MORAY GOLF CLUB (OLD COURSE) - 16 POINTS

I always think there’s something special about a links golf course that starts and finishes in a town. St Andrews, North Berwick, Lahinch - to name but 3 - are all great examples. Moray Old Course, known by many as ‘Lossie’, is set in the northern Scottish town of Lossiemouth. 

It is a golf club very much at the heart of the local community - this is no Kingsbarns or Castle Stuart, where foreign voices are the norm. Rather, as a visitor, you are likely to be an exception on the tee sheet. The main reason for that is geography - Lossiemouth is pretty isolated. However if you are driving from Aberdeen to Inverness then it is pretty much en route and it makes a lot of sense to stop off here.

You will be rewarded with a true links golf course. The course was laid out by Old Tom Morris and he did a great job. No earth was moved, no dunes created. Old Tom simply found the best spots for tee boxes and greens and mowed between them. The effect is one of the most ‘natural’ feeling links courses you will play.

While it’s not a long course, it’s no pushover either. I played it from the yellow tees and that comes in as a par 70, just over 6,200 yards in length. The course has three par 3s, one par 5 and a good variety of par 4s. These range from the 463 brute that is the second to the 252 yard tenth. However, choose the back tees and it will stretch to a 6,671 par 71 which would be a much sterner test.

The course is a relatively traditional out and back course, with a few twists and turns on the way. The fourth hole is a testing par 3 hard up against a road on the right hand side, which helps focus the mind. This is a really special hole with a fantastic green, well protected with mounds and bunkers.

Across the road the holes are still perfectly pleasant but probably lack a little of the nuance of those closer to the coast. 

The condition of the course was fantastic. I played in July and, while there had been some rain in the previous weeks, the fairways were still running tremendously well - the ball was running and running when it hit the yellow turf. Balls landing on fairways took many twists and turns on the crumpled terrain and you could run the ball up at pretty much every green. This part of the country quite famously sits in a micro-climate which means the course often plays like this all year around. The greens were running brilliantly well too and this was a real links experience all round.

I played the front 9 with a two club wind behind before turning into it for the back 9. This is opposite to the usual prevailing wind and as a result the closing holes really asked some questions.

For a course so near to the coast you actually only get close to the water on the last few holes. While that feels a little bit of a shame, it is worth waiting for as the finish is one of the very best in Scottish golf. The names of the holes are enough to whet the appetite - Sea, Short, Road, Long, Home. 

The 17th tee is perched between the sea and the landing lights for the RAF base next door and you need all your concentration to hit the fairway here. The only par 5 on the course, it is reachable with the prevailing wind but, with the wind into me, it took a lucky bounce off the back with my approach to yield a birdie.

And then to the pièce de résistance of Lossie - the 18th. This hole has been voted the second best finishing hole in Scotland (I guess The Old Course had to get first place) and, when you play it, is is easy to see why.

I had heard the 18th described as similar to the last at North Berwick or the Old Course, with hard out of bounds on the right hand side. While there are some similarities for sure, this is a much harder hole. With the wind into you, as I had, there is no option of an iron off the tee. The hole is almost 400 yards long and to get on in two you need to hit a driver from the tee. However, if you push one to the right you will almost certainly be in someone’s garden - goodness knows how many free balls the owners collect every year?!

The landing area is basically a mogul field with ups and downs all over the place. You are then left with a long iron shot up a big hill to the huge green, protected by big deep bunkers if you miss short. I imagine with the wind the other way this is a slightly easier test but it is still a hole where a par is a fantastic score. I put a little video of the hole on Twitter.

The Old Course at Moray is a real delight. It’s a simple golf course that is both accessible and a good test. Play well and you will be rewarded with a good score, but expect some knocks offline on the way. Just as golf should be!

BOOKING THE COURSE

Moray Golf Club has taken quite an enlightened view on revenue generation. I was there in the July of 2020 when Covid had impacted all courses significantly and they were running all manner of deals, including a four ball for £160. The full green fee is £125 in the summer, but this is discounted to £90 if you play before 8.30am or after 3pm. Given that you can still be playing golf this far north at 11pm in the summer months, that gives plenty of opportunity for a deal.

I’m sure most visitors will be here in the summer, but if you are around off-season there is real value to be had - it’s only £30 from November to March - and that microclimate means the course will be in good condition all year round.

Prices correct as of August 2023.

TOUR TIPS

Moray Golf Club makes the perfect stop off for a trip from Aberdeen to Inverness/Dornoch. It’s just over an hour and a half cross-country from Aberdeen and then another hour to Castle Stuart, just outside of Inverness, so is a great place to break the journey. 

Make sure you leave time to have a drink on the clubhouse terrace looking down over the magnificent 18th hole - it really is a wonderful spot.

CONTACT DETAILS

Moray Golf Club
Stotfield Rd,
Lossiemouth
IV31 6QS

Phone: 01343 812018
Web: http://www.moraygolf.co.uk/

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