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Letham Grange Golf Club, Arbroath, Angus. (1987 – 2019)
Referred to on the club website as the “Augusta of the North”.
Competition played over the course in October 1986.
Dundee Courier Monday 13 October 1986. Image © D.C.Thomson & Co. Ltd. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
The course was officially opened in April 1987 by Sir Henry Cotton and was a 6632 yard par 73, Championship layout. An 18-hole parkland course incorporating both tree-lined and open fairways. It featured memorable water hazards on the 8th & 10th holes. Every hole was unique, presenting a variety of challenges to every level of golfer. The blue tees added a further 336 yards to the length making it a fantastic championship course.
Dundee Courier Monday 27 April 1987. Image © D.C.Thomson & Co. Ltd. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
The "Glens Course” opened in 1992 was a challenging, 5528 yards, par 68 course designed by T MacAuley. It was shorter and a less demanding than the Old. The finishing holes from the 13th onwards were tight and more demanding than the first twelve. The course was not the longest but still required plenty of thought.
In the early 1990s the secretary was Mrs H MacDougall; professional; D Scott; 18-holes, 6,789 yards, SSS 73; course records; amateur – W Taylor, 73; professional – J Farmer, 72.
I would like to thank Colin Barker for the scorecard images below and for his following comments/recollections regarding Letham Grange. – “I hope the closure you have noted in 2019 is not the final nail in the coffin for this magnificent Course - I always rated the Old Course the No1 Course I had played (out of currently 594) as it had the finest stretch of 9 back-to-back holes from the 7th to the 15th (I think) which were all unique as your opening paragraph suggests and the Jewel in the Crown was the fabulous 8th hole which was a complete mirror image of the Par 3 16th at Augusta and to this day I remember the 'perfect' 6 iron I hit over the water and past the flag thinking it would roll back down the hill but in the softish conditions it stuck leaving me with a downhill putt towards the water. With the gentlest of raps from my putter I was pleased to see it come to rest next to the hole for a tap-in par 3. When we visited in 1993 the Hotel was closed as it had been taken over by a Japanese company I think and was pending refurbishment but the bar in the Conservatory was open and over drinks we were informed that the New Course (which was obviously renamed the Glens at some point afterwards as my Card is identical to the one shown) was formed by a combination of (I believe) 4/5 holes (I'm guessing the 13th to 18th looking at the maps) taken from the original Old course and combined with the new holes that were built. so the 'new Old Course' had 4/5 new holes added to it. - it must have been a truly wonderful course in its original entirety - The Scorecard I have has the same yardage as the later one you have shown but without the names of the holes and with a much different Stroke Index eg the 8th was Stroke Index 18 and was the scariest 'easiest' hole on a Golf Course I have ever played ! - I don't know if you could find any way of verifying what we were told about the 'amalgamation' of the courses”.
If anyone can help with information regarding the clubs short history and the amalgamation of the courses please “Contact Us” via the website homepage.
Above images from 1993 courtesy of Colin Barker.
From the 1994 Golfer's Handbook; Membership 650; Secretary, Miss P Ogilvie; Professional, D Scott; Old Course - 18-holes, 6,954 yards, SSS 73, designed by Steel/Smith; New Course - 18-holes, 5,528 yards, SSS 68, designed by T MacAuley; Fees Old Course, £20 weekdays, (£25 weekend); New Course, £12, (£15).
Golfer's Handbook 1998; Membership 780; Secretary, Miss C Grainger; Professional, S Moir; Old Course - 18-holes, 6,968 yards, SSS 73; New Course - 18-holes, 5,528 yards, SSS 68; Amateur course record Old Course - D Downie, 69 (1994); Professional course record Old Course - J Metcalfe and J Bickerton, 67 (1994); Amateur course record New Course - L McLaughlin, 62 (194); Fees Old Course, £24 weekdays, (£36 weekend); New Course, £15.50, (£18).
The Letham Grange Hotel & Golf Resort closed in early 2011 following an unresolved and lengthy dispute between a former owner and the liquidator. However, the golf courses were reopened less than two months later under the management of Letham Grange Golf Club thanks to the impressive efforts of keen members who often worked on a voluntary basis at the Golf Desk and out on the Golf Course.
The following message appeared on the club website. “Dear fellow golfer. Unfortunately, Letham Grange Golf Club ceased to operate the Glens and Old Courses on 3 November 2019. At that time no new operator had been announced by the property owners for the Hotel or Golf Courses.”
Alan McPherson is playing all of Scotland’s golf courses to raise funds for Cancer Research. Alan played the Glens course in June 2013, link below.
https://scottishgolfcourses-allofthem.blogspot.com/search?q=letham+grange
Later scorecard and course plan “Old Course.”
Later scorecard and course plan “Glens/New Course.”
Above image courtesy of Gary Dempster.
First hole – Old Course.
Fifth hole – Old Course.
Ninth green – Glens Course.
Twelfth green – Glens Course.
Thanks to Dr. Douglas Lockhart who visited the site on Friday 13 March 2020. Douglas provided the pictures below of the courses and issued the following update - “Overall impression 4 months after closure was of a course that had been neglected for some time - greens were very mossy - doubt if these had been hollow tined recently. Many bunkers in poor shape and grass near the edge of streams needed tidying. A lot of mole activity, some visible in photos of Old Course. The former hotel is in very poor shape.”
First tee and hotel on the Old Course.
Approach to the first green.
Second hole – note the mole hills - these have been flattened/spread suggesting some very basic green keeping taking place.
Third hole.
Approach to third green – arch to the right of third green.
Sixth on the Old Course looking back from the green.
Old Course seventh from the tee.
Bridge at the eighteenth.
Eighteenth green. The above pictures are of the Old Course.
First hole on the Glens course.
Thanks to Dr Douglas Lockhart who re-visited the site on Monday 30 August and Wednesday 1 September 2021 and took the pictures below. The first sets of photos were taken about four months after closure - the latest images really show how things have deteriorated.
Images below are of the “Old Course” taken on Monday 30 August.
Letham Grange and a ball washer that still works! - at the first tee.
Third fairway.
Approach 3rd green.
Third green.
Third fairway looking back to dog-leg.
Sixth fairway looking back down fairway from green.
Seventh fairway.
Looking back from 18th green to fairway.
Pictures below are of the “Old Course” taken on Wednesday 1 September.
First tee and fairway.
Looking back to second tee.
Fourth fairway, overgrown ditch and green on higher ground.
Fifth tee.
Ditch/bridge and fifth green.
Halfway up the sixth fairway.
Looking back from 6th green.
Approaching seventh green.
Eighth tee – green is in the gap beyond the lake.
Eighth green looking back to the tee.
Evening shadows from the 18th green.
Pictures below of the “Glens Course” taken on Wednesday 1 September.
Fourteenth looking back from green.
Fifteenth near front tee.
The green on 17th is the paler grass with the trees beyond the back of the green.
Douglas Lockhart provided the pictures below of the Glens Course taken on September 12 and 13.
Eighteenth from the tee (Sept 12).
First from behind the tee (Sept 13).
Eighteenth from behind green with overgrown bunker (Sept 13).
Further pictures of the abandoned “Old Course” taken by Douglas Lockhart on Sunday 12 September 2021.
Above views from eighth tee.
Eighth green looking back to tee.
The above picture of the eighth shows the tee to the right and the green beyond the water. Picture taken on 26 September.
Ninth green and fairway.
Tenth hole view from tee.
Tenth hole looking across landing area from the tee, lake and green.
Tenth hole looking across lake to the green.
Tenth hole looking back.
Eleventh tee and fairway.
Ditch at twelfth and green beyond.
Thirteenth green just to the left of the tall tree.
Fourteenth looking back from just in front of green.
Fifteenth green looking back to the tee.
Sixteenth fairway looking towards the green.
Seventeenth fairway looking back from green.
Eighteenth fairway – green is on the flat area in front of the house.
Below are pictures of the Glens golf course taken by Dr Douglas Lockhart on Sunday 26 September 2021.
Approaching first green.
Second fairway.
Over the rise and downhill towards the third green.
Fifth fairway – cut as its near houses.
Short sixth.
Seventh green.
Eighth green.
Ninth green and apron near houses – cut and quite smart.
Twelfth green and tenth fairway heading into the distance.
Fifteenth tee looking towards fairway – a very narrow hole though it’s likely that trees have severely encroached since hole was first open for play.
Seventeenth from tee.
Seventeenth looking back from green towards tee in distance.
Eighteenth from tees.
Eighteenth approaching green.