This is another of the excellent courses operated by Fife Council, keeping golf in local communities. Auchterderran is in Cardenden, a former mining village and is a 9 hole course of 2318 yards off the yellow tees, par 33. I played the course on 2 April 2010, a couple of days after a severe storm had dumped heavy snow and rain over most of Scotland. Having splashed my way to the first tee, I went back to the car for the waterproof trousers, as it looked like being a very soggy round. However, only the first couple of holes were waterlogged, and pretty forgettable if truth be told.Auchterderran came alive on the 3rd, a difficult 397 yard par 4 that weaved its way between gorse to an uphill green. This is the view from my drive
, for once in the middle of the fairway. A good 3 wood, a duffed pitch and run (more of an arthritic limp) and a couple of putts followed for a bogey at the Stroke Index 1 hole. The 4th was an easy par 4, with a blind wedge over a ridge to the green "aided" by 2 marker poles that were nowhere near the right line from the middle of the fairway, where my drive was, again. The 5th was just plain silly, a supposed par 3 of 231 yards, with only a marker pole to aim at, between out of bounds on the left and gorse on the right and dead ground in front of the green. I'm not a fan of blind par 3's at the best of times, but come on, Fife Council, make the hole a par 4 as the difficulty of this hole is completely out of character to the rest of the course.
My favourite hole had to be the 7th, a par 4 of 243 yards, with gorse to the right of the fairway. My drive was perilously close to said gorse, but found a large puddle (remember that storm I mentioned?) 
I managed to persuade a young woman walking her 2 dogs to retrieve my ball (though the water almost came up to the top of her pink wellies) and chipped in from 20 yards for an unlikely birdie. This is a view of the 8th green, a 306 yard par 4 played into the wind and requiring an accurate wedge to a semi-blind green. I scrambled a par with a couple of good putts. The last hole was a short par 4 of 288 yards, with out of bounds on the left. I almost made the OOB and had a tricky 9 iron over some trees to the green for my second. I just missed the 10 foot putt for another birdie, but went round in 37. Overall, this was a pretty good wee course.
I managed to persuade a young woman walking her 2 dogs to retrieve my ball (though the water almost came up to the top of her pink wellies) and chipped in from 20 yards for an unlikely birdie. This is a view of the 8th green, a 306 yard par 4 played into the wind and requiring an accurate wedge to a semi-blind green. I scrambled a par with a couple of good putts. The last hole was a short par 4 of 288 yards, with out of bounds on the left. I almost made the OOB and had a tricky 9 iron over some trees to the green for my second. I just missed the 10 foot putt for another birdie, but went round in 37. Overall, this was a pretty good wee course.
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