slugger
Tour Rookie
We had an annual golf outing on Saturday in glorious sunshine - and a bit of a breeze - at Kings Acre Golf Course on the Bonnyrigg road just outside Edinburgh.
It's very easy to get to as it's just off the city bypass and once you turn onto the narrow access road and drive through the grounds of the course you would think that you're a lot further from a major city than you actually are. Only on a couple of holes can you hear the road noise from the Bypass, apart from that it's very quiet.
The club house is a tidy set up with reasonable stocks of equipment and clothing. They serve good pub style grub and other bits and pieces.
Kings Acre is attached to the national fitting centre for Titleist and Cobra and also has a teaching academy.
I hit 50 balls pre-round at the excellent driving range. There are targets everywhere, ponds to clear, flags to aim at. Probably the best range i've been to.
Onto the course itself...
The course par is 70. There's four par 5s, two of them in the first 3 holes. The first is a par 4 with a dog leg as you approach the green. I made the mistake of aiming right thinking i would cut the corner a bit. I ended up on fairway, but stuck behind a few trees so had to do the best i could to shape a wedge around the trees. Had success there and ended up just of the very undulating green and went on to finish with a bogey to start.
Then on to 2 par 5s. The first up hill, the second back down again and a wee bit trickier than the first. With trees lining the fairway you are better keeping it down the middle rather than going out and out for maximum length. This was a common theme with the course where there's punishing bunkers and trees on most holes that guide you around the course and at times make you feel kind of hemmed in.
We then have the first of the par 3s. I'll put this bluntly. This is a totally stupid hole to have on a golf course. It was around 180yds long, however, it was also directly up a very steep hill with no sight of the green or around it. Add in the trees, bunkers slopes etc and you have what i think is my 2nd least favourite hole of any i've played.
After that, things improve drastically and a series of very nice par 4s and 3s lead you back to the club house. The 8th is worth a mention as it showed us all how carefull you have to pick your clubs at Kings Acre. It's a par 3 surrounded by bunkers and has a relatively large tiered green. All three of our tee shots landed on the front of the green, maybe 40 or 50 yards from the pin. Laying up short, or too long for that matter, cost maybe 5 shots through 3 putting during the day.
I preferred the front 9 to the back 9 but there are a few holes worthy of a mention. The par 3 11th, where you need to tee off up hill over a wall which runs diagonally away from you all the way up to the green which is protected by bunkers as well. Come up short and in against the wall like one of our group did and you'll be lucky to walk away with a bogey - which he did. The par 5 15th is where it all starts to go a bit strange. This par 5 has a 90º dogleg half way through the hole. However, it is out of bounds all the way down the right so anyone even attempting to cut the corner has next to no chance of either doing so, or finding himself in a good position as reward for the bravery as the fairway is narrow and rough encroaching. It would be a nice hole if it was 45º more straight!
The 17th is almost just as poor as the 15th. It is yet another dogleg - par 4 this time - up a hill and round some massive oak and pine trees. Again, there is nothing to aim at as you can't see anything of the fairway from the tee. All you know is you have to get around the corner and up to the green. No need for a driver of the tee here, or even a 3 wood. Lay up with an iron and then a mid-iron or wedge up to the green which has the access road up the left and behind the green depending on angle of attack.
The 18th is a cracking hole though. Teeing off over water with a 200ish yd carry to fairway, or a tight fairway up the side of that water with bunkers waiting to catch the safer drive (which they did!) for those not totally confident of the carry. I should have went for it as i carried the water easy. You then have a very nice approach back down to the clubhouse for a well earned beer.
All the greens and fairways were in excellent condition and credit must go to the greenskeepers for that.
So, all in all, Kings Acre is an average course in very good condition, but let down by a few badly designed holes which - i think - can only be described as a way to cover the land that was available during planning/construction, rather than being designed as good challenging golf holes... they are challenging, just not for the right reasons!
Then there is the cost issue - £36 for an average course. The cost would be justified if every hole was up to the standard of the better holes. You can play much better courses in the area for the same money and some just as good for a fair bit less.
I won't be rushing back, but i won't say i'll never play it again as it is a good challenge for most abilities.
It's very easy to get to as it's just off the city bypass and once you turn onto the narrow access road and drive through the grounds of the course you would think that you're a lot further from a major city than you actually are. Only on a couple of holes can you hear the road noise from the Bypass, apart from that it's very quiet.
The club house is a tidy set up with reasonable stocks of equipment and clothing. They serve good pub style grub and other bits and pieces.
Kings Acre is attached to the national fitting centre for Titleist and Cobra and also has a teaching academy.
I hit 50 balls pre-round at the excellent driving range. There are targets everywhere, ponds to clear, flags to aim at. Probably the best range i've been to.
Onto the course itself...
The course par is 70. There's four par 5s, two of them in the first 3 holes. The first is a par 4 with a dog leg as you approach the green. I made the mistake of aiming right thinking i would cut the corner a bit. I ended up on fairway, but stuck behind a few trees so had to do the best i could to shape a wedge around the trees. Had success there and ended up just of the very undulating green and went on to finish with a bogey to start.
Then on to 2 par 5s. The first up hill, the second back down again and a wee bit trickier than the first. With trees lining the fairway you are better keeping it down the middle rather than going out and out for maximum length. This was a common theme with the course where there's punishing bunkers and trees on most holes that guide you around the course and at times make you feel kind of hemmed in.
We then have the first of the par 3s. I'll put this bluntly. This is a totally stupid hole to have on a golf course. It was around 180yds long, however, it was also directly up a very steep hill with no sight of the green or around it. Add in the trees, bunkers slopes etc and you have what i think is my 2nd least favourite hole of any i've played.
After that, things improve drastically and a series of very nice par 4s and 3s lead you back to the club house. The 8th is worth a mention as it showed us all how carefull you have to pick your clubs at Kings Acre. It's a par 3 surrounded by bunkers and has a relatively large tiered green. All three of our tee shots landed on the front of the green, maybe 40 or 50 yards from the pin. Laying up short, or too long for that matter, cost maybe 5 shots through 3 putting during the day.
I preferred the front 9 to the back 9 but there are a few holes worthy of a mention. The par 3 11th, where you need to tee off up hill over a wall which runs diagonally away from you all the way up to the green which is protected by bunkers as well. Come up short and in against the wall like one of our group did and you'll be lucky to walk away with a bogey - which he did. The par 5 15th is where it all starts to go a bit strange. This par 5 has a 90º dogleg half way through the hole. However, it is out of bounds all the way down the right so anyone even attempting to cut the corner has next to no chance of either doing so, or finding himself in a good position as reward for the bravery as the fairway is narrow and rough encroaching. It would be a nice hole if it was 45º more straight!
The 17th is almost just as poor as the 15th. It is yet another dogleg - par 4 this time - up a hill and round some massive oak and pine trees. Again, there is nothing to aim at as you can't see anything of the fairway from the tee. All you know is you have to get around the corner and up to the green. No need for a driver of the tee here, or even a 3 wood. Lay up with an iron and then a mid-iron or wedge up to the green which has the access road up the left and behind the green depending on angle of attack.
The 18th is a cracking hole though. Teeing off over water with a 200ish yd carry to fairway, or a tight fairway up the side of that water with bunkers waiting to catch the safer drive (which they did!) for those not totally confident of the carry. I should have went for it as i carried the water easy. You then have a very nice approach back down to the clubhouse for a well earned beer.
All the greens and fairways were in excellent condition and credit must go to the greenskeepers for that.
So, all in all, Kings Acre is an average course in very good condition, but let down by a few badly designed holes which - i think - can only be described as a way to cover the land that was available during planning/construction, rather than being designed as good challenging golf holes... they are challenging, just not for the right reasons!
Then there is the cost issue - £36 for an average course. The cost would be justified if every hole was up to the standard of the better holes. You can play much better courses in the area for the same money and some just as good for a fair bit less.
I won't be rushing back, but i won't say i'll never play it again as it is a good challenge for most abilities.
