[Brian_Ewen]

Made a trip to Blairgowrie on Thursday . Weather was fabulous and break from all the fog we have been getting on the East Coast this past week .

Course was fantastic and it was a really enjoyable day .


The 1st Fairway

 
The 2nd , a short par 4 of 339 yards


The approach to the second


The 220 yard par three third.


Fairway of the par 5 5th.


Fairway Bunkers on the par 4 7th


The 8th , a short par 4 of 368 yards


The 8th green


The 9th , a short par 4 of 326 yards .


Through the fairway of the dogleg at the Par 5 10th .


The 11th tee .


The fairway of the 12th , a par 4 of 293 yards .


The green of the 15th , a par 3 called "Wee Dunt " . Only 129 yards but a well protected green , the pic is taken from the right side of the green .


The fairway of the par 4 16th .


From the left side of the green at the 16th . I wish I had more pics of this green , it was a lovely long narrow green protected by sand and grass bunkers .


The 165 yard par 3 17th .


The 18th fairway . The New Clubhouse opened this year , and they "managed to keep to their budget of £2million".


Looking back up the 18th taken from the clubhouse . Extremely pleasant sitting here for a few post match beers , and talking golf .

[David_Tepper]

Brian-

Great pictures! The course looks awfully green. Did the course play firm or as soft as it looks?
 
What other inland courses have you played in Scotland - Gleneagles, Pitlochry, etc. How does Blairgowrie compare?

Thanks.

DT

[johnk]

Here are the problems I have with the Rosemount course:

#1 and #2 are a very promising start.  

After that you get a lot of repetition, short but not cunning holes, and hazards that are seemingly no danger.  Flat fairways and boring flat greens.  

IMHO, not a lot different than the average American inland country club setting.  So I'd not encourage anybody to see it, since you could put the time and sterling to better use.  Boat of Garten anyone?  Seriously, it may be an OK course, not comparable in my mind to the best of Gleneagles, and if you are  an American visiting, keep to the coast!

Full disclosure - we played on a bank holiday, and it took 5 hrs to play.  We drove down from several days at Dornoch, which can't be helpful for Blairgowrie...

[RJ_Daley]

It really looks like a wonderful course full of strategy.  Could you tell us about the architecture, beyond an original Tom Dunn and remodel and add by MacKenzie.   As the book says, Peter Aliss and David Thomas did remodelling but looks to me like they may have departed from the look of old time, well crafted and positioned bunkers with the rolled over lips.  The bunkering does look a bit schizo.  Are the green contours mild due to the remodeling?  I'd guess that original MacKenzie greens would have had plenty of rolls.  For what appears to be pretty flat terrain, they have some good looking man made features.  It reminds me a lot of Raynors work, not the snarly bunker lips per se, but the cross bunkers and positioning.  The bunker lips look like they have a bit of the Tillie flare.

[Brian_Ewen]

David
As with a lot of my other postings , they always look a bit over green . Its the camera ! .

There had been a lot of rain a couple of days before our visit , so the greens were a little soggy but the fairways were quite firm .


John
Its funny I agree with most of your comments , yet I still thouroughly enjoy playing the course .

I thought James Finegan in his Scotland Book summed up Rosemount pretty well ( As usual ).

Yet I wouldnt put off anyone from visiting as its a pleasurable golf course .

I dont believe the hype that is always bandied about , that this is "Best Inland Course in Scotland " .
Yes agreed both the Kings and Queens is better . ( I dont know about the Nicklaus course though ? ) Enough people tell me that the Lansdowne Course next door is better . I rank it just above Ladybank which is an other course I enjoy but isnt perfect .

RJ Daley
There is no mention of Tom Dunn in the Yardage Books history of the course .

Laid out by Mr Hamilton the curator of the R&A Golf Club at the time , new design by Alister McKenzie opening in 1927 , revamped just seven years later by James Braid with eight completely new holes . There was other work done to the course in the 1960's but none of it is listed , but if I remember right , the 18th on the Lansdowne is a hole from the Braid Course .

James Finegan also thought the greens were ordinary , and it was put down to remodelling in the 1960's .


The other fact that is always bandied about when talking about this course is , "this is where Greg Norman won his first European Tour event here in the 1977 Martini Open .

[johnk]

Brian,

I can see that it's enjoyable - in your pix, and the day I played,
the weather was wonderful.  It's a beautiful, isolated parkland
setting.

From an architecture POV, I think it feels like it's not far from being much better.  A good architect could come in and use basically the same routing and make the greens and interior hazards a lot more exciting, challenging and intriguing.  A little more undulation and some dirt movement in the fairways would help too.

However, since there are some truly great parkland courses on the island, (i.e. Alwoodley, St. George's Hill - in fact a lot by Colt!), I say wait until they improve the greens at Rosemount.

[Tags:]

Tags:

[Tags:]

Tags:

Call to undefined function theme_linktree()