Category: £20 – £39 (Page 18 of 22)

42. Murrayshall Lynedoch. 6th June 2016.

June 7, 2016 / Moly McMillan

The “junior” Murrayshall course provides a surprisingly outstanding challenge

Round £30 ( variable on-line). Par 68. Value (out of 5) – 4

The Murrayshall estate, first built in 1664, was established as a commercially successful Country House hotel in the early 1970s, following the sale of the estate by the Norrie-Millar family, of whom Francis Norrie-Millar was one of the key instrumentalists in building the General Accident insurance company in nearby Perth, only 3 miles to the west of Murrayshall.

Approach to the par 4 second - requiring a well placed tee shot, into a narrow green over a deep ditch.

Approach to the par 4 2nd – requiring a well placed tee shot, into a narrow green over a deep ditch.

The esteemed golf architect Hamilton J Strutt (grandson of James Braid’s foreman) designed the original Championship course in the 70s, and returned to design the Lynedoch course which opened in 2000. The latter course is named after Thomas Graham, aka Lord Lynedoch, who became second in command to the Duke of Wellinton’s Armies in the early 1800s.

Playing the Lynedoch actually reminds you of the Duke of Wellington when importalised in song for “marching them up to the top of the hill, and marching them down again!” There’s plenty of hills to march up and down on the Lynedoch course, which feels longer than its 5279 yards off the white tees. I wouldn’t recommend carrying a full bag!

The demanding SI 1, par 5 14th hole on The Lynedoch

The demanding SI 1, narrow par 5 14th hole on The Lynedoch

The Lynedoch Course really surprised me for both its quality and character, given that it is very much the junior course at Murrayshall. It is very difficult to give a single course type categorisation, and is a mix of woodland and parkland/medow, and has some wonderful highland views to the north. It also has a fair amount of bracken, ditch/water hazards and Disney sized bunkers on some holes.

Given its all round quality and design, it’s arguably better value than the longer Championship course. It has many memorable holes, starting on the first, a dog leg right par 4, which is much harder than the stroke index of 10 would suggest. The second, a shorter par 4, starts to lay out the need for accuracy needed here. Then the 3rd is the first of 6 delighful par 3s, with a hugh amount of variety.

The long par 3 15th tee on The Lynedoch, with deep ditch just visible on the left - cant impagine many 2s here!

The long par 3 15th tee on The Lynedoch, with deep ditch just visible on the left – can’t imagine many 2s here!

My favourite holes were the 14th, 15th and 16th, with stroke indexes 1, 5 and 3 repectively – I rather suspect these holes have defined many match play games here. The 15th is particularly interesting played as a long par 3 (212 yards) off white but as a short par 4 (294 yards) off yellow. It requires the most accurate tee shot, due to a right to left sloping fairway into a deep ravine/ditch – which I had to chip out of!

View from green at the par 3 15th (although par 4 from yellow tees)

The course was in excellent all round condition when I played and I had a very mercurial round of 88 (net 2 over), including 3 birdies for the second time in my life, but unfortunately 2 quadruple and 1 triple bogie! I think this scorecard rather sums up the Lynedoch course – lots of opportunity and hazard, but very true greens!

I highly recommend playing here.

Some Facts

Course Type: Parkland/Woodland

Par 68 (2 par 5s, 10 par 4s, 6 par 3s)

Distance (white) 5279 yards

Moly’s Gross Score 88

A mercurial 88, with 3 birdies and 2 quadruple bogies!

41. Letham Grange Glens. 3rd Jun 2016. CLOSED

June 4, 2016 / Moly McMillan

Mainly open parkland course, with a tough finishing stretch

Round £30 ( variable on-line). Par 68. Value (out of 5) – 2.5

Letham Grange, on the outskirts of Arbroath, has likely had more written about it in court proceedings than in golfing magazines! It is one of the failed attempts in Scotland to create an American style Golf & Country Club Estate similar to Gleneagles, or Wentworth in Surrey. Opened in 1987 as a full resort, the hotel and many facilities are long since closed.

Approach to the 2nd on the Glens at Letham Grange, a typical open parkland hole.

The club members, several living in the many fine houses which still adorn the fairways, now do a great job at keeping the Old course and the smaller Glens course open.

The Glens Course opened in 1992 and is at 5528 yards, much shorter and less demanding than the Old course. The parkland layout is very open for the first 12 holes, but the stretch from the 13th to 17th is much more challenging and will dictate your scorecard.

The 9th green at Letham Grange Glens course

In particular the short par 4 14th requires a very acurate tee shot; the dog leg 15th needs a straight shot of about 200 yards to the tree lined dog-leg; and the 17th is a pretty scary drive down an avenue of trees about 40 yards wide.

The condition of the course was pretty reasonable, with the highlight being the very well maintained teeing grounds. However, the bunkers though were actually terrible, with a thin covering of grainy sand over hard packed earth – unfortunately I found several bunkers eventually realising the only way to play them was to chip the ball cleanly off the sand.

The difficult to find small 15th green, part of the difficult stretch of 5 holes from 13 to 17 on the Glens course

The price of the Glens is £30 per round and I was able to play on the Carnoustie Country offer, and paid only £15. At the full price its not the best value by any means in Angus.

I had a good round with 37 stableford points (using the new 9/10s allowance), and played to my new handicap of 18, which included an 8 on the par 4 3rd, needing to take 2 shots to get out of a greenside bunker.

Some Facts

Course Type: Parkland

Par 68 (2 par 5s, 10 par 4s, 6 par 3s)

Distance (white) 5528 yards

Moly’s Gross Score 86

Moly’s Letham Grange Glens Scorecard – 86 (net par off 18)

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

33. Drumoig. 16th Sep 2015

September 20, 2015 / Moly McMillan

A Driver’s paradise with some prayers needed around the turn!

Round £25. Par 73. Value (out of 5) – 4

Drumoig golf course is a substantial par 73 golf course, designed by Dave Thomas, set in a resort style estate, with housing and a hotel, situated between Dundee and St Andrews. It is a parkland layout and sufficiently undulating to make for a tiring walk on this 7000 yard course.

The difficult 9th hole with water on both sides of the fairway.

It is well set within the surrounding arable land with some far reaching views, notable across to Broughty Ferry, Monifieth and Carnoustie, on the other side of the Tay Estuary.

Surrounded by the classic links on this north Fife coastline, Drumoig would make a nice contrast for touring golfers, who may be finding the local links fairways a bit tight.

The “cliff side” green at the 5th – the long signature hole at Dromoig

My main impression of Drumoig, was the width of the fairways, especially on the five par 5s; you can really open your shoulders whilst driving here, that is all bar the 9th, 10th and 11th, where all three holes are set around a large lake, making up its own Amen Corner. These holes at the turn were the highlight for me, particularly the 10th, where I took a bogie 5, having taken 3 from the tee!

The 11th green at Drumoig

There are other interesting features, with a 25-foot quarry wall sitting immediately behind the 5th hole, a long par 5, and the 13th. The 18th, is also a very nicely architected hole, with carefully laid water hazards, where the safe play is a medium iron or hybrid from the tee, leaving a short iron to the green.

13th at Drumoig with the quarry wall behind.

The course is a little unbalanced in my opinion with only 1 par 3 (the 2nd) and 2 par 5s on the front 9 of 37, but 3 par 3s, 3 par 4s and 3 par 5s on the back 9. The course was in nice condition when I played, although the bunkers were a little stony and greens much slower that the nearby links courses. That aside, its a good course which is well worth playing and good value.

The greenside bunker at the left of 14th, a natural target with OOB all down the right.

I had a fairly good day for me, shooting 96, with 46 on back 9.

Some Facts

Course Type: Parkland

Par 73 (5 par 5s, 9 par 4s, 4 par 3s)

Distance (green!) 6472 yards

Moly’s Gross Score 96

Stableford 33

Moly’s Drumoig Scorecard – 96

Category: £20 – £39 (Page 18 of 22)

42. Murrayshall Lynedoch. 6th June 2016.

Par 68 (2 par 5s, 10 par 4s, 6 par 3s)

41. Letham Grange Glens. 3rd Jun 2016. CLOSED

Par 68 (2 par 5s, 10 par 4s, 6 par 3s)

36. Alloa. 18th April 2016

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

33. Drumoig. 16th Sep 2015

Par 73 (5 par 5s, 9 par 4s, 4 par 3s)

Recent Posts

Useful Links