Review Of Scottish Links Courses
It Does Rain From Time To Time In Scotland
I’m not going to try and give absolute ratings of all the courses we played. That would be presumptuous having played them only once. First impressions are also influenced by the weather, how well you played and course condition. It would be wrong to brand a course’s image on one day’s experience. However, I do think I can provide you with enough input to plan your own trip wisely.
One last point, except for Royal Dornoch, all course staff and members couldn’t have made us feel more welcome. It was a rainy, windy, nasty morning when we teed off at Dornoch, so maybe everyone was affected by the weather. Unfortunately the pervasive attitude there was ‘why don’t you go play somewhere else’. I hate to say that as I love the Scottish people, but I feel I have to be honest. Royal Dornoch is out of the way, even from Nairn, so it would be understandable to leave it off your dance card. And, it doesn’t have anything that you won’t find at the other top level clubs.
Here’s my list of spectacular courses; Royal Dornoch, Nairn, Morey Old, Cruden Bay, Royal Aberdeen and Panmure. I know Montrose rates high on many lists, but I just didn’t feel the love on the day we played. Maybe it was because it came on the second to last day and the morning we played was grey and dreary. There are some excellent holes, but it just wasn’t inspirational. If I was in the area and was looking for a round, I wouldn’t hesitate to play. I just wouldn’t go out of my way. Monifieth is a fine course and often used for Open qualifying, but I like Panmure better and it’s right next door.
The must-play courses are as good as any in the world. They offer about every golfing challenge there is, have incredible scenery and are as close to ‘golf as it was originally envisioned’ as exists on this planet. You don’t have to be a great golfer to enjoy yourself, but you need to have all the shots. If you can’t loft a wedge to a protected green or get out of a sandtrap, you will be an unhappy camper. You’ll be intimidated if you don’t like ‘tight’ lies.
Morey New is not quite up to the high end standards. They just don’t put as much maintenance into the course. It is fun and beautiful and is worth playing if you’re in the area or want to combine it for 36 holes with the Old course. It would be a great warm-up course if you had just arrived in Scotland.
Fraserburg and Peterhead aren’t up to the standards of the top courses. They’re tough courses and have great holes, they just have too many ho-hum holes. The members freely admit they don’t have the course maintenance funds that the other courses do. I would be remiss to not add that the staff and members at both these courses were as nice as any we met in Scotland. In fact, they went out of their way to welcome us and make us feel at home. If I was near Fraserburg or Peterhead I’d play them in a heartbeat, but they are a bit off the beaten path. If you have limited time, it would be prudent to leave them out.
The natural lay of the land is very instrumental in course layout as they were all built long before heavy equipment existed. You put the tee box and green were Nature or Old Tom Morris told you. Therefore, natural terrain is critical in determining the feel and play of each course.
Royal Dornoch, Cruden Bay, Fraserburg, Peterhead and Royal Aberdeen are all built in high dunes that easily reach 100 feet or more. Nairn, Morey Old & New and Montrose I would call low dunes style. They are certainly easier to walk. Lastly,Monifieth and Panmure are a cross between low dunes and parkland, mainly because they have some trees and are a half mile from the ocean.
The wind is more intimidating on the high dunes as you are often hitting from raised tee boxes and playing to elevated greens. When it’s a cross wind you feel your ball could be blown anywhere – and it is! Ask my wife about her 9 iron that started on target to the green, only to end up on the beach 50 feet below! The high dunes courses have the most impressive views, because of their great vantage points that give views of bays, oceans and beaches.
On all the courses, it seemed that the wind was at our backs for the outgoing holes and in our faces coming home. I know that’s not always true, but a headwind can be mighty tiring if you’re struggling on your way in. Connecting squarely on a 3 wood to see it only go 170 yards can be discouraging to say the least, particularly when the wind makes it hard to even hear your playing partners on the green.
How often do any of us get to play seaside courses? Unless you’re one of the lucky few, it’s rare. Take a trip to Scotland and you can play beautiful ocean courses day after day for a very reasonable cost. For the most part, these courses are not pricey by US standards, particularly if you avoid mid-summer rates. And it would be hard to imagine ever tiring of these layouts. Conversely, I went to the California desert a few years ago, paid a lot of money to play and found it hard to tell holes and even courses apart. The Scottish links courses are infectious. The first thing my wife has said every morning since we returned is that she wishes we were leaving again for Scotland.
Nest I’ll give you more individual course information, if I can pull myself away from the Players Championship.
Related posts:
- Scottish Trip Wrap-up
- Scottish Links Golf Not For Everyone
- Scotland Golfing Highlights
- Weather And British Open Courses
- Scottish Trip Course Rotation
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