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Top 100 under £80: No. 90-81
There are five Scottish classics in this selection
90 Kilmarnock Barassie
Ayrshire, Scotland
Designer: Theo Moon
Green fee: From £57
Tel: 01292 313 920
Where to stay: Park Hotel - 01563 545999, www.theparkhotel.uk.com
FOR those who have not visited this corner of Ayrshire in a while it may surprise you to learn Barassie now has 27 full-length holes.
The championship 18 is nearly 6,900 yards and hosted Local Final Qualifying for the 2009 Open at Turnberry. The old holes are as traditionally links in style as you will find anywhere, with the newer ones more expansive in nature.
89 Gullane No.2
East Lothian, Scotland
Designers: Willie Park/Frank Pennink
Green fee: From £42
Tel: 01620 842 255
THERE can be no smaller centre of habitation with three 18-hole courses anywhere in the world than Gullane. No.2 is good enough to have hosted Open Qualifying in 1980 and initially runs more or less parallel to No.1, heading gradually upwards to the summit of Gullane Hill. Then it sweeps down towards Aberlady Bay before returning to proximity with No.1 for the 17th and 18th. Links golf in its original form.
88 Monifieth
Angus, Scotland
Designers: Alan Robertson/Alex Pirie
Green fee: From £49
Tel: 01382 532 767
NOT many people know that Tom Watson’s first experience of links golf came at Monifieth, en route to nearby Carnoustie for the 1975 Open. It was a fitting venue to initiate a man who would go on to win the Claret Jug five times.
With a railway line running up one side of the course, lots of gorse and fairways full of bumps and hollows, this is archetypal Scottish seaside golf – but with trees also flanking several holes.
87 Irvine
Ayrshire, Scotland
Designer: Braid
Green fee: From £50
Tel: 01294 275979
Where to stay: Park Hotel - 01563 545999, www.theparkhotel.uk.com
IRVINE is not quite a seaside course but the land is close enough for the turf to boast that sandy texture that is such a delight to strike the ball off. Irvine’s greatest strength is perhaps the variety of its holes – quirky in places and very solid in others. So, while the 4th is under 300 yards with a green bordered by the railway and the boundary wall, the exacting 9th is 456 yards and well bunkered.
86 Bingley St Ives
Yorkshire, England
Designer: MacKenzie
Green fee: From £30
Tel: 01274 562 436
FEW courses combine parkland, woodland and moorland like St Ives, which also boasts a championship pedigree. Faldo and Lyle have both won tour events here while the likes of Palmer, Trevino and Woosnam have all graced its fairways. St Ives is not well known outside Yorkshire but it is too good to remain a secret forever. The best, and toughest, stretch comes on top of the moors in the middle.
85 Coxmoor
Nottinghamshire, England
Designer: Unknown
Green fee: From £35
Tel: 01623 557 359
THERE are three outstanding courses in the Mansfield area – Hollinwell, Sherwood Forest and Coxmoor. Standing on a heathland plateau, the latter will celebrate its centenary in two years’ time.
With a quintet of par 5s, there are chances to score well, especially over the last six holes, which includes three of the par 5s and a short four. Tour pros Oliver Wilson and Greg Owen both grew up playing here.
84 Glasgow Gailes
Ayrshire, Scotland
Designer: Willie Park
Green fee: From £55
Tel: 01294 311 258
ALONG with Royal Troon, Glasgow Gailes will host the 2012 Amateur. It is part of one of the great stretches of linksland, that also encompasses the esteemed likes of Dundonald and Western Gailes. Consistently solid rather than spectacular, at over 6,900 yards make no mistake that this is a stern test.
Although you see little of the sea, the benefit of being that little bit further inland comes in the form of swathes of attractive heather.
83 Hayling Island
Hampshire, England
Designers: JH Taylor/Tom Simpson
Green fee: From £52
Tel: 02392 464 446
REDESIGNED in the 1930s because there were thought to be too many blind shots, Hayling is now as an excellent test, particularly when the wind blows – which it usually does here.
The start is unremarkable but the stretch in the middle, once you get involved with the dunes, is outstanding. The pick is perhaps the short 11th, Woolseners, which wouldn’t be out of place at an Open venue.
82 Downfield
Dundee, Scotland
Designer: Braid/CK Cotton
Green fee: From £45
Tel: 01382 825 595
WHILE the east of Scotland is known primarily for its seaside courses, there is some outstanding inland golf as well. Take Downfield, parkland in style and decorated by as wide and prolific a selection of trees as is imaginable on one course. At over 6,800 yards from the whites, this is an old course that remains a modern test and, as such, regularly hosts Local Final Qualifying for Opens at Carnoustie.
81 Southerndown
Glamorgan, Wales
Designers: Fernie/ Fowler/Park/Steel
Green fee: From £50
Tel: 01656 880 476
PART heathland, part moorland and featuring firm, bouncy fairways, Southerndown is hard to pin down in terms of character – beyond the fact there is plenty of it. The course is on common land, so don’t be surprised to see sheep wandering the fairways. With views across the Bristol Channel a clear day here is a delight.
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