The 19th Hole

“The finest parcel of land in the world I have ever been given to work with” – Jack Nicklaus Welcome back, You might be asking yourself has the blog went big time after Royal Troon last week?  absolutely and this week I have had the pleasure to play the Gleneagles PGA Centenary. Few places in Britain can boast three courses let alone three nationally top 100 courses but then again there's only one Gleneagles. I played the Jack Nicklaus designed, American style inspired PGA Centenary Course.  Today I was joined by Daniel Paul, Andrew Conlan and Nick Branney. These young men kindly refrained from drinking on the course today which set up for a great matchplay game. Nick Branney approaching the 1st The opening tee shot is not overly daunting and anything not leaked too far right will leave an uphill approach to an angled green. The first sign of any drama comes at the 2nd, Wester Greenwells which is named after the ruined croft just above the green, where water lurks beside a narrow g

As the blog rapidly grows in notoriety, so too does the production value and this week I was priviledged enough to get the opportunity to play the 10 time Open Championship host, Royal Troon.    The course motto is "Tam Arte Quam Marte" which translates to "As much by skill as by strength" and goes a long way to explaining why a guy like Tom Watson, who was not the longest driver, managed to win five British Opens at five different venues.  Built in 1878, by architect Willie Fernie and then further adapted by James Braid in 1923. Thankfully, Troon starts you off with one of the easiest holes on the course, a reasonable length par four with a generous fairway . The Irish Sea lies just behind the grass topped dunes that make up the right side of the fairway for the first seven holes. If you walk to the top of these dunes you get a great view of the beach and the Irish Sea. The outward stretch allows players to register a good score before preserving it on the back 9.

  Hello and welcome back to the second blog of the series. For this weeks blog I decided to play the timeless Montrose golf links and it was an absolute pleasure. Montrose GC is situated on the most famous coastline in the world for links golf. Montrose is believed to be the 5th oldest golf course in the world and the 3rd oldest royal club in the world after Prince Albert granted royal patronage in 1845.  A Scottish golfing blog would be incomplete without a nostalgic trip this old links course.  The course gives a strong message from the very first hole. The right Out of Bounds features prominently through the length of the hole meaning a straight drive between fairway bunkers is required. The next shot is elevated to a raised green at the summit of the gradually rising hill. I was joined for this round by the old man and brother, both chopping it round as per usual.  I loved the early run of holes along the rugged Angus coastline framed with breath-taking views. There are some tee po

  Hello and Welcome to my first blog post of what will be a thrilling series following an extremely average golfer around some iconic courses in Scottish golfing history. Throughout this blog series I will discuss my personal experience at several Scottish golf courses. I hope to inform and entertain you about my rounds of golf, both good and bad (Mostly bad). The first golf club on the list is The Irvine Golf Club . A traditional links golf course set in a seaside location at Bogside, albeit mostly on higher ground away from the coast and without any real views of the sea, there are a variety of holes at Irvine that will ensure a memorable round. The sandy fairways are mainly divided by gorse and heather; this frames each hole beautifully but also draws out the excellent bunkering on many of the holes too.  On October 8th myself accompanied by 3 friends made a last minute decision to play a round at Irvine Bogside off the back of numerous recommendations. The weather was perfect, blue