Glasgow Gailes Links

As we move from winter into spring and the weather starts brigtening up it's getting towards that time of year where golf becomes fun again. My friend and I decided to take advantage of the (relatively) cheap winter rates to play one of Scotland's finest links courses.

Glasgow Gailes is one of the many top notch links courses found on the west coast of Scotland. It sits along the same stretch of coastline as Western Gailes and Dundonald Links making this part of Scotland a golfer's dream.

The course itself is classic links with undulating fairways, a plethora of punishing pot bunkers and the unpredictable weather to contend with. All-in-all it's a proper challenge, and it's easy to see why the course is regularly used as a final qualifying venue for The Open.

Off we go

As we set off from the first there was a strong following wind gusting to 25-30mph and some menacing dark clouds moving in across the sea from the west.

I got off to a decent start driving just off to the right of the fairway into some light rough. I nudged it forward to about 50 yards short of the green and then disaster struck! I misplaced my chip into a greenside bunker 🙈. It took me 4 shots to get out followed by a 3-putt to end the first at +6. Even for a high handicapper like me, that was a bad start.

The second was also wind assisted, this time I kept it on the fairway and then I cracked a brilliant shot 180 yards to within 10 feet of the pin. 2 putts made it a par - quite the turnaround! This was to be the story of my day.

About an hour into the round the rain arrived with a vengence and soaked everything but the course itself held up really well with no standing water on the greens and just a little marhsyness underfoot. Fortunately it only lasted about 15 mins and never re-appeared for the rest of the round.

My round continued to go up and down - I ended the front 9 having shot two 10s, two 8s and three pars!

Turn for home

The back 9 was much more into wind and the wind itself had picked up from the morning so keeping the ball low was key. I had a much better second half with one 8 (bunker trouble again), a few bogeys and doubles and another three pars.

The course is generally an out-and-back but it weaves and crosses as it goes so sometimes the wind was behind, then into and then across. It kept things interesting and challenging all the way around.

In the end I finished an astonishing 9 under my handicap which is by far and away the best round I've played since I took golf up a couple of years ago.

I really enjoyed the experience, the course was a good mix of holes with clever bunker placement and large generous and relatively benign greens. I'd highly recommend it, even in the winter months.