Scottish courses with eskers and kames

[Garland Bayley]

From Scotland's Golf Courses by Robert Price.

Esker - ridge formed by glacial meltwater streams from 5 to 50 feet high with irregular crest lines.
Kame - glacially formed mounds of sand and gravel.

"Eleven golf courses (three per cent) are located on fluvioglacial sand and gravel in the form of kames or eskers"

"The golf courses at Dumfries, Castle Douglas, Lochmaben, Carnwath, Lanark, and Muckhart are located on kame complexes with associated kettle holes."

Anyone play any of these? Are they any good? Did the architect make good use of the kames?

"... the famous golfing centre of Gleneagles, where four courses have been developed on a large esker and kame complex, that these sand and gravel deposits form a distinctive golfing landscape. The ridges are 20 to 50 feet high, steep-sided (20-25^o) and are separated by elongated troughs or enclosed hollows (kettle holes)." ... "The golf course architects have utilized the ridges for "rough" and tees and the inter-ridge troughs and hollows for fairways and greens."

How good is Gleneagles? The author suggests that esker and kame complexes are a good approximation to dunes at links courses, because they form shapes like dunes and the drain well too. Were these "pseudo-dunes" at Gleneagles used as well as dunes and good links courses? If you think they fall short of true dunes, in what fashion do they fall short?

With 50 foot high, steep-sided roughs bordering fairways in troughs, do any holes approximate the trough holes between dunes at Astoria CC?

[Niall C]

Garland,

I've played Dumfries and County, Lochmaben and Lanark. All are old fashioned traditional links which make pretty good use of the land from what I remember. D&C isn't perhaps the most obvious example of this landform but its good fun and a decent test of golf even if they restrict you from hitting a wood of the first tee due to proximity to housing. The landform is more gradual than say some of the links landscapes you might find about.

Lochmaben has a some interesting golf. Braid did the first nine way back when and the second nine has been chopped and changed a couple of times but the original holes are perhaps the funkiest with a shortish par 3 thats hard to describe (partly because its a while since I played it).

I haven't played Lanark in over 20 years but from what I remember the old fashioned shaping of bunkers and green complexes are more noticeable than any particular landform.

One thing I would say, if you visited these courses expecting to find wild rugged dunes you would be disappointed. Free draining fine turf - yes, gorse - yes in part, heather - probably but can't remember.

Niall

[David_Tepper]

Garland -

There is what I believe to be an Esker a mile or so west (inland) of the town of Dornoch. However, it is well away from the golf course. It must be 30' to 50' high and several hundred yards long and sits in what is otherwise flat pastureland. It dates from the Ice Age.

It is comprised of rocks & gravel. A local construction company has mining/quarrying it to recover those aggregates, but the geologists & naturalists are campaigning to keep the Esker from being destroyed.

http://www.northern-times.co.uk/News/Fears-for-Ice-Age-ridge-with-go-ahead-to-extend-quarry-5409.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esker

DT

[Garland Bayley]

Garland -

There is what I believe to be an Esker a mile or so west (inland) of the town of Dornoch. However, it is well away from the golf course. It must be 30' to 50' high and several hundred yards long and sits in what is otherwise flat pastureland. It dates from the Ice Age.

It is comprised of rocks & gravel. A local construction company has mining/quarrying it to recover those aggregates, but the geologists & naturalists are campaigning to keep the Esker from being destroyed.

http://www.northern-times.co.uk/News/Fears-for-Ice-Age-ridge-with-go-ahead-to-extend-quarry-5409.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esker

DT

That's really cool David. I'm going to go right by Sims Corner Eskers and Kames National Natural Landmark mentioned on wikipedia on my way to King's Putter in BC. I got to see that place. Probably needs a golf course.