Category: 4 star (Page 8 of 12)

93. Strathmore Rannaleroch. 18 May 2019.

August 2, 2019 / Moly McMillan

Ideal Golfing Society venue with a challenging course

Round £36. Par 71. Value (out of 5) – 4

“A Challenging course for golfers of all abilities”. How often do you read that on golf course websites? I suspect it really means “please come and play no matter what standard you are, we could do with the money?”. The wealthier clubs, in much less need of visitors, rarely say it.

**The nice par three 6th, one of the few holes with water in play**

So, if a “for all abilities” layout does really exist, I propose the Rannaleroch course at the Strathmore Golf Centre, near Alyth in Perthshire, might be the closest I’ve found. But the more you think about it, the more obscure the statement is. Firstly, how can any one player know? I have played many times with low handicap players and I regularly play with my mid to high 20s handicap peers. Neither group has sufficient empathy, I suggest, of what constitutes a comparable challenge for the other group! Again, one of the many “unsolvable” debates golfers love.

**The first green at Rannaleroch, a good example of the greens and surrounds at this main Stranthmore Golf Centre course.**

Strathmore Golf Centre, near Alyth in Perthshire, was opened in 1996, and also has a 9 hole course, Leiftie Links, which I blogged in 2016. The Rannaleroch course was designed by former R&A Captain, John Salveson, now deceased; John turned to golf course design later in life after retiring as a farmer, mainly in conjunction with Donald Steel.

**The 17th, the last of the nice par threes at Rannaleroch**

The par 72 main course (although 70 off the yellow tees I used) is very picturesque, amongst rolling countryside, with mature trees, and the wide fairways means you can afford to use driver on all the longer holes. It’s an excellent architecture job.

The greens are large and I suggest you spend sometime on the practice greens to avoid several 3 putts; I putted very well on the front 9, then lost it on the back.

There are some really memorable holes, but I think the par 3s are the star here, with the 4th and the 17th both needing long irons. The short 6th over water is also a nice hole.

**The difficult long iron par three 4th hole, with trouble left and right**

The course was in excellent condition when I played along with Fran, despite the very wet weather that had prevailed the previous month. The tees, fairways and greens were all very good, albeit the bunkers were a little in need of raking and a bit of maintenance. Having said that, the course represented really good value. It would be a great course to add to a Blairgowrie centered golfing break. It also has a very good reputation for food, and I would recommend booking, as the restaurant is popular amongst local non golfers.

It’s really worth going out of your way to play Rannaleroch.

Facts:

Course Type: Parkland

Par 70 (2 par 5, 12 par 4s, 4 par 3s)

Distance (yellow): 5848

Moly’s Gross score: 97

**Moly’s 97 at Strathmore Rannaleroch, not helped by the rain making it play long!**

69. Moray New. 24th Oct 2017.

October 29, 2017 / Moly McMillan

The junior of the two Moray courses is a fine example of links golf.

Summary: Round £50. Par 70. Value (out of 5) – 4

Moray Golf Club is in Lossiemouth on the south shore of the Moray Firth, about 6 miles north of Elgin. The main course, Moray Old, designed by Old Tom Morris, opened in 1889 and is one of the great Scottish Links whose 18th hole has a magnificent green in front of the fine old clubhouse.

Beware aircraft noise – a Typhoon from RAF Lossiemouth passes over the 6th green at Moray New

The Moray New 18 hole course was designed by Sir Henry Cotton and opened in 1979, and extended the 9 hole “Ladies Relief” course which had been laid out in 1905. This is one of only 2 Scottish courses “re”-designed by Sir Henry (the other being Stirling).

At just over 6000 yards, off the white tees, Moray New is still a substantial test of golf. With the wind blowing and the abundance of gorse, accuracy from the tee is very important here.

The beautiful looking 3rd at Moray New

The New course is closely intertwined with the Old and it’s important to check which coloured flags are in use on each course.

A significant hazard can be the noise from jet aircraft from the adjacent RAF Lossiemouth base, which is closest to the 6th green on the New. When I played there was a busy flying day and I was treated to some fast climbing displays by the local Typhoon jets of No’s 1(F), II(AC) and 6 squadrons – the primary task at RAF Lossiemouth is to maintain the Quick Reaction Alert (Interceptor) North mission.

Approach to the 5th at Moray New – with burn in front of green

The course has some fine holes, dominated by the wind of the day. The 10th is the closest to the coast, and the prevailing wind will normally be against and from the left, making it difficult for a right handed slicer – the green is on a slight plateau and difficult to find. The par 4 14th, Stroke index 1, will play like a par 5 for all bar the really long hitters.

There are some tricky par 3s, with the innocuous looking short 6th having the burn passing directly in front of the green, making a front tee position very difficult. The 17th, the longest of the par 3s, has 4 well placed green side bunkers awaiting. In general, there is some clever bunkering on both fairways and greens throughout the course, although this course does not have the deep re-vetted bunkers found on many a links course.

7th at Moray New, one of the challenging par 4s (SI 7)

The course was in excellent condition for a late October day, demonstrating how accessible Scottish Links courses can be all year round – by comparison many courses inland were closed due to being waterlogged on the same day.

Other than plane spotting, playing at Moray is highly recommended for whisky lovers, since Moray has a well established and long relationship with nearby distillers (several of whom were original members of Moray) from whom the club has bought several vintage whiskys. It has its own label “Club malt”, currently a Macallan. Curiously, there is more about the history of whisky on the club’s web site than the golf courses!

Par 4 10th tee, a nightmare in the prevailing wind from the left!

A story worth noting is the political dispute Moray GC had with, probably in hindsight, its most famous member, the first UK Labour Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald – he was removed from the membership list in 1916 for his opposition to the First World War. He was finally reinstated as a member in 1929, but never played Moray again.

On the day, I played reasonably well for 28 points, although had a few disasters (on 12 and 14 especially), which meant I scored a gross 97. I got a birdie on 8, which was my highlight.

If you plan to play the Old course at Moray, try and make sure you savour the New as well. Highly recommended. I played using The Courier golf voucher deal for only £15 – an absolute bargain.

Facts:

Course Type: Links

Par 68 (14 par 4s, 4 par 3s)

Distance (yellow): 5772

Moly’s Gross score: 97

Moly’s Moray Old scorecard – 97 for 28 points

68. Braid Hills No 1. 16th Oct 2017.

October 17, 2017 / Moly McMillan

Edinburgh’s public gem too prominent to be called “hidden”

Summary: Round £25.30. Par 70. Value (out of 5) – 4.5

Braid Hills “No 1” is a wonderful public 18 hole golf course carved among the gorse and hillocks of Braid Hills on the south western edges of Edinburgh. It has magnificent views of the Edinburgh skyline towards the Firth of Forth and also the Pentland Hills. Although often misused, the term “gem” could well have been defined just for this golf course. It is sometimes described as “one of the best loved public courses in Scotland”, and a real gem it is.

Overlooking the 16th green and 17th tee, with the view representing the feel of Braid Hills

“The Braids” takes its name historically from the nearby Braid estate originally the property of the “de Brad” family, one of whom, Henri de Brad, was Sheriff of Edinburgh in the 12th century. The name has nothing to do with the famous course architect James Braid who, ironically, did not in any way shape his namesake course!

It was appropriate to play here with Sheriff Frank Crowe, fully equipped with Tommy Armour irons, given that Henri de Brad, the 12th Century Sheriff of Edinburgh, is the origin of the Braid Hills name.

The golf course was opened in 1893 and several golf clubs sprang up to accommodate the popularity of the sport with many of those clubs still affiliated: Edinburgh Thistle, Edinburgh Western, Harrison, Comiston Ladies and Braids United. The 1931 Open Champion Tommy Armour was a member at Edinburgh Western. Such was the popularity of golf, the nearby Braid Hills Hotel, immortalised in Muriel Spark’s ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’, originally had a Golf Room erected to serve the golfers playing the new Braid Hills golf course.

It’s a relatively short course, but there are many blind or semi blind tee shots, and I would highly recommend buying the course planner, as some of the holes can be played with very different strategies, most notably the par 4 7th and 14th holes, where successful drives can be 60 yards wide on either left or right.

Brian Fearon teeing off at the very difficult par 4 7th hole. Choose your line with care; my shot seemed the best drive but was never found!

Although easily accessed from the city, whilst on the course if feels incredibly remote, especially in one of the holes surrounded by the gorse. The main hazard on this course is the pervasive gorse bushes, and the need to get the correct alignment from the tee. If you play well off the tee here, you will score low, otherwise disaster awaits. This is reflected abundantly on my card, where I had several disasters, resulting in lost balls. However, I found many more that I lost – on the 4th hole my own ball was the 7th I found. Make sure you remember the ball you played with! Also take care with approach shots, which often seem to take at least one extra shot here – this was evident from the 17th tee, which has about 140 yards of “valley” between the tee and green – you need to get up here to make par.

The lovely par 3 17th, one of 4 nice par 3s, of which the uphill 9th was the most challenging

The walk is quite hilly with some hazardous steps up and down from teeing grounds, but the walk is well worth it just to get to the 18th tee alone which must have one of the best views in Edinburgh. Even on a fairly misty day we were able to appreciate it.

The course was in pretty good condition when I played with some colleagues from the Apex organisation. The greens were quite quick and the fairways good; there were some bunkers although they are quite spare and very basic in construction.

A set of happy golfers on the characteristic 8th hole of Braid Hills.

For the record, there once was a Braid Hills No 2 course of 18 holes, but that disappeared a few decades ago, and there is now nearby a small 9 hole course called Wee Braids and also a Braid Hills Golf Centre.

This is a really great little golf course highly recommended.

Facts:

Course Type: Heathland

Par 70 (2 par 5s, 12 par 4s, 4 par 3s)

Distance (yellow): 5508

Moly’s Gross score: 106

Moly’s disastrous Braid Hills Card – 106 including 10 penalty shots and 40 putts

64. King James VI. 29th Aug 2017.

August 30, 2017 / Moly McMillan

Easy walking freshwater “island” course on the River Tay in Perth ideal if you are a trainspotter!

Summary: Cost £25. Par 68. Score 95. Value (out of 5) – 2.5.

The “King Jimmy” golf club was founded in 1858 and initially played on North Inch; it was named because King James VI had played golf on the “Inches”, the public land for common use along the River Tay. Golf can actually be traced back 500 years in Perth and this in covered in an earlier blog here.

Moncreiffe island, home of the “King Jimmy” golf club

The club relocated to Moncreiffe Island in 1897, to a course designed by ‘Old’ Tom Morris, and is believed to be the only freshwater island course in the UK.

This presents a challenge for any visiting golfer, as the only access to the course is by using the narrow walkway across the railway bridge, accessed by steep stairs on either side of the bridge. The walk from the nearest public car park is around 500m.

The double green on the 1st/4th with King James VI club house in the background.

The course is very flat and its lack of undulation makes for a fairly repetitive round with many holes looking the same. Although I played in late August after a relatively dry spell the course was very soft and preferred lies would have been appropriate. I understand that the course is impacted significantly after rainfall. This softness made the course play much longer than its stated yardage.

Moly driving at the tree lined short par 4 12th hole

The very lush grass also meant that balls were easily lost in the short semi rough, in fact I found 3 balls sitting in the open; make sure you get a good line on the ball after each shot.

The greens were the best feature of the course, closely followed by the lush fairways. The tees would benefit from some work. The main hazards are the course boundaries and some majestic tree lines.

The 8th green, typical of the scenery at King James VI in Perth

The most memorable holes were those played over a grassy dyke built into the 11th and 13th holes, where it’s important to know your yardages. The dyke is almost 50 yards in front of the 11th green, so make sure you take enough club.

Fran, my playing partner, at the par 3 5th hole.

I played with Fran and we both had good and bad patches in our round. My highlight was reaching the 423 yard par 4 18th green in 2 blows. Pity about much of the rest.

If you do plan to play here, I strongly recommend using a half set carry bag and hiring a trolley from the club.

Key Facts

Course Type: Links

Par 68 (1 par 5s, 12 par 4s, 5 par 3s)

Distance (yellow): 5684

Moly’s Gross score: 95.

Moly’s King James VI scorecard – 95 for 27 points (off 17 hcp)

Category: 4 star (Page 8 of 12)

93. Strathmore Rannaleroch. 18 May 2019.

69. Moray New. 24th Oct 2017.

68. Braid Hills No 1. 16th Oct 2017.

64. King James VI. 29th Aug 2017.

The club relocated to Moncreiffe Island in 1897, to a course designed by ‘Old’ Tom Morris, and is believed to be the only freshwater island course in the UK.

This presents a challenge for any visiting golfer, as the only access to the course is by using the narrow walkway across the railway bridge, accessed by steep stairs on either side of the bridge. The walk from the nearest public car park is around 500m.

The very lush grass also meant that balls were easily lost in the short semi rough, in fact I found 3 balls sitting in the open; make sure you get a good line on the ball after each shot.

The greens were the best feature of the course, closely followed by the lush fairways. The tees would benefit from some work. The main hazards are the course boundaries and some majestic tree lines.

The most memorable holes were those played over a grassy dyke built into the 11th and 13th holes, where it’s important to know your yardages. The dyke is almost 50 yards in front of the 11th green, so make sure you take enough club.

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