Blairgowrie Wee Course (pics)

[Eric_Terhorst]

Blairgowrie, a hamlet about 15 miles northeast of Perth, is a pleasant and convenient place to stop on your way north if you’re headed up to Nairn or Dornoch from Edinburgh.  Recently while in Blairgowrie, I played the Wee Course, as Rosemount wasn't open to visitors that Saturday evening, and nine was truly all I could handle on the first day in Scotland after a long flight from the US. 

Designed by James Braid, the Wee Course seems to be a good one for learners, while offering a few challenging features and interesting play for more accomplished players warming up for the larger courses. 

#1 is one of the strong holes, a 185-yd par 3 with challenging bunkers—playing into the wind, this would be a fairway metal for most of us.




#2 is a unique dogleg right par 4, 336yds, with a mysterious tee shot


That must be long enough and left enough to approach a green protected by two large Scotch pines
 


On Holes 5 and 6 players are best off with opposite-turning tee shots—a cut on #5 to this fairway


Yielding this interesting approach to a semi-blind green


#5 green


Draw it into #6 fairway


To this approach


#7, a 162-yd, downhill par 3 is surely the highlight of the course.  After a semi-blind tee shot


The first-time player finds more trouble than he knew at the bottom of the hill

—behind that mound up to the right of the green hides this bunker
 

The 415yd par 4 8th is a pretty heather-lined hole, the longest one on the course



The 9th requires a carry over the heather, and has OB left


Blairgowrie seems to be worth a slight detour even for the Wee Course, or better yet a more involved visit if you also have time to play one or both of the big courses.

You can get back on the A9 to go north, or if you like long, challenging scenic drives during which your passenger grips the dashboard while you, fighting jet-lag, drive on the “wrong side” of mountain roads  , I can recommend the A93-A939 route through Cairngorms Natl. Park and the Cairngorm Mountains. 

[Phil McDade]

"and nine was truly all I could handle on the first day in Scotland after a long flight from the US"

Wimp -- I played 21.

And if you'd taken the A9 per my suggestion, you could've played Boat of Garten and enjoyed roadside scenery just as good along the way.
 

[Anthony Gray]

  Eric,

  The path less traveled can truly have speciel joys. Thank you for this contribution. Did you happen to get up to Cruden Bay?

  Anthony

[Melvyn Morrow]

Eric & Anthony

The Wee Course has been mentioned in detail on ally's post 'Scottish courses you haven't heard of' including map of old course plus brief history

Melvyn

[Eric_Terhorst]

Anthony,

I did indeed get to Cruden Bay, and played it in a 4-club gale with pelting rain.

Melvyn,

I saw the other thread, which prompted me to post these pictures.  Here's a question for you.  I'm intrigued by the difference in bunker style between the other Braids I played, Nairn and Brora, and the Wee Course.  At Brora and Nairn, the revetted style prevails, and as you can see from these pictures, at the Wee Course the bunker faces are curved, not stepped.  Is that difference one that's been imposed over the years at the 18 hole courses?  Is the curved grass face the less-costly way to maintain those small round bunkers?

Phil,

All Scotland is still talking about the last visit of the legendary McDade 

[David_Tepper]

ET -

Nice pics! Thanks for posting them.

DT

[Niall C]

Eric

I think I'm right in saying that Braid designed either revetted or sand faced bunkers. The curved grass face bunker style seems to be getting more prevalent as clubs renew there bunkering. Personally I think it looks rubbish and plays rubbish as well. Often the ball will run through the bunker and stick on the grass face, much prefer playing out of the sand. Playing half way up a slope is too much like hack and hope for me. Also with these type of bunkers close at greenside, you often don't get subtle slope of the back of the bunkers that you used to get such that you have to fly the ball more.

Not an improvement IMHO.

Niall

[Tom MacWood]

Eric

I think I'm right in saying that Braid designed either revetted or sand faced bunkers.

Niall
I don't follow you. How did you come to that understanding?

[Eric_Terhorst]

Niall,

Thanks for your comments.

On the club's web site, the following statement, The nine hole course became the Wee Course virtually as it remains today  led me to believe that the bunkers are as Braid left them....perhaps assuming too much? 

[Melvyn Morrow]

Eric

On the Wee Course, I am not fully convinced that the bunkers are Braids, I wonder how much of it is actually down to him. The Formation of the bunkers are not the early Fife based sod bunkers, but I wonder if they are a throw back from Chalmers origin bunkers, albeit modified/changed.

That turf dyke face is I believe based upon the old ditch/rampart fortifications well known in the very early days (dating back to Roman days).  Something seems to shout this are based upon the originals, but not source material to back up my opinions. 

As for Brora, the reports of Braids visit states he arrived on the first train north, walked the course with some of the Committee making comments and suggestions, went to lunch and returned on the next train south in the afternoon. His fee I believe was around the £25 mark for this visit.

So perhaps that may go some way to explaining some of the differences.

Melvyn

[Ally Mcintosh]

Thanks for posting those Eric,

The semi-blind green on 5 is a really nice feature as there is dead ground over the rise before the green is reached. You don't have pictures of 3 but again there is ample opportunity for a running approach as the green falls slightly from thr front and is again concealed over a very small ridge..

Braid often routed his courses leaving others to construct them. I wouldn't be surprised if he had no bunker style on more than one occasion. I certainly don't consider him an architect with a signature bunker style Niall. Maybe I am wrong.