Quaint & Quirky
BY MURRAY BOTHWELL
6 MINS READ
Everyone has played a golf course in their lifetime where it feels like you’re just walking endlessly up and down along parallel, neatly mown fairways, playing the same shots and seeing the same views. Compare that with pitting your wits against humps and hollows, streams, ravines, rock faces, bunkers with grassy islands or stone walls obscuring greens from view. Which is more fun? I’ll choose bumps over banality every time, where the essence of those old golf courses carved from the sheep-trodden linksland greets me at every turn. The actual course is clearly a significant part of any golfing adventure, yet the journey along the often less-travelled road to reach it and the vistas presented from its high points where no car can take you are often more memorable. Ask those who have jumped on the ferry to sample the 12 holes of Shiskine on the Isle of Arran… unforgettable. Even when the birds are flying backwards.
Golf and nature work hand in hand, and there are many more courses these days embracing the opportunity to promote areas of SSSI (Sites of Special Scientific Interest) within their estate to members and visitors alike. Some, like Dundonald Golf Club, were amongst the first to site bee hives around the remote sections of the course, near plentiful supplies of coconut-smelling golden gorse flowers. The honey, available for sale in their eco-friendly new Clubhouse with its literal field of green on its roof, is very, very good.
Dunaverty Golf Club
Thankfully, bees are not easily upset by an errant golf ball: at Dunaverty Golf Club, on the southernmost tip of the Mull of Kintyre, the chances of hitting something a little bit larger are commonplace. At the end of one of the Great Drives down through the Arrochar Alps and the Rest and Be Thankful Pass, past the safe harbour of Tarbert and the endless mirrored stretches of sea and fresh water lochs lies Campbeltown, Machrihanish and a short ten-minute drive further at Southend is Dunaverty. You’re so close to the Antrim Coast of Northern Ireland that you can see the villages on a clear day. The course is a classic links and farmland combination, rising and falling from the shore dunes inland to the bracken-covered heights of the 10th hole. The development of the land into a course was enabled by an agreement with the local farmer to let him graze his sheep in winter, and his cattle across the four holes “landside”. Electric fences, about 2ft high, protect these four greens and a local rule allows you to remove and clean your ball should it find, well, you know. Mowing also takes a bit longer. They’re a dedicated team.
Brora Golf Club
At the opposite end of the country, in an area both remote yet instantly familiar because of its natural links design, both sheep and cattle can be found grazing over the links at Brora Golf Club. Electric fences can be found on every green here, unlike Dunaverty, and helps protect this 200-year-plus course from the potential of greater damage than the Moray Firth can ever throw at it. The locals have been accustomed to the understated ambling of these animals across the line of play for decades: sheep, remember, were the original greenkeepers, keeping the turf trimmed between Autumn and Spring when most golf could be played without fear of losing a ball too often. For the visitor, particularly those from overseas who flock here to experience the magical hand of James Braid, they will experience one of the finest natural links courses they will ever play. Braid was adept at shaping the wilderness with minimum engineering. There is little walking between the greens and tees, as Braid worked with the natural flow of the 1891 fairways and, in his own understated way, lifted the course onto a pedestal of perfection for the world to enjoy.
St Fillans Golf Club
Further south, and in the heart of the Highlands, lies the picturesque St Fillans Golf Club near the eastern end of Loch Earn, nestling in an amphitheatre of mountains and worthy winner of the SGTA’s “Best 9-hole course in Scotland, 2019”. It’s around a 25-minute drive north west of Gleneagles and definitely ranks high on the quaint scale. Driving through a silver birch and mixed conifer forest, you emerge blinking into the light and are greeted by the most beautiful vista down the glen from the Clubhouse. Although described as a flat course, the climb to the medal tees of the 3rd is rewarded by spectacular views down the 300 yards to the green on the valley floor. Catch the time of year right, and the colours in every direction will steal your breath away as much as a New England fall. The course features water, tight doglegs left and right, wonderful par-3s and the constant breath-taking immediacy of the mountains. At 6,000 yards for two loops, it’s not a short course so take the opportunity to “9-and-dine” before returning to the fairways for possibly the most satisfying golf of your life.
Comrie Golf Club
Nearby, on the way back towards Gleneagles you can visit Comrie Golf Club for another nine holes of golf in a very different setting. Should the Clubhouse be closed, as can sometimes occur with smaller countryside courses with a small local membership, then an Honesty Box is discreetly located near the main door to help you boost the Club’s funds. As a sport that’s rooted in trust and etiquette, there’s no dubiety: you just do. Stepping out onto the first tee, there’s a hint of height in the distance. Once out there, though, the climbs, drops, dappled tunnels through trees to teasing par-3s, burns and dips come into their own. A gorgeous heathland course that’s set in the rolling Perthshire hills, Comrie’s Club logo features the quintessentially Scottish capercaillie: a rare birdie, you’ll have more chance of hearing it in the forest than seeing it when you’re rustling around in the bracken looking for that Titleist. Carly Booth learned her game here on this James Braid-improved course layout and, apart from some minor changes, retains his design to this day. As nine holes go, the Laggan Braes course ranks highly for playability, scenery and sheer fun and will give any golfer a flowing design full of interest, superb views over Comrie to the south and west, and memories you’ll treasure forever.