Category: Uncategorized (Page 2 of 3)

101. Forres. 21st July 2020.

August 13, 2020 / Moly McMillan

This course worth playing takes the biscuit, despite the nearby witches!

Round £60. Par 70. Value (out of 5) – 4

The town of Forres sits on the mouth of the Findhorn river about 25 miles north east of Inverness; located on the main A96 Inverness to Aberdeen trunk route, this is an easily accessed course, except for the narrow lanes up to the clubhouse and car park – please don’t try and take a caravan there!

The club, formed in 1889, originally played nearer Findhorn. It moved to playing the current course site, laid out by James Braid, in 1904, and was called Muiryshade Golf Course. It was extended to 18 holes in 1912 by Willie Park, then became Forres CG when, in 1944, the land was bought and gifted to the people of Forres, by Sir Robert McVitie Grant of Logie. Sir Robert made his money by creating the McVitie Digestive biscuit, so it was fitting those that ate the biscuits ended up with the course!

**The short par 4 first looking up towards the pro shop. An easy start except for the wild slice!**

This is a well maintained parkland/highland course at around 6300 yards off white tees and just under 6000 yards from yellow. It is quite undulating, with a number of semi blind and narrow tee shots, especially on the front nine. The course is rather imbalanced with the front nine par of 36 and back nine of 34, but both of similar length. The course has hosted Scottish national competitions, the best measure of its all round standard.

**The aesthetically pleasing par four 4th, where a good drive can set up an easy approach shot.**

Playing with Fran in excellent sunny conditions the course played shorter than normal with the ball running on its hard fairways. The greens were in great condition and well watered.

There are some really nice holes on the course. The first, a very short par 4 downhill, will temp the longer hitters, but played conservatively should offer a par start even for high handicappers.

Following three further short par 4s, the par 3 fifth hole, “Wee Birkie”, is a cunning par 3, where club selection is all important – miss the green and it’s really difficult to get par – aim for the dead centre of the green here.

**Views of the mouth of the river Findhorn in the background of the 9th green at Forres. The pine trees give a real highland feel to this course.**

After the easier front nine, the 10th hole is a long par 3, with deep slopes to the right of the green and trees to the left and starts the toughest stretch of the course through to the par 4 15th hole. To do well overall, playing bogie golf through this stretch is good for all other than the single figure players. The signature par 4 16th hole, looks more difficult than it is – a decent 200 yard drive takes you to safe territory, leaving a short approach.

**The signature view at Forres from the 16th ‘Pond’ tee – a dangerous card wrecker – but a good drive leaves a short approach**

This course was actually the site of one of my best competitive rounds ever more than 25 years ago – an 80 in an RAF Scotland golf competition, including being level par for the front 9. It was very fitting therefore that I shot my best round in a long while – an 84, despite hitting my first shot out of bounds!

Oh, and in case you were wondering about the title – the course sits on a wood reputed to be where ‘the three witches’ from Shakespeare’s Macbeth lived – the 7th hole aptly called “Witch Tree”!

Facts:

Course Type: Highland/Heathland

Par 70 (2 par 5s, 12 par 4s, 4 par 3s)

Distance: 5906

Moly’s Gross score: 84

Moly’s best for a while, gross 84, on a track with fond scoring memories

96. Craigieknowes. 19th June 2019.

March 23, 2020 / Moly McMillan

Playing 150 years ago might have felt like this

Round £7. Par 27. Value (out of 5) – 3

This course is really worth playing, but its assessed ‘value’ of 3 does not necessarily mean this course is good or even average quality; it’s not. Craigieknowes is cheap at less than £10. The greens were terrible when I played – little more than well mowed lawn. The teeing grounds don’t actually exist, they are just areas of the fairway with a tee marker. There are no bunkers – or if there were I can’t remember any.

**Craigieknowes Facebook Page focuses on the real attraction – Cake!**

Craigieknowes golf course, near Kippford in Dumfries and Galloway, is really worth playing, for no other reason than it is what I imagine golf would have been like in the late Victorian era, when golf courses were sprouting up all over Scotland.

**Fran on the 3rd green – she played much better than me on the day.**

It’s a 9 hole par 3 ‘highland’ course against the beautiful and peaceful backdrop of South West Scotland which still exists I suspect from the income generated during the Summer months in this holiday park of Scotland. The golf course seems to be secondary to the delightful tea room, which is the centrepiece of the facebook page of the course. The fact that Craigieknowes doesn’t even have its own proper website is also a measure of its status.

Unfortunately, despite some research I couldn’t find any meaningful history of the course.

**The difficult 4th, take at least one club longer**, **for the 156 yard hole**

Although being in poor condition, there are some meaty holes to overcome here. In particular the 4th, played uphill to a plateaued green, requiring more club that it looks to the eye, and the 166 yard 6th, again uphill, with OOB to the left of the green. On the 6th I lost a ball near the OOB wall, despite at least a 5 minute search – no-one was behind us!

**The 6th – a challenge with OOB on the left.**

On the day, we had lovely weather, and it was really good fun. Nevertheless, I couldn’t par any of the holes in my score of 43, which I’ll put down to the greens;)

If you are in the area this is fun to play, and the tea and cakes were really yummie!

Facts:

Course Type: Highland

Par 27 (9 par 3s)

Distance: 1391

Moly’s Gross score: 43

**Moly’s 43 at the par 27 Craigieknowes GC**

95. Alyth. 7th June 2019.

March 9, 2020 / Moly McMillan

Great Value with Architectural Pedigree, along with a recent 9 hole expansion

Round £42. Par 70. Value (out of 5) – 4.5

**The Alyth scorecard immortalises the founding members**

Alyth is a small town of around 3000 with an abundance of golfing choices in this agriculturally rich area of Perthshire. The Alyth golf club now boasts 2 courses – the main 18 hole course (subject of this blog), described as heathland albeit I think it is a parkland course, and dating back to 1895; Old Tom Morris laid out the first 9 holes, then extended to 18 in 1934 by James Braid. Much more recently, in 2016, the club took over the back 9 holes of the Glenisla course when that club closed down. It is one of the small bits of good news in the general decline of golf in Scotland.

**The wonderful Stroke Index 1, 5th hole at Alyth requiring both strategy and shot making**

The main 18 hole course is really great value, with offers available through several sources, I suspect prices driven to attract the many tourist golfers who might otherwise just play the nearby world class Blairgowrie or Carnoustie courses. I strongly recommend playing Alyth, where the slightly shorter course, compared with those nearby giants, makes it a much more pleasurable experience, especially given the very picturesque landscape. The course has won awards for “best value”.

**The first green at Alyth, showing the fine standard of the course’s conditioning**

Although the course is set amongst tree lined fairways, the course is quite wide and the rough and tree areas not overly penalising, which makes it probably attractive to societies and more occasional golfers.

There are some great holes. The Strike Index 1, 5th hole, is a relatively short par 4, but the fairway ditch which runs diagonally across the fairway needs to be avoided, prior to finding the right club to reach the plateaued green. I was delighted with a bogie and moved on.

The 11th is another really nice hole, a short par 5 with well placed bunkers, that should reward those whose smart club selections take the bunkers out of play.

**The short par 5 11th at Alyth, a lovely looking hole**

When I played, the course was in excellent condition, with all bar the bunkers immaculate. I shot a gross 94 for 29 stableford points; the most enjoyable part being the very tidy finish over the last 3 holes, which should have been all pars, but for 3 putting the last after hitting my longest drive of the day!

I will go back to Alyth – highly recommended.

Facts:

Course Type: Parkland

Par 70 (2 par 5s, 12 par 4s, 4 par 3s)

Distance (yellow): 5990

Moly’s Gross score: 94

91. Musselburgh Links, Old. 23 Oct 2018.

July 21, 2019 / Moly McMillan

The oldest golf course in the world. A Must Play 9 holes.

Round £15.30. Par 34. Value (out of 5) – 5

Called either Musselburgh “Links” or Musselburgh “Old”, this course is the only one of the three ‘Musselburgh’ courses actually in Musselburgh, the East Lothian town 5 miles east of Edinburgh. If you are in any way interested in the history of golf, you have to play here because, quite simply, it is the oldest golf course in the world, recognised as such by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Moly and Fran at Musselburgh Links, The oldest golf course in the world.

People mainly associate the origins of the game with St Andrews, but there is a much richer history in Musselburgh Links. The record books for the course talk of Mary, Queen of Scots, King James VI and Oliver Cromwell; albeit if you check their dates of birth they certainly never played a 3 ball.

Move forward a couple of hundred years, the record book speaks of an early Open Championship venue, between 1874 and 1889, won by the likes of Mungo Park, Willie Fernie and Willie Park Jr.

The tough 6th green at Musselburgh Links

The Old Course at Musselburgh also must have another record. It has been the home of more golf clubs and societies than any other course; not any old clubs either and includes The Royal Musselburgh, The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, Royal Burgess Golfing Society and the Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society, all either formed or were based at Musselburgh. Plus a further 60 clubs or societies of note.

The club sits on Common Good land, and the land’s use was extended in 1816 by building a race track around it, which is still in use today.

Which left me wondering whether a links course could be sited inside a racecourse? The answer is undoubtedly yes – this feels very much a links, with firm turf, deep revetted bunkering, whispy rough and wind! It was actually gusting over 40 mph when I played and unsurprisingly Fran and I were the only players! In the wind, my score of 45 against the par of 34 was about the best I’d played for a while.

The course is basically a clockwise loop of holes, with a out and back layout. It starts with a great par 3, then three par 4s of increasing length with the 4th hole, the stroke index 1, called Mrs Foreman’s, after the name of the pub behind the green. Then you turn for home, with the 8th on the way back being a long par 3, the most noteworthy.

This course is very well maintained and greens, fairways and bunkers being in really good condition.

The wind shows at the 9th at Musselburgh, with the racetrack grandstand in the background

Its also worth noting the world’s first golfing competition for women took place on New Year’s Day in 1811, competed for by the town’s fishwives. I wonder if the date was set by The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers?

At just £15, this is unrivalled value to grab a piece of genuine golfing history.

Some Facts

Course Type: Links

Par 34 (1 par 5, 5 par 4s, 3 par 3s)

Distance: 2954 yards

Moly’s Gross Score 45

Category: Uncategorized (Page 2 of 3)

101. Forres. 21st July 2020.

96. Craigieknowes. 19th June 2019.

95. Alyth. 7th June 2019.

91. Musselburgh Links, Old. 23 Oct 2018.

Par 34 (1 par 5, 5 par 4s, 3 par 3s)

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