Scotland Golf Bible

A guide to green fee value for money

Category: The Scottish Borders (Page 1 of 2)

198. Lockerbie. 3 May 23.

October 29, 2026 /

Lockerbie: a good course in ‘Chapter 11’. I hope it finds a way out.

Price Paid: c. £17 (GolfNow)
Current Price (2026): £30 weekdays / £35 weekends list (Apr-Oct), £20 Nov-Mar; GolfNow £18–20
Value: 3.5/5 at price paid and current GolfNow / 3/5 at current list
Moly’s Score: 87 gross, net 74, 30 Stableford points

The 8th, Little Ponds: 118 yards over water to a green backed by conifers. The prettiest hole on the course and, for once, a par.

Lockerbie Golf Club’s website says the original nine holes, laid out when the club was founded in 1889, were designed by “the legendary James Braid”. Braid was 19 in 1889. He was a joiner in Earlsferry and didn’t turn professional until 1896. Unless the club hired a teenage Fife joiner to lay out a course 150 miles from home, two dates have been merged into one sentence. One directory puts Braid’s involvement at 1927, as a redesign, which would at least fit his career. I couldn’t find a primary source for it. The 4th is called “Braids Special”, which looks like the Brechin pattern (Blog 28): one visit, a few suggestions, then a century of creep. Lockerbie is nonetheless a member of the Association of James Braid Courses. So is Lochmaben, four miles down the road.

The 4th, “Braids Special”, sponsored by a packaging firm and a High Street solicitor. Whatever Braid did here, local businesses are doing the lifting now.

Whoever designed it, the course makes good use of its ground. It sits on a rise above the town, with views over Annandale and, on a clear day, to the Lake District. The holes have real variety: a pond carry at the 8th, a long par 3 at the 5th, and my favourite, the par 3 16th, Queensberry View. It isn’t too tough, which is exactly what a society course should be, and for years that’s what Lockerbie was.

The best hole on the course for me, the Stroke Index 5, par 3 16th hole.

The routing is the weak point. Nine holes were added in 1986, and the parallel fairways running up and down the slope look like the product of several reshuffles, well that’s my hunch.

The routing around Lockerbie. It must have changed over the years?

Condition, on the day, was poor. The fairways were freckled with daisies, the bunkers were compacted and weedy, and rakes were scarce. The 18th green was patchy. In fairness, I played in early May with the course still shaking off a wet winter, and the tees were excellent: flat, firm and well cut. A summer visit would be a fairer measure.

The bunker on the par four 6th, The Beeches: compacted sand, weeds and a lone rake. Volunteers can only be in so many places at once.

The clubhouse was the saddest part. It was tired and run down, and the locals told me food was now a rarity. They put the membership at under 200, paying around £450 a year, with much of the maintenance supported by volunteers. The public record backs up the gist. In 2016 the club asked its landlord, the Lockerbie and Lochmaben Common Good Fund, for a rent cut. In 2018 it lost 24 members in a year and needed £60,000 for drainage. In late 2020 the council served notice to end its lease. Covid brought a membership bounce and a reprieve, and a five-year deal with a local wind farm company is worth £10,000 a year, roughly the subscriptions of 22 members. Add the sponsors’ boards on every tee and you have a club the town clearly still wants.

Fran teeing on the par three 5th, the longest of the five par 3s at 196 yards from red.

So has the town outgrown its club? No. Lockerbie had 2,029 people in 1881 and has around 4,200 today. What has changed is the car. A Victorian town course was built for golfers who walked to it. Today’s golfer can just as easily drive four miles to Lochmaben. As with Maybole (Blog 193), what decides survival at this end of Scottish golf isn’t the size of the town. It’s whether you’re the course people choose within a fifteen-minute drive.

Drove Road, the par four 3rd: a lone tree in mid-fairway, daisies underfoot and the hills beyond. Pretty, as long as you don’t look down.

On the night of 21 December 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was destroyed by a terrorist bomb over the town. All 259 people on board and 11 residents of Lockerbie were killed. The victims fell across a wide area, including this golf course and the fields beside it. TIME reported at the time that sixty were recovered from the course. I played it on an ordinary spring afternoon nearly 35 years later, and it felt like an ordinary town course. It isn’t, quite, and the history of the course can’t escape that dreadful night. The town’s memorial garden is at Dryfesdale Cemetery, on the other side of Lockerbie, and worth a prayer.

The 18th green, Home, looking out over Lockerbie and the Annandale valley.

I came away harsher than Lockerbie deserves, and I think the clubhouse did most of the talking. A golf course is like a set of accounts: a snapshot, not a verdict. Lockerbie is in ‘Chapter 11’. Companies come out of Chapter 11, and the bones here are good. At around £17 through GolfNow it’s 3.5/5, and 3/5 at the £30 list price. Get the greens and bunkers right, and both numbers go up. I’m not convinced it will make it. I’d very much like to be wrong, and I’d like to go back in summer to find out.

Me on the 15th tee, St Blane’s. The tees were the best-kept thing on the course.

Facts:
Course Type: Parkland
Par: 67 (0 par 5s, 13 par 4s, 5 par 3s)
Distance (yellow): 5,334 yards
Course Rating/Slope: 65.9 / 115 (yellow)
Course Quality: 3/5
Moly’s Gross Score: 87

Moly’s 87 at Lockerbie, included only 2 over par on the five par 3s.

155. Hirsel. 12 July 22.

December 14, 2022 /

Missed opportunity as the “First and Last” in Scotland.

Round £32. Par 70. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 68.8/124. Value (out of 5) – 3

Moly’s Score – 98

How many fuel stations or pubs on borders proclaim “First and Last”? Like many people, I suspect, I had no idea exactly where Hirsel Golf Club was. Conversely, ask Scots where Coldstream is and most would know the border town famed for the Coldstream Guards, the regiment formed in 1650 making it the oldest continuous serving unit of the British Army.

The picturesque 10th hole at only 93 yards.

Hirsel Golf club, sits on the Hirsel Estate in Coldstream, the home of the son of the former Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home. A 9 hole course was designed and built by members in 1948, after the original course in Coldstream, called Lennel Golf Club, founded 1879, fell into some disrepair, a story covered in the website Forgotten Links.

The interweaving layout is evident, with the first green on show here from the 2nd tee.

Hirsel GC remained a 9 hole course until extended to 18 in 1996. The resulting layout is a rather jumbled affair, with a number of tee/green cross overs, which must make Open events a potentially hazardous affair. There is also a significant range of hole design quality, which comes I suspect from the extension. I find the club’s website banner headline “Arguably one of Scotland’s best kept secrets” true in the sense that it’s “unknown”, but the inference of it being a “Hidden Gem” is not what I found.

The very disappointing bunkers on show, despite the rakes fully in use, here at the difficult 5th hole, a 369 yard par four.

Despite the main Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns being over, I found a course in poor condition, with some bunkers appearing to imitate 19th century photos featuring Old Tom Morris himself. Nevertheless, with perhaps half dozen really good holes, I can see why it is a popular society day out, especially with the substantial club house overlooking the final green.

The tough par three 7th, with “Leet Water” in play for one of the few times.

It does indeed have some tricky holes, notably the tough uphill par 3 third, played with a blind tee shot at well over 200 yards; it will play as a par four for most. The fairways are generous but miss them and card wrecking is the order of the day, as there are OOB on more than half the holes. As a testimony, I amassed 15 over par on only 3 holes, including a 10 on the 363 yard par four 17th.

The stroke index 2, ninth hole, a long par four, the longest hole on the front nine, with both par fives coming after the turn.

Despite several holes being routed around “Leet Water”, a tributary of the Tweed, the river doesn’t come into play much. The best aspect of the course was the variety in hole lengths, the use of dog legs (on 5 holes) and the use of quite small greens often sloping front to back. Collectively the slope rating of 124 felt spot on for me.

The par 5 18th hole, played downhill it gives a good birdie chance to finish.

At only £32 for a round, with discounts on offer though Golfnow (we paid only £22) it’s okay value, but with a bit of work, especially to the bunkers, it would be really worth playing at that price point.

As to the course name, here’s a suggestion. “Coldstream Golf Club – The First and Last in Scotland”. That would remove the secrecy.

Facts:

Course Type: Parkland

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

Distance (yellow): 5820 yards

Moly’s Gross score: 98

Moly’s 29 points despite his 98 including 15 over collectively on holes 5, 13 and 17. Golf!

124. Duns. 21 Sep 2021.

March 8, 2022 /

This well laid out course might just be “The Average Scottish Course” – that’s good!

Round £30. Par 70. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 69.2 /119. Value (out of 5) – 3.5

I’ve now played about 25% of all Scottish golf courses, with about 20% now blogged – that represents a statistically significant sample for the mathematical minded.

The Wellrig Burn comes into play on a number of holes, here shown at the 16th, a tough par 4, played uphill – it is Stroke Index 5.

Therefore, when I played Duns I couldn’t help but consider what the ‘average’ Scottish golf course would be like. A small town setting. A club formed in the latter part of the Victorian age. A course, starting off as a nine hole layout, now having gone through a number of variations, culminating in an 18 hole course only established in the last 30 years. A course length off the yellow tee just under 6000 yards. A nice clubhouse, but with no frills. A course with tees adorned with sponsorship from the local hotels and garages. A decent price of, perhaps, around £30, being low but higher than the municipals that still, thankfully, abound in Scotland. Decent and homely catering, attracting travelling “days out”. A good, but not necessarily outstanding course condition or difficulty.

The well framed 9th hole, ‘Green Knowe’, a par 4 of 354 yards (yellow) – I scored 5

All in all, I realised Duns might be one of the (reasonably many) ‘average’ golf courses that Scotland has; that is to say a really nice place to play golf at great value. With an annual membership fee of £460 (2021) that, in particular, represents excellent accessibility. It is also good to see Family memberships available (Couple plus 2 children under 16) at only £900.

The par four 8th, “Postie’s Walk”, at 363 yards.

Duns, with a population of just under 3000 is the historic county town of Berwickshire, in The Scottish Borders. Only 10 miles north of the Border, It is slightly off the beaten track, in that it doesn’t lie on any of the main trunk routes between Scotland and England. To that extent, Duns is a ‘day out’. It would be an ideal visit for lovers of motor sport, as it is home to the famous racing driver Jim Clarke who has a museum in the town dedicated to his life.

The second hole, the first of the tighter driving holes at Duns. It’s strategic, requiring good judgement on the second lay-up to leave a pitching iron to the dog leg right entered green. Good golf hole.

The course is blessed with some outstanding scenery over the Tweed valley towards the Cheviot Hills in Northumberland. Set in open agriculture countryside, it did at times have a heathland feel, in particular the turf. The course wasn’t in brilliant condition though, albeit the greens were being treated as it was the end of the season. I can understand why it plays fast in the Summer. The fairways were quite tight, but the rough was forgiving – a reasonable compromise.

The downhill par three 15th hole. Choose your club wisely, I overshot the green to find the very narrow burn! A 5 on the scorecard at the SI 18, always annoying. Play towards the right of the green

On a breezy day of 15mph wind, I played very soundly for my 90, which equated to 31 stableford points, breaking my contentment threshold of 30 points for a first time play.

Overall, this felt like an innovative and progress club, with attractive and variable pricing using the BRS booking system, increasingly common for tee bookings for several clubs.

If you wanted to visit Scotland for golf, playing Duns would give you a great feel for what most members of Scottish golf clubs experience. No nonsense, good value golf.

Course Type: Parkland

Par 70 (3 par 5s, 10 par 4s, 5 par 3s)

Distance: 5944

Moly’s Gross score: 90

A solid round of 90 on this decent Duns course

122. Eyemouth. 23rd June 2021.

March 1, 2022 /

Not one, but two notable challenges making it worth the drive, but mainly for the ‘fish n’ chips’ and a warm welcome.

Round £37.50. Par 72. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) 70.2 /122. Value (out of 5) – 3.5

I’m glad I don’t overly research courses before I play and I learnt long ago to ignore the marketing hype golf clubs use on their websites. It’s similar to reading the tantalising comments on the latest ‘best selling’ book, before you consign it to the charity shop after 50 pages!

The 6th, one of the ‘challenge’ holes at Eyemouth – a watery grave got all 3 of our balls.

Therefore, please ignore “The club was formed in 1894” – the original 9 hole course is completely gone and has been replaced by a ‘home made’ design in 1997 on a different piece of arable (not links) land, known as Gunsgreen Hill, to the south-east of the original course. The course feels like a new ‘parkland’ layout, before saplings mature to properly frame the course.

It is worth playing Eyemouth though; it’s good value, has a couple of notable challenges (more of below) and excellent fresh locally caught ‘fish ‘n chips’, served in the clubhouse restaurant that has long reaching views of the Berwickshire coastline.

The short par three 3rd hole, with the clubhouse on the right that has commanding views. All three of us playing made par, which was unusual for us!

It’s certainly a meaty, if not fishy, course, which has hosted a number of regional and Scottish amateur competitions. Many of the longer holes playing uphill are very difficult, none more so that the 450 yard par four 15th hole, the stroke index 1; albeit, at 450 yards, it is still 200 yards shorter than one of the two ‘challenge’ holes – the par five 13th, cheesely named ” The Hawkness Monster”, at 656 yards it is reputedly Scotland’s longest hole; thankfully it is all downhill. On the day I actually parred the longest hole in Scotland, yet scored a quadruple bogie 9 on the Par 4 15th, That’s golf in a nutshell.

The ‘Hawkness Monster’ – Scotland’s longest hole. 656 yards.

The other notable, and more attractive, hole, is the 6th; curiously named ‘A Still No Ken’ [‘I still don’t know’] it is a visually stunning mid-iron hole over craggy coastline, at 167 yards from the white tee, albeit the actual carry required is only about 140 yards. It’s all in the mind. Played into a stiff North Sea breeze, this would obviously compound the difficulty. All 3 of us playing (Brian and Frank being my partners), found the sea. On reflection I would call the hole something like ‘North Sea Graveyard’.

Frank putting out on the tough par four 15th hole, his technique scrutinised by Brian.

We paid through www.golfnow.co.uk and received about 20% off the ‘rack rate’ prices. Golfnow, has been a great development for peripatetic golfers who prefer to not join a club, but as yet less than 50% of Scottish clubs allow this means of booking, and disappointingly, hardly any of the premier clubs. This is a shame and the pricing of the top100 clubs remains elusively high, compared with the annual fees paid by their members; the ‘must play’ courses leveraging their attractiveness, which I guess is understandable.

The very difficult 11th green overlooking this relatively new course at Eyemouth.

The course was in decent, but not great, condition when we played, despite it being high season; the tees and very large greens were no more than average. Some of the greens were very tricky, most notably the 11th, where you couldn’t afford to be over the back of the green. The fairways are wide, but miss them and the rough is deep – there is no semi-rough to speak of. Although in dry seaside conditions, this might feel like a links, it is arable land, and I consider it a parkland course.

If you plan to play Eyemouth, I recommend considering a buggy if you’re not as fit as you once were. More importantly, the ‘fish ‘n chips’ in the clubhouse were as good as I’ve tasted anywhere. Those, and the very friendly staff at the club, make it a decent place to visit and play.

The openness and wide fairways at Eyemouth, typified here at the 9th.

Finally, in writing about Eyemouth, I came across an extraordinary sporting story in the excellent https://www.golfsmissinglinks.co.uk/ web site, which charts the long lost history of Scottish Links. In the 1880s, during which time golf was played on a 5 hole course around the Eyemouth beach fort, the world famous cricketer, WG Grace actually played two seasons for Eyemouth cricket team. Now there’s a context for a film.

Course Type: Parkland

Par 72 (4 par 5s, 10 par 4s, 4 par 3s)

Distance: 6182

Moly’s Gross score: 102

Eyemouth – 102 reflects the challenge of this tough layout
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