ABERFOYLE GOLF CLUB (Full 18 hole tour): Quirk in the Trossachs

[Robin_Hiseman]

A first photo tour for me which i'll do a bit at a time, so be patient!

A quick scan of the search box reveals just two previous mentions of this wonderful little Scottish course, nestling at the threshold of the Highlands, some 25 miles from Glasgow and 15 miles from Stirling. It is not the kind of course you will find on any recommended tour itinerary, but it is the kind of course that Britain and Scotland in particular, do so very well. Generally short, undulating village courses, created to serve the local community in times gone by. It is a close cousin to our beloved Painswick and falls within the genre populated by other courses such as Kington, Cleeve Hill, Windermere, Church Stretton, Strathpeffer Spa and Glencruitten. I know its the kind of course that GCA folk relish and I hope this reveal will tempt you to pay them a visit. Rumour has it that times are hard for the course, with the threat of partial closure and possibly the reduction to 9 holes at most. I hope this isn't true.

I played it with my father, as a spur of the moment alternative to our usual track at Royal Balfron, of which we're both members. Royal Balfron has a reciprocal deal, so on a Sunday morning we paid just £10. Usually it is £20 for a round during the week and just £25 for the day!

The course dates from 1890 and was 9 holes for much of its existence, until extended to 18 in the 1980's. Extended is a loose description as at full stretch it is just 5158 Yards, Par 66. Off the Yellows this drops to 4,767. Just as with Painswick, the yardage tells nothing of the challenge you will face. Strong side slopes, trees, rocks, burns and lots of rough await. It's an absolute treat, as I hope the following photo tour will demonstrate.



First off, the aerial view hints at the compact nature of the layout. You'll have fun working out which hole is which as we go around.


The basic but friendly clubhouse.


Hole 1: Braeval, 318 Yards, Par 4
Loads of space for the opening drive, with the 18th hole crossing from left to right. My father is on the yellow tee, from where it is just 262 Yards. You'll probably not want to take a driver, because of the proximity of the main road to the right. You cant see the green because...


...it hides behind the hill in a Cruden Bay style punchbowl green!



From behind and you can see how woolly the side banks are, so it isn't so easy to use them to feed into the green. I couldn't be too critical because I suspect that greenkeeping resources are minimal.


Hole 2: Sandhills, 340 Yards Par 4
The battle with the strong side hill starts in earnest now. Tough to keep this one on the fairway.


Second shot over the ditches to the bowl like green setting. Again, don't expect any joy in using the banks.


Looking back down 2.


Hole 3: Quarry, 359 Yards Par 4
A flatter fairway for this one, but narrow with it and we were unsure what lay over the brow.


Not much space to tee up!


The green is pretty tightly guarded and you want to miss that rough!


Gives a good idea of how the slope is tightening up and just how small the greens are. Notice the (in)famous 4th in the background.


Hole 4: Alma, 256 Yards Par 4
Aberfoyle's most famous hole and definitely one for the quirk fans! Yes, it really is that steep! The green is perched way up on the ledge in the distance.


Yes, up there!


The green is unbelievably narrow...and the ball will generally stick on the top side bank.


A fabulously unusual hole. I just love weird little holes like this.

[Jim McCann]

Robin

Great shout!

I'm really looking forward to your photo tour as I played Aberfoyle a couple of years ago in a Gents Seniors event and didn't think it was right to take snaps during the competition.

It's a cracking wee track with plenty of interesting holes to keep golfers fully engaged from start to finish.

[Paul Gray]

Robin,

Excellent work. I already love the course.

I do feel, based purely on the photos, that a trick is being missed by limited mowing of the grass around the greens. As you said though, if resources are scarce, what can you do.

[Thomas Dai]

Terrific thread Robin. Looking forward to seeing more of the course. Love the 4th green - have you ever played a green that's thinner? - looks like the 4th would achieve a high rating on my 'rascal' scale.
atb

[Robin_Hiseman]

Hole 5: Monivrachie 227 Yards, Par 3
After the hefty climb up the 4th, we've now reached the highest point of the course and the first and longest of the six short holes. We didn't play from the whites, though the yellows were plenty long enough at 194 yards. Quite a straightforward and blessedly flat hole though not really a lot going on. The conifers behind the green block out a lovely view, but we won't have to wait much longer to take in the panorama.


Beautiful highland forests come right down to the side of the course.


Hole 6: Ditches 160 Par 3
Finally, the full majesty of the highlands is revealed, with Ben Lomond dominating the far horizon. Quite a steep drop shot hole here for the second consecutive short hole. I thought i'd hit it down the stick, but this is a deceptively sloping green and my ball tumbled off the left edge and into more tangly surrounds. With something like a 1:20 slope this green is a devil.

[
Hole 7:Covenanters 305 Yards, Par 4
This is an odd little hole. You can just about see the marker post down below. Beyond it is a white sign with '7' written on it and an arrow pointing to the left! My Dad said I could probably drive the green if I cut the corner, but as I didn't have a clue what was around there I settled for a 5 hybrid (you don't need any more) and hit a beauty that landed to the left of the marker and caught the slope to run out of sight around the corner.


A closer look at the sign and the hard left turn down to the green. Two of those white objects in the fairway are balls. We were both pretty pleased to find this one, as disaster is all around.


A clutch of sneaky bunkers lie hidden behind the green. These 'pringles' spoil the hole somewhat and they're not the last we'll come across.



Hole 8: Barratt 158 Yards Par 3
Back up the hill for another par 3 which nestles in the dogleg of the 7th.


Another slopey green (though it doesn't look it) and the 7th green beyond.


Hole 9: Dounans 376 Yards Par 4
After a fair old hike up the hill and after getting your breath back, you can finally pull the driver out of the bag and rip one away with confidence. The fairway is huge and shared with the 17th hole, whose tee you can see to the right. A couple more 'pringles' bunkers spoil the view. They have the look of 'DIY' additions.


The old boy wasn't too happy at walking back up the fairway to retrieve a dropped headcover, especially when he discovered it was mine! You can get an idea of the drop from the tee. Could have happily hit drives down this hole for a good while longer.

That's halfway around. More to follow.

[Niall C]

Robin

Excellent stuff. I got taken to play this course about 20 years ago by my flatmate at the time. My memory is a bit hazy as to the detail of the course but I certainly recall the 4th. I also seem to recall there was a good bit less long grass. Suspect that's just the time of year.

Looking forward to the rest of the tour.

Niall

[James Boon]

Excellent work Robin for your first photo tour, thanks for the pictures! I especially like the use of a driver as an indication of scale! Probably not something required on many other courses...

It certainly looks a shame that they havent the maintenance budget to cut more short grass around some of those interestingly contoured green surrounds. Perhaps they should let a local farmer keep some of his sheep on the course to keep the grass down and bring some cash in?   

I like the look of 4, though when I first saw the photo I must have been skipping through your descriptions as I thought it was probably from a short par 3. Is the green driveable at all do you think? Would be interesting with a green that narrow!

Looking forwards to the rest of the course.

Cheers,

James

[Marty Bonnar]

I once had a serious case of Quirk in the Trossachs, but the Doctor gave me some ointment...

Great Tour, Robin. We really have some cracking little gems around, don't we?

cheers,
M.

[jeffwarne]

Excellent photos!
Thanks for posting
Look like a great place to play

[Robin_Hiseman]

Martin, I teed that one up quite high, so thanks for taking a swing at it!

James, the yardage on 4 would suggest you can, but it is way up in the sky and protected by thick gunch on the direct line. I took 5 without hitting a bad shot, so it might be worth a dig.

You might remember there is a book called 'Britain's 100 Extraordinary Golf Holes'.  The 4th isn't in it, which is a mistake, because it is certainly one of the freakiest holes in the UK.

[ward peyronnin]

Robin

I LOVE what I am seeing and i would bet the 19 th hole is a great place to start some craic

On my fucket a i mean bucket list fer sure

[Robin_Hiseman]

Time for one more.


Hole 10: Roderick, 123 Yards Par 3
Here's a cheeky wee hole. No more than a wedge or 9-iron, but with a stream to the right and the wall to the left you've got to be really accurate. Going over the wall is a guaranteed double. Just no room to get it up and down in time.


Shades of North Berwick?

[Richard Hetzel]

Great pics! I love courses like this!

[Neil White]

Shades of North Berwick?

Robin,

Thoroughly enjoying this tour.

Love the wall in the above photo, covered in lichen and moss.... gorgeous.

Neil.

[Paul Gray]

Something about this course has utterly grabbed me. There's a purity about it which, for me, is what the game is all about.

On Thursday there is every chance I'm going to get a new contract which will mean no weekday golf. Boo hiss.

I am extremely tempted to jump in the car right now and drive to Scotland to play this beauty.

[David Stamm]

What a neat looking place! The 4th's green looks like the precursor to RTJ's green on the 4th at Spyglass Hill.

[Thomas Dai]

Who's going to be the first person to suggest some trees need to be removed on this hole?

Wonderful tour Robin. Really enjoying it and very much looking forward to seeing the rest of the course and reading your thoughts.

atb

[Niall C]

Robin

Excellent stuff. That par 3 with the wall reminds me of a similar hole at Brampton near Carlisle. Anyone played it ?

Niall

[Robin_Hiseman]

Thanks to all who have responded with comments. I'm glad you're enjoying the tour. There are still plenty of good holes to come.

At the start I told you how the course was extended to 18 holes back in the 80's. With the 11th, we're heading into the new land with a vengeance. In fact, all the holes since the 7th have been newer, either in whole or in part. I'm pretty sure that 7, 8 and 10 date from this extension. Anyway, onwards!


Hole 11: Inverard, 401 Yards, Par 4
The challenge steps up a notch with a challenging, narrow tee shot over a brow. Without much clue of what was over the brow, I choked back on a 3-wood, but the old boy borrowed my new blue Cobra...and chunked it into the bracken on the right! As it happens, there was a fair amount of room over the brow, but you'd struggle to find anything that misses at this time of year.



Something approaching a regular looking shot for the first time in a while. No bunkers to worry about up at the green, but if you're coming in from a way back it will be the first time you'll really have hit a full shot off the deck, so adding to the degree of difficulty.



In the background you can see the benefit gained from getting a good drive away and benefitting from the kick slope beyond the marker post.




Hole 12: White Rose, 169 Yards, Par 3
Time for a 'knob-to-knob' par 3 across a lush and presumably quite boggy vale. Once again, the woolly banks won't do you any favours, but it's an attractive shot from this white tee. Plays nearly 40 yards shorter from the yellows, which you can see down to the right.



It's a tasty panorama looking back from behind the green. You can see the next green up to the left and its worth spending a few moments taking in this view of the long 14th heading up the hillside, as you won't see any of it from the tee.

More to follow...

[Paul Gray]

Robin,

The excellent tour continues. 

As someone yet to make the effort to provide such a guide, thank you again for your hard work.

[Robin_Hiseman]

Time for a couple more holes to keep you going.


Hole 13: Forest Hills, 158 Yards, Par 3
Possibly the weakest hole on the course for me. Very evidently a DIY job with a most rudimentary green. The ground in front of the green must get very boggy indeed judging by the moss content. You can't dislike a drop shot par 3 too much, but this would be much nicer with a more attractive green complex.
This is the last of the six par 3's. All six come within a nine hole stretch in the middle of the round! I took a final good look at the 14th hole in the background before dropping down the hill. You can see the entire hole from here, which was a help in setting up the blind tee shot to follow.



Hole 14: Alsheen 417 Yards, Par 4
Aberfoyle's toughest and longest hole. The blind tee shot should have been previewed if you were on your mettle.



Having crested the first hill, you are confronted with another one, so you still can't see the target. Something was amiss with the quality of the grass here. It looks like it hadn't come out of the winter too well. Lots of weed and the cut was far less defined.



Finally, you get a look at the green! Not advisable to leak it off to the right. You can see how rough the fairway is by comparison to what has gone before.



The stiff hike up the hill is rewarded with another magnificent view down the glen to Ben Lomond.

[James Boon]

Robin,

I'm loving this tour and don't get me wrong I know how long they take, but hurry up and show us more!

The 13th looks like a real missed opportunity! Often on these courses the green complexes can be a little lacking which is very much part of the charm, but that one really looks to fall short?

Cheers,

James

[Robin_Hiseman]

I know, I know! Lots of JCB golf course specification writing and bills of quantities taking most of my time at the moment, so doing a couple at a time is the best I can do at the mo. Four really interesting holes to finish, so be patient. Besides, it's helping to get my post numbers up doing it a bit at a time!

It was really only on the four hole section of 11-14 that I noticed the modern touch.  All of them would be better with a skilled design execution, but we're dealing with minimal budgets, so shouldn't expect too much flair. 13 is nicer in the flesh than the photo suggests. There is a jarring composition of mowing lines and embankments in the photo that I didn't notice so much when concentrating on the shot.

[Paul Gray]

Save for the faux links looking rough to the right, I'm not sure why the 13th is deemed so weak. I rather like the look of it personally. To each their own.

Just had a look at the club's website and see it's £25 for a full day. I'm reminded that Ran started a thread about golf needing more courses of a certain type recently. Aberfoyle is exactly what golf needs more of. Sustainable, affordable and fun for players of all levels.

[Robin_Hiseman]

There are many, many worse holes Paul. And it is a lovely corner of the site.  Some may think the next hole in the tour, the 15th, is the bad apple. It's certainly a toughie.