{"id":3333,"date":"2026-10-30T18:29:47","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T18:29:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/?p=3333"},"modified":"2026-10-30T18:29:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T18:29:47","slug":"200-newcastleton-15-jun-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/?p=3333","title":{"rendered":"200. Newcastleton. 15 Jun 23."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The village won back its hill from the Duke. The grass won it back from the village.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Price Paid:<\/strong> \u00a315 (9 holes), paid at the village Spar after the round
Current Price (2026):<\/strong> \u00a320 day ticket; no 9-hole rate listed
Value Rating:<\/strong> 1\/5 at \u00a315 \/ 1\/5 at \u00a320
Moly\u2019s Score:<\/strong> 50 gross, 11 Stableford points (9 holes)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
The 7th fairway in mid-June: buttercups, daisies and clover. I made par here. Don\u2019t ask how.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Two hundred blogs, and the milestone falls on a 1\/5 for value. Fran and I drove over the hill from Langholm (Blog 199) the same afternoon. Langholm had been everything a rural nine-holer should be: a tenner in the honesty box, the toilet code left with the scorecards, small true greens. Newcastleton was chalk to Langholm\u2019s cheese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
The clubhouse: corrugated, blue and shut. No box, no toilets, no clue where to pay.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The clubhouse was locked. There was no box and no notice with bank details. I\u2019ve paid at a good many honesty boxes around Scotland, and the trend is towards a sign with a sort code so you can pay from your phone on the first tee. Newcastleton was the first to send me to a shop. A notice behind the glass listed the Spar, a caf\u00e9 and the caravan park. I played first and then paid afterwards. The club website said \u00a312.50; the Spar said \u00a315. To be fair to the Spar, the club\u2019s own board agreed with it. It was the website that was out of date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
The 2023 fee board, apostrophes and all. \u00a315 for nine holes, payable anywhere except at the golf course.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a bigger story on this hill. Newcastleton is a planned village, laid out in 1793 by the third Duke of Buccleuch for hand-loom weavers. In 2020 the community trust bought 750 acres of Holm Hill, the hill the course sits on, back from the Buccleuch estate. Among the plans was a new clubhouse for the golf club. When we played, three years later, the blue tin hut was still there, and it looked as though nobody had been round with a mower for a fortnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
The 3rd: one strip cut and left, clippings dead where they fell, and the rough marching in from both sides.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s a shame, because underneath there is a proper course. It\u2019s a substantial layout climbing Holm Hill, very difficult first time round, with a 452-yard par-4 9th. There\u2019s not a bunker on it, and like Langholm it doesn\u2019t need one; the hill does the work. But the greens were not really greens. The 1st was fairway length, with a ragged cup sitting proud and five fresh droppings a foot from the hole. Take my score of 50 with a pinch of salt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
The 1st green. Someone had been round before us and left their card.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I did make a 2 at the 106-yard 2nd, \u201cWee Hill\u201d, played uphill to a flag that barely shows over the crest. The slate tee sign announces it as the 11th? The tee signs are half lost to lichen and bracken. On the 3rd stands what looks like a retired bus shelter, with a sapling growing through the bench.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
The 2nd, \u201cWee Hill\u201d: 106 yards uphill, bracken left, divots unrepaired. My birdie. My only one.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Beside the 3rd: shelter from the storm, if you can reach the bench. The next bus is not expected.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The club says the course is managed and maintained by its members, and calls its clubhouse \u201csuch as it is\u201d. Both Fran and I were our Club Captains and we know what volunteers give. But if the volunteers can\u2019t keep the course in a state to charge for, the honest answer is to keep it members only rather than take \u00a315 (now \u00a320) from visitors. That\u2019s half as much again as Langholm, for a course in a far worse state. There was also no toilet, which is fine for me but not for Fran, who wisely walked rather than played.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
The 6th, \u201cThe Quarry\u201d. The signs’ condition mirrored of the state of the course.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The club now lists bank transfer as a way to pay, so one complaint has been answered. The rest is down to the mower. Value is 1\/5 at \u00a315 and 1\/5 at today\u2019s \u00a320 day ticket. Should I have played? Probably not. But when you\u2019ve driven all the way there\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
The approach to the 9th, with Liddesdale beyond. The best view on the course, and an 8 on the card. The setting deserves better.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Facts:<\/em>
Course Type:<\/strong><\/em> Hillside parkland<\/em>
Par:<\/strong><\/em> 34 (7 par 4s, 2 par 3s); 69 over 18 from second-nine tees<\/em>
Distance:<\/strong><\/em> 2,654 yards, white tees (9 holes)<\/em>
Course Rating \/ Slope:<\/strong><\/em> 67.5 \/ 111 (18 holes)<\/em>
Course Quality:<\/strong><\/em> 1\/5<\/em>
Moly\u2019s Gross Score:<\/strong><\/em> 50 (9 holes), 11 Stableford points<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Moly\u2019s Newcastleton Scorecard \u2013 50, including a 2 on the 2nd<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The village won back its hill from the Duke. The grass won it back from the village. Price Paid: \u00a315 (9 holes), paid at the village Spar after the roundCurrent Price (2026): \u00a320 day ticket; no 9-hole rate listedValue Rating: 1\/5 at \u00a315 \/ 1\/5 at \u00a320Moly\u2019s Score: 50 gross, 11 Stableford points (9 holes) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3333"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3353,"href":"https:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3333\/revisions\/3353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}