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!