Annual trip to Scotland

[woody69]

Only a few weeks to go until myself and 3 mates head up to Scotland for the week. This year though, we are changing things up and heading over to the east coast, staying in a house near Laurencekirk.

Other than Cruden Bay and Blairgowrie on 2 of the days, our plans are fairly open as to where to play.

We drive up, starting in Reading and play on the way up, so if anyone can suggest a course on route up towards Scotland that allows visitors around Saturday lunchtime, that would be great. We were thinking about Goswick as one option, but open to others.

Doubt we'll bother with the Trump course, although we are thinking about Carnoustie, depending on the weather.

We are after a mix of links and parkland, as I know most courses over that side appear to be links, so if you know of any hidden parkland courses around that area, please let us know.

Cheers

 

[Garush34]

Only a few weeks to go until myself and 3 mates head up to Scotland for the week. This year though, we are changing things up and heading over to the east coast, staying in a house near Laurencekirk.

Other than Cruden Bay and Blairgowrie on 2 of the days, our plans are fairly open as to where to play.

We drive up, starting in Reading and play on the way up, so if anyone can suggest a course on route up towards Scotland that allows visitors around Saturday lunchtime, that would be great. We were thinking about Goswick as one option, but open to others.

Doubt we'll bother with the Trump course, although we are thinking about Carnoustie, depending on the weather.

We are after a mix of links and parkland, as I know most courses over that side appear to be links, so if you know of any hidden parkland courses around that area, please let us know.

Cheers

I played downfield in Dundee last week. Parkland course, very nice place to play with some interesting holes, we got a very friendly welcome and would definitely go back. Prices wise it is a good price.

 

[User62651]

You need to play Montrose (old links), quite close to where you're staying.
Stonehaven is parkland despite being on sea - quirky with some good par 3s.
Letham Grange nr Arbroath has 2 courses is inland and supposed to be very good.
A trip over the scenic Cairn O Mount road will get you to Banchory in an hour - Lairds,Inchmarlo is good plus loads of decent older parkland tracks like Deeside, Peterculter, Aboyne, Ballater etc along Deeside.

 

[User62651]

You need to play Montrose (old links), quite close to where you're staying.
Stonehaven is parkland despite being on sea - quirky with some good par 3s.
Letham Grange nr Arbroath has 2 courses is inland and supposed to be very good.
A trip over the scenic Cairn O Mount road will get you to Banchory in an hour - Lairds,Inchmarlo is good plus loads of decent older parkland tracks like Deeside, Peterculter, Aboyne, Ballater etc along Deeside.

Sorry, Lairds has closed. Went under I think.

 

[HughJars]

You need to play Montrose (old links), quite close to where you're staying.
Stonehaven is parkland despite being on sea - quirky with some good par 3s.
Letham Grange nr Arbroath has 2 courses is inland and supposed to be very good.
A trip over the scenic Cairn O Mount road will get you to Banchory in an hour - Lairds,Inchmarlo is good plus loads of decent older parkland tracks like Deeside, Peterculter, Aboyne, Ballater etc along Deeside.

Letham Grange is now in terrible condition, avoid.

Lairds course at inchmarlo is now closed

Deeside and Peterculter are poor layouts, Aboyne not that great either. If playing Royal Deeside then go for Ballater, by far the best of the bunch. Banchory in great nick. Newmacher Hawkshill also needs to be on your possibles just north of Aberdeen.

Further south and nearer Montrose, two great James Braid courses, Edzell & Forfar are worth the detour.

 

[jamielaing]

Hirsel in Coldstream, on the border at Berwick. You will not be disappointed.

 

[User62651]

Letham Grange is now in terrible condition, avoid.

Lairds course at inchmarlo is now closed

Deeside and Peterculter are poor layouts, Aboyne not that great either. If playing Royal Deeside then go for Ballater, by far the best of the bunch. Banchory in great nick. Newmacher Hawkshill also needs to be on your possibles just north of Aberdeen.

Further south and nearer Montrose, two great James Braid courses, Edzell & Forfar are worth the detour.

What's wrong with Peterculter, I like it? Aboyne is tough to score on and has some good holes. I was a member at Ballater for years and whilst I agree it's prettier and a nice track its very open and relatively easy to score on.
Hawkshill is very good I agree but a bit far from OPs base at Laurencekirk I thought.
What's gone wrong at Letham Grange then? Never been there but had heard good things (some years ago mind).

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Hirsel in Coldstream, on the border at Berwick. You will not be disappointed.

This is a great shout although it is not really that near Berwick in driving terms. You go up the A1, turn onto the A697 just past Morpeth and drive to it that way. Well worth it as said.

You will grin like an idiot playing the par 3 10th. Every golf designer building 200+yd par 3's should play this hole and accept they are wrong.

 

[Deleted member 23270]

Silloth on the way up should be ok for a Saturday round. The Dukes at St Andrews is a nice change from links, more of a heathland feel. Another option on the way up is Ganton although not sure about Saturday access. They take county cards but think it may be midweek only.

 

[IanM]

You will grin like an idiot playing the par 3 10th. Every golf designer building 200+yd par 3's should play this hole and accept they are wrong.

...I'm with you on this...

 

[Liverbirdie]

Play Lanark, if you can get on of a Saturday.

 

[woody69]

Thanks for the replies.

Hirsel looks quite nice and we'll check out Forfar. Might be one to play during the week as it is so close to the house.

We have played Silloth before on our way up and we'd prefer something over towards the East coast or Glasgow / Edinburgh I think. Always like playing new places.

Have also played Ballater before. Thought it was quite pretty, albeit a little tame.

 

[HughJars]

What's wrong with Peterculter, I like it? Aboyne is tough to score on and has some good holes. I was a member at Ballater for years and whilst I agree it's prettier and a nice track its very open and relatively easy to score on.
Hawkshill is very good I agree but a bit far from OPs base at Laurencekirk I thought.
What's gone wrong at Letham Grange then? Never been there but had heard good things (some years ago mind).

LG - Company went bust, members took it over but having to run it on a shoestring so just not getting the maintenance it needs, so rough round the edges and boddy in parts.

Peterculter: Think it's the nearest course to me apart from my own club, but it's rough round the edges and is just an average course start to finish. Certainly if you're coming all the way from south england, you'd be hoping for something better imo. Ballater is the best course on Deeside, and I don't think it's even a close shout, yes some easy holes, but the first six off the medals will make or break your card, hang on and hope you make some shots back later is the order of the day.

Was forgetting Laurenckirk as a base, with that in mind it has to be Forfar and Edzell then, though a pop across to Banchory would be enjoyable enough.

 

[jamielaing]

This is a great shout although it is not really that near Berwick in driving terms. You go up the A1, turn onto the A697 just past Morpeth and drive to it that way. Well worth it as said.

You will grin like an idiot playing the par 3 10th. Every golf designer building 200+yd par 3's should play this hole and accept they are wrong.

I more worried about the stick I would get if I missed it!

Great course, great layout. Very welcoming.

 

[woody69]

Play Lanark, if you can get on of a Saturday.

Forgotten about Lanark. We were going to play there last year on our way up, as they said if we called the week before they may be able to squeeze us in assuming all the tee times weren't used up by members, but we ended up going somewhere we could book in advance, but definitely worth a shot. Cheers

 

[User62651]

What about the Roxburghe course between A68 and Kelso? Ranked highly.
A68 is arguably quicker than the A1 if going Newcastle to Edinburgh.

 

[davemc1]

You won't play Trump, but may play Carnoustie? I can't help you sorry.


if fact, I don't think anyone can

 

[pool888]

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/golfoffers/

If there is anything on there you will be playing let me know and I can post the voucher if it's any good to you. Some are £12 others £15, some are valid 7 days others just Monday to Friday depends on the course.

 

[Garush34]

Thanks for the replies.

Hirsel looks quite nice and we'll check out Forfar. Might be one to play during the week as it is so close to the house.

We have played Silloth before on our way up and we'd prefer something over towards the East coast or Glasgow / Edinburgh I think. Always like playing new places.

Have also played Ballater before. Thought it was quite pretty, albeit a little tame.

If your going Edinburgh way, have you played the Gullane/North Berwick area courses. Lots of choice there.

 

[woody69]

You won't play Trump, but may play Carnoustie? I can't help you sorry.


if fact, I don't think anyone can

Well, no that's not quite what I said. We probably won't play Trump considering it is £235 for a standard green fee, versus £175 at Carnoustie, I think that is a fairly valid reason.

We also like to be fairly flexible with where we play as we tend to move around depending on the weather in certain locations, so we don't want to pay out over 200 quid and be committed to playing a certain course if the weather is dreadful.

We also go every year, so I'm sure we will get to play it at some point