Far Away FRASERBURGH GC

[Sean_A]

The first thing I noticed when walking into the humble house was a set of John Letters irons tucked in an old leather bag. John Letters launched the Golden Goose Putter. Anyone who plays crazy golf will instantly recognize the ambidextrous style. Little known now, but many famous golfers used J Letters clubs.


A closer look.


Founded in 1777, Fraserburgh GC is the 5th oldest club in Scotland which de facto makes it one of the oldest in existence. The original course played over the Fraserburgh Links which I suspect has at least partially succumbed to the growth of the town. It wasn’t until 1891 that the club moved to Philorth Links outside of town.  By the early 1920s James Braid had designed the Corbiehill Course which used land on both sides of the B9033. Successive design teams created new holes at 15-17 in the 1950s and 8, 9, 11 & 12 in the 1970s. Four of Braid’s holes were left stranded on the clubhouse side of the course and are now part of the 9-hole Rosehill Course. 

The 1st & 18th are characterised by very flat land and thus pale in comparison to the remaining holes. Things quickly ramp up on the 2nd, perhaps Fraserburgh's best hole. Playing uphill all the way, for most two blows will not do the job of reaching the green near the top of Corbie Hill...presumably.




The hill is an important feature of the design, perhaps too much so. The no nonsense 3rd descends straight down the hill. Views around the course rather reminds me of a rustic version of Gullane. Very attractive space to play which isn't interrupted by too many dunes.




The false front is in direct contrast to the shelf green on the 4th.


The 4th heads back up the hill.




More to follow.

Ciao

[Ira Fishman]

Sean,


I am very glad you are doing a photo tour. We thoroughly enjoyed Fraserburgh even on a very raw, windy day. Indeed, my wife was telling a golf friend about it just the other day.

[Ian Andrew]

It’s one of my all time favorites. The front nine was super fun once you got past the 1st. The early run of holes is fabulous. And then you get to the 13th. Wow. It’s definitely one the best in golf.


9th green on the Olympic course was based upon that green.

[ward peyronnin]

Two things somewhat singular to this proerty struck me.I love the "clean" presentation their consistent and studied uniformity of fauna throughout the course. Little or no gorse or other taller denser plants give way to turf and sea grass native areas whose connectivity removes distraction for the player from the wonderful land forms, views, and  hole designs.I also enjoyed the small, and I mean small, dashes of clupms of wildflowers scatterred sparsely amongst the playing corridors. Just delightful.

[Sean_A]

Two things somewhat singular to this proerty struck me.I love the "clean" presentation their consistent and studied uniformity of fauna throughout the course. Little or no gorse or other taller denser plants give way to turf and sea grass native areas whose connectivity removes distraction for the player from the wonderful land forms, views, and  hole designs.I also enjoyed the small, and I mean small, dashes of clupms of wildflowers scatterred sparsely amongst the playing corridors. Just delightful.

Wardo

I agree. There is certainly more of an element of the natural about Fraserburgh than many links. I also agree that it is lovely to have an open landscape.

Fraserburgh Tour Cont

Another lovely hole, the short 5th has tons of space around the hole.


An uphill par five, the tee shot for 6 is up and over and blind, but this isn't an issue. The real work begins on the next two shots. Below is the approach after a conservative lay-up. The interesting green is problemantic to hit in two.

The course seems to go over hill and dale! The 7th is a charming downhill short hole. It doesn't play very linksy at all. In fact, there is some heavy turf here and there especially for the holes over the hill and nearest the road.


8 & 9 sit alongside each other heading up then down the hill. I am not overly keen on the 8th, but the 9th runs over some bumpy terrain. Its a shame we had such a gloomy, dark day because much of the terrain is captivating.


More to follow.

Ciao

[Ian Andrew]

deleted

[Sean_A]

Delete.

[Ian Andrew]

I deleted my post

[Sean_A]

Fraserburgh Tour Cont

There are very few holes playing towards/away from the beach, one of Fraserburgh's routing weaknesses. The 10th, however, doglegs away from the beach which bucks the trend. This is a short 4 which many people can drive, but it would take a great deal of good fortune to hit the green.


My approach from the right side of the fairway was blind to a green which is reminscent of the Postage Stamp.






Similar to 8 & 9, 11 & 12 play up and down the hill. 11 is a toilsome hole, but the 12th plays over more interesting ground. Either way, it seems obvious these are not ancient holes. Below is the approach after a blind drive.


Similar in style to the 10th, the 13th is a rambunctious hole which doesn't require length to play it well. It is also the only hole which truly plays on the east-west axis.


Spectacle bunkers can block the view of the flag and essential parts of the green.


Just beyond the spectacles.


Looking back to the tee.


More to follow.

Ciao

[Ian Andrew]

The 13th goes on my own personal list of the best 18 holes I have ever played. Fairway is full of super fun undulations. Took some time and played around with ground based approach shots due to heavy wind. Got one to run through the gap and up the back .... and stop ...  and come back down into the bowl. So much fun! Probably the most fun I've had trying to get that shot to work.

[Simon Barrington]

The 13th goes on my own personal list of the best 18 holes I have ever played. Fairway is full of super fun undulations. Took some time and played around with ground based approach shots due to heavy wind. Got one to run through the gap and up the back .... and stop ...  and come back down into the bowl. So much fun! Probably the most fun I've had trying to get that shot to work.

The framing humps are somewhat reminiscent of the approach to Cleeve's 13th, and what you describe is the enduring beauty and fun of the fully dimensional ground game, can feel the excitement in your words. Precious old style quirk!

[Tony_Muldoon]

The 10th and 13th are IIRC the two shortest Par 4's on the course. 

Neither were won in 4BBB with a Par! 

I recall hitting good drives on both.

Hats off to Mr Braid.

[Niall C]

The 10th and 13th are IIRC the two shortest Par 4's on the course. 

Neither were won in 4BBB with a Par! 

Maybe not in your fourball......


Niall

[Sean_A]

The 10th and 13th are IIRC the two shortest Par 4's on the course. 

Neither were won in 4BBB with a Par! 

I recall hitting good drives on both.

Hats off to Mr Braid.

Spangles, they might be the best two 4s on the course.

Fraserburgh Tour Cont

A good short hole, 14 required a driver for me. Like several holes, I get the feeling some grass was cut, the green shaped a bit and there ya go, a hole.


15 & 16 play through a chute of dunes. These holes seem as though they are one par 9. No matter how you play them, 9 is a good score. Below is another example of the refreshingly simple style of Fraserburgh...15 green.


16th.


Many of the holes feature good land movement...approach to 16.


One last short hole, the 17th is not so short. A look at the hlole from the 2nd with Fraserburgh, the marina and Macduff Shipyards in the background.


17 from the tee.


The home hole is better than the neighbouring 1st, but it’s certainly not something to ponder over. The start and finish doesn't detour me from liking Fraserburgh...a lot. We turned up on a weekend morning in summer to find an empty club and nearly carless lot. I am unsure as to why Fraserburgh is not more respected or better known. There are too many good holes for Fraserburgh not to be considered worthwhile. Examples of quality holes such as 2-7, 10, 13, 14 & 17 is more than enough to justify adding to a trip in the area. Much like Moray, the club is interested in attracting visitors and will entertain phone calls to discuss terms. Make the call.  2024



Ciao

[Ben Sims]

Thanks Sean. Not that this is new territory for you, but you have a terrific knack for highlighting courses.


Fraserburgh is most certainly in that category of second tier Scottish links where someone often says “if it was in the US this would be (insert huge green fee or packed tee sheet)”.


One of the many charms of traveling to the UK to play is the sheer availability of really good golf that isn’t crowded or overpriced. Theres only one course I’ve played in the UK where we couldn’t go out whenever we wanted and/or had to wait to play a shot. That’s rare.

[Ira Fishman]

Sean, thanks for the terrific tour. It brought back very fond memories of our Fraserburgh visit last year.


Ira

[Sean_A]

Thank you Ben and Ira.

I remain perplexed as to where the people were when we played. Fraserburgh seems like it should be on the radar given its proximity to so many well known courses.

Cruden Bay wasn’t rammed either, but there was a steady flow of members and visitors.

Ciao

[Ben Stephens]

Sean,




Any idea what CDP proposals are for Fraserburgh?


Also did you manage to play the other 9 hole course - it has 4 of the original holes according to the club website.




Cheers
Ben

[Thomas Dai]

Thanks for the profile.
It’s a surprisingly long way to ‘The Broch’, aka Fraserburgh, being another hours drive north of Aberdeen. Plus it’s a relatively cold and bleak and windy place and sits on a coastal limb with 270* of sea and not much else surrounding it. Not I’d imagine necessarily the most tourist or visitor appetising type of place to visit especially given the climate despite irrespective of the merits of its golf course.
Hopefully with more profiling occurring and maybe some CDP upgrades the course will become better known and more played. I wish it well for the future.
Atb

[Brian Walshe]

Thanks for the review Sean!  Almost exactly a year since the Pilot and I played Fraserburgh so it was great to relive some of the holes.  As Sean points out, 1 and 18 are mundane bookends but the other 16 holes make the trip worth it.  I'm not sure I have seen as much variation between two consecutive holes as 1 and 2.  As flat as 1 is, 2 goes the other way as it snakes up Corbie Hill.  10 and 13 are both terrific short 4's, although ignorance was bliss when pitching to the front pin on 10.  Not sure I would have been so brave had I known how small the target was.  As for 13, like most first timers we played around working out what you could do off the back slope once we had putted out.


The other great thing about Fraserburgh is how friendly a club it is.  We played in one of their Open tournaments and were made very welcome and had a great time chatting with the locals after our round.   







 

[Sean_A]

Thanks for the review Sean!  Almost exactly a year since the Pilot and I played Fraserburgh so it was great to relive some of the holes.  As Sean points out, 1 and 18 are mundane bookends but the other 16 holes make the trip worth it.  I'm not sure I have seen as much variation between two consecutive holes as 1 and 2.  As flat as 1 is, 2 goes the other way as it snakes up Corbie Hill.  10 and 13 are both terrific short 4's, although ignorance was bliss when pitching to the front pin on 10.  Not sure I would have been so brave had I known how small the target was.  As for 13, like most first timers we played around working out what you could do off the back slope once we had putted out.


The other great thing about Fraserburgh is how friendly a club it is.  We played in one of their Open tournaments and were made very welcome and had a great time chatting with the locals after our round.

Yer welcome Brian. The back to back holes which intrigued me the most are 3 & 4. The totally different treatment of the greens for the uphill approaches is cool.

Ciao