As many are aware Handsworth Golf Club is proud to be part of the 1895 club.

This club was formed by a number of golf clubs, all celebrating their Centenary in 1995.  All members of the 1895 club offer reciprocal courtesy of the course to visiting members from other 1895 clubs.
The following clubs are members of the 1895 club. Four of us decided to take advantage of these courtesies over Easter and arranged the following trip.

• Thursday 9th April – Halifax Golf Club
• Friday 10th April – Duddingston Golf Club
• Saturday 11th April – Torpin Hill Golf Club
• Sunday 12th – rest in the day – Back to Duddingston Golf Club to watch the Masters
• Monday 13th April – Craigmillar Golf Club

Thursday 9th April – Halifax Golf Club

We decided to drop in on Halifax Golf Club on the way up north just to break the journey!

Halifax Golf Club provides a great challenge with eleven of the holes featuring water hazards, often nestling in the bottom of steep gullies, which can gather your ball as naturally and easily as any seaside bunker.

The first 12 holes represent a steady climb up the valley with many of the fairways criss-crossing two streams.  Holes 13 through 16 then sit on a plateau, which afford spectacular views across the earlier holes and down the beautiful Hebble Valley.  There are no water hazards at the top and the 2 par fives at 13 and 15 offer real opportunities to improve your score. Unfortunately these were played with a 3-club wind, which made scoring a little difficult to say the least.

After the 16th there is nowhere to go but down and the par 3 17th, aptly named ‘Bagott’s Leap’ (see above), is Halifax’s famous signature hole. Club selection is of paramount importance here and, depending on the wind conditions, you can take anything from a driver (a little long even in this that wind) to a pitching wedge!

The overall impression of Halifax was that it’s a very tough start, which would be made easier, if they had stroke savers. After the first 5 holes there are plenty of opportunities to score. In addition for us who are members of a parkland course, it is a pleasure to play a moorland layout.

Duddingston Golf Club

Friday saw us play Duddington. This is a gently undulating parkland course (in Gaelic Duddingston means ’sunny side of the hill’). The course is a very good test of golf with the Braid Burn winding through the fairways and challenging the golfer on a number of holes.

This proved to be an excellent test of golf and offers a number of challenging holes. But with 4 par 5’s it does offer plenty of scoring opportunities.

Torphin Hill Golf Club

Saturday saw us play Torphin Hill Golf Club.  We were fortunate to get a cloudless morning which ensured the magnificent views were at there best.

With magnificent views over the city of Edinburgh towards Fife the course is ideally situated to delight any golfer, not only with the challenges provided by the course itself but also with the scenery which is truly breathtaking.
We did take the advice of a previous Handsworth visitor to take a buggy, as it is an extremely hard climb for the first 4 holes. Overall it was a very enjoyable round, apologies to the club if these is any mark on the 15th green as Gary & Jayne celebrated a long put to get back to one down (the closest they got all day). Again it would have been better if we could have purchased a course planner, as navigating could be difficult.
Sunday – The Masters at Duddsington Golf Club
As all good golfers must on a weekend away that coincides with the Masters, we had to get a good TV position and a few beers. Worried that the local pubs in Edingburgh may change coverage to some tacky Premiership match we phoned Duddingston and asked if we could watch it there at the clubhouse with the members.

They were more than happy to have 4 thirsty golf spectators, and we were treated to a great night with very friendly members.

Craigmillar Park Golf Club

Monday saw us take on Craigmillar.  The course lies on the eastern slopes of Blackford Hill which was formed of lava and moulded into its present crag-and-tail shape by an easterly flowing ice-sheet. The ice laid bare the rocky crags round the west side and, deflected round the sides of the hill, gouged deep hollows now occupied on the north side by Blackford Pond and on the south side by the alluvium of the Braid Burn. The gently sloping tail on the eastern side of the hill supports the Royal Observatory before continuing on through the golf course, dropping some two hundred feet from the tenth tee to the lowest point where the Braid Burn leaves the course near Liberton Dams.

Even with the various extensions, which have occurred, the course is not long at 5851 yards for the men and 5213 for the ladies, but it is tightly enclosed with the left side of many of the holes inviting disaster.
This did though provide a gentler test with many holes reachable in regulation even for the girls! One of our number, despite a 4 shot cut in the week got 41 points with 44 puts! I’m not bitter but we will leave it there.

It is fair to say that the hospitality of all the clubs & their members was excellent and we had a great time trying out these new courses, which our membership of Handsworth allows us to play. On totting up each couple saved £262 on green fees over the weekend and I have to say the courses were much better that most of the hotel courses which would have been the alternative.

So thanks to everyone for their hospitality and lets make sure we make our 1895 visitors get the same welcome when visiting Handsworth.