I had the good fortune to head up to Scotland for a long weekend of golf. I played Southerness, and both Turnberry courses and I am confident in writing that the wind was a feature. Everyday the wind was a steady 30ishmph with gusts up to about 50ishmph. The element which surprised and delighted me the most was that all three courses were playable in that wind. None were too narrow or had too much bunkering which had to be carried. Below are some Southerness pix. They aren't very good because the weather wasn't kind, but thats life.
Approach to #1. Typical sort of hole. Very low grade, simple, straightforward golf.
Approach to the 3rd. One of the better holes on the course and also one of many par 4s that were unreachable!
A closer look at #3.
The short 4th which was a driver. This is the middle hole of probably the best 3 hole stretch on the course.
The par 5 5th is another very good hole. Its all about position on the drive (out the the right which makes cutting the dogleg not much of an advantage) to be able to run up the spine to the green.
The angle of approach is up the spine on the right. Anything coming to the fat of the green on left will be kicked away.
The long par 4 9th is a very cool hole. Notice the cluster of bunkers. Southerness has three or four holes which have these bunkers in seeming odd places miles up the fairway. We found out that these are reachable off the tee even in March.
I really liked the short 10th as well. The bunkering leaves room to the left to kick a ball up, but its hard to get close unless you judge the ridge which turns the balls toward a cntre or right pin placement.
The 11th is clever as well. There is a burn with a high bank just short of the green which makes approaching downwind very tricky.
I spose the 12th is the signature hole. Yet another unreachable hole into a good wind. I reckon downwind it would be nasty as well, just over the back is the the Solway Firth.
A view of the green from near the 13th tee.
Another low-grade green - the 13th.
Another driver par 3 - the 17th.
Tee shot for #18, the second par 5. To offer an idea of the wind, this 480 yard hole playe driver - wedge whereas #7, a 215 yard par 3 played driver - 8 iron. Its the player's choice how much of this dogleg they want to take on. The pole is a tiger line.
This pic is terrible, but the green is a clever one. It runs away from the player and makes this very reachable par 5 very tough to birdie.
Overall, I was impressed with Southerness. It doesn't have a single hole which will knock your socks off, but the golf is consistently of a high standard and it is very affordable. There is more heather on this course than on most heathland courses and the club is trying to grow more. Also, I reckon from the back tees, just under 6600 yards with a par of 69 is as tough as most would want to play. I give Southerness an SRA rating of 6.2.
I will post some Kintyre pix next.
Ciao