Alyth GC's 18 hole course has for many years been one of my favourite heathland courses in Scotland, with a great layout that's always been in excellent condition any time I've played it. I'd known for a while that the club also had a 6 hole Par 3 layout, the "Pee Wee Course" but I'd never had the opportunity (or inclination) to play it on my previous visits to the club. One of the other guys I know who's trying to play every course in Scotland, Paul Connor, reminded me about the Pee Wee a couple of weeks ago so with the weather set to be fair, warm and sunny, I set out on 28 October 2024 to play this little course. I knew the route quite well, but I thought I'd test the sat nav on my recently bought Toyota Rav 4. I keyed in Alyth GC OK, but for reasons that may be best known to Toyota, their name for Alyth GC was Benbecula (Alyth) Golf Club. For any readers not familiar with Scottish geography, Benbecula is part of the chain of west coast islands known as the Outer Hebrides, a long, long way away from my planned destination. Indeed, I've played the Benbecula course and can testify that it's nowhere near Alyth!. Since I knew the way anyway, I let the sat nav run, so it was quite amusing to be told, as I pulled into the Alyth GC car park, "you have now arrived at Benbecula Golf Club, the route guidance is now finished."
I'd also played the former Glenisla GC's 18 hole course many years ago, a course that lay on the other side of the road from Alyth GC's clubhouse. I also knew that when the Glenisla GC ceased trading a few years ago, Alyth had taken over Glenisla's back 9 holes (with the front 9 of that course going to new housing). I'd not played Glenisla since that change so my visit on 28 October was also an opportunity to see what had become of the former Glenisla course. There are 9 greens on the revised Glenisla layout, but it can be played as an 18 holer, with the front 9 played from the yellow tees and the back 9 played from the whites. Although the design of the 9 holes looked to be unchanged, the running order was different, since the hole I remembered as Glenisla's 18th is now the 4th/13th. Since I played the "new" Glenisla layout before tackling the 6 hole Pee Wee, I'll cover Glenisla first.
I only played from the Yellow tees, so Glenisla's "front 9" course now starts with a 365 yard Par 4, requiring a slightly uphill and blind tee shot. This is a view of the green.
This was a simple enough hole but I'd been driving for a couple of hours to get there, didn't warm up properly and bogeyed the hole as a result.
Next, a slightly downhill 146 Yard Par 3, with a stream to the back right of the small green, as shown here, with the white building in the background being Glenisla's former clubhouse (and more about that shortly).
I'd just missed the green to the left side but a good pitch left an easy tap in for a first par.
The 3rd hole was a very tricky 383 Yard dog leg right Par 4. The tee shot was slightly uphill and didn't go far enough to get past trees at the corner of the dog leg, so I'd a double bogey. This is an even more difficult hole off the white tees, a further 11 yards back! This is a view of the approach to the elevated green.
I thought that the 4th was the best hole on Glenisla, a 342 Yard Par 4, with the Alyth Burn cutting deeply across in front of the green, as shown here.
The fairway was a bit soggy so my drive didn't get much run and I had around 140 yards to the flag, with OOB close behind the green. I understand that after the Glenisla club closed, someone ran the clubhouse as a restaurant before that business also failed. The still vacant building looked as though it would make a fabulous country house, particularly for someone interested in golf, but I digress. I missed the green long and left with my approach shot. The green slopes quite steeply from back to front so another bogey was reasonable result.
The 5th was a very flat 351 Yard Par 4 that I imagine will in time be overlooked by the new housing being built on the former front 9 of the old Glenisla layout. A pond short and left of the green comes into play for approach shots but I was on in regulation for an easy par. The 6th fairway was particularly soggy so this dog leg right 405 Yard Par 4 played longer than it looked. I'd forgotten that there was a deep bunker just short left of the green, so another double bogey on the card.
The 7th hole is named "The Monster" and at 587 Yards from the Yellow tee and 612 from the White, (and a meaty 563 from the Ladies' red tee) this hole is aptly named! Although I suspect that the hole is unchanged in length since Alyth took over Glenisla's back 9, this hole really doesn't fit well alongside the others. I managed to get within a few yards of the green in 3 blows and make bogey from there, but I didn't really like the hole. The Glenisla course is otherwise very playable but the 7th seemed to be far more difficult. This is a view of the approach to the green, with the Alyth clubhouse in the background.
The 8th was a 90 degree dog leg right Par 4 of 359 yards. For me at least, the corner of the dog leg was well beyond my driver's landing zone, and with mature pine trees to contend with on the inside of the dog leg, this was very tricky hole. It might have been easier if my drive had not been so close to the right of the fairway! This is a view from where my drive would have been if I'd hit it 280 Yards down the middle! I was happy enough with a bogey here.
The 9th was a 140 Yard Par 3, with a large pond coming into play front left of the green. Another bogey and I was round the course in an unremarkable 44 shots, with 17 putts. Glenisla was in generally very good condition, with smooth running greens that were faster than I'd expected. Some the fairways were soggy but that's what you tend to get inland at this time of the year after recent rain. It's a flat and easy walking course and apart from the 7th, is probably slightly easier than Alyth's 18 hole main course. I enjoyed it anyway and had an absolute bargain at a mere £18 for the 9 holes.
I'd taken around 80 minutes to play Glenisla and it looked though it wouldn't take much time to play the Pee Wee course, a mere 643 Yards total Par 18 for 6 holes, ranging from 70-155 Yards. Some readers might wonder whether such a short layout should count as a self-standing golf course and be included in my target to play every Scottish course. For me, a golf course can have any number of holes i.e. 2 or more and be whatever length suits the owners, as long as it has fixed tees and greens. Others might think that there should be at least 9 holes with a minimum length e.g. 100 yards, but I disagree. Indeed, the Asta GC course (as recognised by Scottish Golf with an official slope rating etc for handicap purposes) includes a Par 3 that is significantly shorter than even the shortest of the Pee Wee course. I'd need to do some research but I'm pretty sure a few other registered courses have such oddities.
Anyway, here are a few photos of the Pee Wee course.
For the record, I went round in 19 strokes, with 8 putts and a tap in birdie at the 70 Yard 2nd Hole. Please don't ask whether a hole in one at a course like Pee Wee should count! I suppose it should but I suspect some might disagree. As I'd expected, Pee Wee was pretty basic in terms of difficulty, but for beginners and young children it's a decent test and was in remarkably good condition. It certainly counted as my Course no 677. Not hugely memorable but I'm afraid I could also say that about certain other courses I'd gladly not revisit.
