Tell me why you don’t like Brora

[Ben Sims]

Among the places some friends and I visited this year, Brora is dominating my thoughts. It didn’t blow my socks off and immediately feel like home the way Cruden Bay did. It didn’t beat me over the head with views and wonderful strategy and perfectly positioned bunkers hole after hole like Dornoch. And it didn’t evoke a sort of wistful links rawness the way Mach did.


But nonetheless, it’s the one I think about more and more. It was comfortable and situated so nicely on a piece of ground I really like. I actually think it shares many traits with Mildenhall, the first and only course I’d played in the UK until just last summer. A comfortable-in-its-skin golf course that’s neither over or under done.


So what am I missing? Am I generalizing too much and not specifying why I think it’s so good? Or are my generalities the result of it actually not having as many great traits as I think?

[Ira Fishman]

Ben,


This is what Ran stated about Brora on the 147 Custodians:


When people dream of playing golf in Scotland, this is what they are thinking of, even if they don’t know it.


Spot on in my view.


Ira

[Niall C]

Ben


I can't say that I don't love Brora but I can't rave about it either. It has its charms for sure but it's stronger holes (par 3's apart) also tend to be the least memorable the first few times played. I'm referring to the longer par 4's on the way out, a couple of which have very similar drives. For me, the more memorable holes also happen to be the weakest which is the closing 3 or 4 holes.


Personally I think Golspie the better course even if the contrast between links and heathland type holes jar a bit.


Niall

[Ken Moum]

Well, You sort of handicapped what's probably my favorite course by comparing it to those three.


I've played Cruden Bay a couple of times and Dornoch and Brora four or five times each, and I still think Brora is my favorite.


For me, the logic is simple.  I'm a 76 y.o. short hitter with a much better than average short game, and Brora doesn't beat me to death with length.


The last time I played CB was in a Mixed Greensomes Comp in a howling wind into us going out and there were some holes I couldn't reach the fairway from the medal tees. IIRC we shot something like 53 going out and 38 coming in.


Dornoch does have some glorious views, but so does Brora. I haven't been to Machrihanish, but compared to the polished. upscale presentation of Dornoch and maybe even CB, Brora is plenty raw for me.


In the end, I think it's mostly about personal taste.


FWIW, I'm a member at Golspie, and it pretty much beats me up as well.

[size=78%]In the   [/size]

[mike_malone]

Don’t like the   livestock. That’s all I got.



 

[Ken Moum]

Don’t like the livestock. That’s all I got.

Probably the reason I like it so much.

[mike_malone]

Don’t like the livestock. That’s all I got.

Probably the reason I like it so much.

I was going to say the electric fences around the greens. 

[Ben Sims]

Niall,


I’ll freely admit that the tee shots on the outward nine of Brora are the antithesis of Machrihanish; they reward a player that likes to throw fades up into the wind and hope the burn/dry burn gets carried. Mach is so much more penal in its execution of outward tee shots. Based on my playing style, maybe this is why I prefer Brora. Cause surely Mach has better greens right? And isn’t that what matters most? Im struggling here.


Ken,


You call it handicapping and I call it making an argument that they’re peers. If Dornoch is Greg Maddux and Cruden Bay is John Smoltz, then Brora is surely the smooth and crafty Tom Glavine.


I really think Brora fits into the rotation that easily. I’ll go one further, if Brora had no livestock, no electric fences, and they tried harder to water-in more visually distinctive playing corridors and less moddled (i.e., PERFECT!!) turf, they’d be mentioned alongside a ton of their Scottish contemporaries. Let’s hope they never do that. I think they had the best turf of any course I visited this summer.


Last thing Ken. You and I are likely wildly disparate in tee shot distances and I like Brora quite a bit. It offered me the ability to make shot choices off the tee in a way I didn’t anywhere else except maybe Cruden Bay.
 

[Thomas Dai]

Don’t like the livestock. That’s all I got.

Probably the reason I like it so much.

100%
The relationship between the course and the grazing animals is, like it is in other places akin to it, one of the great attractions of golf in locations like Brora. Wish there more courses similar. Golf combined with nature rather than golf excluding nature.
Atb

[Ben Stephens]

Don’t like the livestock. That’s all I got.

Probably the reason I like it so much.

100%
The relationship between the course and the grazing animals is, like it is in other places akin to it, one of the great attractions of golf in locations like Brora. Wish there more courses similar. Golf combined with nature rather than golf excluding nature.
Atb

Royal Copenhagen has around 2000 deer on the course and they graze the 400 year untouched rough areas. Need to go to Brora next year I hope!

[Niall C]

Don’t like the livestock. That’s all I got.

Probably the reason I like it so much.

100%
The relationship between the course and the grazing animals is, like it is in other places akin to it, one of the great attractions of golf in locations like Brora. Wish there more courses similar. Golf combined with nature rather than golf excluding nature.
Atb

David


Is hemming in farm animals so that they eat the grass anymore natural than say mowing the fairways and greens and leaving the areas outwith those areas to their own devices ?


Niall

[David_Tepper]

I have probably played Brora at least 30-40 times over the past 25 years. I have mixed feeling about it.

It is probably the "purest" links in the Highlands. The course is a good example of James Braid's practice of routing the four par-3's in four different directions and mixing short (under 350 yards) par-4's (#1, #2, #4, #7, #12, #14, #16) with long (over 400 yards) par-4's (#3, #5, #15, #17).  There are no par-4's between 341 and 398 yards.

There is no gorse in play anywhere on the course, which I think is a good thing. In fact there is almost no gorse anywhere on the course.

On the other hand, the property is so wide open I have always had a tough time focusing on where the holes are, how they go and what they look like. It probably took me at least 20 plays to be able to recall all the holes on the back-9. I still have a hard time remembering some of the holes on the front-9. I still have to look at my course guide to remember where to aim some of my shots.

In addition, there are probably a few too many blind shots (6-8?) on the course for me.
 
Finally, while I appreciate the novelty of having livestock roam the course, I am not a fan. I don't enjoy having to keep an eye out for the droppings that litter the course. Every time I finish a round I feel like I should be disinfecting my clubs and my shoes.

My guess is the membership would be thrilled if the crofters gave up their grazing rights to the course.

It is no secret I am a big fan of Golspie. I would prefer to play there 4 out of 5 times. 

[Ben Sims]

David,


Terrific post, thank you. I’m pretty good with hole recall (some people here have superpowers at that skill) and I too struggle to really separate a few of the holes on the outward nine. I’m a bit better with the inward holes. But speaking about routing and pacing, I think Brora has a better set of one-shotters than any course I’ve seen in Scotland. They are spaced out in a way I enjoy and I also enjoy that the final hole could’ve been—like many links—a pushover par 4 with a slight walk back to the right. Braid resisted that notion and the club has stuck with the decision to make it a hard par 3.


As for the livestock, I’ll just say that they added not one bit of interest to the golf experience for me. But I also think the terrific presentation and playability (those indistinct corridors you spoke of as well as the quality of links turf) of the course is at least partly due to their presence.

[Simon Barrington]

...The course is a good example of James Braid's practice of routing the four par-3's in four different directions...

Hello David

Thanks for mentioning this as this is one of the nicer James Braid myths that I have, yet, to find how or from where it emanates.
(Some other myths are far less constructive)

There is nothing in "Advanced Golf" (1908) that defines that practice, and he was quite specific about many other matters.

He does in this "seminal" work (which BTW is much under-read), infer variety in everything, but describes this far more in terms of differing yardage on one-shot holes, rather than direction.

He was IMHO one of the great minimalists, as OTM before him by necessity both, in creatively routing courses by finding (and not building) holes in nature, often on sites and budgets others would eschew.

So, it would be virtually impossible to impose the 4-points of the compass theory for four one-shot holes on every site, and I believe there are very few that do manage it from the routings I have seen or researched. Brora may be one, but I suggest that is by chance/serendipity and not design/intent.

Given he worked on 530+ courses it is reasonable to expect that there may be one or two that match the theory, simply by chance, but they would be exceptions to, rather than the confirmation of the rule...

Of course very happy if someone has found a James Braid quote that fills this void and confirms the myth, I keep looking and have not found it yet...

Cheers

[David_Tepper]

Ben -

I don't know if you have played the five par-3's at Golspie. Individually and as a group I think they are very, very good. The greens on #2, #6 & #16 are especially good. Of course James Braid worked on Golspie as well in the 1920's.

Simon -

I will certainly defer to your expertise re: the directions of Braid's par-3 holes. I have no idea where I got that idea, but it was likely reading a post on this chatboard.

DT
 

[Ben Sims]

Ben -

I don't know if you have played the five par-3's at Golspie. Individually and as a group I think they are very, very good. The greens on #2, #6 & #16 are especially good.

 

I have not been to Golspie yet, other than driving through it. But it is on the list for next summer without question. Fingers crossed the sea stays at bay.

[Simon Barrington]

Simon -
I will certainly defer to your expertise re: the directions of Braid's par-3 holes. I have no idea where I got that idea, but it was likely reading a post on this chatboard.
DT

No problem, glad you did cite it as you are far from alone, it crops up quite regularly.

As I mentioned there are other Braid myths that are far less generous, but equally as unfounded.

Cheers
(Not an expert, always learning)

[Ian Mackenzie]

Brora is pure fun.


It's not long, but you'd better take 2 extra clubs for your tee shot on 18.
After playing there with a buddy last year, we had a late lunch in their pub and just watched people tee off.


Men well into their 70s.
A 3-some of women.
Some couples.


Some golf tourists, of course, like us.


Then, a group of 4 local kids maybe 14 or 15 years old and dressed like they just got out of school.
They were sharing 2 bags and had, let's just say, some learning to do about the game.


But they were having fun and to my joy, let the group behind them play through immediately while they thrashed away at the ball.


Brora is a town course, it's the lesser star to Dornoch.
It has struggled, yet survived.
It receives overtures, yet demurs.
It's a bit scruffy, but challenges players of all levels.


I've played it with my wife and she loved it.
I've played it with a GCA snob and he loved it.
I've played it with my best friend, an athletic 14 hdcp, and he loved it.


The place is timeless and will look just as it does now in 50 years.
Cant wait to get back there.

[Thomas Dai]

My guess is the membership would be thrilled if the crofters gave up their grazing rights to the course.

Speculation is a wonderful thing. Indeed one cannot but help speculate how the crofters etc must have felt when folks first started to hit wee balls with sticks into holes in the ground on land that had been grazed by animals for likely centuries. And how they felt when golfers additionally commenced to make golfing features on the land.
Atb

[David_Tepper]

"Indeed one cannot but help speculate how the crofters etc must have felt when folks first started to hit wee balls with sticks into holes in the ground on land that had been grazed by animals for likely centuries."

Well, considering that some of the crofters were very possibly among the ones whacking the "wee balls" about with their sticks and staffs, my guess is they were amused and entertained.    

[Adam Lawrence]

My guess is the membership would be thrilled if the crofters gave up their grazing rights to the course.

Speculation is a wonderful thing. Indeed one cannot but help speculate how the crofters etc must have felt when folks first started to hit wee balls with sticks into holes in the ground on land that had been grazed by animals for likely centuries. And how they felt when golfers additionally commenced to make golfing features on the land.
Atb

The other side is this question is that the Crofters Holdings (Scotland) Act that created crofting tenure was passed in 1886, while the golf club came into existence in 1891. Before the Act, the tenants could (and many thousands were, read about the Highland Clearances) just turned off the land by the owners, and often forced to emigrate. Obviously there were grazing animals before the creation of crofting tenure, but I’m sure there was golf played in Brora before the formal creation of the golf club. So it is more nuanced than it might at first seem.

[Ira Fishman]

Ben -

I don't know if you have played the five par-3's at Golspie. Individually and as a group I think they are very, very good. The greens on #2, #6 & #16 are especially good. Of course James Braid worked on Golspie as well in the 1920's.

Simon -

I will certainly defer to your expertise re: the directions of Braid's par-3 holes. I have no idea where I got that idea, but it was likely reading a post on this chatboard.

DT
 

As David knows, Golspie is one of my all time favorites. And the par 3s are as a good a set as I have played anywhere.


So I prefer Golspie to Brora. But Brora does have one advantage: the ground game is superb. I had an excellent caddie (former club champion), and he would tell me where and how far short of the green to hit. I was playing well for me, and it was so enjoyable to watch a shot skitter to a good place.


Ira

[Niall C]

My guess is the membership would be thrilled if the crofters gave up their grazing rights to the course.

Speculation is a wonderful thing. Indeed one cannot but help speculate how the crofters etc must have felt when folks first started to hit wee balls with sticks into holes in the ground on land that had been grazed by animals for likely centuries. And how they felt when golfers additionally commenced to make golfing features on the land.
Atb

The other side is this question is that the Crofters Holdings (Scotland) Act that created crofting tenure was passed in 1886, while the golf club came into existence in 1891. Before the Act, the tenants could (and many thousands were, read about the Highland Clearances) just turned off the land by the owners, and often forced to emigrate. Obviously there were grazing animals before the creation of crofting tenure, but I’m sure there was golf played in Brora before the formal creation of the golf club. So it is more nuanced than it might at first seem.

Adam,


Was/is Brora designated a crofting parish under the legislation ? I ask the question as I don't know but from a quick google search it doesn't appear to be today but might have been back then ? If Brora wasn't designated a crofting parish then there would be no crofts.


I think it more likely that the land is either common land or common good. Common land or commonties as it is also called is I believe rarer than common good land. From what I recall part of the Dornoch course is common good which basically means it is owned by the Council and to be managed by them for the benefit of the burgh of Dornoch. Common land in Scotland, as I understand it, basically means as it sounds with it being a free for all in terms of use.


Niall


 

[Tom_Doak]

IIRC, Brora bought the grazing rights back from the commons a couple of years ago, so they could take the cows off the course if they wanted to.  I hope they never do.


I like the course a lot, though I would probably rate it [and probably have rated it] a notch below Cruden Bay and some of the other courses mentioned.  The tee shots on the outward holes are a big part of that reasoning.  There are several fairways that are interrupted in a spot you can get to if the wind isn't blowing into you, and I have played it in that "unusual" wind two out of two times I played there.  Plus I'm not particularly a fan of the 18th hole.  But that's nit-picking -- a 7 on the Doak Scale is not to be sneezed at.

[Tony_Muldoon]

After a 16 year hiatus have returned the past two summers and conclude its the very essence of what I love in golf. Hi it the ball(always) find it and then work out what to do next. Due to the combination of landform and wind, the next shot is always new. Greens are small and more interesting than the general discussion suggests.

're 18.  It is controversial and having it right at the end leaves a dominant memory that erases much you've seen before.  For a decade and a half it was the only strong image I could recall.
Having now closely "studied" it from the safety of the bar, I think the best way to play it is like the really old guys do. Bunt a driver approx 150 yards, land on the downslope and the ball feeds up the hill to stay on the green. Simple😂.