Answers to the 24 March Quiz

I hope the many hundred readers who tried the quiz enjoyed trying to identify the courses from my photos of the clubhouses.  From the feedback I've had from friends who've tried it, it was pretty hard, even for well-travelled local golfers.  Well done to my close friend Douglas M, who managed to get all of the answers correct after I'd given him a few extra clues on 5 of the courses.  Douglas had a real advantage, though, since he's one of the guys I know that is determined to play all of the Scottish courses and he's nearly there!  We've been a few trips together around the courses - and with any luck we'll be playing the new Dumbarnie Links in Fife together once the lockdown is lifted.

Anyway, here are the answers.  Try inserting the names of the courses in the Search box at the top left of the blog header, to go to the relevant write up about each course. 

1 - this one is in Perthshire and has 2 courses. Crieff GC

2 - Craig, Watson, Stu Fleming and me on our travels.  This time, at a famous former European Tour venue. Castle Stuart Golf Links

3 - one of our best links courses, which also has a 9 hole second course. Cruden Bay GC

4 - Aberdeenshire - good parkland course, also has a 9 hole second course. Deeside GC

5 - oddly named course (after the mountain in the background), which for some reason also does segway rides for tourists. Dragon's Tooth Golf Course

6 - remote, but well worth the effort to find, close to a couple of more famous neighbours. Dunaverty GC

7 - same name as one of our former new towns.  East Kilbride GC

8 - spectacular sea views, with a great Par 3 and a 656 yard Par 5! 
Eyemouth GC

9 - North East fishing village and a really testing links course. Fraserburgh GC

10 - venue when my friend Tom Coyne tried to qualify for the Open Championship.  One of my favourite caddying experiences. Bruntsfield Links GC

11 - village course at the head of a sea loch. Lochgilphead GC

12- ladies only members' club. Lundin Ladies GC

13 - guests-only hotel course. Cally Palace Hotel Golf Course

14 - Glen GC v Rhodes GC before a County Cup match played at a world famous neutral venue. Muirfield, home of the Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers

To explain, the Rhodes GC is a separate club that plays over the East Links, North Berwick, home of the Glen GC.  Some years ago I played in an open competition at a rather prestigious club just outside Glasgow.  One of their members noticed my Rhodes GC bag tag and clearly thought that my club was on the island of Rhodes in Greece.  His comment at the time was along the lines of "ye'll no' huv played yer course for a guid wee while, pal, since ye've no much i' a tan!"  I didn't have the heart to explain that the club is North Berwick-based.

15 -  a parkland course in Ayrshire, with a 19th hole just in case your match would otherwise finish tied. Rowallan Castle Golf Course

16 - Scotland's most northerly clubhouse. Whalsay GC, Shetland Islands

17 - Try not to miss it on the way to Mallaig. Traigh GC, pronounced "try"

18 - Take a ferry from Aberdeen or Scrabster to get here ..... Kirkwall GC, Orkney Islands

19 - Strathclyde University course, south of Loch Lomond Ross Priory Golf Course

20  - East Lothian course, chimneys in the background are now gone! Port Seton Golf Club, part of the local caravan park

21 - iconic former Open Championship venue. Prestwick GC

And finally, this was me and Craig Watson after our round at North Ronaldsay Golf Course, one of the more bizarre and remote stops on my travels.  The course is now abandoned, lost to the ravages of the harsh weather that can batter that remote island. We played it in 2010 but this was the 1997 price list. We left our £3 green fees in the honesty box, alongside some petty cash that had clearly been there for some time.

    

A New Quiz - 24 March 2020

Now that the UK Government has imposed a national lock down and all Scottish golf courses are closed indefinitely, I'm pretty much housebound and like millions of others I'm trying to keep myself occupied as best I can.  I've been lucky over the years to have been able to play every Scottish course registered with Scottish Golf, our national governing body for the amateur game, as well as many more courses that are private or otherwise obscure.  I'm the first to admit that playing every Scottish course requires a certain eccentricity, a heck of a lot of time and money on green fees, overnight accommodation, petrol, ferry and air fares, golf balls and shoes!  I had the odd day when rain, wind and midges etc were a real challenge but there were so many more days when the sun shone, the golf was good(ish) and I had some great golfing experiences that come back to mind so very readily, now that golfing is not possible.

I still have a few courses to play such as GWest near Gleneagles if it ever opens, the new Dumbarnie Links course in Fife, a private one which to date doesn't allow any public access and a handful of small and remote unregistered pitch and putt courses.  I'd been planning to play Dumbarnie Links in June 2020 but that'll maybe have to wait until the coronavirus crisis is over. Meantime, I'm stuck on 672 courses played and my fellow golfers are unable to access their own courses.  So, to amuse myself and hopefully keep readers of this golfing blog from going stir crazy, I have set the following picture quiz.  Quite simply, name the course.  No prizes, just time that you'll never get back but that I hope will entertain and in some cases trigger personal memories of when you played a particular Scottish course that you recognise.  All of the courses are covered somewhere in this blog, but I've tried wherever possible to use different photos from those published in blog entries.  Some of the courses will be well known, but there are others that I suspect most readers will never have heard of before.  Double click on a photo to enlarge it if necessary.  

First, some  clubhouses -

1 - this one is in Perthshire and has 2 courses.

2 - Craig, Watson, Stu Fleming and me on our travels.  This time, at a famous former European Tour venue.

3 - one of our best links courses, which also has a 9 hole second course.

4 - Aberdeenshire - good parkland course, also has a 9 hole second course.

5 - oddly named course (after the mountain in the background), which for some reason also does segway rides for tourists.

6 - remote, but well worth the effort to find, close to a couple of more famous neighbours.

7 - same name as one of our former new towns.  

8 - spectacular sea views, with a great Par 3 and a 656 yard Par 5!

9 - North East fishing village and a really testing links course.

10 - venue when my friend Tom Coyne tried to qualify for the Open Championship.  One of my favourite caddying experiences.

11 - village course at the head of a sea loch.

12- ladies only members' club.

13 - guests-only hotel course.

14 - Glen GC v Rhodes GC before a County Cup match played at a world famous neutral venue.

15 -  a parkland course in Ayrshire, with a 19th hole just in case your match would otherwise finish tied.

16 - Scotland's most northerly clubhouse.

17 - Try not to miss it on the way to Mallaig.

18 - Take a ferry from Aberdeen or Scrabster to get here .....

19 - Strathclyde University course, south of Loch Lomond

20  - East Lothian course, chimneys in the background are now gone!

21 - iconic former Open Championship venue.

That'll do for now, folks. It's 24 March 2020 today.  Answers in around 2 weeks' time, so keep coming back to check.  Anyone who gets well into double figures has really done some travelling round Scottish courses or has been peeking at earlier blog entries.  I'll maybe do another quiz of Scottish golf views in a couple of weeks, depending on reactions to this one and assuming I've not gone completely bonkers looking out the house windows or sitting out in the garden. 

Anyone who gets close to 20/21 and who played here before this very remote island clubhouse needed radical surgery has really got the all-courses bug!

And finally, there are some really odd signs on courses out there.  This is my all-time favourite, from Spey Bay GC.

STAY SAFE AND HEALTHY

Maverston Golf Course - 9 Hole Par 3 Course - Course No 672

When Craig, Stu and I played the then new Maverston 18 hole course in 2014, a 9 Hole Par 3 course was under construction inside the full course layout.  We'd obviously need to play that sometime so my trip to play the new Kings course in Inverness provided an ideal opportunity. I'd played at Hopeman on the morning of 30 August 2019 and it's only a short drive from Hopeman to Maverston, near the village of Urquhart in Moray.  The wind had really increased dramatically in that time and I was soon chasing my golf shoes and other golf gear blowing away across the car park.  Whatever I was going to play next, it would be a real test. 

The 9 Hole course is only 1250 Yards long, Par 27 but one look at the card suggested that even without the gale that was now sweeping across the exposed site, this little course would have some teeth.  The holes range form 101 to 187 Yards, but the wind and the elevated nature of most of the very small greens meant that my choice of clubs would be critical.  I'd put my putter, 58 degree lob wedge, 9 iron, 7 iron and 20 Degree Rescue into a light carry bag and enough balls to survive the evil looking heavy rough that looked ready to swallow anything hit or blown offline.  I'll not detail every hole, since this is one of the small courses that have to be visited if every course is to be played, rather than a significant course in its own right.  Truth be told, it's probably just for beginners and short game practice but with that gale blowing it was still pretty formidable.  I went round in 31, with a birdie 2 at the 135 Yard 5th and 5 bogeys on some of the longer holes.  Here are some photos of the course

31 shots, including 14 putts in a little under an hour.  No food in the clubhouse unfortunately and my drive home took well over 5 hours.  A long day, but I'd finally got back to Maverston.  I don't think I'll go there again, though, either to play the 9 or the 18 hole layout.  There are many other and to me at least, more enjoyable courses in the Moray area.