One thing as a group we’ve really tried to do this year is participate in as many open competitions as we possibly can. There’s a few reasons we do this. Firstly, it’s fun to put yourself into a bit more of a pressure situation and play a little more competitively, but the biggest draw is that we can play more courses at what is usually a heavily discounted rate. When we saw Royal Tarlair were hosting a completely free stroke play competition, we jumped on it straight away.

Royal Tarlair, interestingly, is a course that only recently came onto my radar. I’d heard of it a few times but had never really done too much reading up on it. However, when we were on our road trip a few months back, we got talking to another group during a post-round hydration session and they had just played Royal Tarlair the day before. “One of the best par 3s in the world” was the main claim, and I’m sure is a claim that would pique most golfers’ interest.

And so that thought was parked until one night we were looking to see if any courses local to us were hosting an open for us to enter and immediately Royal Tarlair stood out. So we jump onto Scottish Golf and we’re pretty surprised to discover a £0 entry fee.

What a result.

In the run-up to the event, I’ve been playing some pretty miserable golf. I’d just played in Spain the week before. In my defence, it was mid 30s and no one else was on the course, but my golf was woeful. I then played in my company’s golf outing and took home the wooden spoon, so my hopes of an unbelievable round at Royal Tarlair were pretty slim. However, I was really looking forward to playing what looked like a top course.

All week we’re following the weather forecast. Dry but windy. Incredibly windy. In Scotland we typically see this as a result, but knowing this course is right on the coast and knowing my golf game is not currently with me, it does give me a bit of the fear.

Never mind. We arrive at the club to be greeted by a friendly face in the pro shop to get us signed in. Raffle tickets are on sale and that is where we find out the club is celebrating its centenary year, hence the £0 entry fee. The clubhouse is a pretty sizeable space with a well-stocked looking bar that we know will be getting a wee visit post-round.

Heading out to the practice green for a small warm-up, this thing is fast. My putting for sure has been my weakest link recently, so to be hitting a practice green rolling rapid is my second fear factor of the day. No practice nets at Royal Tarlair, so it’s a few swings to loosen up and we’re ready to go.

The first hole is a straight, downhill par 4. 330 yards to the green, so we all take out our driver. Now, we are downwind but at this moment in time it doesn’t feel too strong. We wait for the group in front to get on the green and I hit my tee shot.

Low and hard. Due to the sun we don’t actually see it down, but I feel it’s pretty good, possibly right side of the fairway. 330 yards to the green mind, so I don’t think it’s in danger.

My pal hits one slightly left, we see it down and it’s in the first cut, and our third whacks one down the middle. He typically hits the same distance as us and we see his ball land 40 yards short of the green. And it just keeps going and going and going. It actually looks like the boys in front have left the green whilst we’ve been hitting, so we believe no fore shout required.

We arrive at the green and we see one ball on the green, and the group in front pointing to one off the back. It turns out my pal has rolled off the back and I am 15 feet past the hole. Apologies are given, and we’re told that they had actually done exactly the same thing to the group in front and not to worry about it. It certainly gets our guard up a little for the rest of the round to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

A fantastic 3 putt par and we’re onto the 2nd tee.

I’m not going to give a hole-by-hole because no one wants to read that. However, when I tell you the wind picks up from this point on I am not exaggerating. It was wild. I’ve never played in anything like it.

The second hole is a long par 4 into this wind and I card a 9. A bloody 9. The less said about that the better. At this point I know already the card is pretty much gone and I go into course enjoyment mode. This is a mode that apparently works pretty well for me and I end up with a respectable 44 on the front nine.

The wind only keeps picking up for the rest of the round, and for some reason it doesn’t matter which part of the course we are on, it always feels like it is hurting.

The back nine doesn’t go as much to plan as the remainder of the front nine, and I card a few more bogeys. The only thing I have in mind though on this back nine is the par 3 13th.

The best par 3 in the world.

This is actually a statement that was repeated whilst we were signing in this morning.

And we get to the tee box.

It’s a little backed up, so initially we do not see the full picture of this hole. We do see a buggy that is left on the tee, however. This is to transport you from tee to green and back up the 14th fairway. We think this is a bit peculiar. Surely no hole could be that severe that this kind of treatment is required.

The tee box clears and my god were we wrong.

We measure tee to pin at 150 yards.

You are firing massively downhill. Over a cliff edge. With a cliff edge at the back of the green. And to the right. And to the front.

There is no safe shot here. You either hit the green or you are in a bit of trouble. The wind is howling and we have absolutely no idea what to hit. I want to say this drop is approximately 100 feet, and with the wind swirling it’s almost impossible to know what to hit.

I go with my 7 iron and go ever so slightly long, but it’s safe. Our second goes short off the front of the cliff, and our third short and left which appears at first to be safe, but we do not find it.

A terrible 4 putt for me and I walk off with a double bogey. A double bogey that I would have bought off you when I was standing on the tee.

I really think this hole is one that everyone should try and play once in their life. If you are local, try and play. I know it’s difficult as a tourist because you typically want to play a lot of the bigger named courses, but Royal Tarlair is an excellent course in top condition and this par 3 truly is one of the best I’ve personally ever played.

We smash our drives on the 14th straight back up the hill, and off on the hike we go. We opted not to take the buggy, which maybe turns out to be a mistake as we stop for breath when we get back up to the top.

The rest of the round goes on with relatively no drama. Our scores aren’t excellent. I finish on a 92, which is nowhere near in contention. My playing handicap for the day was 12, which as a 14 handicap actually surprised me considering how harsh the conditions were, but never mind!

As I finish with the wooden spoon for my group, I am on the beers for our post-round dissection. A lot of friendly faces in the clubhouse, the bar staff were great and gave us some tips for our next round here.

“Bring some weights for your shoes.”

We could only laugh. Advice that would have been great three and a half hours ago!

All three of us are in agreement that Royal Tarlair really is a fantastic course, one that any keen local golfer really should go out and try and play. And if you are a tourist, I highly recommend you do some research on this course and see if you can’t squeeze it onto your itinerary.

We can’t wait to get back and play again, hopefully in some calmer conditions!