Cardrona Golf & Country Club

For a new style course Cardrona has settled in excellently and when we played in March the greens were dry and fast and just like summer greens. Great starting holes and in the main the par-5s and par-4s are excellent - especially the dog-leg 7th over the pond. The par-3s seem very similar and there are a few long walks between tee and green, but overall a great day out and the Cardrona Golf & Country Club hotel afterwards is superb too.

My dad and I played the course at the end of May and the course was very well maintained and flag positioning was very tricky to say the least.


The only drawbacks were the 3 different four balls that were ahead of us constantly throughout the round. These were older gentleman who you would have thought would have known good etiquette to allow the three 2 ball parties through to actually finish the round in under 5 hours!!


Also I have no idea were the McDonald Hotel and Country Club get the sand for the bunkers from as it looked very much like they had taken it from a nearby quarry somewhere with the amount of varying size of stones that were in there. That being said it was down to player error going into the traps!!!

However we very much enjoyed ourselves today and will undoubtedly visit the course again.

I played 36 holes at Cardrona on Friday and Saturday (October 08). The first thing I found was that the first tee is about 500 yards away from the clubhouse and Pro-shop. Why?Greens were in terrible state, they had been spiked but not rolled,so putting was a lottery, more like a pin ball machine.The 10th tee is next to the 15th fairway...watch out for wayward drives! Locals use the course as a dog walking facility. Fisherman use it as a short cut home and the local kids have lots off fun in and around the greens and the bunkers. So I had to wait for them to cross or get of the greens and bunkers.

The course was found to be boggy and had very poor drainage. It was also far too far apart at some holes. If I wanted a hike in the countryside I would have left my clubs at home! It could be a great course with a lot of hard work. And a re-thinking of it's lay-out and getting the locals off. On the Saturday I was behind a group of 6 ,this group included a young child aged about 6 years old, playing with very small clubs....this round took 5.5hours...not impressed as they wouldn't allow me or the 2 ball before me through. For a course that has such a high esteem of itself, why has it not got a handicap limit. I have played golf all over the world, including 3rd world countries and I am sorry to say Cardrona you are the worst. I grudgingly give it 1 out of 10.

I played Cardrona in August 2007, just after they staged a Euro-pro tour event. Beautiful scenery, course was in fantastic condition, greens were lovely. Some of the holes look fantastic and I will be going back to try and shoot a better score this time (I blame the printers for being late with their delivery of the strokesaver) Everyone was very helpful, only complaint was the distance between some holes, did feel like I was walking more than playing golf through 7,8 & 9.

Alas what promised to be a good course turned into a boring journey. I first played this during their open and the round took nearly six hours, the food buggy went round twice!
Greens all sandy, stones in bunkers, should have sponsor forms for walk between holes and bar prices way too high. Only worth it with a discount voucher.

I played Cardrona early June and was generally dissapointed with the condition of the course. Staff and members came across as being very helpful which made for a pleasent round of golf. More attention is required where the greens and bunkers are concerned to bring the course up to the championship standard which it claims. A few holes were fairly similar but most provided a reasonable challenge. Fairways were overly forgiving but bunkers made up for this and were well placed.

On the whole, an enjoyable day on what could be a fantastic course.

Played Cardrona on 2nd June 2006. The layout the course was fine, but a lot of holes are similar. I was surprised to find the greens in such bad condition as they were very uneven and slow. Bunkers were full of stones and the fairways were patchy in places. I would not recommend this course.

Played Cardrona the first week in April on a "Freedom of the Fairways Pass" (excellent value!) Of the 10 courses played this was the WORST by a long long way, in fact its one of the worst I`ve ever played - endured! Actually I don`t think it should have been open, nearly every shot was from a bog, never mind divots or preferred lies just a mud shower!Yes its a young course and the scenery is spectacular but the design is banal and tedious. Everlasting dreary par 4`s with wide forgiving fairways for a slicer but that just let me off the hook! Strange set up as well with the section over the road - more mature but the fairways were "agricultural"! OK the weather didn`t help - occasional rain, hail, sleet and strong biting wind but I chose to play in April in Scotland! Excellent company with a local member saved the day and gave me a good tip on the slice! The greens were generally dry but had been smothered in sand! At the end the bar was closed up so off to a local hostelry for sustenance and warmth!

Went for a game during the winter months this year.When we got ther the green's were on winter greens.Played the first couple of hole and noticed that no thought or time had been put into where the winter greens were or the condition of them.Was very dissapointed with the winter greens.I will say that i will be back in the summer for a game as the greens do look big with very undulating.Very long walk between the hole though.Would recommend to play it when they are on normal greens,but stay away when the winter green are on,a waste of time!!

As you drive through the beautiful valley towards Cardrona Golf & Country Club, don't be put off by the exterior of the Cardrona hotel which is rather white and somewhat out of place. The interior of the hotel more than makes up for this oversight and the facilities are excellent, particularly if you have a non-golfing partner. The only other downside is the practice range which is so short that woods are banned from use. Cardrona is another golf course where it is easy to spend a lot of time looking at the scenery. You will have pleanty of time for that as it is a long walk around this course. In general the holes are well spaced out and the river has been integrated well into the course design. I would say that the Par 5s are probably the best on the Cardrone course although there is plenty of variety in the par 4s with the par 3s a little anonymous. There is plenty of classic Dave Thomas bunkering and, although I played it in the height of summer, the greens were in excellent condition. On a Monday afternoon, there was nobody else around and I felt my £25 was superb value for money.

When we went to Cardrona Golf Club in April greens were still very sandy and there were no markers there for when taking your tee shot, however the course was still very enjoyable although the distance between greens and next tees is long this was a great day out. Cardrona Golf Course has a number of great par 4's and 5's par 3's but are all very similar though. Hotel was great afterwards as well.