In the shadow of Stirling Castle (Stirling Golf Club)

Member Name: woodburnr

Product:	Stirling Golf Club
Date:	22/08/01 (158 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Wide fairways, big greens, magnificent views,good access from Edinburgh and Glasgow

Disadvantages: Not suited to short hitters

This is one of the best kept secrets in Scottish Golf. Stirling Golf course is a very challenging course, particularly from the championship tees. It is normally in immaculate condition and has a very friendly and welcoming club house, which is well fitted out with good changing facilities / showers. There is no members bar, which is good, and Ladies have equal rights in the club house and on the course, which is in my experience, very unusual.

The course is long, with a yardage of 6409, Par is 72 with a SSS of 71. The cost is £35.00 per day / £25.00 per round and prior bookings are essential as visitors are restricted to Weekdays 9am to 4:30pm and Weekends are subject to availability. The professional is Ian Collins Tel : +44 (0)1786 471490.

The views of the Grampian Mountains and Stirling Castle from this undulating parkland course are wonderful. There are a number of very challenging holes, one of my favourites is the par 5 first, which has a carry of 70 -80 yards over scrub to reach the fairway, and a carry of around 180 yards to a plateau, which you need to reach if you aim to par the hole. The course was originally designed by James Braid and subsequently altered by Henry Cotton. The 15th is named Cottons Fancy, a relatively short par 4 if you choose a brave line to take on the dog left to the left and risk a dangerous carry into a narrow green, or a long par 4 if you choose the safer route and take the long way round.

The course is fairly open and is ideally suited to visiting parties as it is easy to negotiate and there are very few blind shots. The other reason it is ideal for visitors is the view. The Wallace Monumant sits in the distance, Stirling Castle glowers down on the course and Bannockburn is only a few miles away. Its easy to imagine the scenes of battle that have been played out over the years on this piece of land and ponder on how lucky we are to be able to experience a head to head battle on a golf course, rather
than the rather more primitive battles our ancestors had to endure.

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