MidSummer Midlothian Golf Edinburgh Sep 7-07

Mid-summer Golf in the Mid-Lothians, Scotland.
Prestonfield Golf Club, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Edinburgh, Capital of Scotland, famed as the “Athens of the North” and the home, amongst many other things, to the Great Edinburgh Castle, Greyfriars Bobby, Mid-Lothian Single Malt Whiskies, the Holyrood Palace and interestingly, to the first ever officially formed Golf Club, the “ Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers”.
Prestonfield Golf Club (formerly known as Priestfield) is a little jewel of a club, located as it is a short taxi ride from the Edinburgh City Centre and the enticing temptations of Princes Street and the Royal Mile. Nestled in a nice hollow amongst lovely parkland it is bounded on one side by the breathtaking and towering presence of the volcanic “Arthur’s Seat” and on the other three sides by Holyrood Park, the grounds of Prestonfield House, Braid Burn and Peffermill Mansion. Painstakingly laid out over 6200 odd yards, this James Braid designed; Par 70 course offers lots of challenges for golfers of varying abilities, as I found out at first hand.
It seems that Priestfield was first recorded in a Royal Charter of 1153 but apparently the present day Mansion only dates back to 1687, when it was built by the Lord Provost of Edinburgh in replacement to an earlier building destroyed by fire. The club itself was originally established in 1920 and the course was extended twice, in 1928 and again in 1933 when they acquired more land.
Somewhat coincidentally, earlier that day, my wife and I were on a guided tour of the City, visiting as we were on our Honeymoon and when we were driving around near Arthur’s Seat, Davy, our guide, pointed out various bird’s eye views of the meandering fairways and silver white bunkers of the Prestonfield Golf Club which of course I duly photographed. While the views were pleasing enough, they served only to whet my appetite for a round there in the latter half of the same day. After all, Honeymoon notwithstanding, Golfing in Scotland, the home of Golf, is the cherished dream of every Golfer and indeed I was more than happy to indulge that dream!
My wife having elected to give herself up to the spiritual pursuits of a “Whisky Tour” that afternoon, I trundled along to Prestonfield at about 1230 pm that Friday and introduced myself to Mr. John Archibald, the General Manager, who in turn connected me up with Russell McIntyre, the Pro. Russell was most helpful in kitting me out with a set of Muscle Back Cleveland Irons and a Ping G 2 Driver but I was faced with the prospect of going around the course as a Singleton till a couple of Members turned up for their tee time of 130pm.
I was lucky that both these gentlemen, Ken Craig and Robert Fletcher, very kindly invited me to join them and thus, we set off along the first fairway in a companionable manner, conversing, joking and generally enjoying ourselves!
I happily bogeyed the 277 yard Par 4, first hole, “Crag End” and the next, which is a short, 125 yard Par 3 called “Hunter’s Bog”. Robert, whose official handicap is 24 and who also, like me, was playing this course for the very first time, performed very creditably making par on both these, while Ken had a complete wild card, going off the fairway on the second, but getting back in there for a bogey!
The true challenge and character of this course lies partly in the Wind which can be rather treacherous, as I found out to my cost a couple of times. This is simply due to the fact that the course itself is set in a hollow or shallow valley which acts a bit like a Wind Tunnel, considering the higher ground all around it forming a perfect natural funnel for the wind to blow up and down!
Each hole at Prestonfield is interestingly and varyingly named from “Crag End”, through “Peffermill”, to “Little France” and “Arthur’s Seat”! It is a very quaint idea and ever so apt, given the setting which is simply gorgeous. Nature at her very best, a lovely nip in the air, warm sunshine and golf – no man can ask for more. The best thing is that the air is so pure and clean, I was trying to take deep breaths and fill my lungs to capacity with each breath.
The third, “Wells O’ Wearie” is a 528 yard Par 5, which doglegs sweepingly to the left and where I was extremely happy to make par, with Ken going down in a double and Robert for Bogey. It is very important to place your ball so as not to go OB on this hole and I suppose it was beginner’s luck with me!
Going on to the 6th, “Pentlands”, which is a Par 4, 352 yard journey, I managed a Bogey along with the others, holding my own I think! Not a very difficult hole, with a fairly wide fairway.
Ending the front nine is “Peffermill”, a Par 3, 140 yard beauty, which I simply botched up and bogeyed by under clubbing with a 9. I can’t imagine what possessed me to use a 9 when a 7 would have left me with enough margin for error. Ken, despite his local knowledge also ended up with the same score while Robert, our friendly bandit, made par yet again!
Unlike our typical weekend rounds in India, we did not stop after the 9th for a breather – also occasioned by the fact that the 9th is not a clubhouse green.
Going straight onto the back nine, I was surprised by the change in the lie of the land so to say – this course had more surprises in store for the unwary golfer! The forepart has the aspect of rolling parkland, gently undulating landscape with vistas of green as far as eye can see. Moving into the middle of the course, one is beset by large-ish, older and mature trees which can trap the over confident golfer!
Indeed I hit a wayward shot off the tee on the 12th (Little France) which is a nice par 4 of 400 yards and unfortunately hooked into some mid-sized bushes there. Hunting for the ball, peering under the shrubbery I observed that it had come to rest at the foot of a thick shrub. I didn’t feel like taking a stroke penalty and a drop so I chose to get down on my knees and get creative, playing the shot horizontally with the toe of my 7 iron to hit the ball back on the fairway and thus resume play!
The 14th which is aptly named “Dog Leg” is a pretty daunting 337 yard Par 4, which I can loosely compare to the 7th Hole at the Army Golf Course in Bangalore! If one is a bit of a Wolf, one would tee it up high and smash it with a three wood over the trees on the left hand side, to get a clear approach to the green – if I’d had access to my trusty V-Steel, I would probably have chanced it but as it happens, playing with relatively strange clubs and in the company of new partners, I chose to be humble and drive straight with a number four. Despite the cautious approach, I ended up with a double as did Robert. Only Ken made Par and I bow here to local knowledge. He played this hole brilliantly, perfectly placing his tee shot and his second and putting like a master!
The course takes on an undulating though open aspect around here, where the 16th heaves into view – Named “Arthur’s Seat” this is a lovely hole a 193 yard Par 3, which has a nice green closely guarded by bunkers. There are some great views to be had all around which compensated for my bogeying this hole while only Robert made par!
The 18th – a 328 yard par 4, somewhat prosaically if aptly named “Home” after all the other interestingly named holes is a lovely hole with a sweeping aspect from the tee, slightly curving through the left. Bounded by trees on the right side, the sensible shot to play is slightly to the right placing one’s self at the edge of the trees for the second approach shot avoiding the lurking menace of the bunkers guarding the green.
Here it would be remiss of me if I didn’t mention the brilliant play by Ken, who missed an Eagle but got a Birdie by simply thrashing the ball with a Driver off the tee, avoiding the bunkers and right onto the green! Unfortunately he two-putted to make a very respectable Birdie while Robert made Par and I bogeyed, thus ending the round!
Thanking Ken and Robert for a thoroughly enjoyable round I took my leave since I had an evening of unbridled Scottish Revelry to look forward to, complete with several “wee drams” of the “Water of Life”, of which, like Golf, I am very fond too!