{"id":797,"date":"2016-09-22T13:13:19","date_gmt":"2016-09-22T13:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/?p=797"},"modified":"2016-09-22T13:13:19","modified_gmt":"2016-09-22T13:13:19","slug":"53-stirling-19th-sep-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/?p=797","title":{"rendered":"53. Stirling. 19th Sep 2016."},"content":{"rendered":"

“Camera’s Please” at this historically located\u00a0parkland course with \u00a0outstanding views.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Round \u00a345. \u00a0Par 72. \u00a0Value (out of 5) 4\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you play at Stirling remember to take a camera. \u00a0There are spectacular views of Stirling, it’s castle and other historic buildings and of the Trossachs, Ochill and Lomond Hills,\u00a0even\u00a0the Southern Highlands (in clear weather!).<\/p>\n

\"2nd

2nd tee at Stirling with views towards the historic town – the rounded turret of the gaol is evident.<\/p><\/div>\n

Given Stirling’s\u00a0strategic and historic location, it’s not surprising that golf was played in the area currently occupied by Stirling golf course, by King James IV, King of Scots, in 1505. \u00a0There was no golf course as such, on what was historically a “Royal Park” dating back to 1200 and used for Hunting – perhaps worth reflecting on when you hunt for golf balls here:)<\/p>\n

\"3rd

3rd at Stirling, a typical well defined hole on this course<\/p><\/div>\n

The current course was established in 1869, and has been subsequently developed by some of golf’s aristocracy – in 1892 Tom Morris Junior\u00a0designed a 9 hole layout; in 1904\u00a0Willie Fernie of Troon extended it to 18 holes; and in 1967 Sir Henry Cotton redesigned the course\u00a0with significant tree re-planting which is now bearing full fruit.<\/p>\n

\"The

The apex of the dog leg on the 9th, with fine hill views<\/p><\/div>\n

The resulting golf course does justice to the views on offer and at well over 6000 yards, even from the yellow tees, will challenge your handicap to the full (see Moly\u2019s card below for evidence!). \u00a0Stirling is a classic layout, with\u00a0both front and back 9s, each having a par of 36 with 2 par 3s and par 5s. \u00a0There is also a really good level of architectural variety, in terms of uphill, downhill, dog-legs right and left. \u00a0The course sits on a hill and this is therefore no easy walk, but it\u2019s worth it.<\/p>\n

\"One

One of my playing partners, Gordon, plays at the 11th with Stirling Castle in the background<\/p><\/div>\n

The highlight holes for me were the dog-legs: \u00a0the par 5 1st is a tough start, the 9th offers great hill views from the dog leg apex, and the par 4 15th, which is SI2, is the best hole on the course in my opinion requiring a 220+ yard uphill drive to give access to the plateau green. \u00a0\u00a0The only omission in the design for me is the lack of a 200+ yard par 3, although the par 3 8th, at 180 yards uphill, required a recovery or long iron.<\/p>\n

\"The

The 15th at Stirling with the Castle in the background<\/p><\/div>\n

The course was also in great condition when I played along with some former colleagues of the charity Apex (Scotland), which does so much good work helping people rebuild their lives after offending. \u00a0Only downside was that the greens had been treated with sand, making putting very slow and different compared with my local links greens.<\/p>\n

Stirling also has a nice club house, serving good food. \u00a0Its well worth playing Stirling.<\/p>\n

Some Facts<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Par 72 (4 par 5s, 10 par 4s, 4 par 3s)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Distance yards: \u00a06201 (yellow)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moly’s Gross Score: 99<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Moly's

Moly’s Stirling scorecard – 99<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Camera’s Please” at this historically located\u00a0parkland course with \u00a0outstanding views. Round \u00a345. \u00a0Par 72. \u00a0Value (out of 5) 4\u00a0 If you play at Stirling remember to take a camera. \u00a0There are spectacular views of Stirling, it’s castle and other historic buildings and of the Trossachs, Ochill and Lomond Hills,\u00a0even\u00a0the Southern Highlands (in clear weather!). Given […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,22,46,36,19,29,32,9,15,58,31,38,11,2,18,91,90,20,72,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-18-holes","category-1851-1900","category-4-star-overall-value","category-4-star","category-course-architech","category-course-owned-by","category-course-quality","category-course-type","category-holes","category-loch-lomond-the-trossachs-stirling-the-forth-valley","category-members","category-overall-value","category-parkland","category-price-range","category-region","category-sir-henry-cotton","category-tom-morris-junior","category-when-course-established","category-willie-fernie","category-40-59","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797","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=797"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":818,"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797\/revisions\/818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}