Turriff - North East Scotland - Scotland

If you tire of the abundant seaside golf in the north-east you can do a lot worse than find your way to the pretty course at Turriff on the road north from Aberdeen to Banff and Macduff, This is parkland golf in an attractive setting.There are some lovely holes alongside the river Deveron, notably 3,7, 8 and 16. With a length of under 6,000 yards and a layout that is not especially penal Turriff offers a most pleasant golfing experience.

Local rule number 8 on the scorecard refers to OVERHEAD POWER LINES at holes 3, 8 and 14-16 (where golfers must replay their shot if their ball strikes the poles, lines or supporting cables) and this instruction gives a little indication of how charming this little track is with a local electricity line running through five of the holes.

I suppose if the course was located in a bigger town, the club would have had the power supply diverted or put underground by now. Instead, as a wee rural club in the heart of Aberdeenshire, the members just learn to live with what they’ve got, which just adds to its attraction in my eyes.

There’s a lot of good golf to be played at Turrif with holes routed along, then up and down the hillside overlooking the narrow floodplain of the river before holes 12 to 16 then return to the riverside.

I know the severe storms at the end of last December in Aberdeenshire abnormally affected the levels of the Deveron and all of the fairways beside the river were under water for a time. Despite that, they’ve made a remarkable recovery and you’d never now know there had been any problems.

The first of the par threes at the 142-yard 4th is a cracker, played to an elevated green surrounded by four bunkers but the three other short holes on the card were a bit of a disappointment in comparison - two of them (at the 10th and 17th) face uphill, right enough, and it’s never easy to make such holes appear attractive.

The downhill par five 6th was easily the best hole on the card for me, played straight downhill to a sand-protected green that sits immediately behind a burn. It’s a great chance to pick up a birdie but the hole’s also fraught with plenty of danger around the green site.

Turrif was a bit of a surprise as it’s nicely routed and in great condition, the ideal place for a society away day. With a SSS of two under the par and a yardage of just under 5,800 yards from the yellow tees, it certainly won’t beat you to a pulp.

Jim McCann