Category: 3 star (Page 11 of 15)

57. Stonehaven. 1st Dec 2016

December 3, 2016 / Moly McMillan

A curate’s egg of a course with great views and some excellent par 3s

Round £37. Par 66. Value (out of 5) 2.5

Stonehaven golf course in Aberdeenshire sits atop a cliff on land called the Braes of Cowie just to the north of the seaside town of Stonehaven. The cliff top vantage provides for some outstanding views of the coastline, North sea and the town.

The open 1st hole at Stonehaven.

The course, founded in 1888, has a convoluted architecture influenced by 2 distinct lines; the east coast train line which goes directly through the course and the Highland Fault line (dividing Scotland from east to west). The Fault Line forms “The Gully” feature which dominates play on holes 13 and 15 where it has to be carried.

3rd green at Stonehave looking south towards the town.

The course is played on arable land and to the east of the train line, with 14 holes, it has no trees, whereas the 4 holes on the west of the train line has trees; the overall course feels typically parkland, with pretty generous fairways. On the east of the line, the major hazards are the cliff tops and the gully, which collectively impact about 6 holes, and these are the real challenge here. The remaining holes are fairly bland, with only few fairway bunkers.

The tough mid-iron par 3 14th, with green beside the cliff!

The tough mid-iron par 3 7th, with green beside the cliff!

Although the major design work was completed by 1897, the course is a designated James Braid “design”, as he and Archie Simpson, the Royal Aberdeen professional, are deemed to have planned improvements to the course, although I couldn’t find out what they are. An interesting design note, is the presence of “Hitler’s bunker” a crater hole between the first and second fairways, caused by, you’ve guessed it, a bomb during WWII.

8th at Stonehaven with Winter sun

The course is around 5000 yards, so distance is not the issue here. The feature holes are those where the cliffs and gully are in play. In particular the mid to long iron par 3 7th hole, requires a cool head to go to the heart of the green, and the long par 13th at 220 yards uphill over “The Gully” will need driver for all bar the long hitters. Note these were played as holes 14th and 5th on the winter card (see below).

Overall, play to keep the ball away from the cliffs and you’ll be rewarded. I did so, but my putting let me down on the day, although the greens were in excellent condition for the time of year. In fact the course was in all round good condition.

The typically small 18th green with church ruin and graveyard…perhaps an apt epitaph for some rounds here!

My only gripe with Stonehaven was how the website oversells the course as “The best value golf in the North-East of Scotland”. It is a really nice golf course, with great views, and is worth playing, but this self-declared “value” is a exaggeration in my opinion, which is a shame.

Some Facts

Course Type: Parkland

Par 66 (1 par 5, 10 par 4s, 7 par 3s)

Distance yards: 4458

Moly’s Gross Score: 86

Moly’s Stonehaven scorecard, 86 – note this is the winter card, which has a different layout.

55. Silverknowes. 20th Oct 2016.

October 21, 2016 / Moly McMillan

Golf of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish in Scotland

Round £22.70. Par 71. Value (out of 5) 3

Silverknowes is a small suburb in the north-west of Edinburgh on the south bank of the Firth of Forth with views across to Fife. The community evolved around the 1930s and the golf course opened in 1957 after an almost 30 year gestation.

The commending views of the Forth from the first at Silverknowes

The commanding views of the Forth from the first at Silverknowes

In trying to sum up my thoughts about Silverknowes golf course, I couldn’t help thinking about Abraham Lincoln’s famous quote about government being “of/by/for the people”. Arguably, no other country in the world would provide a low cost public golf course on such prime real estate as that on which Silverknowes is laid out.

The approach to the difficult 5th with the clubhouse in the background.

The course is managed as a pay-for-play facility by Edinburgh Leisure, a not for profit charity, which manages the leisure activities formerly run by Edinburgh Council, although there is also a separate private members Silverknowes Golf Club. Edinburgh Leisure operate 6 golf courses, with an annual 7-day membership to play all 6 costing around only £400 – excellent value.

The Arboretum backdrop to the 14th at Silverknowes

The par 71 parkland layout provides an easy walking course with several wide fairways, so you can open up with the driver, without carrying around a bucket of spare balls. However, you do need to keep a keen eye on your line as the lush and green rough make losing a ball possible when you least expect to.

The course has undergone several changes in the hole order over the years, but now has a relatively easy opening 4 holes, but toughens up from the 5th, with the stoke index 1 par 4 7th, being the first of a number of very difficult holes. Indeed, it’s actually worth playing Silverknowes to try out the Par 4 16th, which is one of the most difficult par 4s I have encountered, and that includes the 17th road hole at St Andrews. At over 460 yards, it’s dog leg apex is only about 170-180 yards from the tee, leaving an almost 300 yard second shot – not something many amateurs (or even professionals) have in their bag!

The “par 4” 16th at Silverknowes

The greens and fairways were in nice condition when I played, although annoyingly the bunkers had no rakes available, which caused myself and my partners on the day to have some interesting bunker lies. The tees and tee boxes were also in need of some added care.

There were however many magnificent views across to Fife and the several islands that festoon the Forth, and I would highly recommend playing in the Autumn as the colours of the many variety of trees on several holes make for quite an arboretum.

Unfortunately I found the trees a few too many times on my back 9, coming back in 52, having gone out in 41 – golf the great leveler! This course reflects so much of the ethos of golf in Scotland, and it is worth playing, just to understand that alone.

The urban backdrop a reflection of Golf in Scotland – The peoples game

Some Facts

Course Type: Parkland

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

Distance yards: 5942 (yellow)

Moly’s Gross Score: 93

Moly’s Silverknowes scorecard – 93 (41 out; 52 back!)

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!

43. Charleton. 7th June 2016.

June 7, 2016 / Moly McMillan

A rather bland open parkland course, but with magnificent greens – it’s a cunundrum!

Round £32. Par 71 (yellow). Value (out of 5) – 3

Charleton House on the East Neuk of Fife was built in 1759 and after passing through several hands is now owned by a Swedish family and it was Baron John Bonde (1918–2009) who established the golf course and small picturesque club house in 1994. The Estate house and terraced garden, with outstanding Firth of Forth views, is operated as an events location.

Short par 4 17th tee with Charleton house in the distance.

Firstly, I’d point out that unlike the club’s website boast, this is definately not in my opinion “Scotland’s Premier Parkland Course”, a rather embarrassing claim, given the competition. Given that the course was opened by ex-US president George Bush Snr, one can’t help conclude that the Bonde family have many good contacts!

The difficult short par 3 5th green.

Charleton is actually the most open of parkland courses, in fact it has some of the widest fairways you’re likley to find in Fife. Therefore it is a good course for Society outings, without the need for several balls in your bag.

The course is a bit of a conundrum, since although the tee shots are relatively mundane, when you get to the greens, many of them are rather magnificent; several are up to 50 yards from front to back, some guitar shaped narrowing to only 6 yards wide and there are several positions on the greens that you might have to pitch over the fringes to get to the flags. There are also some very severe sloping banks at the sides of the greens, which combined with deep bunkers, make the approach play some of the most challenging around.

The trecherous green at the par 4 14th.

There are some real highlights, but for me the most difficult were the par 3s, only 3 of them, but on each occasion I struck what I thought were excellent shots, only to discover my ball in devilish greenside bunkers. I also must mention the 14th green – it measures 50 yards front to back, and has several very damging bunkers – I took 4 to get out of one of them!

The guitar shaped 15th green – a par 4.

Therefore, the course without greens gets no more than 2/5 for value, whereas the greens are 5/5 alone, giving a rounded 3/5 value score. It was rounded down because the teeing grounds were in poor condition when I played.

The par 3 6th green at Charleton

I gaurantee if you play at Charleton, you’ll want to re-play many of your greenside chips and long putts. You can see from my card, of 99, I found the greens a challenge, having 3 putted 6 times!

Some Facts

Course Type: Parkland/Woodland

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

Distance (yellow) 5989 yards

Moly’s Gross Score 99

Moly’s scorecard at Charleton adding to 99, with two 9s.