GolfTraxx: A fusion of Golf, GPS, Database, Mapping, and FUN technologies

Hole 1

Hole Name

From The Tee A nice easy introductory par 4, between a drystane dyke on the left and a built wall on the left, with an access road to nearby houses and forestry running through it. Best aim is straight in line with the pylon and the ball will rest on the plateau level with the gate, or roll down onto the flat about 80 yards from the green.

From The Fairway

On The Green To avoid what can be wet-ish ground on the approach, it’s best to hit a high pitch shot to the green – ‘an eight from the gate’. For most of the green apart from an evil wee slope at the back go for your birdie putt on a mainly flat surface.

Hole 2

Hole Name

From The Tee A fair skelp into the usually prevailing wind in your face and deceptively uphill,

From The Fairway

On The Green but plenty of space out there and then a short to mid-iron onto the green. Be below the hole with your approach if you can, the putting here on a slope, especially when the greens are running fast can be a card wrecker.

Hole 3

Hole Name

From The Tee Dependent on where the tee marker is situated this can be anything from a wedge or nine iron to a well-struck 5 iron.

From The Fairway

On The Green A high trajectory at the flag is best, although in very dry weather you might benefit from raking it in low and letting it bounce up. Below the hole putt a lot easier than trying to baby it on the downslope. Like much else in golf, it’s an easy hole when played correctly.?

Hole 4

Hole Name

From The Tee For a low handicapper, this hole should be a gift. If you’re a really good golfer, a driver or 3-wood to the green is a distinct possibility and the main worry is whether you end on the best level of the two-tiers for the pin position of the day.

From The Fairway

On The Green Other than that a near to the green shot should allow an easy chip to at least par putting range and maybe a birdie chance.

Hole 5

Hole Name

From The Tee A good, hard hole, a narrow flightpath with trees on

From The Fairway both sides, a side-sloping fairway and a wee bit uphill. You hear a lot of folk saying a low handicapper normally hits a nice draw, although there is the odd exception.

On The Green Anyway, a draw here will potentially put you in much grief down the slope and into the wood to the left of the green; if you salvage a par from there you’ve done well. No, the best ways to play this is either a straight iron or five wood directly onto the green or a high fade which cuts in between the trees.

Hole 6

Hole Name

From The Tee For the straight driver, open your shoulders and launch the ball straight down the middle, the gable end of the stone shed down at the old croft being the best line.

From The Fairway If it’s wet a bit left of centre is best, the fairway to the right has a tendency to swallow every high shot. Make sure your iron distances are correct and hit to the centre of the green; don’t try and be fancy –

On The Green too short and you’ll catch the burn, too long and it’s into the out of bounds. Another green with some lovely borrows just to confuse you, but the ball below the hole is best.

Hole 7

Hole Name

From The Tee If you have a tendency to be wild off the tee with your driver this is just the place for you, as long as you’re really wild left! If that’s your weakness then you have any amount of open space below the quarries and onto the

From The Fairway 1st fairway even, where all is not lost. Just don’t roll into the face of the wall. Too little wild left will see you in the wee quarry, prO-Bably lost .Wild right is likely calamity – out of bounds in the woods at worst, wet rough if just short of that, to the point where three off the tee is a better bet. All that thinking might point you towards a 3-wood or long iron to clear the first part of

On The Green then a relaxed mid-iron to about 50 yards short of the burn, a flick onto the green, seeking to be close enough to the pin to allow the chance of a par putt, or even a well thought through bogey.

Hole 8

Hole Name

From The Tee For the low handicapper, the only thing that should worry you here is the potential for over-reach.

From The Fairway

On The Green While distance-wise it should be in reach of a good drive, or even 3-wood when the wind is not too hard in your face, that’s a pretty high tariff shot. The burn straight in front of you, deep rough on either side and at the back of the green when you get over the water and an undulating approach apron all militate against your ball nestling nicely in the middle of what is the putting surface on th

Hole 9

Hole Name

From The Tee A well-rewarded mid-iron or high wood from the back tee will see you land on the nicely sculpted green.

From The Fairway At that point though, it’s not over. Some fierce borrows and, in dry weather a propensity for a putt hit too far to roll back off the front edge towards that ubiquitous burn can be a bit of a card wrecker. If you’re a bit long and hit into the bank, you can sometimes end up in a good position for your putt, but beware being really long: that chip back over the wall from the short rough of the 2nd

On The Green

Hole 10

Hole Name

From The Tee Stay away from the trees and rough ground over the drystone dyke to

From The Fairway the left of the fairway and remember there’s plenty of bail-out territory on the 2nd if you have a bit too much slice in your driver’s armoury.

On The Green You’re better well out on the 2nd fairway than too close to the wall on the right of the road and you get a nice view of the green from the 2nd. If you’re too far back to get on in two, then don’t stress as a flick on from anywhere within 50 yards of the green gives you a chance of a four.

Hole 11

Hole Name

From The Tee Again, if you’re concerned about your ability to navigate the quarry and clear the wee bit of rough adjacent to it you can avoid it to some extent by taking the scenic route down the first. It means that your approach to the green is liable to be your third shot, rather than second, but that’s no disaster.

From The Fairway Disaster is being either in the aforesaid quarry, tight to the wall in the rough beyond the old access track to the quarry, or if you’re having a tour of the different sides of the fairway, being in the thigh high rough to the left of the fairway.

On The Green

Hole 12

Hole Name

From The Tee By the time you get here on the back nine, you should be well warmed, but not too tired (you will be tired when you get to the top of the hill again) so it’s prO-Bably best to focus on a nice fluid stroke with a club more than you would normally use for the tee length stated.

From The Fairway

On The Green If you need to chip on after your tee shot it’s far better to do from the front of the green in line with the pin than to hack it out from deep rough at the back onto impossibly steep banking and have the ball then disappear off the front edge of the green.

Hole 13

Hole Name

From The Tee If you tend to slice or hook your driver, there’s no harm in going down a club or two, distance to the green is not really an issue for the second shot.

From The Fairway

On The Green

Hole 14

Hole Name

From The Tee The best line is to go for the old green, less than 200 yards from even the furthest back tee and then an easy flick to the green, taking care to put the ball onto a spot which will run towards the pin without going too far and off the back, which is a BAD PLACE.

From The Fairway

On The Green

Hole 15

Hole Name

From The Tee Use the head here, slow and controlled swing and

From The Fairway if you need to use the fairway in front of the green, there’s no great harm in that. When chipping on or long-putting be aware that the green always tends to fall towards the slope and the trees below

On The Green the green and you can see some big swings, especially when it’s dry. Treat a par here as you would a birdie elsewhere and then stroll off towards the best driver's hole on the course at the 6th.

Hole 16

Hole Name

From The Tee This is the easiest hole on the course for me to maintain, although the number of midges around the tees on a calm, overcast day can be a real health and safety hazard. Now,

From The Fairway

On The Green if we had no end of money, I’d put a couple of bunkers on the burn side of the green and give folk a bit of use for the sand wedges they carry about: why they do that at Lochgilphead, I don’t really know.

Hole 17

Hole Name

From The Tee Just do what the sensible low handicapper does.

From The Fairway

On The Green There is no real need to be extra-long off the tee. Indeed, some players swear by the two 6 or 7 irons to the green method, rather than trying to beat the living daylights out of the ball. Remember too that even if the ball does find the burn, you only forfeit one-shot; just be calm about the recovery and don’t rack up over-many strokes. Once you are on the green, this is the one place on the cour

Hole 18

Hole Name

From The Tee ‘There’s plenty of space’ is the mantra to keep repeating as you take what can feel like an executioner’s walk to the back tee from the 8th green.

From The Fairway That’s true, just make sure and remember that space is all at, and to the right of, the green. The eponymous Hen Run is not the place to be. It might have been a while since Rhode Island Reds roamed what is now the out of bounds to the left of the green and over the drystane dyke from the first fairway, but their ghosts still seem to tempt the wayward golfer’s shot. If you're unsure of your prowes

On The Green