Category: James Braid (Page 8 of 10)

50. Broomieknowe. 7th Sep 2016.

September 9, 2016 / Moly McMillan

“A nice course”

Round £25. Par 70(white)/69(yellow). Value (out of 5) 3

Broomieknowe golf course sits in the former village of Broomieknowe now part of the town of Bonnyrigg about 8 miles south east of Edinburgh. The origin of the name Broomieknowe escaped my searching.

The snuggly placed green at the 4th at Broomieknowe

The course was designed by North Berwick’s professional Ben Sayers in 1906 and extended in 1933 by James Braid, but had to be significantly altered in the late 1980s to accommodate the A7 Edinburgh to Scottish Borders road with 5 new holes being built. When playing you really recognise the diffent maturity levels of the course.

The current par 70 layout is 6172 yards in length, but visitors are obliged to play off the 5745 yard par 69 yellow tees.

The par 3 5th at Broomieknowe, with the only nice views from the course.

This is very much a typical parkland course and has “nice” greens, “nice” fairways, “nice” bunkers; in fact everthing was “nice”. However, nothing was really memorable, except the 4-ball playing ahead of me, that despite having no-one ahead of them only let me play through after about 8 holes when 2 of them had lost balls. I had planned to have a drink afterwards, but all the bar noise was from “The Members'” bar, that exclusive part of many golf clubs where members sit and discuss “Why golf clubs are dying?” – perhaps getting rid of the “Members'” area would be a good first step?

At least the members at Broomieknowe have a sense of humour: the “deathly” 7th sponsored by the local funeral director!

The card of the course was a little unvaried with only three par 3s, with the rest par 4s, although the long 8th played as a par 5 from the white tees. The course was pretty private with significant views only at the par 3 5th hole. There were several short par 4s that offered good birdie opportunities, but the highlight of the course for me were the several long par 4s, in particular the 7th, 8th and 12th. Indeed the 7th was a dog leg left with the apex at about nearly 250 yards, and is effectly a par 5 for medium or short hitters.

As I said the course was in “nice” condition, and the greens were true but a little slow and several of the new greens were very flat.

The 16th at Broomieknowe, a typical hole on this “nice” course.

The golfing Gods took some revenge on me; playing off my new handicap of 16 having recently won a Monifieth medal, I crashed to a 97, only 28 over par – I succummed to a 9 at the 8th.

Never mind, I had a “nice” time and I would play again at Broomieknowe as it was pretty “nice” value.

Some Facts

Course Type: Parkland

Par 66 (15 par 4s, 3 par 3s)

Distance Yards 5745 (yellow)

Moly’s Gross Score: 97

Moly’s first scorecard off new handicap of 16; 28 over par!

36. Alloa. 18th April 2016

April 19, 2016 / Moly McMillan

Good design with many memorable holes and outstanding Ochil Hills view.

Round £38. Par 71. Value (out of 5) – 3.5

The site for Alloa Golf Club, Schawpark, has a long and heraldic Scottish history and is named after James Schaw of Greenock who in 1431 married Mary de Annand, heiress to the Lands of Sauchie, whose ancester, Henri, was granted the lands in 1321 by King Robert the Bruce. The only notable existing relic of the historic estate is the derelict Sauchie Tower dating from the 15th Century.

1st at Alloa with Ochil Hills.

The golf club was founded in 1891, but the current course was designed by James Braid in 1935. The site is blessed with outstanding views of the Ochil Hills and Braid makes sure the hills are never far from sight through the variety of trees on the course. The fairways are invariably tree lined with some cleverly undulating fairways, most notably the stroke index one 8th hole.

The par 3 7th at Alloa, which depends so much on the wind direction.

The 7th at Alloa, which depends so much on the wind direction.

However, this is not a course where you’ll need a dozen balls to get round as many of the tree areas have fairly open surrounds. The course layout also uses the rolling countryside well, with significant changes in direction on each hole (except the 11th and 12th) so respite from any wind is never long in coming.

The treacherous ditch in front of the long 17th at Alloa

I played Alloa GC with long standing member Brian Fearon and our mutual friend Frank Crowe, both Trustees of Apex Scotland, a charity which does such fantastic work supporting people who have offended or at risk of offending. We had 20+ mph winds when we played, so the downwind holes were very welcome. None of us played especially well, but all had enough good shots to keep our golfing aspirations up!

The difficult to hit par 3 15th green looking back to the tee.

The difficult to hit 15th green looking back to the tee.

The course was in pretty good condition, particularly in light of the amount of rain that had recently fallen with the fairways being the highlight for me – I never got the pace of the greens but they were well conditioned.

The course has a very difficult last 4 holes, including 2 par 3s (one being the 18th) and I suspect this stretch has laid waste to many a potentially good medal card. In fact, the par 3s were the highlight of the course for me with the uphill 15th and the last both being very difficult greens to hit – I suspect the members would settle for bogies every time on these holes. The 2nd and 17th holes are par 5s off the white tees, but more difficult long par 4s from the yellow tees – the 17th needs to be played as a 3 shot par 5 for all but the longest hitters as it has a devilish blind ditch just in front of the green.

The par 3 18th at Alloa – a great finishing hole.

Alloa is a good golf course, with many memorable holes and fantastic views – well worth playing.

Some Facts

Course Type: Parkland

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

Distance (yellow) 5991 yards

Moly’s Gross Score 100

Stableford 28

Alloa – Moly’s scorecard – 100

34. Scoonie. 15th Oct 2015.

October 19, 2015 / Moly McMillan

An easy walking course with good views and subtle greens

Round £18. Par 67. Value (out of 5) – 2.5

Scoonie is a short and straight forward parkland golf course located on the eastern side of Leven on the Fife coast and has good views out to the Forth Estuary and across to the North Berwick coastline.

The long par 4 6th tee at Scoonie

It is one of 7 courses managed by the Fife Golf Trust which was established in 2011 to take over Fife Council’s directly managed courses. This is becoming a common practice by Local Authorities in Scotland to manage golf courses. The actual Scoonie Golf Club was formed in 1951, and welcomes visitors to their catering and bar facilities.

View through the “forgiving” trees at the 6th.

Originally a 9 hole course it was extended in 1936 with James Braid doing the re-design, albeit it’s unclear what Braid’s exact design changes were, since the course lacks sophisticated course architecture one normally expects from a Braid course in my opinion. Parts of the course in fact seem quite immature with small trees aside wide open fairways, and therefore feels much younger.

The 12th at Scoonie – the subtle and often large greens provide a good challenge

Having said that, there is still sufficient to keep one interested at Scoonie. The greens are subtle and true, with a few of them being very large. I suspect not many visitors, of any standard, will fail to 3 putt at least once during a round.

The approach at the long par 4 15th hole, bathed in Autumn colour.

The course is a little imbalanced with an outward par of 35 with only one par 3, and inward par of 32 including 4 par 3s. There are no par 5s on the course.

My favourite holes were the short par 4 2nd, which had a steep upward incline to the green, where it is better being long on the approach, the short uphill par 3 13th and the final hole which has a lovely green and well positioned front bunker.

The lovely 18th green at Scoonie

On the day, I played poorly on a course which is relatively easy, with a SSS of 64 versus the card of 67 off the yellow, scoring 31 points.

Scoonie is ideal if you’re looking for a fairly easy walking course, with no major hazards coming into play.

Some Facts

Course Type: Parkland

Par 67 (0 par 5s, 13 par 4s, 5 par 3s)

Distance (green!) 5133 yards

Moly’s Gross Score 92

Stableford 31

Moly’s Scoonie scorecard – 92

30. Muir of Ord. 30th Aug 2015

September 11, 2015 / Moly McMillan

Nice course – play on Sunday after 3pm for best value golf in the area

Round £25. Par 67 (yellow). Value (out of 5) – 3.5

Muir of Ord is an interesting heathland course, about 13 miles north-west of Inverness close to the Beauly Firth. The course is bisected by the Inverness-Wick railway line, with the track being a significant hazard on several of the holes. I played on a Sunday afternoon, taking advantage of a fantastic standing offer of only £10 for a round after 3pm, which is very popular deal. On the basis of that price the value rating would have been 4.5, rather than 3.5 using the midweek standard price of £25.

The course was established in 1875 and is party laid out by James Braid. Apparently there has been several changes since Braid’s involvement, but the current layout has some great holes, many unchanged from Braid’s time.

The first 4 and last 3 holes are on one side of the railway line and are flat and almost links like, with the 5th through 15th on the other side, where the course is more undulating and very different in character.

The highlight for me was the 4 hole stretch from 11 to 14. The par 4 11^th, is the stroke index 1 hole, followed immediately by 2 very different par 3s, the 12^th is a hazard laden 200+ yard hole and the 13^th is a 100 yard hole with a 100 ft climb to a tricky green – the 14^th presents a very challenging drive with the railway line tight along the left of the hole. I suspect these 4 holes will heavily influence your card.

Another hole worth mentioning is the 4^th, with a drive and approach again both influenced by the railway.

The course was in beautiful condition when I played in August 2015, with the heather in full bloom, it would be worth playing at this time of year just for the floral colour. The tees in particular were very well maintained.

I played as well as I’ve done all season, chipping and putting very well, with several single putts in a gross 86, for 37 stableford points. I had an interesting 6 on the 14th, including playing out of a bush where my ball had come to rest about 2 feet off the ground! Happy day all round on this very nice course.

Why not pray for good weather after 3pm on Sunday!

Some Facts

Course Type: Heathland

Par 67 (13 par 4s, 5 par 3s)

Distance (yellow) 5229 yards

Moly’s Gross Score 86

Stableford 37

Moly’s Muir of Ord Scorecard – 86, best for a while!

Category: James Braid (Page 8 of 10)

50. Broomieknowe. 7th Sep 2016.

Par 66 (15 par 4s, 3 par 3s)

36. Alloa. 18th April 2016

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

34. Scoonie. 15th Oct 2015.

Par 67 (0 par 5s, 13 par 4s, 5 par 3s)

30. Muir of Ord. 30th Aug 2015

Par 67 (13 par 4s, 5 par 3s)

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