling-the-forth-valley","category-members","category-original-members","category-overall-value","category-price-range","category-region","category-when-course-established","category-20-39","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2372","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=2372"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2403,"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2372\/revisions\/2403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}