Cowglen Golf Club

Cowglen was a very welcome last-minute discovery on my way home from Machrihanish and Machrihanish Dunes. We flew into Glasgow at 9:45 in the morning and had a 5:00 pm flight to Amsterdam, giving me roughly four and a half hours in which to fit in a round. Finding a course with availability that was also close enough to Glasgow Airport was surprisingly difficult, but Cowglen Golf Club, a James Braid design, was only around 15 minutes away. The professional was exceptionally helpful in arranging a tee time that fitted my rather tight schedule. When I arrived, my rental clubs were already prepared and were of good quality, so I could get started without wasting any time. After two holes I caught up with a couple of long-standing members, who were extremely friendly and invited me to join their game. That turned what could have been a rushed airport round into a genuinely enjoyable golfing experience. Cowglen is a surprisingly varied and undulating course. What I particularly liked was that every hole felt different. I never had the feeling that I was simply playing the same type of hole over and over again. There are some challenging holes, including a fairly long par three on the back nine, while several holes climb and descend across the terrain, making good use of the natural contours. Despite the limited time I had available, I really enjoyed the round. The friendly members, the variety of the course and the excellent help from the professional made it a particularly pleasant experience. Afterwards I had a quick shower in the locker room and a nice lunch before heading back to Glasgow Airport. For anyone with a few hours to spare around Glasgow Airport, Cowglen is definitely worth considering. It is close, welcoming, varied and very enjoyable to play, and in my case, it fitted perfectly into a tight travel schedule.

The course itself is in fantastic condition. Tee to green the course is immaculate, a testament to the GK Staff. You are instantly challenged to plot your way around the track as leaking a drive left or right could add 2 extra clubs to your approach or force a punch under the tree lined fairways. This is made more difficult to navigate with undulating sloping fairways and pins pushing you to think about attack angles to the greens protected with hidden hazards. Surprisingly, this parkland track has true and quick greens, they are links quick and undulating, with dangerous pin placements causing havoc to your card if not careful. Deliberately place your ball in an appropriate area of the fairway. Trees are matured and from the very beginning to the 18th can cause an impossible 2nd into the green. Fantastic views, randomly coming face to face with deer twice on the 18 played - this course is a fantastic way to play golf. Best course I’ve played in the area, it’s physically demanding too. A tough test for anyone. I can honestly say, if you can shoot par here you can probably shoot par anywhere. 10/10

excelent challange a good mixture of tough par 4s plus tricky par 3s greens small but very fast and undulating off line shots will be punished.lots of fairway bunkers that should be avoided.overall condition exelent especialy the greens.enjoyed the views from 8th hole a must playif visiting glasgow on a golfing trip.