North Ronaldsay GC - course no 331

Craig, Stu and I played here early on 28 July 2010. North Ronaldsay is the most northerly and remote of the Orkney islands, is only 4 miles long and 2.5 miles wide and has a population of around 60. The climate can be really tough and with only 2 ferry connections a week in the summer, life out here looked pretty hard. North Ronaldsay is unique in having a 13 mile dry stone wall going all the way round, separating the land from the beach, with the island's own breed of sheep confined to the beach, living off seaweed and rough grazing. We'd got up at 0615 to catch the 07.35 flight to North Ronaldsay in an 8 seater plane from Kirkwall, where we'd stayed overnight. The airfield is well over a mile from the golf course but we were lucky that someone gave us a lift in a battered van that had seen better days a long time ago. I sat on the floor in the back, with some empty tins of beer, a half-empty bottle of vodka and the skulls of 3 sheep rolling around my feet. North Ronaldsay was already "different" and we'd not even seen the course yet.

The golf course is on the seaward side of the wall and is flat and fully exposed to the elements. We'd seen a video on You Tube of someone playing the course (type in "golf in North Ronaldsay") so we had a vague idea of what to expect. However, that video must be a few years old, since the course had obviously taken a battering in a succession of storms and looked to have been abandoned to its fate. Above is what is left of the clubhouse, a small wooden and concrete breeze block hut of considerable antiquity. The door had gone and sand blown into the hut over the winter was over a foot deep in places inside. Some ancient bags and clubs lay around in various stages of rust. The carcass of a long-dead rabbit or lamb lay half buried in sand in an open cupboard. A box originally containing 12 golf balls lay open on the small table, serving as the club's "Honesty Box" for the payment of green fees (£3 according to a 1997 notice half hidden by dirt and cob webs propped up against a rotting window frame). Bizarrely, the Honesty Box contained an old £5 note and some coins, as shown here, beside a message saying that a couple of guys had played the course in 2009. The Honesty Box was wrapped in cobwebs, so had obviously lain undisturbed for a considerable time. Some old greenkeeping equipment was rusted solid, as were some old flagpoles. We also found some newish flags, bundled untidily together on a shelf, but the air smelt of decay, despite the lack of a door to this hulk of a building.


It was less easy to identify the course itself. All we could see initially was a wasteland of flotsam debris from winter storms, sheep and their droppings, the odd animal bone (or rotting part) and some stones, strewn across flat and other pretty featureless rough grazing land, closely cropped by the sheep. On closer inspection , we came across wooden marker arrows (some still with faded hole numbers!) and stones that had obviously formed tees, and by walking out from such points, we came across old flagsticks, devoid of any fabric, lying down beside what were at one time golf holes. The hole liners were all rusted and the holes part-filled with dank water, but there clearly was a course here, albeit well hidden by neglect and decay. Thanks mainly to Craig's expert foraging ahead, we were able to piece the course together. There were no scorecards in the clubhouse and I'd not packed my laser range finder, so the yardages are approximate, but this what we played as the course, as it lay on the day -

Hole 1 - 200 yards - par 3
Hole 2 - 130 yards - par 3
Hole 3 - 110 yards - par 3
Hole 4 - 350 yards - par 4
Hole 5 - 100 yards - par 3
Hole 6 - 252 yards - par 4
Hole 7 - 230 yards - par 3
Hole 8 - 290 yards - par 4
Hole 9 - 540 yards - par 5

We therefore reckoned the course "on the day" to be 2202 yards long, with a par of 32. It may have been shorter, longer, or laid out differently, but that's what we saw and played. By the time we'd identified the 1st hole, a light drizzle had turned into steady rain, adding to the feeling of bleakness that had settled around us. We struggled to understand the attractions of living in such a remote place. As to our actual golf, it was difficult to play well in such depressing surroundings and extra care was needed on the greens, such as they were, to clear a path through the sheep droppings and other loose impediments. For the record, I parred the 5th and 6th holes in my round of 40. Here's Craig and I on the 9th green celebrating our completion of the course, with one of the flags we'd found in the clubhouse after our round. We'd played the North Ronaldsay course, or what was left of it, firing a subsequent and unresolved discussion about what properly constituted a golf course. We imagined that the islanders now had enough to do to eek out a living, mainly by crofting and tourism, and that there is little time for golf nowadays. However, as we walked back to the airfield for our 10 minute flight to nearby Papa Westray, we found it more difficult to understand how golf had started in North Ronaldsay in the first place and why it had so obviously declined in recent years. In all honesty, we suspect that only the few people keen to play as many Scottish courses as possible would venture to play a game here. A pity, since at one time there was presumably a decent 9 hole course here.

Lybster GC - course no 330

Craig, Stu and I played this remote 9 hole course on 27 July 2010 on our way up to Scrabster to catch the NorthLink ferry for Orkney, where we would play all of the 7 courses on the Orkney Islands over the next few days. The guys had never been north of Inverness much so they were really looking forward to the trip. I'd been to Scrabster and Orkney many times before on ferry operations business, but had never had the time to play, so we were all on an adventure, as our on-course events were to prove. Lybster is a small village on the main road to Wick and the 9 hole course is a par 31 of 2002 yards. I'd remembered the Lybster course as little more than a field with flags in it when I passed it by a few years ago en route to a business meeting in Scrabster. However, that first impression was wildly wrong, as Lybster turned out to be a good little course in great condition, with excellent true running greens. This is me prior to our first round on the "Orkney Tour."

The Lybster course is flat and very easy walking, but the narrow fairways are bordered by heather as shown here at the 90 yard par 3 5th hole, which I birdied with a good wedge and a short putt. My play off the tee was pretty good, but finding the rough around the greens meant that that was the only real highlight of my round. Too many bogeys, but the small size and good quality of the greens meant that I only had 11 putts in total, which I suspect is some kind of personal record. We were playing quickly since I was keen to explore the Popeye's dockside pub at Scrabster (honestly, another place I'd never previously had time to visit!), but not enough to avoid a good soaking on the last 4 holes. We'd started the round in weak sunshine, but since the air was so clear, we could see a dark mass of cloud to the west that looked pretty nasty, and so it proved. No sooner had we boarded the 6th tee, when the skies opened, big time. Here's my quick view down the 6th, a 170 yard par 3, before the camera was stowed away for safe-keeping. I got round in 37 blows (6 over par), so not a bad start to the "Orkney Tour." Needless to say, after I'd parred the last in record time, the rain stopped. However, we could at least get our wet gear into the car before the next deluge and we'd more time for a refreshing pint in Popeye's, so it wasn't all bad! We'd enjoyed out first course and agreed that Lybster was worth another visit, time permitting.

Aberfeldy GC- course no 329

Polly and I were due to play at the Spey Valley GC in Aviemore on 25 July 2010 but when we got there, we noticed a growing puddle under our car. This turned out to be only waste water from the air conditioning unit, but as we're not mechanically minded, we decided to head home rather than risk playing and getting stuck so far from home on a Sunday. As we had no warning lights appear on the dashboard, we decided to play at Aberfeldy on the way home, leaving Spey Valley for another day.

Aberfeldy is a lovely little course, located right in the heart of the village and at only 4903 yards off the men's yellow tees, par 67, is pretty short. I'd need to check carefully, but I think that Aberfeldy is pretty rare in being significantly longer over the ladies' Red Tees than off the men's Yellow tees. Polly was not amused. The course is also very flat, so is easy walking. However, it is far from easy, since water comes into play on 16 of the 18 holes, so there's lots of potential for lost balls and penalties, as we were to discover. I started with an easy 7 wood at the 170 yard par 3 1st hole, with the ball trickling agonisingly past the hole. The greens were even-paced but tricky to read, hence my missed birdie putt. I bogeyed the next 2 holes, both simple enough par 4s if you avoided the water (which I did). Here's the approach to the excellent 4 hole, a 492 yard par 5, played into a strong headwind. I parred the hole but my round at Aberfeldy was the typical curate's egg. After 7 holes I was only 3 over par and swinging well. I'm therefore not sure where the hooked drive on the 8th came from (or went!), but a triple bogey was the result. 9th hole, double bogey after another hooked tee shot. I misjudged the wind on the tight 10th hole, a long par 3 with AOB and water down the right, went AOB and had another triple bogey. It was a warm enough day, but by this time I was pretty getting more than a little frustrated. I'd hit a stonking drive down the middle on the 11th, a short 297 yard par 4 and had only half a sand iron to the green. Maybe that's what led to the sh--- towards yet another water hazard. Being annoyed by now, I dropped another ball, with the same result, even closer to the water. However, I wasn't going to be beaten and finally got the third ball onto the green, only to 2 putt from close range for an 8. Holes 8-11 had been played in 12 strokes above par, so my score was heading rapidly south.

Thankfully, my game returned just as quickly as it had deserted me on those holes and I birdied the short 291 yard par 4 12th hole. I should also have at least parred this, the 13th a narrow dog leg 299 yard par 4. I only had a short wedge to the flag, but completely overhit it, almost ending up in the water behind the green. A bogey there, but I also birdied the difficult 16th, 349 yards into the wind, with water in front of the green. Meanwhile, Polly had found water (again) on that hole and was quietly seething (something about a damned silly place to put a river). Regular readers will be familiar with my preference for final holes with some theatre to them, my aversion to car parks near greens and my occasional ability to sh--- with no advance warning. I'd commented to Polly when changing into our golf shoes before playing here that the last tee was alarmingly near the car park and that although it was only 100 yards, finishing right in front of the clubhouse (and the centre of the village!) the 18th looked pretty testing. This is the view from the tee, our car being the black Honda CRV. By the time I played, a small public gallery had appeared. Little did they know I'd been in good sh---ing form earlier in the round, but I played it cool, hit an easy wedge to within 6 feet and tried to give the impression I'd not been worried. For good measure, I even holed the putt, as shown here, but the ghouls hoping for a good laugh had just as quickly vanished from the scene. I'd gone round in 82, net 72 (5 strokes over the par of 67), so not bad at all, apart from the nonsense on holes 8-11. Aberfeldy is a good holiday golf course and I'd strongly recommend it. No frills, just a good local village club in great countryside surroundings. You'll also enjoy the 100 yard long suspension footbridge spanning the River Tay that splits the course. The bridge is incredibly springy, as you'll find out!

Clydebank and District GC - course no 328

I played in the Gents Seniors Open at this excellent parkland course on 20 July 2010. Clydebank and District is a 5612 yard par 68 off the yellow tees we played over and is a gently undulating course, with no serious hills. Easy walking in normal conditions, but the forecast had been for heavy showers and right on cue, the skies opened as I got ready to play. Thankfully the torrent stopped before I teed off, but this only served to increase humidity levels, with the sun burning off surface water. I'd never thought of the West of Scotland producing near-sauna conditions, but boy, was it hot and sticky all through the round! This is a view of the first tee and clubhouse, as taken from the 3rd fairway.

Given all of the rain immediately before I teed off, the greens were really slow and on the practice green it had been difficult to even get the ball up to the hole. I'd been used to much faster greens of late and it took some time to get used to the pace (such as it was) and line of putts. Accordingly, I 3-putted three times on the outward 9 holes, with my only par (and single putt) being on this, the excellent 312 yard par 4 5th hole. My other excuse is that the club had run out of proper score cards. We were using a card with no hole yardages on it and in keeping with this being a Seniors' Open, I'd left the flimsy photocopy of hole yardages we were given in the car! The tee boxes had yardages, but since some of the holes are semi-blind (at least from where my drives went!) and the humidity was boiling my brain, club selection was a real lottery. Best example was the 9th, where my drive ended up in trees to the left of the fairway. This hole was steeply uphill so I could only see the top of the flag and the green looked to be a long way away. However, there was a gap in the foliage and I reckoned my 7 wood would be about right. Sure enough, my ball looked at the green on its way past, ending up on the other side of a steep hill in rough close to the 18th tee. The 9th turned out to be 280 yards, so I guess a wedge would have been the right club! I was out in a disappointing 46, with 20 putts and nowhere near contending.

My game improved on the back 9, and only a poor short pitch prevented me from parring the excellent 11th, a slightly downhill 437 yard par 4, Stroke Index 1, with out of bounds down the right and a narrow cambered fairway. I also came to terms with the greens, which ran a little faster as the course gradually dried out during our round. Indeed, I came back in 40 for a gross 86, net 76 and a mid-pack finish. I suspect the back 9 is the easier half, but even so, there are some tricky holes. How about this, the "view" from the 15th tee? The green lies 330 yards away, straight through the gap in the trees. There's out of bounds and a busy road to the right, and a pond over the trees to the left. I'd hit my drive to the left and narrowly missed the pond leaving myself with an awkward lie on the side of a hill. The green is hidden by another hill and there's some houses immediately behind the green, just to make it even more difficult. I sneaked a good par here after an excellent up and down from a greenside bunker.

The club had organised the event very well and had some excellent prizes for nearest the hole, including at this, the short 300 yard par 4 18th. I managed to get on in 2 OK and get my par but was well outside the closest measure. Still, at least I'd gone round with no sh---s and missed the houses that border the right side of this good little finishing hole. I was also soaking wet from the humidity but despite that discomfort, I really enjoyed the course. I'd recommend Clydebank & District as well worth a visit.

Braemar GC - course no 327

Polly played this excellent 18 hole moorland course on 11 July 2010 in the club's Mixed Greensomes Open on a cool and increasingly windy and wet day. At only 4935 yards par 64 off the men's Medal tees, this is an extremely short, flat and easy walking course. Being so short and compact, a round here should take well under 3 hours and as a holiday course, it sees a lot of visitors during the summer and is a strong focal point for the local village community. Winters in Braemar can be severe, even by Scottish standards, so I congratulate the local members and staff for keeping the course going and presenting it in such great condition. However, Braemar is no pushover, as water hazards have to be crossed 14 times during the round and come into play on various other holes. The 1st provides a gentle start, but with a river right behind the green to swallow anything overhit, extreme care is needed. The 2nd hole is by far the most difficult on the course, though only Stroke Index 2. Anything remotely sliced goes into the River Clunie and the second shot has to be long and straight to a small green perched on top of a hill. Anything right ends up in the aqua or trees, anything left is lost in gorse and heather. This is the view from the back of the 2nd green down to the tee. We had a double bogey here, and also made a mess of the 3rd, a 144 yard par 3 played to a small green perched on the side of a hill. We steadied a bit to play holes 5-9 in 2 over and got to the turn in 42 (against the par of 32). Here's the 6th, a 103 yard par 3, a good example of a short hole at Braemar that requires absolute accuracy off the tee. Accuracy and patience is needed to play here. Don't get suckered into blasting the ball off the tee. Just find the fairway, avoid the aqua and fiddle your way round quietly, enjoying the fantastic views up and down the valley and across the mountains and hills on either side. Take in the wildlife and have fun, because this is "just" a fun holiday course. And some further advice. Leave enough time to go round again. It won't take long and you'll enjoy it even more, once you know where you're going and where the trouble is most severe.

The weather took a turn for the worse on the back 9, with squally showers and gusting winds. One such gust lifted a park bench and tossed it aside and for 5 minutes, we were back in the storm at Fraserburgh. 5 minutes later, dazzling sun and flat calm. This is the 15th, where finally came to grief. The 15th is a 421 yard par 4, Stroke Index 1 and is simple enough until a bottleneck in front of the green, where a stream cuts across the fairway. We had avoided all of the other water hazards on the course but found this stream easily enough and

ended up with an 8. We'd also bogeyed the last, a 122 yard par 3 that plays longer than it looks, since the green is well above the tee. There's also a hidden gully at the back of the green, so be warned. We ended up with a gross 89, a poor score on such a short course.

If you ever play at Braemar, I'd be interested to have your comments on the layout. The current 18th finishes beside the greenkeeper's shed, out of view of the clubhouse. I'd prefer to see the course starting from the 9th tee and ending with the 8th, a good short par 4 of 253 yards that finishes in front of the clubhouse windows. This hole is actually quite tricky, as the river runs right in front of the tee and there's a smaller stream in front of the green itself. I prefer final holes that have some element of theatre to them and I think there's scope here for some re-ordering. Having said that, I'd still recommend this course as well worth playing.

Aboyne GC - course no 326

I played in the Men's Open at Aboyne GC on 10 July 2010 on a cool and showery day. Polly had played the course some years ago, so she caddied for me and was a great help (particularly in spotting where my ball went on some holes!) Aboyne is an excellent 18 hole parkland course and although relatively short at 6009 yards par 68 off the White medal tees, it's a stern test. The front 9 is pretty flat parkland but holes 10-13 are more moorland in nature, with tight bouncy fairways and lots of gorse and heavy, clinging rough. I'd been advised by the starter to make my score on the front 9 and hang on thereafter, taking what I could on the back 9. I started only reasonably well and was 3 over par after the first 4 holes. There was a prize for a birdie 2 and I only narrowly missed one on the 160 yard 4th hole, my 10 foot putt stopping an inch in front of the hole. At least I'd got it in line, as the greens were almost impossible to read. In my 3-ball, none of us holed anything of any distance and although the greens looked in great condition and were only of moderate pace, there were all sorts of borrows we didn't read. This is the view from the 5th tee, where my outward 9 really came unstuck. I'd hit a good drive, but a crazy bounce took the ball to the left of the fairway and I was blocked out by some trees. All I had to do was hook the ball around them and surely I could get no worse than a bogey on a 395 yard par 4. How I got a 7 I'm still not sure, but that lapse led to a stumbling 44 to the turn, including an outrageous sh--- on the 9th. I felt fresh enough, but this was my 11th round in 8 days. I'm pretty fit nowadays, having played well over 100 games since February, but I needed a real improvement on the apparently difficult back 9 if I was to make even the buffer zone.

Holes 10-13 came as an unwelcome surprise. The 10th is the longest holes at Aboyne at 512 yards, but plays much longer, being a right dog leg over a swamp and a lake. The tee shot can run out of fairway and the rest of the hole sits between gorse and a lake (used for water skiing, so noisy and a distraction to the relative peace on the course. I managed a good bogey, but took a double on the 11th, a narrow long par 4 played between rows of unforgiving gorse and heather. And then the rain started, here on the 178 yard par 3 12th. I'd hit a good tee shot, just short of the green and just missed a short putt for par. Another shot gone and the rain becoming heavy. The 13th is Stroke Index 1 and although only 419 yards off the back tee is a tough hole. The fairway landing area is small as the fairway throws anything remotely mishit away to rough on the right. The club had kindly provided spotters on holes 11-13 and it was hard not to feel for the bedraggled juniors perched amidst the wet heather/gorse and ferns, dodging our feeble attempts to find the fairway. At least we were all still midgie free, but I lost a ball and ended up with a 7. Then the rain stopped (now that my score was finally past recovery)and yes, my game improved, or more accurately, got less bad. I managed to play the last 5 holes in level 4s and single-putted the last 4 greens, for a total of 87, some 8 strokes above the SSS of 69. My handicap will be up 0.1 to 10.2 but I'd really enjoyed playing here. Aboyne was in great condition and was a good test. Perhaps I was too tired and i certainly took my time to get to grips with the greens. Aboyne is great value for money. I'd strongly recommend that anyone playing in the Norther-East includes this course in their programme. If you do, please feel free to take revenge on my behalf at the 13th!

Dunecht House GC - course no 325

Craig, Stu, Polly and I played this excellent 9 hole parkland course on 9 July 2010. The Dunecht House golf course forms part of the Dunecht Estate and is a private club, with club membership restricted to Dunecht Estate workers and their close relatives and people living within the catchment area of 3 local schools. Visitors are only permitted when playing 1:1 with members, so thank you to Stuart and the 3 other members who helped and played with us on the day. We all really enjoyed the course and thought it was a real asset for local people to enjoy and an excellent example of a private country estate working to support its local community. This is a view of the 4th green, with the impressive Dunecht House in the background.

I'd normally go through my play on 9 hole courses hole by hole, but since my golf reached new lows, with an alarming variety of errors, I'd rather not. Suffice to say that the course was a modest 3097 yards off the medal tees that I played from, par 35, which I did in a remarkable 48 shots. I actually had a par on the 322 yard par 4 4th hole (albeit with a single putt), but otherwise this was a score to forget and to attribute to a tired and over-golfed body. Polly and I played a second round, but my score was even worse, so she easily took the honours in our Summer Cup, taking the score to 7-3.

The fairways were mostly generously wide, but even after the recent dry weather they were lush and pretty slow, which was just as well, as the rough was penal. There was a generous band of semi-rough, but such was my game that I seemed to find the real tiger stuff and any balls missing the semi-rough could be (and in my case were!) lost. The feature and Stroke Index 1 hole at Dunecht is the 8th, a 422 yard par 4. This is the view from the tee. The fairway is dominated by a huge and ancient copper beech tree that draws shots to it due to the left-right slope, leaving a semi-blind long shot to a small fast green that is difficult to hold. This is an excellent hole which I double bogeyed on both occasions. The 314 yard par 4 9th hole is equally difficult. The fairway (shared with the 1st) is at least 60 yards wide, but there's a tarmac road in front of the green (which would make the last hole at Rosehearty look flat) that makes the second shot even more tricky. This photo doesn't really do justice to the difficulty of this green, which was just silly fast. Anything above the hole was likely to go through the green. I actually had a putt from the fringe above the green that involved a 90 degree break, missed the hole and ended up in the rough below the hole. I bogeyed this hole (twice) and despite my lamentable scoring, thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. Thanks again to all concerned in helping us to play this lovely little course.