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Ran Morrissett

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Pitlochry profile posted under Courses by Country
« on: November 17, 2014, 11:44:44 AM »
Courses widely vary so shouldn't course profiles? Detailing heavyweight course after heavyweight course with cymbals clashing (!) and kettle drums pounding (!!) runs the risk over time of creating meaningless noise. For sake of variety, we present today a one page, 1,000 word, fifteen photograph morsel about Pitlochry. It's a small town with a vintage lay of the land golf course, a wee 6-holer and a fantastic in-town putting course. Where outside of Scotland can you even find such?! Perhaps that explains my appreciation for Pitlochry and how closely knit golf is with the fabric of Scottish communities. If being outside and having fun with friends in a pristine environment doesn’t put a smile on your face, then … well?
 

Few places are more relaxing or inspirational for penning a GolfClubAtlas.com course profile than the second floor lounge at Fonab overlooking Faskally Loch in Pitlochry.
 
Golf at its best is a simple affair. Too many places layer (expensive) complication upon complication on the game until only a sliver of the population base sees merit in pursuing the sport. At Pitlochry, there are several different hooks as mentioned above for getting involved - and enjoying - the sport. Fritz and I paid a combined green fee of 30£  (including her rental set) for the privilege of a round here one Saturday afternoon. It's a pity that the golfing world seems incapable of learning from Pitlochry and other Scottish towns about how best to intertwine the game and life.

Oh well! Until other countries do, we will all keep heading to the United Kingdom for reinvigoration and the emotions that are stirred when the game is at its simple best.

John Mayhugh

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Re: Pitlochry profile posted under Courses by Country
« Reply #1 on: November 17, 2014, 12:06:24 PM »
Very nice.  The putting green and 6 hole course would make for a non-intimidating, fun introduction to the game.  Novel idea where I live.

David_Tepper

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Re: Pitlochry profile posted under Courses by Country
« Reply #2 on: November 17, 2014, 12:11:49 PM »
Thanks for the write up. I have driven by Pitlochry a number of times but have never stopped there. Next time I do, I will.

Brent Hutto

Re: Pitlochry profile posted under Courses by Country
« Reply #3 on: November 17, 2014, 01:45:32 PM »
I loved my weekend at Pitlochry back in 2008. Or maybe I should say "weekend at Moulin" since I stayed in a B&B half a mile from the golf course and never really ventured into town.

The walk up Ben Vrackie is very pleasant, although up to the peak and back down then 36 holes of golf turned out to be a bit more tiring than anticipated.

One warning to future visitors. The modern red-roofed clubhouse is lovely and comfortable. But it is not quirky, charming, unusual nor does it look like it's been there since the Victorian era. I believe it was built just a year or two before my visit in fact. For my part clean, comfortable and convenient go a long way but I realize some of us prefer the 'house to be a bit more of an antique.

P.S. Here's a link to a few snapshots and snappy commentary I posted after visiting Pitlochry.

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,35128.0.html

P.P.S. I recently wore my souvenir Pitlochry GC golf shirt during a round of golf at my club. One of the guys I play with frequently recognized it and went on at some length about how much he had loved the course (and the town) during his visit a decade or so before my own. Small world.
« Last Edit: November 17, 2014, 02:36:46 PM by Brent Hutto »

Thomas Dai

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Re: Pitlochry profile posted under Courses by Country
« Reply #4 on: November 17, 2014, 02:28:25 PM »
Splendid. Courses don't always need a bunch of yardage.
atb

Michael Graham

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Re: Pitlochry profile posted under Courses by Country
« Reply #5 on: November 17, 2014, 03:31:14 PM »
I'm really pleased to see Ran's profile of Pitlochry. I spent several enjoyable long weekends/family holidays there growing up. It brings back a lot of fond memories. A particularly lovely part of the world.

Michael

Dónal Ó Ceallaigh

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Re: Pitlochry profile posted under Courses by Country
« Reply #6 on: November 17, 2014, 06:18:50 PM »
My family spent a week's holiday in Methven (just a little west of Perth) way back in 1979. I can't remember if I walked the course with my father and brothers, but I still have the score card (as well as Crieff's) in a shoe box at home. We also played a little 9-hole course to the south in Dunning.

Ran: Any chance you can get over to Oban and play Glencruitten? I'd love to see a course profile of photo-tour of that course.

Ronald Montesano

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Re: Pitlochry profile posted under Courses by Country
« Reply #7 on: November 17, 2014, 07:36:31 PM »
I'd like to have seen a more traditional profile. This one seems helter-skelter. I think apples-to-apples would have been a better way of saying that wee courses deserve equal stature with so-called championship ones.
Coming in 2024
~Elmira Country Club
~Soaring Eagles
~Bonavista
~Indian Hills
~Maybe some more!!

Brent Hutto

Re: Pitlochry profile posted under Courses by Country
« Reply #8 on: November 17, 2014, 07:40:49 PM »
RM,

The writeup I linked to is something more along the lines of the usual photo tour (albeit not remotely of quality comparable to one of Ran's or Sean's) so you might want to look through it.

Ronald Montesano

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Pitlochry profile posted under Courses by Country
« Reply #9 on: November 17, 2014, 08:01:14 PM »
Brent,

You are correct. That's the type of review that stands well with me.

Either way (yours or Ran's) I realize that Pitlochry must be fun golf.
Coming in 2024
~Elmira Country Club
~Soaring Eagles
~Bonavista
~Indian Hills
~Maybe some more!!

Tommy Williamsen

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Pitlochry profile posted under Courses by Country
« Reply #10 on: November 17, 2014, 08:54:17 PM »
My wife and I just stumbled onto this course twenty years ago and had a ball with the course.  We had played Loch Lomond the day before and we were on our way to Dornoch.  We saw the course and thought we might as well give it a go.  It was perfect.
Where there is no love, put love; there you will find love.
St. John of the Cross

"Deep within your soul-space is a magnificent cathedral where you are sweet beyond telling." Rumi

Mark Pearce

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Pitlochry profile posted under Courses by Country
« Reply #11 on: November 18, 2014, 03:31:21 AM »
How did you stumble on this gem?! Love this. That is a very cool clubhouse and the scenery looks breathtaking. Nice quirk to the course too. Now on the radar...
Seriously, Brian?  Pitlochry may not be well known outside the UK but I'm astonished a golfer as well tracvelled as you in the UK hasn't heard of it.  It has certainly been mentioned here a few times by Brent Hutto amongst others.  Delighted to see Ran profile it.
In June I will be riding the first three stages of this year's Tour de France route for charity.  630km (394 miles) in three days, with 7800m (25,600 feet) of climbing for the William Wates Memorial Trust (https://rideleloop.org/the-charity/) which supports underprivileged young people.

Mark Pearce

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Pitlochry profile posted under Courses by Country
« Reply #12 on: November 18, 2014, 12:29:43 PM »
You should.  It's not "great" golf but it is great fun and challenging enough.  Great views, too.
In June I will be riding the first three stages of this year's Tour de France route for charity.  630km (394 miles) in three days, with 7800m (25,600 feet) of climbing for the William Wates Memorial Trust (https://rideleloop.org/the-charity/) which supports underprivileged young people.

Bill_McBride

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Pitlochry profile posted under Courses by Country
« Reply #13 on: November 19, 2014, 02:21:04 PM »
Love the sign at the inn, "No slap and tickle of the wenches."   Pretty harsh.

Eric Smith

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Pitlochry profile posted under Courses by Country
« Reply #14 on: November 19, 2014, 03:45:24 PM »
Love the sign at the inn, "No slap and tickle of the wenches." 

"Drink up, me hearties, yo ho!"

Tom_Doak

  • Karma: +2/-1
Re: Pitlochry profile posted under Courses by Country
« Reply #15 on: November 19, 2014, 08:54:04 PM »
Ran:

Thanks for the nice write-up of a fine secluded course.  Pitlochry was my first stop on my way north from St. Andrews in the late summer of 1982, and I still remember it fondly even though I did not have time to stop in this summer on the way back from Askernish.

I wanted to include a picture of the clubhouse in the back of The Confidential Guide, but my 30-year-old slide was not quite sharp enough to use.  :(  It had the red roof back then but I believe it was quite a bit smaller.

James Boon

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Pitlochry profile posted under Courses by Country
« Reply #16 on: November 20, 2014, 04:30:57 PM »
Ran,

Many thanks for this profile (and thanks to Brent also for his additional link).

When I was a kid, my family had a regular winter break near Loch Tay, not far from Pitlochry, so I actually know the town well. I also often now stop off there on the way further north to visit my parents.

I've played most of the courses in the area, but with it being a winter holiday, snow and frost often got in the way and so I've never actually played Pitlochry (and for the same reason I've not played Gleneagles Queen's either!). As its now made it way into the the Golf Club Atlas "Hall of Fame"  ;D I really now need to make the effort to see it for myself!

Thanks again!

James
2023 Highlights: Hollinwell, Brora, Parkstone, Cavendish, Hallamshire, Sandmoor, Moortown, Elie, Crail, St Andrews (Himalayas & Eden), Chantilly, M, Hardelot Les Pins

"It celebrates the unadulterated pleasure of being in a dialogue with nature while knocking a ball round on foot." Richard Pennell

Adam Lawrence

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Re: Pitlochry profile posted under Courses by Country
« Reply #17 on: November 22, 2014, 07:15:13 AM »
Love the sign at the inn, "No slap and tickle of the wenches."   Pretty harsh.

We've got that poster on the wall in our front hall. I'll have no flea-bitten tramps in my home!
Adam Lawrence

Editor, Golf Course Architecture
www.golfcoursearchitecture.net

Principal, Oxford Golf Consulting
www.oxfordgolfconsulting.com

Author, 'More Enduring Than Brass: a biography of Harry Colt' (forthcoming).

Short words are best, and the old words, when short, are the best of all.

Paul Gray

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Re: Pitlochry profile posted under Courses by Country
« Reply #18 on: November 22, 2014, 05:23:00 PM »
Beautiful, pure, genuinely inspiring.

I'm not as enlightened as some and there's still a little of the 'pencil and card' about me so courses like that always make me want to play well.
In the places where golf cuts through pretension and elitism, it thrives and will continue to thrive because the simple virtues of the game and its attendant culture are allowed to be most apparent. - Tim Gavrich

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