Scotland Golf Bible

A guide to green fee value for money

Category: 1851 – 1900 (Page 1 of 14)

187. Greenburn. 26 Mar 2023.

June 16, 2026 /

The Golf Club and the Viaduct – which will last longest?

Green Fee: £15 (winter rate). Par 71. Course Rating/Slope: 71/128 (yellow tees). Value: 4/5.

Moly’s Gross Score: 89

Playing Greenburn, I found myself thinking not just about where the course sits geographically – deep in Scotland’s central belt between Glasgow and Edinburgh – but where it sits economically. Scotland has around 575 golf courses and almost certainly cannot sustain all of them. I pondered which side of that financial reckoning Greenburn would end up on. Let’s park that for now.

Hole 4 – a long Par 5, with the first start view of the viaduct

Greenburn Golf Club traces its roots to 1894, when the working people of Fauldhouse built a course near their village. The present course, voluntarily built by the members in 1953, relocated to the Breichwater Valley. The club motto, Per Nostra Opera (“By our own endeavors”), says what it does on the tin.

I played at a winter rate of £15, off temporary mats but normal greens. I met recent retiree and local member Gordon Cleland, a decent golfer and clearly very much at home.

Local Member Gordon Cleland, local member, playing his approach at the par 5 13th.

After a welcoming opening hole, Greenburn becomes a narrow course, surrounded by industrial landmarks, most notably the electrified Glasgow to Edinburgh railway line. Pylons and overhead wires run over some holes.

The sometimes very large and sloping greens were in good condition for the end of winter. I got the feel they would be fast and very difficult in Summer.

The first, with characteristic large green, the rope marking the winter ground boundary

As you play toward the 4th green, a massive stone railway viaduct dominates – dark and monumental, it represents the ambition of the Victorian age, as does the existence of clubs like Greenburn. Nobody designs viaducts anymore, they’d be too expensive, but were they built to disturbingly outlast their surroundings.

Hole 3, one of the birdieable par 4 holes, with wide narrow green

The highlight of the course are a quartet of difficult par threes, a truism brought to life by Gordon’s tale of the Greenburn “secret 2s pot”. Most clubs have a small stake side comp along side the weekly medal, the “pot” shared by players getting a 2 on their card. At Greenburn this side sweep is on only one of the par 3s, but secretly chosen. Given the difficulty of the par 3s, the pot can accumulate. On one occasion, Gordon took home £340 for a birdie two at the 10th, the stroke index 5, ‘Muldron’ .

The 6th, at 171 yards, is the shortest of a quartet of great par threes at Greenburn

One disappointment was almost every bunker was marked GUR. Well-shaped, properly positioned, but out of play. Hopefully seasonal rather than structural.

Moly playing his ‘normal’ draw off the winter tee at the 14th, a tough par 4.

Greenburn is a good course, around mid-table in my ranking of Scotland’s courses that I’ve played. It sits in a central belt that offers a car-owning golfer several credible alternatives within thirty minutes. Membership at £738 a year is deliberately affordable — the club keeping itself within reach of its community. The £30 summer visitor is excellent value.

Shades of East Renfrewshire come to mind looking back from the 10th Green

So to the viaduct or course question.

The viaduct was built in an era when Fauldhouse had the population, the industry, and the collective will to anchor infrastructure for generations. The golf club was founded in the same spirit, by the same kind of people, in the same era. Both have lasted. But the economic conditions that created them, dense local population, limited mobility, a working community that played its local course because there was no other, have long since dissolved.

OOB down both sides of the fine 18th hole at Greenburn, likely ruin many a card.

Scotland probably cannot sustain 575 golf courses indefinitely. The adjustment will be slow and uneven, shaped by club type, geography, land ownership and sheer stubbornness. Members’ clubs built by communities like this one don’t close easily – they endure through loyalty, deferred maintenance, and people like Gordon who simply keep turning up. But the structural pressure is real, and it falls unevenly. A course in the middle of the quality distribution, in the middle of the country, with several competitors nearby and no obvious distinguishing draw for the visitor market, faces a particular kind of exposure that a municipal course or a well-capitalised commercial operation simply does not.

The viaduct will almost certainly outlast us all. The golf club? I genuinely hope it does too. But the question in the title isn’t rhetorical.

More on Scotland’s golfing landscape — and what the economics might mean for courses like this one — in a future post.

I scored 89. The course reminded me a little of East Ren (Blog 169).

Facts:

Course Type: Parkland/Moorland
Par: 71 (3 par 5s, 11 par 4s, 4 par 3s)
Distance: 5,659 yards (yellow tees)
Course Rating/Slope: 71/128 (yellow tees)
Moly’s Gross Score: 89
Green Fee: £15 (winter rate)
Value: 4/5

Moly’s 89, was a decent game.

184. West Kilbride. 24 Mar 2023.

June 11, 2026 /

Walter Hagen thought better of it. He made a big mistake.

Round: £40 (Winter rate). Par 71. Course Rating 69.7, Slope 120.

Value: 5/5.

Moly’s Score: 95.

Three miles south of Seamill on a rocky promontory above the Firth of Clyde, sits Portencross Castle, a squat fourteenth-century tower house with a roofline destroyed in 1739 and never repaired. This place was consequential long before the castle was built as its land was given by Robert the Bruce to Sir Robert Boyd of Kilmarnock for his service at Bannockburn. The castle became a purgatory stop for Scotland’s dead kings; their bodies lying in state before being transported by a birlinn, a traditional Hebridean ship, to Iona for burial.

By the 1890s, the Craufurds had long since replaced the Boyds of Kilmarnock dynasty. It was Hugh Craufurd, Laird of Auchenames and Portencross, who played the first tee shot at West Kilbride Golf Club in 1893, on the nine-hole course laid out by Old Tom Morris.

Hole 1, Burn, looking at the Firth of Clyde and the Isle of Arran. The Laird of Auchenames drove off here in May 1893.

The course extended to 18 in 1905, and the layout was altered again in 1914 and 1925, both done by James Braid. There are many parallels with Lundin GC, blog 84, with the links land predominantly the Morris holes, with Braid encroaching on the more arable turf. The resulting layout it is not a simple out-and-back routing, with Braid keen to make regular changes in wind effect, where he could.

The Old Tom / James Braid layout, a course with parallels to Lundin GC in Fife.

I played alone for only £40 on the winter rate, an unbelievable bargain, in changeable weather conditions as the photos show. Being alone at West Kilbride was mostly meditative, despite a forensic start.

At the first hole, Burn, a par four of 326 yards, my thinned drive embedded in the face of a bunker; not in the sand, but in the turf wall – a rule referee wasn’t available.

The opening drive, embedded in the face of the bunker. A rules quiz – what can you do?

Does a ball embedded in the face of a bunker entitle you to free relief? The answer is yes — provided the ball is embedded in the turf of the rivetted wall or face, not in sand. The relief is to find the nearest point in the general area not nearer the hole and drop within one club-length. No penalty. The catch: if any part of the ball is touching sand, free relief evaporates and you play it as it lies or take an unplayable.

I took the free drop and still made seven. The rules of golf are at times generous, but they don’t always mean a lower score.

The approach to the par five 3rd hole ‘Yonderfield’. The trees perfectly illustrating the prevailing wind underlying how West Kilbride challenges your game.

I played a good round in difficult windy conditions with Out of Bounds (OOB) in play on twelve holes. There is nowhere to hide at West Kilbride. I finished with 95 gross and 29 Stableford points off 14, which in those conditions represented something around par for the day.

The front nine is somewhat on arable, not true links, land. The back nine has more of the original links land holes, giving you two linked but distinct experiences. It is at the turn, Ardneil, the tenth, that the course reveals its real character, with OOBs running the complete left hand side. The westerly prevailing wind becomes your friend here.

Moly driving at the difficult par four 10th, the stroke index 3 hole, with gorse starting to bloom in March! As a lone golfer you need to be good at setting the camera.

By my back nine, something else had changed: the weather. The grey overcast of the first hour had given way to Ayrshire sunshine, the Firth beginning to catch the light and Arran stunningly on the horizon. Links golf in Scotland operates a variable weather tariff, not unlike most of the fees these days. The same course that hands you a seven on the first hole in a grey wind can, within two hours, be offering something close to transcendence.

The green at the 13th, the toughest hole – stroke index 1, 406 yards, par 4. The conditioning fully on show, as was the improving weather.

The greens and their surrounds were excellent, brilliant conditioning for late March. The links turf was quality. The hole names carry their own character: Yonderfield, Rushy Bog, Lang Wham, Hunger-em-oot.

The club has attracting high profile visitors over the years and were keen to get Walter Hagen, the “first touring pro” to play an exhibition. Hagen failed to agree his fee and “went elsewhere”, ironically agreeing to play The Machrie on the Isle of Islay, but traveled incorrectly to Machrie Bay on Arran, a much lesser course; blog 110. This was a mistake in more ways than he imagined! Open Champion Bobby Locke played here in 1951, clearly being less demanding than Hagen, the real hustler.

Hole 16, Hunger-em-oot: the signature hole. The West Kilbride Golf Club outbuilding with its sign, the two flanking bunkers, and the Firth of Clyde beyond. This is the image of the course.

West Kilbride is the most northerly of Ayrshire’s true links courses, including Dundonald, Glasgow Gailes, Troon, Prestwick and Turnberry, partly explaining the lower pricing of £40 in March, which deserves reflection.

The course costs £85 on a summer weekday, more than double the winter rate. That Summer/Winter gap has widened considerably over the past decade as Scottish links golf has repriced itself upward as a premium product. At the top of the market, Kingsbarns charges £448 and Turnberry’s rack rate is £545. Green fees at premium Scottish courses have inflated at roughly 7-8% per year over the past two decades, three times the rate of general inflation. The winter links visitor becomes a shrewder operator.

The course is genuinely excellent; I would go back without hesitation and happily pay more than £40 to do so.

Hole 16 green: looking south along the Firth of Clyde toward Arran. Stone walls, sunshine, the flag. This is what £40 buys you in March at West Kilbride.

Facts:

Course Type: Links

Par 71 (2 par 5s, 13 par 4s, 4 par 3s)

Distance: 6,146 yards (Ardneil/yellow tees)

Course Rating 69.7, Slope 120

Moly’s Gross Score: 95 (29 Stableford points, net 81)

Moly’s scorecard, a day for a stableford preferably.

174. Aberfeldy. 30 Nov 2022.

February 22, 2024 /

Better Days

Value 1/5

I played the three 9-hole courses of Aberfeldy, Mains of Taymouth and Strathtay on the same wet Highland Perthshire day. This is important context, because whereas Mains of Taymouth and Strathtay were well presented, Aberfeldy was in awful condition.

The 8th green at Aberfeldy, on a day the course should have been closed.

All three courses sit along a 12 mile stretch of the River Tay, between Kenmore and Grantully, and experience the same climate. It’s evident Aberfeldy GC is struggling to maintain the course with its small membership, with volunteering a critical resource.

The length of fairway meant Moly lost 3 balls from shots hit into the “fairway”.

Finding the course in such a bad state, especially from the 2nd hole onwards, leaves me somewhat uncomfortable in writing a review, as I’m sure there will be reasons why the course was effectively unplayable. Nonetheless, I’m committed to writing what I found on the day; all it would have taken by the club was a “course closed” sign on the first tee.

The Moness Burn, which feeds the Tay, is the key feature and hazard, which has to be crossed several times, here shown on the approach shot to the par 4, 7th hole, one of the more difficult holes. Beware the dog walkers, as the burn seemed a well used route.

Golf in Aberfeldy, much like in Scotland overall, is a story of expansion and contraction; the websites Missing Links and Breadalbane Heritage collectively tell Aberfeldy’s story, but there are gaps likely created by the old matter of ‘club’ versus ‘course’. There is also a book, intriguingly “Never an Old Tin Hut”, by local historian Jack Rees, published to mark Aberfeldy’s centenary in 1995.

The 2nd green was GUR. It wasn’t the worst!

In summary, Breadalbane GC and course, was founded in 1895 at its current location and would later be renamed Aberfeldy GC. But there are records of 2 other courses as early as 1891, in nearby Weem and in a place called Welar, the latter course can still be made out on Google Maps just north-east of Camernay. The current very flat course was characterised by sharing its ground with cows for many years.

The course expanded to 18 holes in 1995 including 6 holes north of the river, but was returned to 9 holes in 2016, due to the drop off in demand.

The “advanced composite footbridge” over the Tay, shown here from the 5th hole, made accessible 6 holes on the north of the river between 1995 and 2016.

The pictures tell their own story about the course condition. With much better courses nearby, one can’t see the long term survival of Aberfeldy GC. The local interest in golf can also be gauged in the lack of business sponsorship, even although Aberfeldy is base to one of the great whiskey distillers, Dewars. Plus, Breadalbane Academy, Highland Perthshire’s main school, is only 500 yards away, yet sadly has no mention of golf within its sporting curriculum.

The 9th green, adjacent the main road and clubhouse, was the most manicured.

This was a sad day for me, but I’m sure many people have fond memories of Summer golf in Aberfeldy. I thought the course condition when I played might be reminiscent of the course in the late 1890 – ever an optimist.

Round List Price £15. Actual Paid £10 (Winter rate).

Moly’s Score – 45 for 14 points (off 13)

Course/Slope Rating (yellow) nk/~65

Course Type: Parkland

Par 35  ( 1 par 5s, 5 par 4s, 3 par 3s)

Distance (yellow): 2688 yards

Moly’s score of 45 included losing 3 balls on fairways doubling as rough!

167. Uphall. 15 Oct 22.

July 19, 2023 /

Quirky opening fairway at club with “progressive” ambitions.

Value for Money (out of 5) – 4

As a friendly Starter briefed me, I was pre-occupied by two groups of golfers only 40 yards in front of the first tee – one group on the 16th tee the other on the 2nd green. As a wayward driver, I was trying to remember if I had paid my annual golf insurance. His summarised message had been, “take great care!”.

The good conditioning of Uphall seen from the 1st tee. It’s a hazardous area, with both teeing ground and greens in immediate view – take great care.

Uphall’s first and second holes share a fairway with a green at either end, which I reasoned may have been okay at the turn of the 19th century, when balls didn’t travel so far and times were less litigious. I kept musing on this somewhat dangerous layout, my feelings later reinforced when I met a long standing member who told me “someone’s going to get seriously hurt one day”.

The par 3 third hole – Uphall’s best hole in my opinion, where one has to avoid the Brox Burn.

The golf course (in the village of the same name) sits either side of the A899 with holes 1 to 3, and 15 to 18 on the north side, and holes 4 through 14 on the south. It is near Junction 3 of the M8, and therefore very accessible from any direction.

Autumn colour on display into the trickily placed 5th green, a short par 4.

This Central Scotland location, coupled with the interesting course layout makes for a good society venue, albeit at the time of writing the club are yet to rebuild the clubhouse which was sadly burnt down during the Covid Pandemic.

The mature Uphall parkland on view here as Fran drives at the tough par four 8th hole.

Much of the course lies amongst mature parkland, once part of the Houstoun House Estate. The estate ‘castle’, dating back to 1598, is now a MacDonald Hotel, and sits behind the 4th, 5th and 6th holes.

At just 5366 yards from the yellow tees, with a slope rating of 113, I should have been challenging 80, whereas I didn’t break 100 in the wet and windy autumnal conditions. My score wasn’t helped by losing 3 balls in the leaves. It was very picturesque though with the trees in good colour.

The par three 16th, “burn”, where good club selection is needed at this 95 yard hole (yellow).

With four par threes and only one par five, the courses variety was aided by a good variety of par fours, from the drivable downhill second hole of 293 yards, to the stroke index 1, 14th at over 400 yards.

Moly’s short approach into the par five 11th at Uphall.

The course was in decent condition, with good turf, and is likely a delight on a dry Summer day. I paid only £18 through golfnow.com, a sizable discount on the £30 list price. Overall, I give this 4 out of 5 for value, and worth checking out. Just take great care on the first tee shot.

The short dog leg right par four 17th hole at only 240 yards is a good birdie chance, but be mindful not to run out of fairway like Moly did.

It’s worth noting the Club’s commitment to junior golfers, with its website declaring “a strong focus on the development of our Junior players”, well done.

Facts:

Round List Price £25. Actual Paid £18 using Golfnow.com

Course/Slope Rating (yellow) 65.9/113.

Course Type: Parkland

Par 69  (1 par 5s, 13 par 4s, 4 par 3s)

Distance (yellow): 5366 yards

Moly’s scorecard – high winds didn’t help, but it was a poor day.
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