Blairgowrie, a hamlet about 15 miles northeast of Perth, is a pleasant and convenient place to stop on your way north if you’re headed up to Nairn or Dornoch from Edinburgh. Recently while in Blairgowrie, I played the Wee Course, as Rosemount wasn't open to visitors that Saturday evening, and nine was truly all I could handle on the first day in Scotland after a long flight from the US.
Designed by James Braid, the Wee Course seems to be a good one for learners, while offering a few challenging features and interesting play for more accomplished players warming up for the larger courses.
#1 is one of the strong holes, a 185-yd par 3 with challenging bunkers—playing into the wind, this would be a fairway metal for most of us.
#2 is a unique dogleg right par 4, 336yds, with a mysterious tee shot
That must be long enough and left enough to approach a green protected by two large Scotch pines
On Holes 5 and 6 players are best off with opposite-turning tee shots—a cut on #5 to this fairway
Yielding this interesting approach to a semi-blind green
#5 green
Draw it into #6 fairway
To this approach
#7, a 162-yd, downhill par 3 is surely the highlight of the course. After a semi-blind tee shot
The first-time player finds more trouble than he knew at the bottom of the hill
—behind that mound up to the right of the green hides this bunker
The 415yd par 4 8th is a pretty heather-lined hole, the longest one on the course
The 9th requires a carry over the heather, and has OB left
Blairgowrie seems to be worth a slight detour even for the Wee Course, or better yet a more involved visit if you also have time to play one or both of the big courses.
You can get back on the A9 to go north, or if you like long, challenging scenic drives during which your passenger grips the dashboard while you, fighting jet-lag, drive on the “wrong side” of mountain roads
, I can recommend the A93-A939 route through Cairngorms Natl. Park and the Cairngorm Mountains.
