Forfar - Angus & Dundee - Scotland

A 4 Ball rating of Good seems a little inadequate but in a region that include such luminaires as Carnoustie and Panmure, and the Blairgowrie Courses the Cunninghill Course at Forfar is worthy of a full day and anyone's hard earned cash.

From the initial welcome and banter in the Pro Shop, and the pleasant reception in the bar you are made to feel like a member, and it wouldn't be a bad place to play your golf every week.

The course is set out amongst tree lined fairways and is certainly a good test of a golfers ability to find the fairways and avoid the timber. You definitely have to bring your A game off the tee and where possible try and add a few yards as well. Bunkers abound throughout the course and plotting your way around them is pivotal both off the tee and on approach to the greens, The fairways played very links like when I played (end of July after a prolonged dry spell) and were a pleasure to hit from. The greens were true and ran at a moderate pace which when you consider some of the undulations on them was necessary.

This is definitely a course where a little local knowledge would be helpful as there are a few blind shots and doglegs that require navigating. I didn't think that there were any real standout holes but there were also very few poor ones. All in all a good balance of short and long par 4's, challenging par 3's and tempting par 5's.

My only minor criticism of the course would be the bunker sand quality and the proximity to other golfers when playing. Both can be avoided, just choose a quiet time to go and avoid the sand.

Played en route north to Aberdeen, the heathland, moorland and woodland setting that played like a links in early spring was most enjoyable. The abundance of tall pine trees that edge a lot of holes are magnificent and make for a really lovely game of golf. Very reasonable green fee for the quality of the course.

Forfar claims to be the 4th oldest 18 hole golf course in the world and the first to be designed as an 18 hole course from conception. With the original architect none other than Old Tom Morris and the upgrades carried out by James Braid, the pedigree of this course made the celebration of its 150th anniversary in 2021 an ideal time to visit.

We found a beautiful part heathland/moorland/ parkland track with a linksy feel due to many rumpled fairways, tight grass lies and well manicured greens. It is a gorgeous setting in which to play the game, tall trees ensure that most holes are played in isolation and yet the course occupies a relatively small site. And all the time you are taking in the history and simply marvelling that although the game has changed a lot since it’s formative days 150 years ago, this very early course is as relevant today as it was then.

I disagree with the prolific reviewer Jim McCann, as previous review, in that I found the weaker holes were at 16 and sadly 18, but the rest were a delightful and solid challenge with a number of sunken greens adding to the fun. We can however agree on the best holes in that Braid’s Best at 15 is a worthy signature hole and this with the thrilling Cat Law at 4 and wonderful green complex at Pitreuchie no.17 make but 3 of many excellent holes.

All in all, this is a most agreeable walking course with enough undulations to keep your interest throughout. Forfar demonstrates that the remarkable depth of superb golf courses at The Home of Golf extends to those well out of the limelight.

Almost ten years since I was last here, I pitched up at Forfar a couple of months ago on my way further north to play in Aberdeenshire. When comparing my personal Scottish Top 100 against the official Top 100 chart, this course is way lower than where I have it ranked so I thought a little “quality control” might be in order. I’m so glad I called in to Forfar, as it confirmed what I’d thought all along – this place is way under rated compared to others in loftier chart positions.

Getting the negative out of the way first, the course is let down by two weak holes, the par four 8th and par three 9th, but at least they’re played consecutively and you can look forward to a really solid back nine once they’re out of the way!

What’s best about Forfar is the movement of the land. It’s far from flat here – a “rolling landscape” if ever there was one – but changes in elevation are short and sweet, with nothing too strenuous to contend with. And the holes are beautifully routed around the wooded property, making full use of a very limited parcel of land that extends to less than 90 acres.

My favourite holes included the following: the 393-yard 4th (“Cat Law”), where the green lies on a ridge; the 359-yard 10th (“Gate”), with a wall running along the left side of a raised green; the 412-yard 15th (“Braid’s Best”), which doglegs slightly right then up to the raised green; and the 344-yard 17th (“Piteuchie”), with wonderfully-positioned bunkers guarding the front of the green.

Forfar’s as solid a 4-ball course as you will ever come across and with its reputation for offering reasonable green fees there’s no real excuse for not giving it a go if you haven’t already done so.

Jim McCann

As the descriptions say, a surprisingly linksy feel miles from the sea.

Well worth a visit.

Here is some important news for golf lovers...Retief Goosen is appearing tonight at Edinburgh's Comedy Club, Ian Poulter is currently receiving counselling for "low self esteem" and, finally, there are 91 golf courses in Scotland better than Forfar.Derek, Edinburgh, November 2012

Just cannot believe this course just makes the top 100. Well underrated and should be much higher; in my view it is a lot better than some of the big names who are, frankly, rated above this superb course just because they...are big names. Magnificent greens a credit to the greenkeeping staff, and a quaint old fashioned ambience to the welcoming clubhouse where I enjoyed lunch. Some cracking holes. To be faie the undulating fairways are not my cup of tea but this course deserves much higher ratings. You shoudl play it!

I make it a rule never to write reviews straight after playing a course. I like to meditate and cogitate, weigh up all the pros and cons, but not today. I feel compelled, at this ungodly hour, after a 6 30am departure from Glasgow, 36 holes. a 2 hour drive home to complete a 15 hour day (it’s a tough old gig) to shout humble Forfar’s praises from the rooftops as it is truly one of the finest gems in Scottish golf.Frankly, I questioned the sanity of some of the reviews below this one but dearest fellow scribblers, mia culpa, mia maxima culpa, as I would like to fully endorse your sentiments.Not only me, my two fellow playing partners today, one who has played our Scottish top 100, the other who has played over 40, also agreed that Forfar was equal, if not better, than many of the inland courses in loftier positions in the Tartan Ton.It is a normal practice of mine to single out holes but I won’t in this review as it was only the 12th that I didn’t think was sparkling and I am nit picking here.So you owe it to yourself to sample Forfar, you will not regret it and, as the course is on just about all of the popular voucher schemes you will get it for 17 quid which my firends is golfing grand larceny of the highest magnitude. MPPJ

i played forfar in heavy rain and was surprised how dry the course remained. Great layout and a good test. Some tricky greens and tight fairways make this a good challenge. I found it does play a little short. Would highly recommend playing this course - should be in the the top 100 uk courses easily. Cheap to play too!

If there is a better value for money course in the whole of Scotland I'd love to see it. 6 of us played there 17th Sep - 36 holes for £40 - we felt like we'd robbed them. We'd played Downfield and Carnoustie the two preceding days, but this was not out of place being uttered in the same sentence. Would definitely rate it as better than a lot of the courses currently in the Top 100.