Friday 28 May 2010

Port Royal Par 3 course - course no 298

This is a 9 hole par 3 course situated behind the Port Royal driving range beside Edinburgh Airport, which I played on 26 May 2010 on my way home from Saline. This is the airport control tower from the 4th hole. I guess the architect might have been a golfer!

The Port Royal holes range from 45 to 81 yards so a wedge, lob wedge and putter were all that was required, plus my umbrella, as the skies had opened en route back and some ominously dark clouds were around. The holes are short, but the greens are tiny and were running pretty fast. The holes were also cut on slopes and close to bunkers, so scoring was not as easy as I'd expected. For example, here's the 1st hole, requiring a 66 yard chip. I was only marginally off line, but ended up in a bunker, with the flag only 15 feet away on a downslope. A bogey followed, redeemed by a birdie 2 at the 45 yard 6th. I parred all of the other holes to go round in the par of 27. This is a good practice facility and an ideal place to introduce young kids to the sport. It was nice to see a couple of youngsters hammering away at a bag of balls on the adjacent driving range, but I hope they also tried the par 3 course, where accuracy in the short game is really important.

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