Auchmill GC - Course no 624

Most of the courses that I still have to play are located a considerable distance from home. British Summer Time ends officially on 27 October 2013 and the weather is becoming increasingly autumnal so it looks as though I won't be playing many new courses before next Spring.  I've a few day trips planned to play new courses in the coming weeks before Winter gets going, and I'm just back from a 2 day trip to Aberdeen when I managed to get 4 new courses done - probably my last overnight trip this year.  I'd set out very early on Tuesday 23 October 2013 with the idea of playing the Auchmill and Craibstone courses that day, before tackling the 2 courses at Balnagask on the 24th.  The weather forecast looked promising, but it's a 3 hour+ drive and shortly after I started, so did the heavy rain.  Thankfully the downpour stopped just as I arrived at Auchmill GC, an undulating parkland course on the west side of Aberdeen.  However, the damage had been done.  The course was soaking underfoot and would no doubt be playing long.  I'd arrived just before a group of hardy locals and was first out that day, just after 1000 hrs. A quick round was called for if I was to minimise the risks of a soaking and have enough time to fit in a round at nearby Craibstone.

The current 18 Hole Auchmill golf course is formally owned  by Aberdeen City Council and measures 5724 Yards Par 70 off the Yellow Tees.  Auchmill was first opened in 1975 as a 9 hole parkland course and quickly proved popular with local golfers. Indeed, the Council extended Auchmill to 18 holes in 1989, such was the pressure on the course.   There was no clubhouse, but thanks to the commitment and dedication of local players the Auchmill GC was established in 1992 and now has over 400 members and its own clubhouse overlooking the 18 green, as shown here.  In recent years the future of the course was threatened by pressures on the Council's budget, but in 2009 the Council agreed to rent the course to Auchmill GC, with its members taking over the management and operation of the course.  The future now looks secure and I really applaud the commitment and determination of the club's members to keep "their" course open.  


The course is well laid out and is quite hilly in places, such as here, on the 3rd hole, a 334 Yard Par 4.  The tee shot is blind, but  I'd hit a good drive leaving me a short pitch steeply downhill to a small sloping green.  An easy par there and at the short 172 Yard 4th and I was only 1 over after the first 4 holes.  The 5th is a really tricky 332 Yard Par 4.  Your tee shot will be blind and steeply uphill and the hole dog legs slightly to the left  I'd hit what I thought was a good drive but needed to draw my second out of light rough, since the green was tucked away out of sight.  I'm not very good at drawing a ball at the best of times so a scrambled bogey 5 was actually quite good in the circumstances.  The next couple of holes are short Par 5s at 476 and 472 yards respectively.  The 6th is the Stroke Index 2 hole but I had easy pars at both holes.  A weak drive on the 8th cost me a bogey, but I recovered well to go out in 38 after an easy par on this, the 156 Yard Par 3 9th.  This hole is steeply downhill and looks out over Aberdeen Airport in the distance, directly in line with the main runway.

The 10th is a 319 Yard dog leg left Par 4, as shown here.  I decided that I'd try to draw my drive around the corner of the dog leg, which probably explains why this photo is taken from the extreme right side of the fairway, within feet of trees that are OOB.  An easy 8 iron and a couple of putts saved the par but Driver on this hole is not recommended unless you know you can draw the shot.  The 11th was, for me, the most difficult hole on the course. This is a 480 Yard Par 5.  A water hazard was out of range from the tee, but just when I needed something straight, I hit an unwanted draw into the trees to the left of the fairway, en route to a double-bogey. 


Not good, but a good drive and even better wedge to the 337 Yard Par 4 12th, as shown here, gave me my only birdie of the round. Next came the steeply uphill 13th, all 322 Yards of it, dog leg right.  From the absence of footprints on the wet greens I was first out that day and hadn't seen another soul on the course, until I met a local senior citizen out walking his dog.  To those readers who've not had the pleasure, the local accent in Aberdeen and more widely the Doric dialect can be tricky. I understood the opening "foozyedaein?" easily enough (how are you?) but of the rest, I think I was being advised that the rest of the course beyond the 14th was relatively flat.  The finishing holes are indeed easier on the legs after some of the earlier elevations.  The 14th is actually the Stroke Index 1 hole but I'm not sure why.  At 392 Yards downhill, this Par 4 is little more than a drive and mid-iron, with a wide fairway.  A bunker comes into play if you under-club the second shot, as I did, but this hole looked to be significantly easier than my nemesis, the 11th.  It is definitely far easier than the formidable 451 Yard Par 4 18th.  This slightly uphill dog leg left hole is a really strong finishing hole and I was happy enough to be 30 yards short in 2, with an easy chip and run to the hole.  A poor chip still left me 30 feet short on a wet green, so a bogey from there was not too bad in the circumstances.  I'd gone round in 76, net 65 with 30 putts, net 5 under par. I'd gone round in just under 2 hours.  Indeed, the 4 ball who teed off just behind me looked pretty surprised to see me play from the 18th Tee, just as they were approaching the 9th!

Auchmill is a pretty good course, well worth playing if you're in the area and at £10 a round is great value for money.  I'd played it in heavy underfoot conditions and was glad to be wearing waterproof shoes and it's very probably an even better course in dry sunny conditions. 

Kilmarnock Barassie GC - Hillhouse, Traditional and Dundonald Courses - Courses 621, 622 and 623

I'd played the 18 Hole championship course at Kilmarnock Barassie GC (known as the Links Course) on 16 June 2010. See my Blog entry 308 for details of that round.  However, there are 27 holes at Barassie and to complicate matters further, there are 4 separate course layouts, with 4 separate scorecards.  In other words, there are 4 separate golf courses here, each of which count towards our all-courses challenge. There used to be only 18 holes, but when another 9 were added in 1997 to toughen up the championship layout, the club created the 9 Hole Hillhouse layout from the remaining holes. It also opted to retain occasional usage of the traditional layout (The Traditional) and created an alternative and slightly shorter 18 hole layout (the Dundonald). The Traditional and Dundonald layouts aren't played continuously or even regularly, since that would disrupt usage of the main Links Course, so I clearly had a problem.  I could readily play the Links and Hillhouse Courses, but access to the other 2 seemed almost out of reach.  After a discussion with the Club Secretary, my only realistic option was to play the Links Course again together with the Hillhouse layout and compile composite scores for the other layouts, based on my scores for each hole.  I'd be playing all of the available 27 holes, but I'd obviously not be playing each course in sequence. That's disappointing in a way, since our ambition is to play every course, but at least I can claim to have played every hole on each of the 4 layouts. So, I returned to Barassie on 8 October 2013 on a cool and overcast morning, starting with the Links Course.

I'd really enjoyed playing the Links Course in 2010 in the summer heat, but it was now a distinctly cool October morning, so would I enjoy it as much and could I beat my poor gross 90 score? The course was just as impressive as before and in fabulous condition for the time of year. Some coring of the greens was underway, but those that hadn't been done yet were in great condition. I started steadily enough, parring the opening 501 Yard Par 5 hole. I also avoided the stream that runs across the fairway on the 2nd, but I missed the green and only saved a bogey after a good pitch and single putt from close range. The 3rd on the Links Course is the Stroke Index 1 hole. This hole is only 365 Yards but with OOB to the right and a narrowing fairway nearer the green with bushes and trees coming into play for anything wayward, this is a tricky hole. I'd taken a 7 in 2010 without troubling the stream that runs in front of the green but I wasn't so lucky second time around. I'd hit a decent drive, but I was still 160 Yards out and my feeble 27 Degree Rescue was only ever heading one place. Finding the water hazard led to a double bogey 6 this time.

I'd liked the 4th last time but with the wind coming from the left, the water hazard that runs up the length of this little hole was really in play. This 149 Yard Par is the first of the newer holes (and a 400 yard walk from the 3rd) and is one of the best holes on the course. The left side of the green is supported by a 5 foot high wall of wooden railway sleepers, adding character to the hole. I'd played a 6 iron towards the left side of the green but only succeeded in finding the water hazard. I then fluffed a lob wedge close to the railway sleeper wall and needed a good recovery onto the green and a decent single putt to escape with a double bogey. Not good. I wasn't doing very well and finding bunkers at seemingly every reasonable opportunity meant I was out in 44.

I couldn't remember the layout of the 10th and was momentarily puzzled by the sign warning golfers against driving the green unless they were certain it was safe to do so. This hole is a 346 Yard Par 4 and with no mention of "trying" to drive the green, either there was a dog leg or the local players on the course that day might have been stronger than they looked. It was indeed a dog leg, but with gorse in abundance a drive over the dog leg would be a huge gamble.  I played the hole conservatively, as Driver, Sand Iron and 2 putts and was happy with that. The best hole on the Back 9 is probably the 13th, a 387 Yard Par 4, as played after another long walk from the section of the course containing holes 4-12.  A stream runs laterally up the right of the hole and has to be carried from the tee.  I hit a good drive, but caught a bad bounce, typical of links courses, and my ball ended up in the hazard. That cost me a double bogey.  I'd caught up with John, Jim and Ian, 3 local members who asked me to join them for the last 5 holes.  I enjoyed their company but rather lost any semblance of concentration. I parred the 16th, a good-looking 475 Yard Par 5 requiring a very accurate drive, but other than that, I finished quite weakly, for a homeward 44. I'd gone round in 88, net 77, with 31 putts. Slightly better than my previous effort, but I'd dropped some silly shots.  I'd need to play better over the 9 Hole Hillhouse Course if I was to record decent composite scores on the Traditional and Dundonald layouts.

Thankfully, the Hillhouse Course is reasonably short, at 2756 Yards, Par 34 from the Yellow Tees.  The 1st is a downwind 361 Yard Par 4. The fairway is generously wide and there's not much real rough, so it looked as though this course would be less demanding than the current Links Course layout. However, it doesn't help when your opening drive finds the adjacent 9th fairway, leaving a very difficult approach.  I really don't recommend that route and I was lucky to escape with an opening bogey.  Maybe a beer with my lunchtime steak and onion baguette would have helped, rather than the fresh orange juice!

The 2nd is another straightforward-looking hole, this time a 197 Yard Par 3.  I just missed the green but a good chip over the bunker to the right of the green set up a tap in putt for an opening par.  The 3rd is a 354 Yard Par 4 with another generously wide fairway.  The second shot is semi-blind due to a dip in the fairway and you only see the top of the flag.  I mis-hit a 7 iron second en route to another bogey.  The 4th is a 385 Yard Par 4.  I somehow managed to miss the wide fairway off the tee and needed a good single putt for par.  A poorly played hole.

This is the 5th, a 131 Yard Par 3.  There was a decent cross wind from the left adding to the difficulty and my 7 iron had just trickled off the green leaving a simple pitch up the green. This stopped an inch short, but the simplest of pars. Barassie is a few hundred yards from the coast, with a main  railway line and the excellent Glasgow Gailes GC between it and the sea. The 6th green and 7th tees on Hillhouse offer the only clear sea views at Barassie and the 6th itself is deceptively difficult. This 359 Yard Par 4 is the Stroke Index 1 Hole. Bunkers either side of a tight fairway come into play off the tee and the second shot is uphill, right into the prevailing wind from the sea on this, the most exposed part of the course. I'd hit a reasonable driver, but needed it again to reach the side of the green, setting up an easy par.

The 7th is another difficult hole, despite being only 296 Yards.  The tee is exposed and with a wind from the right.   A sea of gorse to the right and a sliver of fairway to the left will get your attention, but with the wind from the right, an accurate drive over the gorse is needed.  I went slightly too far left and could only see the very top of the flag, thanks to more gorse.  This is a view from where I should have been!  I found the green OK with an easy wedge, but this is a really good little hole

The 8th and 9th holes run parallel to the main railway line (the Barassie Station is adjacent to the clubhouse).  The fairways are wide and in both cases there's a decent line in from the left side of the fairways.  These holes are almost identical in length at 338 and 335 Yards, with the 8th, as shown below, being the more difficult.  The plateau green is difficult to find and hold (I'd missed the green to the left with my second shot), hence my bogey 5.

This is the 9th, finishing in front of the impressive clubhouse.  I'd managed to hook my tee shot (ironically close to the 1st fairway) and finished with a disappointing bogey for a round of 38, with 14 putts.  4 over par was still pretty good, but could easily have been better, since none of the holes are hugely difficult.  However, I'd at least scored reasonably well, so all that remained was to work out how my scores over the Links and Hillhouse courses would look against the Traditional and Dundonald scorecards.

The "Traditional" is the original course at Barassie, as made up from the pre-1997 holes i.e. Holes 1-3 and 13-18 of the current Links Course and all of the Hillhouse course and measures 6177 Yards Par 71, from the Yellow Tees. Based on my individual scores on 8 October 2013, I "went round" the Traditional Course in 84, net 73 (net 2 over par) with 30 putts.  The current Links Course layout is considerably harder than the Traditional layout that it replaced in 1997, and I suspect that 84 around the Traditional isn't much of a score.

The "Dundonald" is a combination of the 9 newer holes, as introduced in 1997, i.e. Holes 4-12 on the current Links Course layout with the "Hillhouse" Course i.e. the holes that were dropped from the former Links Course layout when the changes were made in 1997.  The Dundonald layout is thus 5819 yards, Par 69 from the Yellow Tees. I "went round" the Dundonald in 80 strokes, net 69, with 28 putts.  Not bad, but not great either. The Dundonald is a somewhat unbalanced layout.  The Front 9 is short, at 2693 Yards Par 33, whereas the Back 9 is a more formidable 3126 Yards Par 36, a product of the overall layout of the 27 Holes.

Overall, Kilmarnock Barassie GC is an impressive set up, with 27 holes that on both occasions I've been there have been in great condition and great fun to play. This place is well worth a visit, no matter what combination of holes/courses you get to play.

Lothianburn Golf Club - closed after 120 years of hillside golf

Lothianburn GC, known to so many members simply as "The Burn" was instituted in July 1893, initially as a 9 hole course. The present 18 hole layout opened in 1929 to a design by the famous golfer and course designer James Braid. The club has had some prestigious golfers in its membership over the years, Tommy Armour being head and shoulders above the rest. TD Armour won the USPGA Championship in 1927 and our own Open Championship and the US Open in 1931.  At the other end of the playing spectrum, I joined the club in 1979 and was a member until 2001. 22 years during which I played in over 200 club competitions, winning no individual medal competitions and only a few team/pairs events. My first handicap at Lothianburn was 22 and by the time we'd moved to East Lothian in 1999, my handicap had improved to an unremarkable 12.  Thinking back, I suspect it's actually quite difficult to take 10 off your handicap without winning anything! Polly first started playing golf at Lothianburn in the 1980s and our 2 girls were also briefly members, so the club was clearly our golfing "home." I'd kept my membership at Lothianburn going for a couple of years, but most of my golf was at the Glen GC and it became too expensive to keep both memberships going. We'd made many friends at the club, including David, who became our best friend at the Glen (he'd moved to North Berwick shortly before we did) but I'd only played Lothianburn a handful of times since 2001 and Polly and David hadn't played it at all since then.  

As with many other clubs in Scotland a broader decline in membership over recent years created significant financial difficulties for Lothianburn, and that, together with rising debts, culminated in the club's decision earlier this year that it couldn't continue trading. The club owned its clubhouse but rented the course land from a local landowner, who also owns and operates the successful New Swanston GC, immediately adjacent to Lothianburn, on the south side of Edinburgh. Lothianburn GC has now ceased trading and its clubhouse is closed, but the landowner is effectively keeping the course open until the end of this year. What will happen thereafter remains to be seen. I gather from friends who had retained their Lothianburn memberships that at least part of the course may be added to the already impressive revised layout at new Swanston, complementing the excellent facilities now available there. The James Braid courses are an important part of Scotland's golfing heritage, so I hope that at least some of the existing holes can be saved.

The current course is a modest 5432 Yards, Par 71 off the Yellow Tees (Standard Scratch Score 68). Like its neighbouring courses at New Swanston and Torphin Hill, Lothianburn GC is laid out on the slopes of the Pentland Hills and is a mixture of parkland and moorland. Before Swanston was redeveloped a few years ago to replace some of its higher holes with some flatter ones on former farmland, Lothianburn was widely regarded as the best of those 3 hillside courses and was always known for its excellent greens.  

David, Polly and I wanted to play our old course together for a final time, so we made the short trip from North Berwick on 29 September 2013 with heavy hearts. Green fees are now payable at New Swanston GC, with Lothianburn being played from the 4th Tee, the closest to the New Swanston clubhouse. I'd played Lothianburn literally thousands of times as a member but never from the 4th. My best score off the Yellow Tees had been a gross 70, net 58 in 1995 and the course layout and yardage had changed slightly since then, but I was curious to see how my current game would stand up to Lothianburn's test, as were David and Polly. I might have another opportunity to play the Lothianburn course before it finally closes on 31 December 2013, but if not, this is an account of my final round, written as much for my own memories as anything else.

James Braid was known for his use of dog leg holes in his designs and the 4th is a good example. This is a 407 Yard Par 4 running parallel to the slope (as indeed do holes 1-8). The prevailing wind is from the west, and this hole runs from west to east, but the wind was easterly on 29 September, so the 4th was playing long.  I'd hit a decent drive and a good 3 Wood but was still a few yards short of the green.  Missing the green to the left would invariably lead to a big score, but I'd hit a good chip to within 4 feet. However, although the greens had been cut the day before, the 4th was a bit hairy and bumpy. Still, a bogey 5 was considerably better than some of my efforts on that difficult hole.  

Below is the 5th, another slight dog-leg, played blind off the tee and almost blind again for the approach to the green. This Par 4 is only 295 Yards and when the wind is from the west the bold shot is to fly the heavy gorse to the right of the fairway, hoping the ball will run down a slope towards the green.  On other occasions, a decent drive over the marker pole would leave this limited view of the green and a shot that plays longer than it looks.  

It can be very windy around the Pentland Hills and as this photo suggests, the 5th green can be a small target, with perils aplenty around it.  I'd hit a good drive, but my 9 iron was slightly left of ideal and I over-hit a short pitch.  Another bogey 5.

The 6th is a flat 135 Yard Par 3. Club selection can vary wildly dependent on the wind direction. Four bunkers front and left come into play and steep down slopes to the right and beyond make finding the green with your tee shot vitally important.  I'd gone slightly left into one of the bunkers, but a good recovery to a yard set up an easy first par.

Next the 7th, a rollercoaster 460 Yard Par 5 and the Stroke Index 1 hole, usually played into the prevailing wind. This is a lovely hole, played towards the T Wood, played downhill from an elevated and wind-exposed tee avoiding the most magnetic bunker on the course, then blind uphill towards a narrow green well-protected by 3 bunkers. The bigger hitters can sometimes reach in 2 but this was always a 3-shotter for me and occasionally considerably more!  I'd hit my drive too far left into the first cut of rough. From there, it was a 27 Degree Rescue and a 9 iron to the heart of the green.  2 putts later and I'd parred the S.I. 1 hole (and by this time David was a remarkable 3 under par!)

The 8th is a 355 Yard Par 4, wind against when we played it.  The green is just visible from the tee, but the tee shot must be hit left of that, over a large hill.  The second shot, as shown here, can be anything from a wedge to a 5 iron.  Right of the green leaves a bogey or worse on the cards.  I was just short in 2 with my 27 Degree Rescue, but another easy par.

 
The 9th is Lothianburn's heart attack hill, a sometimes fearsome uphill 324 Yard Par 4, that can be Driver, 3 Wood and a short iron on a windy day.  Right of the fairway is dead and the green itself can be lightning quick. Indeed, one August Medal competition that I played in had to be abandoned after the green became unplayable in a hot and strong wind. It was an otherwise perfect summer's day, but this green slopes steeply from back to front and the pin position was such that unless a putt was holed, chances were it would roll down the steep slope in front of the green.  If memory serves, I had a 9 after first reaching the green in 3. Yesterday, I was again on in 3 but single-putted from a yard for another par.  I was sometimes relieved to even bogey this difficult hole.

The 10th as shown here is the shortest hole on the course at only 106 Yards and is usually little more than a flick with a wedge, on a calm day. However, the wind tends to swirl around this part of the course, thanks to the T Wood nearby and 6 deep bunkers that surround the green must be avoided. I played an easy 9 iron to the back of the green and had an equally easy par, but I've lots of scar tissue from this hole and memories of far higher scores. Sh--- here at your peril.  From there, it's a short walk through the T Wood to the 11th and 12th Holes, another great section of the course.

This is the 11th, a 267 Yard Par 4 that's almost defenceless on a calm day.  The ideal line is the left side of the green and anything past the small bunker around 220 Yards out leaves just a short pitch to an uphill green.  However, on a windy day OOB to the left comes into play, as does a steep downslope to the right of the fairway.  The green itself is long and narrow and breaks more than you might think.  I'd hit a good drive beyond the bunker and had only a lob wedge to the green.  2 putts for another par.

The 12th is another good short Par 4 at 293 Yards.  The ideal line is usually left of centre to set up a short wedge played blind uphill to the green.  OOB lurks immediately behind so accuracy is essential. This is David bombing another drive off the tee.  I played the hole perfectly and made the 8 foot birdie putt.

The 13th is yet another short Par 4, this time 228 yards uphill with OOB to the right of the fairway and behind the green.  It's usually possible to drive the green, but I went too far left, leaving a very short lob wedge steeply uphill. I found a small gully at the back of the green and rather than take the putter, I foolishly attempted a chip out of a fluffy lie.  My fluffed chip led to a bogey on one of the easiest holes on the course. I remember making an eagle 2 here many years ago in a 3-club competition with a couple of well-hit 5 irons.  Yes, me hitting successive well hit shots with an iron, but it's true.

The 558 Yard Par 5 14th is perhaps the most memorable hole at Lothianburn, a steeply downhill hole with OOB on both sides.  There was usually time to admire the view before trying to find the fairway with your drive.  Until recently, an OOB line ran all the way between the 9th and 14th, affecting only play on the 14th.  However, that line now starts well down the 14th, making the tee shot far easier than "in our day."  I much prefer the earlier tougher version, which contributed to the 14th being Stroke Index 2.  I hit a great drive down the left side of the fairway, (well past the "plateau", for those who know the course) followed by an easy 8 iron downhill and another one steeply uphill to the small green. A couple of putts for another par.  I was 2 over par after 11 holes, so not bad....

The 303 Yard 15th is the easiest Par 4 on the course.  Played with the prevailing downwind from the west, this hole is easily drivable. You simply go as left as you dare towards whin bushes and hope your ball carries over the crest of a steeply side-sloping hill and rolls all the way down to the green.  With the wind coming directly into our faces it was more of a test and a weak pitch and run left me with a 30 foot putt which was slower than I'd expected.  Still, a bogey 5 was poor on such an easy hole. (Polly tells me the 15th had previously been a steeply downhill Par 4 but is now a long Par 3, as is the 18th, tightening the Ladies Scorecard).

From the easiest to the most awkward. The 16th is a slightly downhill 306 Yard Par 4, with gorse on both sides of the fairway.  The fairway also slopes from the centre down to the right towards gorse bushes, so only a very straight drive will do.   This is Polly and David on their way to the green.  The fairway looks wide enough, but I've come to grief many a time on this hole! 

I'd hit the perfect drive and had 89 Yards to the pin into the strengthening easterly wind.  An easy wedge to 10 feet and a straight single putt gave me another birdie.  Back to 2 over par.

The 17th is an uphill 307 Yard Par 4 with a narrow fairway and trouble looming either side. Only a long and straight drive will do and with the wind behind that was done, setting up an easy lob wedge to the green.  I hit that a bit too hard and was in light rough at the back of the green. A bogey from there was disappointing, though.

The downhill Par 4 18th is 281 Yards from the elevated Yellow Tee and again, straight is your only option, since gorse awaits anything remotely offline, particularly to the right. This fairway tends to dry out and get very hard and fast, adding to the difficulty, as the photo below shows. The green is easily drivable with a westerly wind, but I was still 20 yards short. A good pitch and run to 6 feet set up my 3rd birdie.  I was round the "proper" Back 9 in level par 36.

Of all the holes at Lothianburn, the 1st is my least favourite.  A 236 Yard Par 4 should not be difficult, but this one most definitely is. The wind is usually coming at you from the green or from your front left, bringing OOB and gorse into play to the right.  Rocky outcrops on the left of the fairway tempt you either to go far left to leave a long pitch to the green or to go for the narrow band of fairway between the rocks and gorse.  Find that narrow band and it's just a short pitch to a small shelved green protected by bunkers and more gorse.  A path to the right of the hole is popular with hillwalkers, so we had to wait a while and I just lost my concentration. The gorse bushes to the right of the fairway had plagued my golf at Lothianburn over the years, so it was no great surprise to see my drive finish there.  I did well to make a single putt with my second ball for a double bogey 6.

The 2nd is the most difficult Par 3 and although only 144 Yards plays longer than you'd expect. The hole is slightly uphill played to a narrow shelved green cut into the side of the hill, played over an old quarry. During Centenary celebrations in 1993, the club had a series of novelty events, one being a Bloodsome Scramble, with 4-person teams made up from Junior, Senior, Gents and Lady Members.  This competition worked along the usual Texas Scramble lines except that teams were obliged to play their worst shot each time, rather than their best or most favourable. The competition was eventually abandoned after one particular Lady Member got stuck in the quarry, requiring the team to play until all 4 balls reached the comparative safety of the green.  With upwards of five 4-member teams waiting on the tee, the poor lady simply couldn't get her ball back in play.  I tried a 7 iron, came up a couple of yards short in heavy rough and limped away with another double bogey.  I never liked that hole and my good round was fast unravelling.

Our last hole, the excellent 427 Yard 3rd Hole is the longest Par 4 on the course and being predominantly straight into the wind is, for me at least, normally the most difficult hole.  The drive is played from an elevated tee to a fairway that slopes steeply from left to right.  I'd hit a really good drive and had around 200 Yards to the green.  A copse of trees begins some 50 yards to the right of the green, narrowing the fairway considerably and cross-bunkers 30 yards short of the green add to the need for an accurate second.  I hit a really good 3 Wood as my second, barely 5 yards right of where I wanted it but this went (just!) OOB, leading to a disappointing third successive double bogey.  I'd gone round in 79 gross, net 68, with 28 Putts.  If that's my final round at Lothianburn, it's not a bad way to finish.  I'd matched the Standard Scratch Score of 68 despite a dramatic collapse on the last 3 holes.  I'd also beaten David by a single Stableford point after he found troubles of his own on some of the closing holes, despite his hugely impressive start.  Polly just had a bad day on the greens despite trying her heart out, as usual.  Lothianburn could be humbled on a calm day and the Back 9 in particular is sometimes quite easy (my best Back 9 was a gross 31, offset by an outward 40).  I remember my great friend at Lothianburn, Jim Easson, coming in with a net 59 in a medal competition, only to see his score beaten by a 58! 

However, it was rarely calm, so we were used to playing hillside lies in pretty stormy conditions and as we were occasionally reminded by our aching muscles, Lothianburn's hills and the weather conditions could be as much a test of fitness as your golf game. 36 holes round there on a windy day could be hugely demanding. With the top of the course (the 13th green) being over 900 feet above sea level on the slopes of the Pentland Hills, it might be assumed that this was a summer only course.  Not so.  Jim, David and I were part of a hardy band who gathered around dawn every Sunday morning, rain, snow or frost to play our winter golf.  OK, we had to adopt some odd rules e.g. in snowy conditions we'd clear the snow away, tee up on the fairways and count a maximum of 2 putts per green.  If we played early enough it was usually possible to see the entry holes our yellow balls made in the snow - any later and we were competing with skiers and sledgers.  Happy days and great friends, every one. RIP Donny Robertson, RIP.

It's a real shame that after 120 years of hillside golf at its best, Lothianburn GC is no more and that the course as we know it today may be gone inside a few months.  Unfortunately, nothing is forever and other courses in Scotland will doubtless close next year and for years after that. The simple fact is that there are far too many courses in Scotland for the number of regular golfers to sustain. Other pursuits that don't involve such substantial time and financial commitments have taken hold.  The bulk of clubs will of course survive and some will prosper but Lothianburn GC as we knew it is dead.  Our memories will live on, of shots good and bad, heroic failures and fleeting success; of lasting friendships, old friends long or in some cases not so long dead. I still have the club's Centenary book, written in 1993 by Bill Pritchard OBE.  Bill was a great guy who did a huge amount for the club but like so many others who feature in his book, is probably dead by now, like the club he and so many other members loved so much. To that book, I'll add my scorecard from yesterday. Not a perfect round, but pretty good nevertheless. Lothianburn wasn't perfect either and its hills didn't attract the number of visiting golfers that would have improved its finances, but it was also pretty good and was our home club.  We were proud of it and now its gone.  As we Scots might say, "I'm awa' for a guid greet!"  

January 2019

The pain of losing an old friend is always there.  Lothianburn was only one of hundreds of Scottish courses but it was a friend to many, comfortable in its own skin and even now, over 5 years since it closed for good, the memories linger.  So, what's become of it?  The 3rd and 4th holes have been woven into the revised New Swanston GC layout, making that course flatter and more easily playable and the clubhouse is still there, as I think, a small business hub.  The rest of the land is now grazing for horses, with fencing and sheltering seemingly all over the course, with our erratic irrigation system now providing water supplies as necessary.  The layout of the course is still clearly recognisable but the grass now grows wild, where its not been trampled by horses, eaten or crapped upon. 

I walked around the top of the course in early January 2019, but I didn't linger and I don't think I'll walk that way again.  This is a view of what remains of the old 13th green, the highest point of the course, looking down the old 14th fairway and the clubhouse building.

This is the old 12th, with would you believe, some horses and Highland cattle in the distance.

The 14th tee.  The OOB ditch splitting the 9th and 14th fairways has disappeared but anyone who has played here will see that the 14th green is still there.

Finally, this is the 13th hole, as viewed from the green back to the tee.

It's sad to see our old home in such a state and equally disappointing that many more Scottish golf clubs will be closing for years to come.

Some years ago I started writing a separate blog about some of the more bizarre experiences I've had when playing the great game of golf.  This is what I wrote about some true incidents at Lothianburn.  Enjoy!  

"Lothianburn GC was founded in 1893 and has over the years been primarily an artisans club, attracting members from the working classes rather than the toffs.  When I joined the club in 1979 I quickly fell in with a great bunch of guys, including Bobby Moore (no, not that one!), Ray Stephenson, George Anderson, and his son David.  Bobby, Ray and George were all retired miners from the nearby Bilston Glen colliery, long-since closed.  David was a big strapping lad, well over 6 feet and at a guess, near 18 stone.  David and I would regularly play Bobby and George on Sunday mornings and have a great laugh, usually at each others’ expense. The standard of golf was moderate at best but we were all pretty quick witted and there was no mercy for the meek or wayward. 

The 16^th at Lothianburn is an awkward shortish Par 4, slightly downhill.  The fairway slopes sideways from left to right with anything slightly offline running down into heavy gorse.  The safe shot is down the left of the fairway.  There’s a stream beyond the gorse on the right followed by Out of Bounds and an access road that runs up to the largest dry ski slope in the UK.  We’d noticed a council workman repairing one of the streetlights a couple of hundred yards down the road.  He’d probably been replacing a bulb and had just finished screwing the large spherical glass outer casing over the bulb before climbing down his ladder.  Now Bobby (also known as Sammy, for reasons I never thought to ask.  It was just one of those facts that didn’t seem to require explanation) was by far the best golfer amongst us and was usually pretty straight off the tee.  It was actually pretty difficult to go Out of Bounds off the 16^th tee and Bobby was playing pretty well that day.  Accordingly, it was pretty amazing to see Bobby’s tee shot go straight right and the more so when his ball shattered the light fitting that the council workman had just replaced. 

I guess it was our laughing that got the workman started, but he fair bolted up the road to remonstrate furiously with Bobby.  Indeed, he was clearly accusing Bobby of having deliberately broken the light fitting, shaking his fist at Bobby from the safety of the road, with the stream and the Out of Bounds fence between him and the 4 of us.  The language sadly degenerated to the industrial.  There was a miners' bond between Bobby and George that transcended mere friendship and one would always stand up for the other if necessary, so it was no great surprise when George, who could be pretty coarse when the need arose, replied saying “Deliberate, don’t be so fucking stupid, man!  The daft old bastard couldnae even hit the fucking golf course!” This prompted further hilarity and the retreat of the workman, back to his van.  There are in life statements that are simply unanswerable and this was one of the best. Unfortunately for our workman, we were all walking the same way, down the fairway and the road, with George gleefully repeating his views along the way. 

Big David was my regular playing partner and the kindest, gentlest and mild-mannered of guys, but he was never the greatest of putters, a weakness that would be his downfall one very wet Saturday morning.  We’d been drawn together with a third player in a monthly medal competition.  We’d had a good soaking on the way round, but with only a couple of holes to go, David was still hanging in there despite some pretty mediocre putting on slow wet greens.  The 17^th at Lothianburn is a tight uphill Par 4 with gorse on either side of the fairway.  The green is small and rectangular, with a grassy bank behind it that runs up to the adjacent 18^th tee. 

When your game is off there’s always a tipping point during a round when it becomes inevitable that the game’s up and that instead of getting cut, or being within the buffer zone your handicap is going up by 0.1 despite your best efforts.  For David, that moment came when his 3^rd putt on the 17^th lipped out.  4+ hours in the cold and wet finally took their toll and although David was usually very even tempered, it was easy to sympathise with him when he threw his putter, javelin-fashion, towards the grassy bank behind the green.  As I’ve said, David was a big lad and with the rain having softened the grassy bank to a muddy slope, his putter drove a few inches into the ground, head first, the shaft vibrating furiously.  David had to pass his putter en route to the 18^th tee and had clearly not calmed down by the time he reached his errant club.  So, he grabbed the putter handle and yanked it angrily out of the ground.  Unfortunately, the force of the throw or his tug on the buried club had broken the shaft, meaning the putter head remained buried.  This on its own left me and our third player in fits of laughter, made all the worse by David’s subsequent gentle smoothing over of the hole left by the putter shaft and his ever so softly spoken message “and you can fucking stay there.” David went on to finish his round, soaking wet and putterless.  There are some tricky drives at Lothianburn, the most tricky for me being the 18^th, requiring a long uphill drive over gorse bushes.  I managed the drive eventually after having to back off a few times in fits of giggles, much to David’s further annoyance.   I suspect he putter head still lies where David left, it all those years ago. 

David and I had won a Volkswagen-sponsored better ball pairs event at Lothianburn in 1983 and qualified for the national finals, held at Whitecraigs GC in Glasgow.  We’d been picked up in Edinburgh by a Volkswagen rep and driven through to the course, and all players were given VIP treatment throughout.   We’d had to wait for a couple of hours before playing off, but we were able to pass the time by watching the closed circuit TV coverage of play.  However, this only made us more nervous and David in particular was feeling the pressure.  When our tee time finally arrived, we were introduced to Arthur Montford, then a famous Scottish football TV commentator, who was making the player announcements on the 1^st tee and doing the commentary on play on the 1^st hole.  The 1^st at Whitecraigs is an uphill 135 Yard Par 3 with Out of Bounds to the right, just beyond some high pine trees, with the club car park lying immediately behind the trees. We’d agreed that David would take the first tee shot.  Arthur’s commentary was something like –

Next on the 1^st tee is David Anderson, representing Lothianburn GC.  David is a telecoms engineer and with the wind blowing across the hole from the left, David is playing an 8 iron (after the slightest of delays and the sound of shattering glass) …. and would the owner of car number W81BSC please see the Club Secretary….

David had shanked his opening shot Out of Bounds, through the windscreen of a parked car and Arthur was clearly inventing the car number, quick-witted as ever.  Although David was absolutely appalled by his opening shot, I was just the opposite, with another fit of giggles, such that Arthur duly introduced me “Next up, eventually, and also representing Lothianburn is Alan McPherson, aiming well left I suspect…”  I scrambled an unlikely par and we were off and running, hopefully out of camera range.

We didn’t win the event, but we played pretty solidly and thoroughly enjoyed our day.  We stayed on a for a few beers and the prize giving dinner.  The Volkswagen MC made some standard remarks about the quality of the course, the outstanding play on show, the catering etc. before introducing a hastily edited film of the competition highlights.  I’m usually not bad at multi-tasking but I’d not really expected to see David’s opening tee shot in glorious slow motion, just as I was downing my latest beer, hence the spluttered giggles and wet trousers.  David was presented with his OOB ball, much to his embarrassment and Volkswagen kindly settled the repair bill.

I had some truly great friends at Lothianburn when I was a member there but as with any golf club, there were one or two  complete muppets who were best avoided.  To spare potential legal action, embarrassment or worse, I’ll call this individual John.  John was an arrogant sod who had a very guid conceit of himself. He’d play regularly with his teenage son but I really can’t remember anyone else who’d willingly give him a game.  He was a handy enough and fiercely competitive golfer and not slow to talk up his latest exploits, not that anyone I knew was remotely interested.  Lothianburn had been founded in 1893 and 100 years later a grand 100 a side friendly match was held between Lothianburn and Baberton GC on our home patch.  I drew the short straw of partnering John and although the match was clearly a celebration of both clubs’ 1993 centenaries, John was clearly determined to win and didn’t feel it was appropriate for me to be offering our opponents any factual information (not advice!) about individual holes and hazards on the course.

Our opponents in turn quickly got the measure of John and our match proceeded rather more seriously than I, or as suspect our opponents, had expected.  John was happy enough talking about himself, though, and after a few holes mentioned that he didn’t get to play as much golf as he would like due to his heavy commitments as a rugby referee.  This information clearly got the attention of one of our opponents from Baberton, an athletic looking and sturdily built guy in his late 20’s, who asked which league John officiated in, as he’d never come across him in his own rugby circles.  I can’t remember which league John mentioned, but it was something clearly local to the Edinburgh and Lothians area.  “That explains it” said our opponent, who added that as he played for Hawick’s first team, (Hawick being at the time one of the very top clubs sides in Scotland!) he’d not expect to meet John any time soon on a rugby field.  This left John somewhat deflated for once but what really made my day were the drives at the 15^th.  This is a shortish Par 4, with the drive played way left to a marker pole from which a well struck ball might run steeply downhill to the green.  The green is readily reachable from the Yellow tees but is far more difficult from the White medal tees.  John was a better player than me and certainly longer off the tee.  Our opponents both drove the green.  John’s got snarled up in rough only slightly off the ideal line and for one of the rare times I drove the green from the Medal tee, much to John’s surprise.  I don’t remember the outcome of our 4 Ball and in such a celebratory match it shouldn’t have mattered anyway.  Suffice to say that the overall outcome of the grand match was declared a draw, with honour preserved on both sides.  Some time later, John took his membership to another Edinburgh club.  He wasn’t really missed, but I sometimes thought back to that day when playing the 15^th in subsequent medal competitions!" 

Green Valley Golf Academy - Course no 620

This excellent looking golf range and teaching academy in the village of Castle Kennedy near Stranraer also has a 6 hole 1086 Yard Par 20 golf course. I'd passed it several years ago (when it was called the Castle Kennedy Golf Centre) en route to Ireland, and I'd planned to play it early on 24 September 2013, then travel the 32 miles South to play the course at Burrow Head before driving home. Unfortunately, the Academy didn't open until lunchtime that day, so rather than hang around I played Burrow Head first, adding to my diesel costs for the trip.  Burrow Head was just a tick in the box kind of a course, but I'm pleased to say that Green Valley was much better.  For a start, the course has been built with serious golfers in mind and offers a decent challenge.  The greens had suffered from bird damage, with several areas showing clear signs of birds having pecked extensively looking for worms etc. A pity, as the small greens were otherwise in great condition. The fairways could have been more closely cut, and it would have been helpful had the one member of staff on duty been able to find where the scorecards were stored, but I liked the layout and really enjoyed the course, despite those reservations.

This is the 1st, a 318 Yard Par 4.  Clear the pond or reload.  I got the drive away OK, but my 9 iron just missed the small green, which was far faster than it looked, so an opening bogey.  The 2nd is a flat 148 Yard Par 3.  I'd just missed the green but a good lob wedge and easy putt gave me a par.  Much the same at the 99 Yard 3rd.  The 4th is a 135 Yard Par 3, with the green enclosed by OOB on 3 sides.  I finished just off the green with an easy 7 iron and pitched in from there for a birdie. The 5th is a 238 Yard Par 4 with the green almost as enclosed, this time by bushes and marsh. My drive was slightly short and a thinned  lob wedge went through the green, stopping just short of real trouble. However, a decent pitch from there set up an easy putt for another par.  I was still level par with a hole to go.

This is the last hole at Green Valley, a 148 Yard Par 3 over the pond that had been in play on the 1st.  I hit an easy 27 Degree Rescue to within a yard of the left side of the green and had a simple job from there for my closing par.  Level par 20 strokes, and 6 putts, net 3.7 under par, so a good score. I liked the facilities at Green Valley and would play this little course again if I had the time to spare when in the area. Not bad at all for the £5 Green Fee.

Burrow Head Holiday Village Pitch and Putt Course - Course no 619

St Medan GC claims to be the most southerly golf course in Scotland and is a fine course. However, when in the area on holiday recently, Stu found this small 9-hole Par 27 pitch and putt course that's just a few miles further south, near the village of Isle of Whithorn (not an island by the way!) in Dumfries and Galloway. The Burrow Head Holiday Village is basically a large top of the range caravan site, right on the coast. The pitch and putt course forms part of the leisure and recreation facilities available for holidaymakers and is generally an easy test for experienced golfers, aimed primarily at family entertainment rather than serious golf.  Accordingly, some might question whether we are right to include this little course in our list of Scottish golf courses.  As we've said before, it's difficult to draw the line, so we include any course with fixed tees and greens, irrespective of the length or number of holes.

The holes here are all in the 50-70 Yard long range - there was no scorecard.  My scores of 4, 3, 3, 4, 3, 3, 3, 4, 3 for a 30 total with 13 putts reflect the condition of the course rather than its difficulty.  Frankly, the greens were awful, but it's late season and no doubt the course is presented to a higher standard during the Summer months.  Here are a few photos showing the general layout and condition of the course. 

As I've suggested, the course isn't much of a test for serious golfers, apart for the 8th that is.  This is the view from the 8th Tee, with the flag barely visible beyond heavy rough. Maybe the tee had been moved away from a worn or boggy area, but I didn't see any signs of a more obvious location.  I'd been carrying my putter, 9 iron and lob wedge and I reckon the 8th was around 55 Yards.  My 4 was actually quite good in the circumstances.  I wouldn't play the Burrow Head course again, though. St Medan GC is a far more interesting challenge for the serious player.