Where To Next - Crieff
BY MURRAY BOTHWELL
5 MIN READ
You’re on the internet, coffee steaming in your ‘A Bad Golf Day is better than any Work Day’ mug and, in your mind, you’re mulling over the chat from yesterday’s golf where somebody said “let’s arrange a trip away”. And here you are, their surprised surrogate Tour Manager, researching the potential for playing golf for a whole week in Scotland. Where it all began. Seven days. No pressure then.
And they don’t want to travel too far each day from your base. Here’s a secret…. Crieff.
Crieff
Just west of Perth, this picturesque town lies at the foot of the Strathearn Hills. Described in old tourist guidebooks as “the Montpellier of Scotland”, it now boasts a Michelin Star restaurant, a great selection of artisan shops and a distillery nearby. And, of course, two great golf courses set in the forest above the town. Rated one of Scotland’s top inland courses by Golf World magazine, their par-71 Ferntower Course designed by Morris, Simpson and Braid has hosted numerous Championships, with mostly wide fairways and rough cut short enough to avoid prolonged searching for balls. From the circular Pro Shop, the excellent clubhouse or from the top of the course the vistas between the oaks, sycamores and rowans are a joy to behold. It’s great for golfers of all levels. The 9-hole Dornock course is also built on gently sloping parkland with spectacular views, providing a fair but challenging experience for a day out.
Comrie
Within ten miles of Crieff lie another six courses, making eight in total to fill your week. Your job’s already half done. To the west, the scenic village of Comrie. The legendary James Braid was commissioned by the Club to recommend changes to their course layout in the 1920s and it retains much of his design to this day. Two loops of the Laggan Braes course are just under 5,000 yards, winding through birch, pine and larch forest. No two holes are the same, so those who think they’ll find birdies on every hole may just need to supplement their game with a bit of birdwatching.
St Fillans
Further west, along the gloriously scenic A85, with teasing views of distant mountain tops brings you to St Fillans, where the dark River Earn pours out into its loch. Upon reaching the Club from under cover of the forest the landscape suddenly erupts in front you in a mixture of sky, trees, purple heather-clad slopes and craggy peaks you feel you can touch; a breath-taking setting for arguably one of the most attractive 9-hole courses that the country has to offer. Filling the head of the valley floor, this award-winning wee wonder won ‘Best 9-hole’ in 2019 and 2022’s awards and deservedly so: at over 6,000 yards for two loops, the designs of Open Champion Willie Auchterlonie remain as challenging today as when the course opened in 1903. The course record, by Sandy Lyle, is only 66: it’s not a walk in a park, and after making your way around large rocky outcrops in the middle of the generous fairways, and avoiding the bunkers, their clever use of doglegs through the trees will leave you full of admiration for this “9-and-dine-and-9-again” course.
Gleneagles
Head south from Crieff and you quickly arrive at Gleneagles. Its courses are, without doubt, some of the best presented parkland courses to be found and, of course, has the history of hosting The Solheim and Ryder Cups. The King’s, The Queen’s and The PGA Centenary all lie within the estate but offer challenges in different ways whilst picking their way through parkland and pines: a 9-hole Wee Course also adds to the options. The PGA is long, and will often be presented in the summer with fields of billowing rough that define many of its fairways, deceptively close to its neatly-cut edges. Take a couple of sleeves of balls, as it’s embarrassing to ask around on the tee when you need to reload. The Queen’s is a tricky course but not as tough, and uses water, doglegs, back-to-back par-3s and two-tier greens to add excitement to the round. It’s insanely pretty, and full of wildlife. Finally, The King’s, another Braid masterpiece, expertly uses every natural landform of the estates available to deliver golf that the world’s best golfers return to time and again. Always with an eye to the views, fairways are driven forward by embankments of deep, wispy rough and gorse towards heavily-swaled greens, often perched above or below the fairways and tempting the golfer to pull their miracle club out of the bag.
The research is worth the time: seven days… eight courses… sheer heaven and all within 15 minutes of charming Crieff.