I Revisited The Northerly Scottish County Blessed With Good Golf Aplenty Both On The Coast And Inland

Right on the Firth

I’d been to Spey Bay on the Moray Firth before, but not played due to 50mph winds and torrential rain.

After struggling to open the car doors that time, I’d sought refuge in the clubhouse and let manager Bert Mackay tell me about the ambitious plans to transform the course into a reversible links with up to five routings.

Much work has been going on at Spey Bay

Huge amounts of work have been taking place at Spey Bay in recent years under new ownership

(Image credit: Kevin Murray)

This time, the rain had relented, but as I tackled the ‘standard’ routing, the wind was still four clubs at times, pushing you relentlessly towards the Firth on the run for home.

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It made for one or two interesting moments on this narrow, exposed links strip, with the greens glinting like emeralds against lighter-coloured fairways, framed by wispy grasses and the now more distant gorse after a major clearing operation.

Spey Bay on the Moray Firth

Several holes hug the shoreline at Spey Bay

(Image credit: Kevin Murray)

The 3rd played tough due to the dogleg and bunkers, and I really liked the 4th, a tiddler of a par 3 that mixes up the generally out-and-back angles.

The 6th plays from a tee tucked back in the gorse with the green just beyond a burn, while the switchback par-3 8th played straight into the wind away from the shore to a green atop a ridge with effectively two false fronts.

The par-3 8th at Spey Bay

On the day of my round this par-3 8th hole played straight into a four-club wind

(Image credit: Kevin Murray)

Much club was needed to cover the 131 yards. Coming home, the 15th presented the opposite problem playing downwind towards the Firth, while my scorecard notes for the par-5 16th read, ‘What a par!’

I recall hitting it almost onto the beach, coming up short with a driver-off-the-deck third and getting up and down with an 8-iron chip and run. All great fun!

Away from the coast

Having previously played the big-hitters like Castle Stuart and Nairn in this part of the world, as well as many of the supporting cast like Cullen, Covesea and Moray, for my second round this time I headed inland to Elgin, where I was told the par-5 1st used to be a long par 4.

One of the opening holes at Elgin

Elgin’s enjoyable opening stretch plays in among the pines

(Image credit: Jeremy Ellwood)

When the par was changed, the average score dropped markedly. Mind games, eh! It’s certainly a reasonably straightforward three-shotter with the drive landing on a downslope. But with the wind hard against, it was still far from a pushover.

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Elgin offers a fine inland option six miles due south of Lossiemouth

(Image credit: Unknown)

The second par 5 at the 5th stood out, a majestic hole where the drive must thread the needle between bunkers and trees before you climb to the green, or through it in two in my case thanks to the strong tailwind.

The two par 3s that follow are 221 and 167 yards but played pretty much the same club in the wind. The fine long par-4 8th is then a kind of mirror image of the 5th… and precisely the same yardage as the par-5 1st.

The narrow entrance to 12 caught my eye coming home as did the green cut into the slope on the par-3 15th, plus the approach to 18, another long par 4 with prominent run-offs right of the green.

Scorecard in hand

Finally, a rare competitive outing away from home around the lovely James Braid course at Forres. There was an open competition on the day I was looking to play, so I gave it a go in the company of William from Inverness Golf Club and Stuart from Strathpeffer Spa.

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With William and Stuart, my fellow competitors at Forres

(Image credit: Unknown)

I’m not sure I’ve ever deliberated for so long over what club to hit on the 1st, a short downhill par 4 into the wind with the OOB road on the right all too visible.

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Attack or play safe? Decisions, decisions on the 1st at Forres

(Image credit: Unknown)

In the end I chipped a driver away and was going pretty well until a three-putt on the par-3 7th sparked a downward spiral, with a tree disaster following on the 8th, the second of two holes cut through a forest.

Before that, I’d made a nice par on the lovely 4th, which plays from an elevated tee before turning gently left to a narrow two-tier green.

The long downhill par-3 10th reminded me of 11 at my home club of Royal Ashdown Forest, albeit a yard shorter at 248.

I then fluked a birdie on 15 with a ridiculous bounce off a tree, mucked up the signature, risk-reward 16th and closed with a birdie on 18 for 82 blows – not brilliant, not disastrous but highly enjoyable.

The 18th green at Forres Golf Club