Jon and I played our match at Peterhead last Saturday on what turned out to be a relatively still if chilly winters day. It took Jon the best part of 3 hours to get there and me 3.5 hours. Not surprisingly then we both got off to slow starts with me topping my tee shot at the first into the rough resulting in a lost ball with my first shot ! Not surprisingly Jon quickly got into a 2 hole lead which I managed to peg back by the turn. As the game went on I managed to play a bit better and again getting a few up and downs, and with the number of shots Jon was having to give me, I managed to par him to death in the last few holes allowing me to win at the 16th.
As for the course, it lived up to its rep which is to say it has some goof fun golf but also is a bit uneven and in some respects disappointing. In the late 1960's the course lost the 15th, 16th and 17th to coastal erosion and these holes were replaced on the inland flatter land. At the same time you sense that they must have moved a few greens, tees, routing or whatever to accommodate the changes as it feels as though it has all the right component parts but not necessarily in the right places (to sort of paraphrase Eric Morecombe). At the time of the changes the club also had to build a new clubhouse for the same reason which more than likely used up most of their available funds, which is a shame as there is enough links land at the far end of the course to probably build another two courses.
Another couple of points worth mentioning is that on a couple of the holes it was obvious that landing areas had been bulldozed flat which was a bit disappointing and maybe done at the time of the 1970 changes ? It also, very disappointingly has areas of the most horrible ball guzzling rough imaginable but lets hope that is just a seasonal thing.
I'm conscious I've focused on some of the negatives but that's why it is a step or two down from the Moray's, Fraserburgh, Nairns and Dornochs but I'd still recommend it but not as highly as the others. However to finish on an up point, the members and staff that we met were probably the friendliest I've met anywhere and make the club a pleasure to visit.
Niall