Swanston New GC - Templar and Templar Medal Course nos 233 and 234

It was disappointing to find that the Portobello Course was closed. I also forgot to ask the Swedish starter what had brought him to a small municipal course in Edinburgh, particularly as he'd obviously played the one Swedish course I've played (at Norkopping, in July 1992) - it is indeed a small world.

We still had a couple of hours of daylight, so Craig and I nipped over to Swanston New, his home course. I'd been a member from 1980 to 2001 at Lothianburn, immediately adjacent to Swanston, and I had known several members there. The original Swanston had been a very hilly course and not a personal favourite, despite it being one of two courses where I'd broken 70 (once!). It was until recently firmly on its uppers, with falling membership and rising costs and with so many courses in the Edinburgh area, Swanston was never likely to be hugely popular for visitors.

However, with major investment in recent years from the land owner (and a huge risk in my opinion) Swanston has clearly turned the corner. The old clubhouse has gone, replaced by a really comfortable restaurant and bar open to the public that remarkably still retains the feel of a golf clubhouse. The top part of the course has also been abandoned and replaced by some flatter and much improved holes. Around this time last year a group of friends and I played the old course for a final time, playing the old 15th, a short steeply downhill hole with our woods. Why? - because I used to always do that to tease an old friend and former Swanston member, Dave Tyndall, who used to despair every time I took a huge but half-speed swing with my driver, only to chip the ball onto the green (or more often, into the gorse bushes behind the green!) I haven't seen Dave for a while as he's given up golf, but I still smile thinking back to the many rounds I had with him, Graham (Sconnie) and Donald (Squeaky) who were also members at the time. Happy days indeed.

We also played the new 18 hole layout earlier this year and what an improvement. Swanston is still moderately hilly, but now has some good new holes and is deservedly more popular with visitors and has a growing membership. I'm not sure how the financing worked but the owner's gamble has paid off, so good luck to him and to the club members who braved the lean years and are now rightly proud of what they have.

When I played the new 18-hole course, there was clearly an interesting development going on at the bottom end of the site. A driving range and short course had been added, using previously scrubby farmland between the old course layout and the Edinburgh By-Pass. As I found out when Craig and I dropped by on 20 November, the short course is in fact a 9 hole par 3 layout, with holes ranging from 80 to 146 yards, named the Templar Course. This was really good fun to play, with fast running smooth greens built to USGA standards. I managed 6 pars, restoring some confidence after my dismal performance at Archerfield earlier in the day.

We also had time to play the Templar Medal Course, which Craig told me is for members and their guests only. This course was set out within the Templar course and consisted of 6 holes, played 3 times when a medal competition was being held. The first hole was played from the first tee to the second green, the second hole was the third on the normal Templar card, the third hole was combination of the fourth tee and the 5th green, and so on. Since we had to miss out every second green and play over or around golfers playing the normal Templar 9-hole course, I had no idea where we were going and relieved that Craig was not simply having a laugh at my expense (though I'm sure that time will come as our travels progress!) With the light fading and a storm blowing up, we finished the Medal Course as quickly as we could, but what a practice facility. The Templar is ideal for beginners as well as better players seeking to practice their iron play and short game and was in great condition. The creation of an 18 hole layout is easily done by using separate tees within an otherwise 9-hole layout, but I'd never seen anything quite like the Templar courses. I assume that when it is busy everyone needs to play the same 6 or 9 hole layout, though.

This is me, after the Templar medal course, and just before the storm arrived! The hole above is the 4th on the Templar course - but you drive over it when playing 212 yard 3rd hole on the Medal course! See what I mean about confusing?

Archerfield - Dirleton Course no 232

This simply a superb links course within an outstanding premier golf development in East Lothian, complementing the excellent run of courses along the coastline, from Longniddry to Dunbar. Although it is clearly a modern development, it resurrects the playing of golf over the Archerfield that began several hundred years ago and petered out after the Second World War.

I'm also a member of the Rhodes Golf Club, a club for local artisans that has playing rights over the East Links at North Berwick, where the Glen Golf Club is also based. The Rhodes GC is over 100 years old and in the centenary book highlighting its history, there are occasional references to the Archerfield GC, which used to be based at the Archerfield Estate and played its golf over the land that was used to create the new Dirleton course. In fact, the Rhodes first played a friendly match against the Archerfield club in 1907 and there were various other connections between the 2 clubs. I wonder whether the current Archerfield GC, with all of the investment in its excellent facilities, would welcome the resurrection of those matches, since at the Rhodes at least, I expect that there would be fierce competition to get into the team for the "away" fixtures!

Craig, Stu and I had the great pleasure of playing the Dirleton course on 20 November 2009, on a crisp sunny morning that belied the horrendous flooding being endured in Cumbria and South West Scotland. The course had obviously been hit by lots of recent rain, but was in superb condition, with well-maintained fairways, deep bunkers (lots of bunkers) and fast-running greens. Being such an exclusive club, access for non-members can be difficult and very expensive, but we were extremely grateful for the generosity of a local member who paid our green fees, ensuring we had a great day at this exceptional course. Thanks Andrew, we really appreciated your very kind gesture.

This is the 7th hole, a difficult par 3 of 191 yards from the Black Tees (Craig played from these), well protected by bunkers and a stream. I played off the Blues (167 yards) and Stu, who has only been playing for a couple of years, played off the Whites (156 yards). I three-putted for a 4, but managed my first par at the next hole, a short 339 yard par 4. There were many outstanding holes on the course, but our favourite had to be the 10th, a shortish par 5. The drive is to a narrow fairway with bunkers awaiting anything even remotely wayward. However, Craig found the middle of the fairway and hit the best shot of the day, a swinging draw out of the screws with a 4-iron into a stiff right to left breeze, which found the undulating green and stopped 14 foot 8 inches from the hole (yes, he did measure it and rightly so!) An unerring putt found the middle of the cup for an outstanding eagle 3. I managed a reasonable 6 after managing not to fall into the burn with this, my 4th shot. Sadly, my golf went downhill from there. In the last medal of 2009at the Glen GC, my handicap went up to 12, so it was with some relief that I finally walked off Dirleton with a 108, net 96. I didn't find every bunker, but it just seemed that I'd drive to the wrong side of the fairway, or find the wrong slope around the greens, or end up 5 feet past the hole, missing the putt back. Even when I did hit an occasional good shot, such as at the 6th, the wind and the slope took the ball straight of the green into a deep bunker. However, such was the quality of the course that somehow I didn't really mind. At some other courses I can think of, the odd expression of disappointment might have passed my lips, but not here. I did have an 8 on the card (5 times!) but did I care? I was enjoying the challenge of the course too much to do that. OK, so a dismal failure, but great fun and excellent company on the first of many rounds with Craig and Stu.

Here was my drive at the 18th, a lovely 409 yard par 4 for me, something less for Stu, who comfortably beat me with a creditable 97, net 75. Next time, young Stu, next time! Craig ended up with a magnificent 77 off the black tees - a great score.

Archerfield has a second course, the Fidra, so we look forward to returning there and to enjoying the considerable comforts of the clubhouse. Foolishly, we thought we'd try to squeeze in a round at Portobello, a 9 hole municipal course in Edinburgh. From the sublime to the ridiculous in one sense, since although Archerfield had been in great condition, some of the Portobello course was under water and the "Course Closed" sign was on display.

A Change of Plan

When I started this blog, I'd imagined that I'd go round the remaining courses in Scotland alone or with Polly, my wife. However, when I told a few friends and work colleagues what I was intending to do after I retired in a few weeks' time (hooray!), one came forward to say that he and his friend were doing exactly the same, but for a Cancer Research charity. We quickly saw the advantages in teaming up our efforts and to use our various friends to obtain access to individual courses when necessary and more generally, save on travelling expenses. Accordingly, look out for references to Craig Watson and Stu Fleming, both of whom are members at Swanston New GC, in Edinburgh. Although I'm still intending to play all of the courses that I've not yet played, Craig and Stu have started from scratch and intend to play every course in Scotland, keeping photos and score cards as evidence of their progress, with postings on their own website.

We know that Ernie Payne has already done 611 courses, basing his own definition of a golf course as a course with at least 9 holes, of which 2 or more must be par 4s and including courses on private estaes that are not normally open to the public. We intend to try to play any course that has its own score card, irrespective of the minimum number of holes, so we'll be trying to play all of the pitch and putt courses we can find as well as private courses and those with less than 9 holes.

We expect that one of the challenges will be to identify all of the courses and where they are in private hands to persaude the owners to let us play them. However, that is the challenge and we are determined to do our best to achieve our goals. Craig and Stu are also developing their own website where donations to help cancer research can be made. This blog will in due course connect to that site and highlight my own progress round those courses I've not yet played.

Kelso GC Course no 231

I first visited this course in June 2002 with Graham, Donald, JD, Brian and some of the other regular Humpties. We'd decided to play somewhere on our way back from a golfing holiday in Northumberland and had been trying to get on at The Roxburghe just outside Kelso. We were all pretty worn out after a hectic week of golf and late nights but the Roxburghe was busy and expensive. By contrast, Kelso looked refreshingly flat, easy walking and more within our remaining budget, but all we ended up going home, with some of the guys not keen on playing what had at the time they thought looked a pretty uninspiring course.

When I finally got round to playing Kelso on 16 October 2009, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality and excellent condition of the course. The fairways were a delight and although the greens had been treated in readiness for winter and were not cut as closely as they would be in summer, they were still very good, if a little slow and bumpy. We'd clearly missed a treat some 7 years ago! Uniquely, the Kelso course is completely surrounded by a racecourse, with the racetrack cutting across several holes. Indeed, the first tee is only 20 yards or so behind the track, with the railings looking as though they'd come into play for anything miss-hit. I was joined on the course by Mike, a former Club Captain, who explained that when the hurdles track that surrounds the course was built, much of the soil required was taken from inside the railings, meaning that the golf course now sits below the level of the racetrack, which drains onto the golf course. A large open drain "The Stank" runs through the course to improve drainage and provides a real hazard on several holes, as a couple of Mike's shots proved! Another feature of the course is that most of the trees and bushes are trimmed to about 10 feet, to maintain lines of sight from the grandstands to the racetrack, with the track owners keen to tackle some silver birch trees that at present add character and definition to the course. I got the impression that the relationship between the racecourse and the golf club could be interesting at times!

There are a number of really good and interesting holes at Kelso, but Home Strait, the 11th, was my favourite a 497 yard par 5 off the back tee, with an out of bounds all the way down the right. Mike explained that the club was not allowed to put down a white line or posts to define the out of bounds and relied on a road beside the racetrack for definition. Creosote had been used to mark the boundary, but this was discontinued on health and safety grounds, lest jockeys land on the creosote. I'm not sure I understand that, given the greater risks associated with falling off a galloping horse!

I also enjoyed the 12th, 13th and 14th, a good stretch of holes, and the 18th deserves mention too. An uphill 466 yard par 4 played into the setting sun, with the racetrack coming into play a few yards in front of the green. Sadly, my wedge to the green found a bunker to the right and after getting a lob wedge to within a couple of feet, my missed putt was an anti-climax for what had been a very enjoyable round in the great company of a man steeped in the history of his club and rightly proud of it. Thanks again, Mike.

Mike also had the shot of the day, a 60 yard pitch and run at the 10th, which being deadly accurate but slightly overstruck hit the flag and bolted off to the right, straight into a greenside bunker. We both laughed and it was only some time later that I realised that golf is the only game I know in which you can laugh at the misfortune of a stranger and not get thumped or told in no uncertain terms where to go.

I went round in a creditable 84, but a good handful of shots were down to the trickiness of the greens. I'd missed a short putt on the 3rd for a par 3 and had 6 or so practice putts from inside 3 feet, all without success. I'd go back to Kelso one day to play that hole in particular. It owes me and I reckon I must have seen everywhere not to go by now.

Brunston Castle GC Course no 230

– Polly and I played this on 8 October 2009 having been impressed by the high quality of the club’s website. This was clearly a course to be played in dry summer conditions, as some parts were quite low lying and looked to be prone to flooding. Unfortunately, we’d played it too late in the year, forgetting that inland courses in the West of Scotland can be less well drained than our own seaside course in North Berwick. Although there had not been any heavy rains of late, parts of the Brunston Castle course were quite boggy, with preferred lies in operation. As a result, it played quite long and as the greens had also been hollow-cored and sanded very recently, scoring was difficult. That’s my excuse anyway, having lost to Polly by a couple of Stableford points in what, to borrow the football cliché, was a low-scoring match.

Although we thought that Brunston would undoubtedly look and play better in the Summer months, we struggled to spot a signature hole. Perhaps it was just that the course wasn’t busy and was clearly being made ready for winter that put us off, but it just seemed that none of the holes were inspiring, with several medium length par 4s either looking or playing similar to each other. I liked the 10th, a shortish par 4 played from an elevated tee down to a generously wide fairway, with the second requiring a longer shot than you think, over a hidden river some 20 yards wide. Having missed the fairway to the right (requiring some skill given the width of the fairway!) I also had a large tree to contend with, managing a rare par after a good wedge from heavy, wet rough over the tree and the river to within 20 feet. Polly’s second shot came to grief amid dark mutterings about a silly place to put a river anyway, and she much preferred the 18th, mainly because it was the last.

Brunston may have been slightly disappointing, but we did discover a real gem on the way home, in Balbir’s Indian Restaurant, near Symington on the A77. Outstanding, and a place to be visited again and again, as there are lots of courses in Ayrshire still to be played.

Charleton GC Anstruther GC and Drumpellier GC - Course nos 227-229

I played the Charleton and Anstruther courses on 22 September 2009 in bright but very windy conditions. Charleton was surprisingly good fun as I’d not been expecting anything special. The course was in great condition, with fast greens made all the more tricky by a gale force wind that made club selection an absolute lottery. What made it even more remarkable was that I played to my handicap, despite the weather. I was also amused to be asked on arrival whether I qualified for the senior citizen’s discount. Come on, I’m 59 for sure, but not quite eligible for the free bus pass yet! It was also refreshing to be waived through by 3 separate groups, since if there’s one thing in golf that I really dislike, it’s getting stuck behind a group of players who completely ignore you. I know that the Rules of Golf say that a single player has no status and that by implication has no right to expect to be waived through, but I’m sure I’m not alone in becoming frustrated on occasions.

For example, when I visited Drumpellier GC recently, a fine golf course by the way, I found myself playing behind a couple of guys. Not bad players, but painfully slow. They were then joined by a third player on the 3rd tee and by a fourth on the 10th, by which time I’m really being held up on every shot. I was also playing reasonably well, and had it occurred to those in front it would have been obvious that I would have played through quickly and not held them up. But no, it seemed as though every effort was made to ignore my presence. By the time I got to the first par 3 on the back 9, two of them had lost balls, but still I was not called through. At that point my lack of status on the course should in my view have been set aside, since as any golfer should know, the Rules also state that those searching for a ball should not delay those behind them. I finally finished that round and whilst I liked the course and loved the 18th, I’m afraid that Drumpellier will not be on my list to visit again any time soon.

Even worse, when Polly (my wife) and I played Troon Portland earlier in the year, we were held up from the very first hole by four foreign visitors with caddies . After some 3 hours, we walked through at the 10th and to be fair one of them apologised that as visitors, they did not know how to play our links courses and were finding it difficult to make progress. Fair enough guys and the apology was accepted, but etiquette is as important as ability and an awareness of the pile up of players in your wake should have rung some alarm bells! We also found it odd that one of the caddies commented that he could not advise his player that his party was holding up play and should let people play through, a comment that did not accord with the Caddie Master when we met him by chance at the end of our round. We were delighted to be invited to have a courtesy round when next we were in the area – a really generous and helpful offer that confirmed our view that the set up at Troon was absolutely first class, befitting its status as an outstanding golfing venue.

But back to Charleton. I’d recommend that course to anyone who wants to play a really good inland course in great condition. Not long, not overly difficult, but some really good holes. The 17th was my favourite. A short par 4, with the green set above a ditch immediately in front of it. I carry a Cleveland 60 degree lob wedge, often for no apparent reason since it requires a really committed shot to get anything out of it, and on the 17th I had a 30 yard shot to the flag for my second. I hit one of those rare things (for me at least), a perfectly hit shot landing precisely where I’d aimed, taking into account the slope of the green and the strong wind - and into the hole it went on its last roll. The group in front had just left the green but didn’t see it go in for an Eagle. Still, that shot restored my belief that if you give a monkey a paintbrush and enough time….

Anstruther GC 

is a short 9 hole links course that was particularly enjoyable in the gale force Westerly that day. Anstruther’s main claim to fame is that its 5th hole is regarded as the most difficult par 3 in the UK and rightly, in my humble opinion.

About 240 yards from an elevated tee requiring a slight fade to steer the ball between the sea and a cliff made it a test that I failed miserably, with the wind dead against. I ended up with a lucky 8 with my third ball. This is undoubtedly a hugely difficult hole, but is it a good hole and fair test? In my opinion, no. I doubt whether many Anstruther members will relish the prospect of that hole appearing twice in their medal rounds or that any course should have a hole that is simply unplayable to par for the huge majority of golfers likely to play it. Let’s have Par 3 holes that can be played with good shots and a couple of putts if needs be, not ones that simply wreck cards and would be better as Par 4s. I’d play Anstruther 

again though, if only to try for a 7 next time!

Machrihanish Dunes GC Course Number 226

This is from the new course at Machrihanish, which promises to be a superb addition to Scotland's many links courses. I played it on 9 September, in glorious sunny weather, well worth the £60 green fee!

The first challenge is finding the course itself. Uniquely in my experience, the first tee is over 3 miles from the Pro Shop! I'd turned up around 45 minutes early to book in at the Pro Shop. A great welcome, but after a 5 hour drive to get there, I wasn't really anticipating going back 2 miles, turning down a single track road, going past Campbeltown Airport, going on past the old RAF base, turning off down a farm road, going through a farm yard, over the cattle grid and down another single track road to get to the Starter's building. By the time I got there, I was neat for timing, but the welcome was pretty memorable. I'd arrived just as the course manager, starter and others in the management team were having lunch. I'd brought my own, but it was insisted that I join them. An hour or so later, after a fascinating chat about the history and development of the course, I was given a free bag tag and course guide and escorted up to the first tee. I'd asked for directions, but was slightly taken aback by the suggestion that I follow 2 sheep dawdling along with no great purpose over a hillock. By now, it was obvious that signage was on the modest side, and with 5 separate tees to choose from, finding my way about was to be a real challenge. I'd also made a big mistake by taking my full bag on a pull trolley. Because the course is built on a Site of Special Scientific Interest and is so new that pathways have not been fully trodden down yet, so getting to tees and from there to fairways was pretty interesting at times!

The course design is simply outstanding, with only 7 acres or so disturbed to create the tees and greens, with fairways simply mown out of the natural folds of the dunes. I was hooked on this course from the first hole, a 366 yard par 4 from an elevated tee, straight into the wind, with the Atlantic in the far distance. A downhill iron to the green finished just short, but I managed a 4 despite the most undulating green I'd seen in a long time. Indeed, I spent a few minutes putting from various positions up and down slopes and across great swathes of the finest quality turf I'd seen on any new course. The cut was quite long, but my ball rolled true and fast. There was a skylark aloft and the crashing of the sea a few yards away over a huge dune, but other than that, not a sound. Heaven after 10 minutes! Another thing I noticed was that the course was almost deserted. Over lunch, the Course Manager commented that although business had been encouraging, the course was a bit quiet that day. I counted 10 other souls, but 2 of them were caddies so the experience was a bit surreal, as I was bursting to tell somebody how much fun I was having.

I guess that some of the holes will be tweaked a bit as the course settles down, but I hope they don't change the 8th, a real test. I'd played the Dunes off the White tees, so had a daunting blind drive over a dune followed by what looked like an impossibly long uphill second to a green fronted by huge evil looking bunker, of the magnetic kind! Needless to say, that's where my ball went, but thank goodness I'd cleared the hidden swamp tucked below a huge fold in the fairway. Two attempts to get out of the bunker and a lucky long putt later, I'd escaped with a 5, but I shudder to think what this fearsome hole could be like on a really windy day. By contrast, I think the 9th is bit too severe. After a decent drive down the right, I had a 7 wood uphill blind shot of around 180 yards. I'd no idea what the line was but hit it plumb where I'd aimed. No idea where it went from there, but as the fairway petered out some 50 yards short of the green into a mixture of deep bunkering and rough, I was reduced to hoping that I'd at least found a bunker. Not so, hence the (eventual!) 9 on the scorecard. I think that the approach to the 9th green needs to be opened out with closer mowing, making it more playable for hackers like me! I'd also suggest changing the existing putting green into a par 3 as a 19th hole, to add even more quirkiness to the course and allow maintenance or any future changes to be made without an impact on the course. The European Club in Ireland has 20 holes (the space is there, so why not, was the explanation!) and as the Dunes course has ample land available, why not there too?

I usually pack a camera in my golf bag when playing a new course, but seldom have I taken over 30 photos. The views to sea are simply stunning, in stark contrast to the rather forbidding and bleak views of the closed air force base inland. I really hope that this development succeeds. I was told that there are great plans to expand the facilities, but for me, the Dunes course is already a real gem. I actually prefer it to the long-established but over-hyped Machrihanish Golf Club nearby.

I'd played that course a few years a ago on a dreich November afternoon, when even the seagulls were grounded and no amount of clothing was likely to keep out the damp and cold. I'd been down at Campbeltown on business and had only that afternoon to spare. There were 2 cars in the car park, mine and the Professional's. I'd been hoping for a quick start as I'd a long drive home to tackle, but was told that I'd need to wait just in case a member turned up. Indeed, just as I received that bad news, a single car emerged through the gloom a mile or so away, which the Pro took to justify his caution. Some 15 minutes later, 2 elderly members dragged themselves wearily up to the first tee and promptly invited me to play through, but the Pro was having none of that, encouraging Methusela and his pal to play away. By this time, I was regretting my decision to donate anything to the club's coffers, but I held my tongue.

As you may know, Machrihanish is famous for its first hole, and the drive over the Atlantic. The tide was out, but I did manage to find a puddle on the beach, which was either rain or ocean. Methusela and his pal let me through on the second and with nobody else in sight, I decided to see just how quickly I could play the course. There were some great holes and tricky lies out there, but for me, the course seemed to just dribble away, with the last 2 holes being pretty forgettable. A pity, since a course of that quality needed a truly great finish.

What really made my day was finishing the round in something well under 3 hours and meeting the Pro, locking up his shop. I'm not sure he saw the intended irony in my remark that the two-ball in front were probably now reaching the turn, but it kept me smiling for a while. I think I warmed up somewhere east of Inveraray.

I'd somehow managed to get round the Dunes in 91, with only one lost ball (Titleist 4 with a single black dot). I hope that whoever finds it gets to play with it for longer than I did and takes equal pleasure from playing this superb new course. I'll go back to Machrihanish one day to play the Dunes again and will try to beat that 91, but I think I'll give its more illustrious neighbour a miss.