Category: 1901 – 1945 (Page 8 of 14)

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

99. Royal Musselburgh. 26th July 2019.

April 24, 2020 / Moly McMillan

This ‘Royal’ 6th oldest club in the world is a bit like playing ‘Trigger’s broom’

Round £65. Par 70. Value (out of 5) – 2.5

When reading the history of the Royal Musselburgh GC on its website here I couldn’t help being reminded of the classic comedy sketch below….

This ‘Only Fools and Horses’ sketch came to mind whilst researching Royal Musselburgh GC

….don’t confuse the pedigree of the Golf Club, ‘founded’ in 1774 , with the pedigree of the Golf Course, which is much less prestigious, in my opinion. When you play Royal Musselburgh you’re actually playing a course opened only in 1925; although a pretty good course, it’s on a flat piece of land and it’s over-priced for the course quality, the price undoubtedly influenced by the ‘Royal’ patronage and the Golf Club heritage. In fact, the first 150 years of the history of ‘Royal Musselburgh’ is related to play at Musselburgh Links at the racecourse! Hence the comparison with Trigger’s ’20 year old’ broom! Please forgive my imagination.

**The par 4 third hole at Royal Musselburgh, a typical hole on this flat track.**

Musselburgh is the largest of the towns in East Lothian, situated on the coast about 5 miles from Edinburgh and close to the start of the great North Berwick coastal run of courses which includes Muirfield. There are actually three ‘Musselburgh’ courses: ‘Musselburgh Links’, which is in Musselburgh and recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest course in the world; plain old ‘Musselburgh’, which is actually in Monktonhall; and ‘Royal Musselburgh’, the subject here, somewhat nearer to Prestonpans than Musselburgh! I blogged about Musselburgh here and Musselburgh Links here.

**The 6th hole at Royal Musselburgh, one of only 3 par threes on the course.**

Although only open since 1925, the course does owe its design to the great James Braid, albeit I couldn’t help thinking that the remit was to make a challenging, but not too challenging a course. It is set on ground leased from the Prestongrange Estate, and its clubhouse is within part of Prestongrange House, which is an impressive building from the outside. The fairways are quite wide and the rough under the trees was cut short allowing balls to be easily found. It’s not surprising that Royal Musselburgh is attractive to society or group visits.

**The 14th,the shortest of the par 3s, where club selection is crucial at this, “The Gulley”, hole.**

The course has only three par 3s and one par 5, and with several similar par 4s, it was a little repetitive, for my liking. It was though in very nice condition when I played and the greens were very true. I actually played the best of the season, scoring 87 for 36 points, including a birdie at the stoke index 3, par 4 15th hole, including hitting one of my longest drives for years – it was the first time I’d played with my new fitted driver and the technology has helped!

**The tough 18th hole at Royal Musselburgh, with a well protected green, with views of Prestongrange House to the right of the hole.**

My advice would be it’s a nice course to play if you can get a good discount, otherwise play the two other Musselburgh courses, which have much more to offer, by way of both history (The Links) and quality.

Facts:

Course Type: Parkland

Par 70 (1 par 5, 14 par 4s, 3 par 3s)

Distance: 5880

Moly’s Gross score: 87

**Moly’s scorecard of 87, best score all year made possible by first new driver bought for years.**

90. Musselburgh. 22 Oct 2018.

July 20, 2019 / Moly McMillan

The highest ranked of the three Musselburgh courses even though the other two are more historically significant

Round £60. Par 71. Value (out of 5) – 4

1st at Musselburgh, a very typically picturesque example of this courses holes

But to say you’re playing ‘Musselburgh’ doesn’t really clarify matters, nor indeed is saying you’re playing in Musselburgh. There are in fact three named ‘Musselburgh’ courses: ‘Musselburgh Links’, which is in Musselburgh and recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest course in the world; ‘Royal Musselburgh’, the regally appointed course somewhat nearer to Prestonpans than Musselburgh and; plain old ‘Musselburgh’, which is actually in Monktonhall. Confused?

Given that the two other Musselburgh courses enjoy either a pedigree as the oldest course in the world or has a ‘royal’ appendage, I suspect many people are surprised to learn that the course simply called ‘Musselburgh’ is the highest rated of the 3 in most compilations of Scotland’s courses.

The well bunkered short 3rd hole at Musselburgh

This Musselburgh course opened in 1938 having been designed by James Braid as “a championship” layout. Off the back tees it’s over 6800 years long, and hosts many regional standard competitions, and in the past has held regional Open qualifiers and the Final Qualifier as recently as 2013, such is the best measure of this course.

Off the yellow tees, Musselburgh is still over 6200 yards, and given the amount of breeze on the day I played, presented a very stiff challenge. I shot 99, but 3 lost balls accounted for my scoring only 27 stableford points. I drove the ball well, and the often generous fairways allowed for that. The course was in good condition, although it was let down by the poor maintenance of the teeing areas and readers of my other blogs will realise this is one of my common misgivings, especially with a green fee of £60.

The ‘hidden’ hazard behind the difficult par 4 15th hole at Musselburgh

Apparently, the golf course was laid out in open parkand, but visionary tree planting during the 1950s has transformed this into a mature parkland setting and I benefited from the late autumnal colour.

Fran drives at the inviting fairway on the 17th at Musselburgh

The greens were in great condition and very true to putt on, but you needed to be careful with the greenside bunkering, which I thought was the best feature of this nice layout. With the trees fully matured and the constant changes in direction, one needed to keep track of the wind direction.

My favourite holes were the short 3rd, the slight dog leg right 9th, which had a ditch which long drivers needed to be mindful of, and the tough par 4 15th where a water hazard lies at the back of the green which I found having hit my longest 7 iron of the season!

The last hole is a very long par 4 uphill to a welcoming clubhouse. Its worth mentioning the friendliness of the staff in the bar.

The brutish finishing uphill par 4 to the awaiting and impressive clubhouse at Musselburgh

Some Facts

Course Type: Parkland

Par 71 (3 par 5s, 11 par 4s, 4 par 3s)

Distance (yellow) 6241 yards

Moly’s Gross Score 99

Moly’s Musselburgh scorecard – 99 for 27 points

89. Saline. 10 Oct 2018.

January 21, 2019 / Moly McMillan

‘Salin’ feels like an intrinsic part of Scotland where community and golf are as one entity

Round £15. Par 34. Value (out of 5) – 3

Courses like Saline, pronounced ‘Salin’ by the locals, somehow define Scotland, not just Scottish golf.

The Cleish Hills provide the backdrop to the par 3 8th hole.

Saline is a village in Fife, not far from Dunfermline. Its elevation on the western slopes of the Cleish Hills, mean that any visitor will get spectacular views of the Forth Valley estuary and river. However, for the great views, you have to work hard to walk to the top of the course, but it’s well worth it.

The magnificent Forth backdrop from the 6th tee at Saline

The club was founded in 1912, but as the club’s own website admits there is virtually no history documented about the course and club development, which is clearly a shame.

The village on the other hand, with a declining population, now around 1000, down from the almost 2000 in its heyday, has an interesting history as a weaving centre. It still has several listed weavers cottages, as a legacy to its former glory.

The 1st at Saline, which gets the heart pumping from the first minute.

The 9 hole course, was in fair condition when I played, along with my wife Fran. The fairways were lush and wide enough to allow for an errant drive or two, but the greens were a little bumpy, which could have been down to the amount of recent rain.

There were some decent holes as well. The steeply uphill par 4 5th at 368 yards is a really tough 2 shots, where I suspect most will require driver and fairway wood to reach. The par 3 8th is a great short hole, against the backdrop of the Cleish Hills; it required much less club due to the drop and it’s better playing long due to the front bunkers.

The tricky par 3, third hole at Saline, at over 160 yards

The golf club bar, acts as a community hub and social club, and from looking at the notice boards it was clear that the bar is an important part of the community. The welcome was extremely warm from the barman/host, and this alone would “hasten ye back”.

Some Facts

Course Type: Parkland

Par 34 (0 par 5s, 7 par 4s, 2 par 3s)

Distance (white) 2700 yards

Moly’s Gross Score 46