Buckpool - North East Scotland - Scotland

Buckpool combines good golf with superb views. I particularly like the view of the 12th green with the old town of Buckie beyond. There are some excellent par threes here, notably the 8th played away from the sea and the spectacular (and very difficult) 15th with out of bounds all down the right. I suspect many a ball is lost on this beauty. The routing is unusual, with the 10th green right beside the clubhouse. While not in the upper echelon of courses along this stretch of coast, Buckpool is well worth a visit.

There’s a homespun feel to Buckpool Golf Sports & Social Club (to give it the full title from the club’s logo) and it looks like it doubles up as a community centre/social club for locals who don’t necessarily have an interest in golf.

There’s also a snooker room and two squash courts within the clubhouse building and there was a ladies’ fitness class in full swing as I arrived at the office before heading out onto the course.

It’s not classified as a links course but Buckpool has all the firm and fast attributes you’d like to have associated with such a layout: slick, bent grass greens, beautifully revetted bunkers and well-defined, gorse-lined fairways.

“Auchintae,” the 445-yard 4th, plays to a wonderful triangular-shaped bathtub green, with the putting surface protected by a brilliantly positioned bunker to the front right hand side of the putting surface and this hole was my favourite on the scorecard.

I didn’t think the semi-blind par threes at either the downhill 6th or the 15th on the edge of the escarpment worked very well; the first short hole could do with more of the obscuring sand dune removed and the second enjoys a far better line of approach from the regular tees.

Apart from those minor moans, I thought Buckpool was a delightful seaside track, a little flat in places at the start and end of both nines, but good use was made of the land in the south east corner of the property when siting the more undulating holes.

Well worth a look if you’re planning to visit some “second tier” courses along this coastline – and let’s be honest, you wouldn’t really expect to find the remnants of a J.H. Taylor track here, would you?

Jim McCann