Scotland Golf Bible

A guide to green fee value for money

Category: Commercial (Page 5 of 9)

113. Cally Palace. 23 Oct 2020.

December 22, 2021 /

Don’t believe the hotel’s description – this is no better than your average council course.

Round £32. Par 71. Course Rating / Slope Rating (yellow) not registered. Value (out of 5) – 2

The hotel website quotes: “The Cally Palace has it’s own 18 hole parkland golf course, which is one of the finest golf courses in the area.”

Utter rubbish, this course, designed in 1994 by Tom Macauley, an architect described as “adequate” by golfclubatlas.com, is no better that many average council run courses in Scotland. In fact, that might be doing a great disservice to many of the wonderful council run courses.

The trees are the star on this course – Moly finding a nice hazard on the 16th fairway!

If there is a highlight at this ‘free to hotel residents’ course in Dumfries and Galloway, it’s the many beautiful trees that adorn the grounds of the hotel. They are worth seeing – albeit one of them made for a difficult lie on the 16th!

The trees are the star at The Cally – here as a backdrop to the hotel at the 18th

Everything about the course spoke about it being done ‘on the cheap’. The bunkers were shallow, the greens were small and, disappointedly, the course made little use of the magnificent Cally Loch on the estate. In addition, several of the greens were indistinguishable from their surrounds.

The 13th at Cally Palace – by far the best hole on the course.

Although the course is free to residents, this is definitely not a golfing hotel, with no changing facilities for the visiting golfer. It is also closed in January and February, made possible by not having any golfing members. It’s also not listed on Scottish Golf’s list of courses, so it doesn’t have a course rating or slope index.

When I played, the course should really have been closed due to being waterlogged, but the benefit at least being that Fran and I were the only people playing.

The very poor 17th green at The Cally – typical of the course, unfortunately.

Other than the trees, the only hole of real note was the Stroke Index 1, short par 5 thirteenth hole – by for the best on this layout. I was very lucky to get a par, after pulling my drive, only to find I’d miraculously cut the corner of the dog leg and able to get to the green in 2!

The 7th at The Cally, a typically bland par 4.

The course helped me to another personal record, the most occasions relief for casual water has been taken.

Don’t go out of your way to play Cally Palace.

Facts:

Course Type: Parkland

Par 70 (3 par 5, 11 par 4s, 4 par 3s)

Distance: 5706

Moly’s Gross score: 94

A wet day, making the 94 at The Cally, better than the score really.

100. Roxburghe. 1st Feb 2020.

April 28, 2020 /

Well worth a detour to play this very well designed course

Round £60. Par 72. Value (out of 5) – 4.5

Hotel Schloss Roxburghe, operated by the Berlin based 18.12 Group, is not far from Kelso in the Scottish Borders. It was formerly owned as a hotel by the Duke of Roxburghe, one of the wealthiest UK landowners. The golf course, on the hotel grounds, is called Schloss Roxburghe Golf and it was opened in 1997; at over 7100 yards from the championship blue tees, it was clearly designed by Dave Thomas (1934 – 2013) with the intention of hosting professional tournaments.

Moly driving at the signature “Viaduct” 14th hole at ‘The Roxburghe’

With top quality hotel facilities, this is a great short golfing break destination, but with limited high quality golf in the area, 1 or 2 nights is more than enough for just golf.

Playing in a strong wind on a chilly 1st February, the course was, not surprisingly, very quiet! Even from the yellow tees, it was well over 6500 yards, and I struggled to a 103 despite having been only 2 over after 5 holes! This poor display was not helped by me trying to carry my own clubs.

The aesthetic par 4 2nd tee, either a straight forward slight dog leg left, or the direct “tiger line” across the tree line. A typically good Dave Thomas hole.

Although not scoring well, it was very enjoyable due to the great design; Thomas’ philosophy states “I believe all golfers must be presented with a visual challenge and the opportunity to determine a strategy for playing the course depending upon individual ability.” There were indeed many holes very pleasing on the eye.

The magnificent 11th, with superbly placed bunkers for the stronger player.

Furthermore, with front and back nines each with two par 3s and two par 5s, this classic layout had great variety from hole to hole. Throw in the superb bunkering, nice use of water hazards, sculped with mature trees, all in all this was great golfing value. Indeed, with offers available on golfnow.com this represents some of the best golfing value around.

The 13th at The Roxburghe, the longest of the 4 par 3s, take 2 more clubs than you think to clear the water with a long green to receive it.

The course was in very good condition, especially for an early February day. The greens were fully playable with no winter greens in sight, a great testimony to the build quality and the greenkeeping.

The approach to the par 4 17th hole, with very reasonably priced houses overlooking the course.

The are many great holes at The Roxburgh. Although the 14th “viaduct” hole gains all the plaudits that’s only really for the view. The 10th, stoke index 1, is a magnificent dog leg right par 4, and the run of holes from 10th through 14th, encapsulate the variety and strength of Thomas’ design.

I would strongly recommend a short break at Schloss Roxburgh, but I would suggest to play it twice, it was just one of those courses that you need to play more than once to fully appreciate I guess. It was a nice way to bring up my 100th blog on my journey.

Facts:

Course Type: Parkland

Par 72 (4 par 5, 10 par 4s, 4 par 3s)

Distance: 6546

Moly’s Gross score: 103

Moly’s scorecard, 103, which was a struggle in high winds.

98. Piperdam New. 12th July 2019.

April 4, 2020 /

Great value course close to Dundee well worth playing

Round £30.   Par 71.  Value (out of 5) – 4.5

Opened in 1997, the main golf course at the Piperdam Leisure estate is 8 miles to the east of Dundee on the A923. Originally called Piperdam Osprey, because Ospreys nest around the fishing lake that is the centrepiece of the estate, the course was upgraded in 2014 and renamed Piperdam New.

The beautiful par 3 9th hole at Piperdam New

This is a really great value course at only £30 for a midweek round, with offers of further discounts available through web sites such as GolfNow. Fran and I paid only £15 each, and therein lies the great challenge for golf clubs in Scotland – why pay a membership of £700+ when great value golf is readily available at such prices and freely accessible. Whilst the golfers retired from work may play 2 or which should go from strength to strength following the very sad closure of the nearby Camperdown Park course in 2020.3 times every week (and these members are invariably and understandably the people running the committees), how many working age people play more than 40 times a year? Piperdam pricing offers a great model of what I think courses in Scotland should compete with. The course should go from strength to strength following the very sad closure of the nearby Camperdown Park course in 2020.

The long par 4 7th hole at Piperdam, a good drive to the right of center is needed to give a good chance of reaching the green at this SI 3 hole

As a leisure complex, catering for holidays, weddings, etc, the facilities are also excellent for traveling golfers – little wonder its very popular with Societies. It also has a strong 9 hole course as well which I played and blogged in 2013 here .

Another great thing about Piperdam, is the number of tee options which visitors are welcome to play off whichever they feel capable of – I played the blue tees making the course 5800 years long, but given that it was very wet when I played that was long enough for me.

The Par 5 8th hole, with water all down the right of the hole – part of the strongest run of holes at Piperdam New

The course is set around the large fishing lake, which comes into play on several holes, and with the reeds and grasses it makes for an aesthetic walk even if your golf isn’t what you would like – perhaps pop the binoculars in the bag as the bird life is abundant here.

After the fairly short par 3 opening hole with a 125 yard water carry, the tough par 5 2nd needs to be played with a 3 shot strategy, then the 3rd hole is a very difficult Stroke Index 1 par 4. In other words you need to focus from the very first shot.

1st green at Piperdam New, a short par 3, over water – never a nice way to open the round

Some of the holes were very strong, and the run of 3 holes Numbers 7 through 9, comprising a long par 4, a long par 5 and an excellent mid to long iron par 3 over water, would not be out of place on much higher rated courses. I suspect being part of a commercial leisure complex in some way diminishes the perception of the quality of Piperdam New.

The course was in excellent condition when we played, with lush fairways, well maintained bunkers and very true greens.

On the day I played well, shooting 92 for 32 points, helped by my back 9 of only 7 over. This is probably a typical scoring pattern here, given the very tough opening and closing 3 holes of the front 9. Moral is “keep going at Piperdam” you rewards will come.

With a good drive this is a birdie opportunity hole. Typically aesthetic hole at Piperdam.

A really great value course.

Facts:

Course Type: Parkland

Par 71 (4 par 5, 9 par 4s, 5 par 3s)

Distance: 5818

Moly’s Gross score: 92

Moly’s Piperdam New Scorecard – Solid 92 in the wet conditions

88. Murrayshall. 16 Sep 2018

October 30, 2018 /

Murrayshall is a nice parkland course, but its hotel partner course (Lynedoch) is much better value.

Round  £50 ( variable on-line).   Par 70.  Value (out of 5) – 3

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.

Fran plays at the par 5 9th at Murrayshall

The esteemed golf architect Hamilton J Strutt (grandson of James Braid’s foreman) designed this Championship course in the 70s, and returned to design the Lynedoch course which opened in 2000.   The Murrayshall course is indeed a fine example of Strutt crafting a course amidst mature parkland, leaving an impression that the course has been there for a hundred years.  This is almost completely true except for the bland and exposed par 4 13th hole, which was oddly the SI1 hole (more of later).

The 6th tee view, typical of the Murrayshall course

Whereas the sister Lynedoch course is partly woodland, Murrayshall is exclusively parkland.  I had previously played the Lynedoch track and had been very impressed (read my blog here).  I was therefore greatly looking forward to playing the hotel’s premium course, but must admit that I don’t think the higher price is worth it is versus its shorter neighbour.   It’s still a very nice course, with some outstanding countryside views, nice greens and good bunkering;  but, other than being a longer course, it lacked the guile of its smaller sister course.

The short par 3, 4th hole, at Murrayshall

The course was in good condition when I played and I had a nice round of 89, for 37 stableford points (off 17);  including a birdie at the 13th, the stoke index 1 hole, which was one of the more bland holes played towards a local farmyard.  My score also reflects the fairly open fairways and relatively accessible surrounds of the trees.  Other notable holes were the stretch of 6th, 7th and 8th, a really nice set of challenges, with a reachable par 4, a difficult par 4, and a tricky par 3.  Also noteworthy is the mix holes, with five par 5s and five par 3s, its an odd mix.

The two dogs (Isla and Joseph) whose grave guards the very difficult pay 4 7th, “Dogs Grave”

Unfortunately, the round at Murrayshall was the slowest I’ve played for several years, at around 4.5 hours.  Having caught up with the 4-ball in front, on hole 2, which actually turned out to be the last group of about 10 groups making up a society day, we then were delayed at about 5 minutes per hole for the remained of the round!  I’m writing this, to give context to my “value” assessment.  How should an assessment be dictated by pace of play?  Well, if I hadn’t been doing a blog, we would have walked in after 12 holes.   It was anything but value for money.  How many times have you heard “we would let you through, but it’s the group ahead holding us up” – I refer everyone to the Etiquette section of the rules of golf, which clearly recommends allowing a faster grouping through, regardless of circumstances.

It is worth playing, but perhaps check whether a society is playing in front!

Some Facts

Course Type: Parkland

Par 70 (5 par 5s, 8 par 4s, 5 par 3s)

Distance (white)   5868 yards

Moly’s Gross Score  89

Moly’s 89 at Murrayshall – a decent round given the chilly weather

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