Glencruitten Golf Club might be the best course you have never heard of. Located on the outskirts of Oban, Scotland it is the home of Bob McIntyre, who is Scotland’s top ranked golfer. It is easy to see how playing at this layout has helped Bob become the player he is today. 

The course is a James Braid design, which opened in the early 1900’s. The outstanding feature at Glencruitten is the terrain. The surrounding hills around the Glencruitten estate mean the course navigates significant elevation change.  This difficult terrain makes distance control a key ability that a player must have to play well here. There are several holes playing over 40 yards different depending on the slope. The slopes also mean there are plenty of blind shots to carefully navigate. 

The course plays a par 62, however, it certainly plays a lot harder than that. There are plenty of par 3s at Glencruitten, however, these are all fantastic and the elevation change on them provides a different challenge that the normal golfer is not used to. Hitting 2nd after your playing partner is preferred as you can see how their ball flies before you select your club. This begins as early as the 2nd hole, where the shot plays as much as 2 clubs downhill. There are also many long par 3s that will routinely play over their par. An example of this is the 7th hole, which plays around 200 yards to a very narrow target. Trees line the right side and water is down the left. Accuracy with long irons and fairway woods is very beneficial at this layout.

The 8th hole is my personal favourite. It is a blind, 260 yard par 4 that plays significantly uphill to a raised green. The target is very small but it does offer a glimpse of a birdie if you can get a good tee shot away. I thankfully got a great tee-shot off on this hole and G duly holed the 40 foot eagle putt in our scramble format. 

Another hole that is full of character is the 12th hole. At 433 yards and straight uphill you would expect to be pulling a driver out. Wrong! All that is needed is a 200 yard shot to the bottom of the slope, which leaves a daunting, blind and uphill 190 yard shot for your 2nd to reach the front of the green. This is a par 4.5 as if you can get your ball anywhere near the green in 2, it is nothing short of a miracle!

Aside from the golf course, the clubhouse is a very special place. There is a variety of golfing memorabilia to celebrate the career of Bob McIntyre. With various pieces from the several majors he has participate in and pieces from The Ryder Cup he won with Europe in 2023. The friendliness of the people we found in the clubhouse was also very special. Everyone took great pleasure in engaging us for a conversation and one of the club’s staff took us on a tour of the golf club and gave us advice on how to tackle the course. Even when out on the course, groups of members were happy to chat away to us and guide us on some of the more challenging holes!

I can’t wait to go back to Glencruitten as it is a course with loads of character and requires significant course knowledge (of which I have now built up a little).