The Scotsman's Guide to Scottish Golf Courses You Must Play - Mark Atkinson chats to Martin Dempster
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00:00Hello, and welcome to a very special episode of the Scotsman Golf Show. My name is Mark
00:05Atkinson, Sports Editor, and I'm here at Aberdour Golf Club in Fife alongside our Chief Golf
00:10Writer, Martin Dempster. Martin, there's a reason why we are here today. We want to talk
00:15about a very special project that you've embarked upon. A newsletter that's never been done
00:21before really by us, the Scotsman, and that is to promote, in your opinion, the 10 must
00:27play golf courses in Scotland. Now, I can't even begin to imagine how hard it would have
00:33been for you to do 10 golf courses in Scotland when you think about how rich we are with
00:39courses in this country. But we're not going to give them all away today because we want
00:43people to obviously subscribe. But let's just talk very generally about golf in Scotland
00:49right now and why it's such an incredible place to come and play golf. Yeah, well, first
00:54and foremost, it was a difficult task, I mean, to be asked to pick 10 from the amazing
01:01collection of golf courses we've got in Scotland. And it's a personal selection as well. You
01:08know, it's just courses that a lot of people know, first and foremost, some of the top
01:13courses. But at the same time, it was selecting two or three that are personal to me and a
01:21little bit different. But golf in Scotland, there's a reason it's known as the home of
01:27Golf Mart. That's always been the case. And people have Scottish golf courses on their
01:34bucket list for a reason. We're very lucky with the selection of golf courses we have.
01:41And hopefully, this list, maybe more so foreign golfers, gives them a little bit help when
01:48it comes to selecting a golf course in Scotland. Absolutely. I've had the privilege of reading
01:53through all of the stuff that you've written about these courses, and it is a fantastic
01:56guide to golf in Scotland. Let's start with Aberdour because we're sitting here and it's
02:01a beautiful, beautiful morning here. The camera may not show it, but it is quite cold. But
02:06of course, on a nice spring, summer's day, this is one of the nicest places to play golf.
02:11You've got the Firth of Forth behind us, you've got Edinburgh Views as well. Why is Aberdour
02:16a golf course? We can say this now, Aberdour is on the list. Let's reveal one of them.
02:21Why is Aberdour so special to you? Well, I think, hopefully, the view in the background
02:27shows one of the reasons. It is my local club. I've been a member here for more than 25 years
02:34now. And for me, golf is a game you have to enjoy first and foremost. I know some people
02:42will go out and it's all about performances and that's okay. But I think from a club golfer's
02:47point of view, you actually have to enjoy the setting that you're in. And for me, this
02:53setting takes a lot of beating in Scotland. Down by the banks of the River Forth with
02:59views across to Edinburgh. You never tire of looking out. If you maybe hit a bad shot,
03:05you just need to look across the water and it makes you feel better. So yeah, it's just
03:10a smashing place to play golf. It starts with two par threes that are in stunning location.
03:19Some people will definitely say Aberdour's not in the top 10 golf courses in Scotland
03:23championship wise, but this list is more than that. And that's why Aberdour is on that list
03:30and I can guarantee anyone who comes here would not be disappointed because everything
03:36about it from the minute you arrive is very special and it's always going to be very close
03:42to my heart being a member here. That's a great point you make about how it's not a
03:47championship course, but that's what's great about Scotland. You can come and you can play
03:51a number of courses that you have watched. Amazing golf being played by some of the best
03:56players in the world. Yet you've also got on your doorstep some real hidden gems and
04:00some real courses that will challenge you and will also make you go, wow, what a beautiful
04:05country Scotland is. I think in your list of 10, there's quite a nice blend there between
04:11some of the big dogs in world golf and some of the courses that potentially you may never
04:17have heard of or never thought of playing. And as I say, we're not going to talk about
04:20all of them, but we did say that it would be good to kind of show the variety that you've
04:26got in Scotland. So we picked out two different types of courses. We've got one links course
04:31and one inland course. Which one should we start with first? We'll go on the links, because
04:36obviously Scotland is renowned for links golf courses. And the one, listen, this is really
04:42difficult because we are talking some exceptional golf courses, championship, open championship
04:48venues, Scottish open venues, et cetera. But the one I'm going to pick that is on the list
04:54is Trump Turnberry. Obviously owned by the now US president. The Ailsa course at the
05:04Ayrshire venue is not on the open road at the moment. Since Donald Trump became the
05:10owner, the R&A have kept the open and the women's open away from there at the moment.
05:18The fear is that, as he did for the women's open more than a decade ago, Donald Trump
05:26came over and turned the event into a little bit of circus. So the R&A are worried that
05:30he might do that again if they open and return there. However, there is no doubt at all that
05:36the Ailsa course is one of the greatest golf courses in the world.
05:39Would you put it that high up in the world?
05:42It actually tops a lot of lists. Golf magazines have course lists about, they rank the courses
05:49every year and Turnberry tops a lot of the lists. It is that good. Since the open was last held
05:57there in 2009, the course has had some changes made to it. It was already a really good golf
06:02course in a stunning location. They've actually made it even better. So on that basis, the
06:08world's top golfers deserve to play there and experience that. They've actually just
06:13made some changes over the winter, more changes to make it even better. So it will always
06:19be controversial as long as it's under the Trump umbrella, but there's no doubt that
06:24the Turnberry, they've got two courses there, but the Ailsa course is the one that is the
06:30jewel in the crown and definitely deserves its place on the list.
06:34We talk about how well that course plays and how challenging it is, but we talked about
06:38the views as well. It's a pretty spectacular place to go and spend a few hours outside.
06:42Yes, stunning. I mean, if you're up in the hotel and the sun's setting, say in a spring
06:47or summer night, and you come out the door and you're high above the golf course and
06:54you look out the lighthouse, out in the golf course, Ailsa Craig to the left hand side,
07:02Arran over in front of you, absolutely amazing. I mean, probably one of the best spots in
07:10world golf, not just Scottish golf. That's high praise. That's high praise. Let's go inland
07:18a little bit more to the east from Turnberry. You wanted to pick out Gleneagles. Now, when
07:26we were talking about what other courses we wanted to mention today, I was a bit surprised
07:30at first when you talked about Gleneagles, given that there's some really, really good
07:34courses on that list, but actually talk me through why Gleneagles is quite special and
07:38why actually a lot of people will really enjoy the whole Gleneagles experience.
07:42Yeah, I mean, obviously we've covered the links with Turnberry. I think inland, obviously
07:47Scotland's got some great inland golf courses and I think the pick of the bunch for most
07:53people is Gleneagles. They hosted the Ryder Cup in 2014, the Solheim Cup a few years later,
08:02both resulting in wins for Europe, which were fantastic events. And three golf courses at the
08:10Perthshire venue. It's a stunning location. The PGA Centenary course, which was designed by Jack
08:17Nicholas, which was originally called the Monarchs course, it staged the Ryder Cup and the Solheim
08:22Cup. It's maybe a wee bit more American. A lot of people didn't like it when it first opened.
08:28I think it's got much better. But for me, the two sort of great courses there are the Kings,
08:36which used to host the Bell Scottish Open and the Queen's course. Just unbelievably good golf
08:45courses. And as I say, the location, Gleneagles on a nice sunny day, just being in the heart of
08:52the Scottish countryside. The hotel is obviously a five star hotel. Everything about Gleneagles is
08:58top notch. But again, I think the most important thing for me is the location. It's just how good
09:07these golf courses are and the location that they enjoy makes it Scotland. And that's why people
09:14just love coming here to play golf. One of my favourite drives in Scotland, not golf drive,
09:19in the car, is coming from a place called Pool of Mucker, which has its own little golf course,
09:24actually, but you drive through the Glen to Gleneagles and it is just a stunning drive.
09:29And especially on an early morning, it's very atmospheric and you go, this is an absolute
09:34privilege to be in this country. And I think that's what people, if they decide to travel
09:38around Scotland and make it a golf holiday, it's not just about golf, is it? You're going to
09:43experience culture, you can experience great hospitality, but just the countryside, it's hard
09:48to be, isn't it? Yeah, and I share that view about that drive. I mean, you come over the top
09:53of Glen Devon and you look down, it's absolutely stunning. And two other drives for me that are
09:58equally stunning, in East Lothian, when you come round the corner in Aberlady, and then you see
10:05Gullen Hill in front of you, absolutely fantastic. And also for me, when you come over the hill from
10:11Leven to St Andrews, and you look down on the town, just phenomenal. And it just whets the
10:17appetite. And once you get into these sort of rich golfing lands, you know why the game is so
10:26ingrained in so many Scottish people. Absolutely. We're speaking on a very
10:31brisk winter's morning here, the sun's shedding, but we're about to enter the golf season. It's a
10:36perfect time for people to come and visit Scotland. That's where the newsletter comes into its own,
10:40because people can subscribe to the newsletter, you can see it on the Scotsman.com home page,
10:45you can click on the golf home page, it's all there. And they can sign up, and it's a pretty
10:51modest fee that they pay. And you get a series of newsletters, one after the other. So you're
10:57not going to find out all 10 courses to begin with, you're going to get a little bit of drip
11:00feeding. It's actually a very exciting way to learn about Scottish golf. And if you're planning a trip
11:05here, or even if you're a Scottish golfer that just wants to do a golfing holiday, say for a
11:10special occasion, you've got it all there for you. You talk people through how the golf plays,
11:15how the course plays, the holes to play, how to get there, the hospitality, you've got everything
11:19there, haven't you? Everything's there, yeah. And there's a local sort of person who talks about
11:24what makes the course special. It's the accommodations, options for accommodation,
11:29it's just everything. And I think that's the great thing, and just trying to pull everything
11:33together to help people. Listen, people from around the world know about Scotland, they know
11:39about Scottish golf, but it's just trying to help them, give them as much information as possible.
11:46And hopefully, even if someone played just two of these courses, and enjoyed it, and got something
11:54out of this newsletter, which was great fun pulling together, I say it wasn't easy because
11:59I could have had 50 courses on that list, maybe even more, but it was very enjoyable to do,
12:06and hopefully people who come to Scotland and play the game here get the enjoyment out of
12:11these courses, which I'm sure they would do. Absolutely, and it's worth mentioning as well,
12:16you can tie in coming here by watching some top-class golf. Just talk us through what we've
12:20got happening on Scottish soil this year. Yeah, well it's actually not as big a year as it was
12:24last year. Everything seemed to happen in Scotland last year. The summer, it was one of those mad
12:28summers, great summers, but a bit mad when you're covering it from a reporting point of view. But
12:34this year, we've got the Genesis Scottish Open being held at the Renaissance Club again.
12:45People criticise that as the venue, some people criticise it as the venue, and say there's better
12:51golf courses in Scotland. You maybe know what they're saying there, but what they forget is
12:57that it's a good golf course, it's getting better, there's a lot of investment in it,
13:01and the players, top players, it attracts one of the strongest fields outside the majors.
13:09It's worth us drilling on that point, Martin, actually, because I think people don't realise
13:12that most of the top ten come to East Lothian that week to play, and then outside that,
13:17you've got an enormous number of fantastic golfers. Yeah, it's a great field, it's a fantastic field,
13:23but what they like is that they can base themselves at the Renaissance Club, it's got
13:27a great facility, Aster's Archer Field next door, and they can base themselves there that week
13:33to play in the Scottish Open, but also prepare for the Open the following week. And that's a
13:38massive thing for these world top players, they don't necessarily want to be, if they can avoid it,
13:43say in another part of Scotland one week, and somewhere else. So it really works for them,
13:50and the practice facilities at some of these golf venues in Scotland now are world class,
13:55and that's very important to players. So we've got that this year, we've got the
14:02Women's Scottish Open, ISPS Handel Women's Scottish Open, it's going back again to Dundonard Links
14:09in Ayrshire, it's hosted the event the last couple of years. Again, they've got great facilities
14:16there, accommodation there, and the players, again, it's like the men's. The AIG Women's Open
14:22the following week this year, that's in Wales, but it allows them to have a nice base and
14:30prepare. So those are the two top events in Scotland this year. The Open, of course, it's
14:37over in Ireland, as I mentioned, the AIG Women's Open's in Wales, and the Senior Open's down in
14:42England. So a little bit quiet year, but at the same time, massive, massive events for Scotland,
14:49and certainly the AIG Scottish Open, sorry, the Genesis Scottish Open, won by Bob McIntyre last
14:56year, that's going to be massive, and we're all looking forward to it already. And you've also
15:02got Dunhill Links to talk about as well, which doesn't happen in the summer right now, but if
15:05you were coming to Scotland in, say, September, October time, it's actually a very nice time to
15:11come to this country, and you do have a very good golf event, which actually attracts a fairly strong
15:15field, and it's across three different courses. It actually feels like a Dunhill Links day-to-day,
15:19Mark, this is how chilly a day it is, to be honest. We should have the woolly hats on probably in the
15:24mix, but the Dunhill can have some brutal weather. The first week in October, it can be a bit
15:31testing, but at the same time, I know there's been a couple of years it's been very mild, you're not
15:36sure what you're going to get, and this year's event, it's going to be, as it always is, the
15:40week after the Ryder Cup, so here's hoping that Luke Dunhill's players, there'll be two or three
15:46of them, Bob McIntyre will certainly be there, and here's hoping that a few of those European players
15:52have played in a winning Ryder Cup, like Bethpage Black the week before. Yeah, even more reason to
15:57come and enjoy your golf here. Martin, thanks for joining me here at our Dour Golf Club, it's been a
16:01great pleasure talking about what you've done. As I said, all of Martin's fantastic work on his
16:07newsletter, the 10 must-play golf courses in Scotland, you can find all that information
16:12on the Scotland website, we'll make sure there's a link also embedded in this video. Martin, I think
16:16it's time to go and swing a golf club. Thanks for joining me here this morning, and thank you for watching.