Played here today...I had been curious for quite a while, and at only 12GBP (plus 1 quid for fairway mat hire) it would have been wrong not to!
While Tom D wouldn't have seen anything new (I doubt?!), I'd still have Arbroath as a good "4" on his scale - on the East coast of Scotland this of course places it firmly amongst the 'also rans,'and easily miss-able.
The course starts off southwards with seven holes on the inland side of the property. The first two are, in truth, slightly bland. The third, a short four, with a heavily protected green, calls for a little restraint with the OOB wall pinching in around the driving zone. Four is the first of a good set of threes, with a green sloping quickly from left towards a burn on the right. The other on the front, seven, is a quirkier number, tucked/angled into a punchbowl of dunes, with bunkers high. Five makes nice use of the OOB over gentle, more agricultural land; six is surprisingly rwild in its micro-contours with its green angled in the opposite direction.
Turning back, the eighth could be a classic. A mid-four with the railway line on the right, a high platform opens up a clear view of the green, but short of this leaves only the very top of the flagstick; playing left may be the ideal compromise, but two nasty pots await. Two more fours follow - the tenth has a nicely nestled green-site, beyond very flat ground - before turning back for two more. The twelth is rescued by a sharply canted green against the line of play, defended on the high-side by two deep pots. Back north, and on this occasion with the wind, holding the 25 yard deep, 8ft raised pimple, is not easy (even in winter!)
Only 5800 or so yards off the middle markers, the 200 yard-plus fourteenth adds some real bite. Tucked through a cut in a dune ridge, a run-up must carry be precise to carry some rumpled fore-ground and played with cut to hold a narrow green that falls away to the left. The blind drive from the fifteenth, to a double green, offers just enough variety. The par-three sixteenth tacks back south one last time - with five pots don't miss short! A short-five and mid-four return through the flatter opening section.
#7:
#8 (from short of RHS platform):
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[According to the current captain of the Arbroath Artisan Club they are struggling, and sadly down (from 75) to only 3 junior members (apparently it is not just them in that part of the world.)]