Dumfries & County

Willie Fernie, the 1883 Open winner, designed this privately owned parkland course on 89 acres of the Nunfield Estate in 1912. He cleverly planned the layout in two loops of nine with the 9th and 18th holes finishing at the clubhouse, thus offering members the chance to play a quick nine holes on either the front or back nine holes if stuck for time.

In late 1926, James Braid was asked to suggest course improvements and he tightened things up considerably with new bunkers which, according to The Scotman newspaper, “added greatly to the sporting character of the course.” Braid returned eight years later (when the club attained some additional land) to increase the length of the course.

During the Second World War, to aid the war effort, the course was closed and the fairways turned into wheat and potato fields. When hostilities were over and new land became available to extend the 8th, 11th and 12th holes, Philip Mackenzie Ross (the great post-war restoration man) reconstructed the course.

Dumfries & County held its first major championship in 1958 with the British Youths Championship. The Scottish Girls Championship was also staged at Nunfield in 1963 and 1968 and the British Senior Ladies Championship was played here in 2006.

Three holes are worthy of mention: The 4th a 327-yard par four, named “Queensberry”, offers a fantastic view of the Nith valley from its elevated tee. The green – and they are all USGA standard here – has bunkers protecting it right and left with out of bounds to the back. The 7th, a 519-yard par five called “Burns Walk”, requires accuracy all the way to the pin as the fairway tapers into the green with out of bounds on the right. The 16th is a great 201-yard one-shotter called “The Rhodies” and it’s played to an elevated green and requires a solid tee shot that will carry all the way to avoid deep bunkers to the front of the putting surface.