Course no 679 - Glen GC Fouranback Course

Regular readers of the blog will know that I'm a member of  2 golf clubs, Dunbar GC and Glen GC. That's about to change, as I'm not renewing my membership at the Glen in 2026, since I now play most of my golf at Dunbar. The Glen remains a fine club with an outstanding course and after over 35 years there, it'll be a wrench to leave, but I'll probably get better value for money by paying standard green fees for the odd game there (I only played 4 rounds at the Glen in 2025). Retaining my membership would just be blocking someone from joining who might make better use of their annual subscriptions.  

Anyway, when I was the Glen's Match Secretary some years ago, I helped to establish a 9 hole course using some existing holes and a new hole that was intended to provide members of all ages with a shorter course to play when energy/time/daylight didn't permit a full round, or just provide opportunities for general practice/fun golf. 

The 9 hole course therefore uses existing holes 1-4 and after playing 4, you turn left to a tee to the left of and half way along the 14th fairway. This tee serves a new 160 Yard Par 3 played to the existing 14th green and from there, existing holes 15-18 complete the 9 hole course. Scottish Golf has measured it for slope indexing and given the club approval to use the 9 hole layout for handicap purposes. So for my "all Scottish courses challenge" purposes, this is a new course, particularly since there's a hole that can only be played as part of the 9 hole course. "All courses" also means all unique and self-standing holes, so Glen's 9 holer counts. 

I need to insert a disclaimer before detailing my latest and in all probability my last round over the 9 hole course.  I was not involved in naming it as "Fouranback" i.e. 4 holes out and 4 holes back to the clubhouse. I still think that name is too contrived and misses an opportunity to be more creative.  I'd have preferred "The Daisy" recognising the little island adjacent to the 14th fairway and the 5th hole on the 9 hole course - though since daisies are weeds, I doubt our greenkeeper would be impressed. Alternatively, I'd have named the course "The Douglas" after one of the Glen's most illustrious and well-known members, the inimitable Robbie Douglas, but Fouranback it is.

So, Fouranback is a Par 34 course measuring 2782 Yards from the Yellow Tees. My first round there was in April 2016, just before it opened officially. That was also my first game after a triple bypass heart operation. My rusty 45 gross wasn't important. The real importance was just the joy of being able to play again after such major surgery. (My brother John didn't survive almost exactly the same operation some years earlier, so being back fit enough for 9 holes was a really emotional experience). I'd also managed a gross 37 on 3 May 2016, so that was the target for possibly my last round over Fouranback, on 18 March 2026.   

The 1st hole at the Glen is sometimes described as the worst hole on the course, but for me, that's unfair and misses the point.  The Glen is primarily coastal parkland rather than pure links in nature, with the 1st and 18th fairways being almost at sea level and most of the rest of the holes set out high above.  So, playing the 1st gets you up to the rest of the course and the topography doesn't allow any other affordable design alternative.  It's dangerous enough, since wayward drives off the elevated18th tee can easily reach the 1st fairway.  It's only 330 Yards, but your approach shot to the narrow green will be blind and steeply uphill, with the fairway narrowing towards the green.  Heavy ball-losing rough awaits anything even slightly wayward, so a straight drive and an accurate wedge (or more!) are required.  My approach had finished short of the green, still leaving a 20 yard blind chip. The 1st green is one of the trickiest to read so a bogey 5 wasn't great, but I'd scored much worse! This is a view looking back down the hole.  I missed the putt!

The 2nd hole is a 361 Yard Par 4, with OOB up the right of a fairway that slopes down from right to left. The green surface isn't visible for most approach shots and there's a hidden downslope at the front of the green, making distance control quite tricky. Another bogey. This is a side view of the 2nd green, looking out to sea.

The 3rd is statistically the easiest hole at the Glen (and at Fouranback), a 343 Yard Par 4. The fairway dips steeply down 20 feet after around 180 yards, leaving a pitch to an upward sloping narrow green. The greenside bunkering can be awkward and you'll not see the deep bunker top left side of the green when lining up your approach shot.  An easy par for me.

The 4th is a difficult uphill 178 Yard Par 3.  The tee shot is blind and for me at least, must be played a few yards right (in line with the ball washer by the tee in the distance). The green is long, narrow and slopes significantly top right down to bottom left. I missed the green to the left and had a difficult chip from heavy rough, so a bogey wasn't surprising.  This is a view from the tee. The line for me is roughly half way between the trees on the right and the single tree on the left (the sole survivor from a stand of a dozen or more, after a huge storm a few winters ago).  

Turn left after the 4th and you'll see a small tee halfway along the left side of the Glen's 14th fairway, serving a 160 Yard Par 3 on Fouranback played to the 14th green.  This is a view from Fouranback's 5th tee. 

This tee is within range of slightly wayward drives from the 14th tee so anyone playing the Fouranback needs to be careful (as do players from the 14th!). The playing convention here is for Fouranback players to give way if there is anyone already playing their 14th hole.  After letting them play on, Fouranback players have priority. This arrangement works well but I took the opportunity to explain that convention to a group of visitors that were clearly non-plussed when in their view, I'd "cut in" on their game.  They'd not known there was a Fouranback course and that I'd obtained the Starter's permission to play Fouranback when the Glen's full course was relatively busy. Anyway, hit your tee shot left and get ready for a big score. I'd found the deepest of the 3 bunkers right of the green and was happy enough with another bogey.  

The Fouranback then plays out on Holes 15-18 of the Glen's layout.  The 15th is a 467 Yard Par 5, which although short in yardage, can be an absolute beast in the prevailing westerly winds. Nine bunkers, 5 of which might be hidden when playing the hole. Penalty areas and heavy ball-losing rough all the way up the right of the fairway add to the difficulty, so a par here was pretty good.  This is a view from the back of the green.

The 16th is an almost flat 186 Yard Par 3, normally played downwind and protected by deep bunkering in front of the green. Be prepared for an audience watching from the clifftop car park.   I'd an easy par after just missing the green, leaving a simple chip and single putt.  This is a side view of the green.

The 17th is a 394 yard Par 4 that can also play a lot longer in the prevailing winds.  OOB all down the right of the fairway and the green itself adds to the difficulty so a bogey 5 wasn't too bad. This is a sideways view of the green.

The last hole on Fouranback is the Glen's 18th, providing a memorable finish to any round here.  The tee shot is played from an elevated tee with around an 80 foot drop to the fairway.  Anything hit left is OK, (assuming you miss anyone playing the 1st!) but a wayward shot right will be OOB. I've even seen balls go into the sea when the tide was out and OOB balls landing between parked cars that bounce back into play, so this tee shot is not for the faint of heart.  I'd hit a decent drive but I'd missed the green left, had a pitch to 6 feet and missed the putt. I'd scored better on that hole and much, much worse, so that was my most recent and potentially last round over Fouranback, a gross 40, net 35, with 16 putts.  Not great, but still a pleasure and my first round in 2026 with warm dry conditions and a gentle breeze.  

My gross 37 from 10 years ago is still safe and will remain so.


 

Cabot Highlands Old Petty Course - Course no 678

Many readers of this blog will have read my blog entry No 405 about when Craig, Stu and I played the Castle Stuart course a few miles east of Inverness, way back in May 2011. More recently, Cabot Highlands bought that course and started building a second course, named the Old Petty, after the disused Old Petty Church that sits on the site. The Old Petty course was designed by Tom Doak, a leading course architect whose other Scottish course is the Renaissance Club, most famous for hosting the DP World Tour's Scottish Open in recent years. Old Petty opened for limited preview play in August 2025 for just a few weeks, before its formal grand opening in 2026.  I played Old Petty on 22 August 2025 and was the 809th player to do so (your play number is on the back of your scorecard).  I was joined by Douglas Mill, a close friend who has also played every course in Scotland and we were paired up with Peter and Kees, a couple of really nice guys from Holland, over here on a golf trip. None of us had even seen the course before.  We knew that it was more inland than its neighbour the Castle Stuart, and that it was intended to be an equal partner to that course, creating a high quality  resort destination, but what would Old Petty be like? Would it be easier or more challenging, and in time be a future modern links that would rank high in Top 100 Course  rankings?  

Old Petty will be a meaty 7080 yards Par 71 from the Black tees but when we played it, the choice lay between the Whites at 6580 yards and the Greens at a more manageable 6205 yards. Our Dutch playing partners opted for the Whites with Douglas and I trying the Greens.  As we'd expected, the course was a long way from being the mature modern links test that you'd find at the likes of Castle Stuart, Dumbarnie, Renaissance and at the original Trump Aberdeen. I'd worked as a caddy at Renaissance for over 5 years, so I'd some experience of Tom Doak's design style.  Castle Stuart is very much a 9 out and 9 back course but it was immediately obvious that Old Petty would be making far greater use of the compass.  It was equally apparent that Doak's liking for highly contoured greens+ would be in play here - and that we'd all have trouble reading them! If you've played the Castle Course or the Himalayas Putting Course in St Andrews, you'll maybe know what I mean. I suspect that Old Petty will be even more challenging than Castle Stuart, based on our playing experiences.

The course starts with a 370 Yard Par 4 playing slightly downhill from the tee, then blind uphill to the green. A large grassy mound mid-fairway was easily avoided but my approach found a bare and crusty lie short right of the green and an opening 3 putt was a poor start.  Next, from another elevated tee, was the 350 Yard par 4 2nd.  The drive is quite intimidating, requiring a 200 yard carry over what I suspect will become medium length rough.  I missed the narrow green back left so another dropped shot followed.  This is the 3rd hole, a downhill 195 Yard Par 3 with and our first sighting of the Castle, completed in 1625. 

There were no greenside bunkers and Mr Doak knows more than me about course design, but I'd have added one front right of the green to toughen approaches from that side.  An easy first par. 

The 4th was one of the best holes on the Front 9. Your drive needs to fly some swampy looking reeds and hold the fairway, which tilts towards said hazard. Next, you need to find the narrow green, avoiding a long bunker that runs the full length of the green and try to make sense of the contoured green.  I was happy enough with a bogey there. Next, another very good hole, this time a 375 Yard Par 4, as shown here, with an optional stop for refreshments in the hut beside the green.

Another bunkerless green and another bogey but we were enjoying the course - so far. Sadly, I made a complete mess of the Par 3 6th hole.  At 160 Yards, this should have been a simple enough par opportunity, but I missed the green and somehow scraped a treble bogey! Further poor play led to a lamentable gross 47 out over the Front 9 and my playing partners weren't doing much better.  The Back 9 is almost 200 yards longer so I we'd all have to improve if we were to finish reasonably well. However, the 10th is where Old Petty really gets tough.  This is a 540 Yard Par 5, with your second shot played blind over a hill to a dog leg right fairway which narrows to a sliver closer to the green, as shown below.

I'll spare myself the abiding memory of how I scrambled a 9! Not good.

Next, the formidable 11th, a downhill 410 Yard Par 4 requiring a really accurate tee shot to avoid OOB right and waste area and rough to the left. Another really good hole but another bogey too.  The steeply uphill 12th was a really physical test and I could have done without the double bogey there! The 13th tee was probably the highest point on the course but this was my favourite hole.  A steeply downhill (thankfully!) 350 Yard Par 4 played to an infinity green with the sea in the background.  Just lovely - 

We'd hit decent short approach shots to the green but the softness of the fairway meant we were all slightly short. An easy par for me, followed by others on 14 and 15.  I'm not a great fan of long Par 3s but at least I'd undone some of the damage caused by my 10th hole! The 515 Yard Par 5 15th was difficult, with a narrow fairway and trouble aplenty closer to the green, so a par there was also pretty good.

I'm not sure about the 16th, a 390 Yard Par 4, with a steep uphill approach shot to the green.  This is a view from the White medal tee. The carry over the 5 foot high reeds immediately in front was around 180 Yards and only marginally shorter than that from our Green tee. We wondered whether shorter hitters or higher handicappers would cope from either tee! We didn't find the ladies' Red tee, but we hoped it offered a slightly easier tee shot. My uphill approach shot to the highly contoured green was blind but a double bogey was disappointing.

This is a view from the 17th tee, our final Par 3 and the shortest hole on the course, at 135 Yards. 

The tee shot is uphill and we couldn't see the bottom of the pin or the green itself, but I managed another par after my short pitch (blind) had finished a yard away.  A final Par 4 up the last and I'd be happy enough. Thankfully the 18th was a fairly simple hole, 375 yards, slightly uphill, with a wide fairway. The approach played slightly longer than I'd expected but I'd somehow found the green a mere 15 feet away, so a closing par gave me a gross 92, with 31 putts. The crowd's reaction (i.e. my wife Polly and the Starter) was somewhat muted (since it had taken us 4 and a half hours?).  I'm not sure what my playing handicap would have been but call it 11 (off my current 9.9 exact handicap) and I had a reasonable net score of 81 with a couple of real howlers on 6 and 10.  Not too bad. A final view, looking up the 18th to the clubhouse.

Old Petty will certainly mature in the years ahead and be a strong partner to its neighbour, the Castle Stuart course.  Indeed, I suspect Old Petty will be the stronger and more demanding of the two.  I also wonder whether Old Petty will in due course feature as prominently in Top 100 Course rankings. I enjoyed the course but I'd probably go for the Castle Stuart layout if I played at Cabot Highlands again.

 

 

Alyth GC Pee Wee Course - Course no 677

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 a 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. 

Old Milton - Course No 676

Regular readers of the blog will know that the challenge that Craig, Stu and I set ourselves was to play anywhere with fixed tees and greens, maintained for the purpose of playing golf, irrespective of whether the course was private or public., and whether or not it had Scottish Golf affiliation, an official scorecard, course rating or slope index. It would have been far simpler to aim at courses that had been officially recognised by Scottish Golf and had been officially rated for handicap purposes, as a few others have done. However, we opted for the far more difficult task of playing everywhere we could find where golf was played, meaning we also tried to play private courses, children's courses pitch and putt courses and even practice courses that had fixed tees and greens. That of course led us to searching out locations that simply weren't listed anywhere and the more we played the more difficult it became to find new courses that we should try to play.

I've known for some time about a small handful of unofficial courses that I still need to play and I've been monitoring the progress of new developments under construction such as the second course at Cabot Highlands (Castle Stuart in former times) and the new 9 hole Par 3 course that will be built at Dunbar GC, one of the clubs where I'm a member (the other being Glen GC in North Berwick). Some months ago now, my close friend Douglas Mill (who earlier this year completed his own "every Scottish golf course" challenge) told me about a very private course he'd come across at Old Milton, near Kingussie that I'd not played and that, if I got lucky, he might be able to get me access to play.  I'll spare you the details but the way was cleared for me to play this course on 16 July 2024.

Some of the private courses I've played are relatively basic and since the owners clearly know their own layouts, its pretty unusual for their courses to have clear signage, numbered tee markers and professional looking scorecards. And at some places I've been, it was pretty hard to get excited about the design, condition or playability of the layouts.  Not so at Old Milton, where the course is just excellent and was in outstanding condition, forming part of a former country sporting estate.  My host Drew, who was renting the entire place for a family holiday, thought the owner had designed and built the golf course around 10 years ago. The layout has 8 Par 3s and a single Par 4, total yardage 1310 Yards, Par 28. 

Drew had advised me against assuming that the course would be easy, since although it was clearly in great condition, the greens were tiny and severely sloping, that anything off line might be lost in high rough and that the holes tended to play longer than they looked. He'd heard the course record was a remarkable 29. His own score earlier on the day I played it was 37 and that sounded to me like a more realistic target.  This is me on the tee of the 91 Yard downhill 1st hole, looking as though my retirement from caddying earlier in 2024 isn't doing much for my waistline. 

An easy lob wedge and a couple of putts and I'd got my first (and only!) par at Old Milton. That was the easiest hole on the course, and greater challenges were to follow! The 2nd hole is the single Par 4, at a very modest 209 Yards, played blind over a ridge in the fairway. I'd taken a half set of clubs so my 3 wood left just a short pitch to the green, which was shared with the 8th hole. Sounds easy enough, but the green had something like a 10% slope from front left to back right, hence the bogey 5.

Next, the tricky looking 130 Yard Par 3, 3rd hole, as shown below. I got away with a lucky bogey after just missing the really heavy rough to the right of the green (even more steeply sloped).

The 4th was slightly uphill and at a mere 98 yards didn't look too demanding, but there was a false front to the green, making the green play even smaller than it looked. This is a view back down the 4th, from beside the 5th tee. That was the first of several climbs on the course.

This next photo is a view from the elevated 5th tee. The 5th is called Traigh (Harder) the joke being that Traigh is pronounced "Try" and at 171 Yards is a pretty meaty Par 3, given the small size and slope on the green. It's just too easy to stick with a local landmark or call the last hole "Home" etc, but I liked the humour in the name of this hole.  

The 6th at Old Milton is significantly more difficult than the others, at a meaty 178 Yards, played steeply downhill, as shown below. I don't think I've mentioned this in the blog to date but for the past 7 years or so I've been working for Scottish Golf as a course rater, meaning I lead teams that assess the difficulty of golf courses for handicapping purposes by reviewing course rating and slope index numbers.  We look at a wide range of factors that influence the playability of each hole, such as effective playing lengths, topography, the visibility of greens, recovery and rough, the severity of bunkers, crossing and lateral obstacles, trees, green sizes and green surfaces. All of the data collected on course surveys feeds into a matrix that potentially generates adjustments to rating and slope indexes.  The 6th would score as an extremely difficult challenge, even for those lucky enough to play Old Milton regularly. 

The small green lies behind the mound to the left left of the first photo below. I'd noticed on my way up the 5th that a stream runs right in front of the 6th green, meaning that the shot from the 6th tee had to fly that mound and the stream behind it. I'd only 3 golf balls in my bag (a potentially serious omission there!) so I chickened out of that severe challenge by laying up, leaving a short chip under tree branches and hopefully clearing the stream. A double bogey there was pretty feeble but this was a tight course and I'd little margin for error ball-wise!

The 7th was a steeply uphill 141 Yard Par 3. This a view of the 7th green from the 8th tee, with the main estate house in the background. I'd missed the green with my drive and a fluffed chip from the rough led to another double bogey.  There was a note inside the cup, reading "almost there, only 2 holes to go, and some crisps and a soft drink if you're lucky." I suspect that the message was meant to be shared by the family on holiday there and playing behind me, but I couldn't complain, I was just very lucky indeed to have the chance to play the course.

I'd need a couple of pars to beat my target score of 37, but it wasn't to be.  The 8th Hole is called MacPherson's Rant, presumably since the course is located in ancestral Clan MacPherson country, but I was just enjoying myself on a quality course. "MacPherson's relaxing stroll" doesn't have quite the same ring to it. Anyway, the 8th is a steeply downhill 154 Yard Par 3, with a green shared with the 2nd., as shown here. Another predictable bogey was the best I could manage but it didn't bother me, I was just enjoying the walk and surely I couldn't lose 3 balls on the last hole.

The 9th is a final steep hill at a mercifully short 138 yards, with a band of ball losing rough right in front of the green. I'd hit a 6 Hybrid that normally flies 160 or so, but that drive finished just short of the rough leaving just a short pitch to the elevated green.  However, the green is tiny and my short pitch found some of the heaviest rough on the course immediately behind the green, just short of mature pine trees. A closing double bogey was a bit disappointing but I REALLY DIDN'T MIND, HONEST! I'd gone round in 39 with 17 putts, so that wasn't a great score, 2 over my target. Thank you again to Drew, my generous and kindly host. It was also a thrill to meet his son in law, a former Scottish rugby internationalist.

I'd only heard about Old Milton pretty recently but I'm really glad I did, because this is one of the best private courses I've played on my travels around Scotland. Play it if you get the chance, but take more than 3 balls - you may need them!

Golf-It! Glasgow - Course No 675

If you know where to look, Facebook has been awash with comments, all positive, about the R&A's new initiative to promote family orientated golf in Glasgow, including a new 9 hole golf course.  The new course is a combination of re-modelled holes from the former Lethamhill Golf Course (see Blog entry No 544) and completely new holes. After I'd played the old Lethamhill layout in October 2012, I commented in the Blog that the course and related buildings needed serious investment and that since Glasgow City Council were strapped for cash, it seemed highly unlikely that that would ever happen. In other words, I thought that the course had little going for it and faced a bleak future.  

I'm glad I got that completely wrong and now that I've played the course, I'm equally pleased to agree with the many Facebook comments that have been made. As the R&A have described it -

Golf It! is the R&A's new community-based golf and entertainment facility located on the south bank of Hogganfield Loch, following the redevelopment of Lethamhill golf course. The vast new indoor and outdoor attraction is a new innovation and marks a significant financial investment by The R&A towards its purpose of making golf more accessible and inclusive. The new facility  features a range of introductory golf formats including a twist on pitch and putt, adventure golf and community putting greens plus a double decker floodlit driving range and a new look 9 hole course for all the family to play.  These  sit alongside other attractions and activities such as padel tennis courts, nature trails, bike hire and a street food-style dining and drinks area.

The state-of-the-art development is creating more than 100 jobs and offer a range of apprenticeships that will boost employment opportunities for those living locally.  The facility includes something for everyone new to the sport as well as those golfers who already play. The new nine hole golf course incorporates four sets of tees and an integrated ‘Go Golf It!’ par 3 tee position on each hole to encourage people of all abilities to play. Other features include:

• A short game area with three adventure golf courses, Park Golf pitch and putt and a family putting green for people of all ages to enjoy.
• A 55-bay floodlit double-decker Top Tracer driving range, including bespoke family bays and simulators.
• A golf equipment library with easy access to hire equipment for anyone who wants to try before they buy.
• Seven Lochs Visitor Centre with nature trails that link to Scotland’s largest urban nature park.
• Street Food by The Big Feed. 
• Fit, Build, Play retail area by Scottsdale Golf. 
• Three Padel tennis courts by Game4Padel.
• Early Years Nursery operated by Lullaby Lane.
• A long-term education programme across Glasgow with the aim of providing in-curriculum golf experiences to 42,000 children across the city.
• A community orchard and gardens.
• Free bike access in partnership with St Paul’s Youth Forum.

Golf It! opened officially on 5 August 2023 so I'd arranged with Douglas and his son Stuart to play the new 9 hole course on 15 August 2023.  As regular readers of the blog will know, Douglas is still trying to play every course in Scotland and only had one course to go before Golf It! was added to his target.  Anyway, we were booked to play at 1600 hrs  but the weather forecast had been for occasional showers - not the monsoon that began around 1530 that threatened to flood the whole development! The course was still playable by the time the deluge abated but with more ominous towering clouds on the horizon, we'd have to play quickly and be very lucky if we were to get round without a real soaking. 

Facebook comments had highlighted the outstanding quality and smoothness of the greens and the imagination shown in providing 4 sets of tees for golfers of differing abilities. This is a view of the 1st tee, showing the different yardages that were available. I'm still just about hanging on to my 8.6 handicap index, so we chose to play off the pink tee markers, making the course play at 2431 Yards, Par 33. The former Lethamhill layout had poor drainage and would have been completely flooded by the deluge. The new course was very wet underfoot but had stood up remarkably well, the only real difference being that the greens were slower than we'd expected from Facebook comments.

Our 1st hole was an uphill 335 Yard Par 4, with green surface not visible for second shots.  We'd rushed on, had no warm up and agreed to play ready (and speedy!) golf in an effort to beat the next downpour.  Predictably, my drive only went as far as the trees to the right of the photo above.  I've had a foot injury for a while that's only now clearing up so that's my second excuse for an opening double bogey.

The 2nd hole is a really good downhill 141 Yard Par 3, as shown below, complete with background rain.

I'd hit my tee shot to within 15 feet dead on line for an easy 2-putt par, only to be beaten by Douglas's tee shot to 3 feet for our only  birdie of the evening. A good hole though!

The 3rd hole is an uphill 381 Yard Par 4, and the Gents' Stroke Index 1, parts of which  I recognised from the former Lethamhill layout. I'd hit a decent enough drive but I was playing too quickly and after missing the green and 3 putting, it was a poor 7 on the card.  Much the same story unfolded on the 4th, a 517 Yard Par 5 played steeply downhill from the tee.  The fairway dog legs sharp left after that and heavy rough on the inside of the dog leg adds to the difficulty.  

The 5th is a 162 Yard Par 3 that played longer than it looked, so a bogey for me on that one.  The 6th is a 288 Yard Par 4 played from an elevated tee with ball losing rough and trees to the right.  The second shot is uphill to an awkward highly contoured green, as shown below. Readers with good eyesight may be able to spot my ball in the bunker!  Another bogey but we were making decent progress in under an hour for 6 holes and staying dry!

Our 7th was a short 102 Yard Par 3.  It looked easy enough but there's steep fall off slope on the right so my par was decent in the circumstances. 

And so to the 8th, which for me was the best looking hole on the course, as shown below. This is a 303 Yard Par 4 played from an elevated tee with an uphill semi-blind second shot to a green well protected by trees.

I just missed the green, played a poor pitch and run and ended up with another bogey.

This is a view of the 9th green , with the double decker driving range in the background.

The 9th is a 202 Yard Par 3 that looked likely to play longer than it looked, despite being downhill. And so it proved and my final bogey of the round meant I was round in a poor 44, with 20 putts. Still. it was new course for me and one that I really enjoyed, despite the conditions and the threat of further heavy rain.  Our only negative comment was that there were no bunker rakes (yet?) and that the greenside bunker by the 9th looked to have  particularly well-visited, given the many footprints on show.

Congratulations to the R&A and all concerned at Golf It! I really liked the course layout and in time I hope this becomes a model for the future promotion of golf to all ages in local communities. 

We'd all played pretty poorly but for my buddy Douglas this was his second last new course in Scotland, with only the Castle Course in St Andrews remaining. As I know only too well, it takes stamina, determination and a peculiar form of madness to even attempt to play every course in Scotland, from the world famous championship courses to the really obscure ones, tucked away, seemingly miles from anywhere familiar.  Paths less well trodden for both of us, but an unforgettabe journey.  My first round with Douglas was at Glenburn Golf Course (where's that, you might wonder!) in August 2013, (Blog entry 614) and since then we've been on some real adventures, helping each other find new courses and experiencing their unique challenges.  He's a fine man, great company and story teller, and the only St Mirren supporter I know.  Douglas once told me I'm the most sane person he knows.  I'm not sure about that, having just played my 675th course in Scotland, but although his journey is nearing it's end, we two pals will doubtless be back together soon, playing our own interpretations of the sport we love so dearly.  We may even have a beer or two afterwards - stranger things have happened, believe me.

Here's to you Buddie! (a rare Paisley joke)

Royal Musselburgh GC

The Royal Musselburgh Golf Club is the 6th oldest in the World and has the distinction of owning the oldest trophy still played for in the World, the Old Club Cup, dating back to 1744.  The club moved to its present site close to Musselburgfh and Prestonpans in East Lothian in 1926, to a new parkland course designed by James Braid.  The clubhouse building is also one of the oldest, if not THE oldest in Scotland, with parts dating back to the 12th Century.  I'd played the Royal Musselburgh course a few times before, and certainly years before I started writing this blog, which explains why the course is listed in my Blog entry No 1. I'd have been content to leave it at that, as nowadays I much prefer links courses and I have no current connections to the Royal Musselburgh club.  However, the course is one of the venues for the 2023 US Kids Golf European Championships.  The American kid that I've been caddying for over several years in US Kids Tournaments is playing there in this year's 13 age group competition, so I played the course again on 18 May 2023 to remind myself about the layout and check out the condition of the course and any issues that young Ayush might have to face.

The course layout is pretty flat on the Front 9 and relatively straightforward, but is far more demanding and undulating on the Back 9.  Overall, it's a modest 5880 Yards, Par 70 off the Yellow Tees and a far more tricky challenge of 6254 Yards, Par 70 from the Whites.  The 1st Hole is a modest 309 Yard Par 4 opener.  Avoid a couple of fairway bunkers on the right and it's just an easy short iron to the green.  Greenside bunkering is fairly strong throughout the course although I have to say the depth of sand was poor, as I was to find out later in the round.  However, I'd an easy opening par.  The 2nd was even shorter, at a mere 280 Yards, but there are 4 fairway bunkers to avoid.  I took a 3 wood off the tee to ensure I landed short of that trouble and another easy pitch set up a 6 foot birdie putt, which I made, just!

The Tee for 349 Yard Par 4 3rd Hole offers this good view of the old Clubhouse, though I'm not sure about how the (1970's?) flat roofed  extension ever got planning permission.  I 3-putted the 3rd green from under 30 feet for a bogey.  The next couple of holes are of similar length and difficulty so even par after 5 holes wasn't too shabby.

The 6th is the first Par 3 at Royal Musselburgh, as shown here.  The green is small and well protected by bunkering that makes the hole look shorter than it really is.  I took the Course Guide's advice to take one club more and another comfortable par was on the scorecard.

The 7th is a really good hole and a sign that the course is about to become a more serious challenge.  At 363 Yards, fairway dog leg lef and the green is well defended by good bunkering.  A further par was really encouraging.  I'd remembered from years back that scoring was easier on the Front 9, so level par after 7 would certainly do for me. The 8th is a dog leg right Par 4 of 410 Yards with a generously wide fairway, which I missed quite comfortably, finding my first bunker of the day off the tee.  A double bogey 6 was disappointing though.  Next came the 465 Yard Par 5 9th, named after the course designer, James Braid.  The front of the green is well defended by strong bunkering.  I found a narrow gap but found heavy rough at the back of the green, so another bogey followed and I was out in 39, in barely 90 minutes of easy walking.

The course was about to get more challenging and I was glad to have had that decent start.  The 10th is blind off the tee and is a dog leg left 351 Yard Par 4.  I'd sclaffed my drive barely 170 Yards and was left with a long downhill second to a narrow well-defended green.  A bogey was about the best I could do and bunker trouble on the 11th led to a double.  The Course Guide warns that you "cannot go left off the tee" on the 12th.  Well, that's wrong for a start, as my hooked drive was to prove!  Trees on the left meant I'd almost no shot but  a low running 7 iron at least got me back into play.  Bogey there and my 3 over par after 9 was now 7 over after 12.  My playing handicap off the Yellows was 9 so I needed a run of pars to keep the round going my way. The 13th is the Stroke Index 1 hole at Royal Musselburgh, and at 435 Yards this Par 4 is a formidable test.  The tee shot is blind and from the landing zone the fairway runs significantly downhill to another well protected green.  More bunker issues and another bogey. 

The 14th Hole had stuck in my mind over the years, so I knew what to expect.  As the photo immediately below shows, there's nothing to suggest that this 127 Yard Par 3 hole is particularly tricky.  As the subsequent photo shows, there's a deep and steep-sided gulley right in front of the green.  Anything short risks a bogey or far worse.  I was barely a yard short and faced an awkward lie just to be able to hit the ball at all, so yet another bogey and I'd used all of my 9 handicap strokes, with 4 of the most difficult holes on the course still to come.

The 15th is easily the most difficult of the closing holes and although its a meaty 419 Yards off the Yellow tee, deep gulleys running across the fairway mean that you can have 2 or more blind shots and a Par 4 hole playing nearer to 500 yards, uphill. The Course Guide states "be happy to make 5."  I was, but I was now 10 over and mindful that young Ayush might also be happy to make 5 when the tournament starts.

The 16th is a downhill 148 Yard Par 3 that offers some relief and would be my sole par on the Back 9. 17 is a blind Par 4 of 334 Yards running in the opposite direction to the 15th, with similarly tricky fairway gulleys to contend with.  I'd hit a really good drive, blind over a ridge,  but my  approach shot was also blind and as it turned out, really overhit into heavy rough at the back of the green.  Bogey again.  The 18th is an uphill 377 Yard Par 4 that plays longer than it looks.  I'd found this bunker 50 yards short of the green but there was almost no sand in it, which was disappointing.  I got the bunker shot onto the green and 2 putted for yet another bogey.

I'd played the Back 9 in 43 for 82 overall, a net 73 with 33 putts. Not bad I suppose, but 8 bogeys out of 9 holes on the Back 9 was poor.  However, at least I'd gathered a better understanding of how this course should be managed.  I'll be trying to keep young Ayush out of the bunkers and making sure he takes enough club on particular holes.  He's a talented lad, so I don't think my 82 will be much of a target for him.

Royal Musselburgh was good test and I'd recommend you give it a try and good value for money.  The fairways were in really good condition, the  greens were medium paced and smooth and the lack of bunker sand is easily remedied  If you've played Newbattle or Ratho Park, some of the holes here might look very familiar!