Firstly, I have to say that I love top 100 lists!  I love being able to dream of playing courses like Pebble Beach, Augusta, Cape Kidnappers or Casa De Campo's Teeth of the Dog.  I fully understand that I very much doubt that I will ever get to play some of these courses.  For me, it is like the Lottery win, something to dream about whilst in the shower!  However, this week an interesting comment was made on the ST100 facebook page (now accessible through http://www.facebook.com/scottishtop100) as follows: 

A couple of pointers.  Firstly, as I have stated on the blog I don't select the Top 100.  For two very good reasons, (a) I haven't played them all and (b) whilst I love playing golf I'm not very good!  Therefore, I use the very fine list created by the hard working folks at Top100GolfCourses and use their Scottish list as the basis of my "challenge".   Secondly, there are to my knowledge 3 private members clubs on the list (Renaissance Club, Loch Lomond & Skibo) all of the other clubs do provide a way for visitors to play.(yes, even Archerfield).  Usually the prices quoted for a round are astronomical but they are available so that "everyone" can play.  Finally, just because a club wishes to remain private surely doesn't diminish the quality of the club's golf course? I mean it is practically impossible to get onto Augusta (although read the very fine blog by The London Golfer to see what your missing!) but if it was missing from a list of the World's greatest golf courses people would, rightly in my opinion, complain.  

At roughly the same time as I was gathering my thoughts about the Top 100; I received a message from the National Club Golfer magazine with their Top 100 affordable golf courses in the UK.  This is an interesting, and I think unique list, in that to qualify you have to a high season weekday tee time of under £80 before you can be considered.  Given the context of the facebook debate this list seems to be the answer to those that wish to have courses that can be "played".  I was very interested to see how the list stacked up to the Top100GolfCourses list.  I have taken the liberty of removing the non-Scottish courses from the list so that I can compare like with like.

The first thing I noticed, with much delight, is that out of the 100 courses 28 where Scottish.  That's a fairly healthy number. I also noted that I had played 7 of them too!  In terms of the how the lists compare obviously some of the big names are out including Turnberry (Ailsa), Muirfield, St Andrews (Old), Kingsbarns & Carnoustie (Championship).  In fact only 1 of the top 10 from the full list had managed to make it onto the NCG list and this is the wonderful Royal Dornoch which is ranked 5th in the full list and an enviable number 1 in the NCG list.  The NCG list contains courses from rankings 5th to 69th in the full list and it must be said that not all of the courses in between missed out purely on price.  I know that another big issue with top 100 lists is the fact that it is such a subjective decision and the lack of a scientific and objective rating system does seem to get to people.  My own thoughts are that I really enjoyed reading the affordable list and it certainly helped me to locate some courses that I would like to strike off the list during the summer.  I was slighty disappointed by the positions of Panmure & Monifieth, but that is just personal preference.  I was also surprised to see no entry for Carnoustie (Burnside) or Blairgowrie (Lansdowne).

However, what I do think is that Scotland should not have a top 100.  Once you get to around 60 in the list it becomes a matter of personal preference.  Therefore, once I complete my task I am going to develop my own lists.  A top 50 and a top 50 for under £50.  This should give you the best courses in Scotland followed by some genuine hidden gems.

It has been a while since I last just posted a blog entry about anything other than a top 100 course picture review! However, I have recently had the opportunity (early Christmas present) to be fitted by one of Scotland's top golf club builders. Scott Gourlay of Scott Gourlay Golf Technology based at Craigmillar Park Golf club in Edinburgh is a talented guy, he specialises in bespoke custom fitting. I am using the term "bespoke custom fitting" to try and differentiate between what you get at SGGT and what you may have experienced at a golf retailer. I describe it as the difference between getting a suit from a high street shop that is then altered to fit you (golf retailer custom fitting) and a Savile Row handmade suit (bespoke custom fitting). What is this difference? In my opinion it is time and extreme personalisation.

SGGT started me off with a 3 hour session at their centre using trackman. They let me hit with my normal clubs to gather a base line data and also asked me some details about the feel, my normal golf game, biggest weaknesses etc. After trialling a number of different shaft options (weight, length, etc) Scott had the basis for my new clubs. He then spent a week or so building demo clubs for me to test. I returned the following week for another 2 hours session to test out 3 sets of demo clubs from UK based golf club manufacture Orka. I tried the GS5 OS, GS5 Tour SC and RS1. I have to say the RS1's felt amazing but being forged blades I am just not good enough to get the best out of these precision tools. However, I was surprised to find that the forged SC Tour was the club that I felt most comfortable hitting and gave me the best results after some tweeking from Scott! I also trialled their Hybrid and wedges which are all now part of my set up! For driver and 3 wood the decision was between TaylorMade, Orka and KZG and as good as the other options were KZG had some phenomenal results for me.

All in all I have spent 5 hours hitting balls, checking results and speaking with Scott to make an informed choice about which clubs are best for me. Scott even helped me to decide on how best to set up my bag - I would have had more woods but as I am not the longest hitter on the golf scene Scott has advised that more clubs at the top end are actually all running into one and I would be better with a better range at the lower end of my bag. This attention to detail is the key, Scott explained everything that he was doing and I have never felt more involved or confident in a set of clubs. In my previous experience of custom fit this meant hit some balls on trackman. Most of them did check the loft and lie but that was about it. A standard set of clubs but more importantly a standard shaft. I can't tell you how important it is to make sure you have the correct shaft for your swing. The bespoke custom fitting experience, like Savile Row suits, costs more but it is worth it.

The KZG & Orka clubs are now here and have had a few rounds and I am absolutely delighted. They look gorgeous in the bag, perform on the course and I am very confident that these clubs will help me to slash my handicap.

Driver KZG Driver GF 460

3 Wood KZG Q 3wood

Hybrids Cobra Baffler DWS 22* Loft

Hybrids Orka GS 5 25* Loft

Irons Orka GS 5 Tour Sc 6-PW

Wedges Orka J29V 52* & 56*

Putter Orka Type 1 P46