Macdonald Cardrona Hotel, Golf & Country Club

Had a great round with my wife in tow. We were warned that they had an issue with the greens over covid and they were indeed bumpy, but coming together nicely. Quite obviously a lot of work been put into this. Mark at the desk was brilliant and gave us the low down. This is the hardest round I have attempted in my short golf “career” and quite honestly I can say that whilst it challenged, it also allowed for some great shots in beautiful scenery. Get the buggy if you can because it is some walk. But once the greens are fully rescued this will once again be a golf treasure. Loved it.

Great day out on a tough, long course. Staff were lovely and the course seems to be moving in a great direction.

Whilst my golf buddy and I had no great expectations of Cardrona, we were more than pleasantly surprised.
1. The welcome- Both Mark and Chris, one a manager and the other staff, were extremely friendly and polite, they had all the booking, buggy and ancillaries ready, as well as information on the course, they had also informed the group ahead that we were running late and they were happy to let us through on tee 1, great communication.
2 The course- it was explained that the course was in great condition with the exception of the greens, which were a work in progress, we would agree, tee boxes 5/5, fairway 5/5, bunkers5/5(best we’ve seen this year), greens 3/5, receptive and consistent but not great condition as they explained, so no complaints.
3 The round- This is more a review on how we played, near perfect weather conditions and wide fairways as well almost no other golfers, with stunning scenery, this is golf.
4 The end- We were not rushed to return the buggy, had a very nice toasted baguette, irn bru(in glass bottles) lovely, all presented and served wonderfully, and very friendly, little more pricey than standard, but it is a hotel complex so that’s expected.
5 Overall- we have played here before, but this was the most enjoyable, from begining to end there are no complaints, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, thank you to all the staff, especially Mark and Chris.
Our Scores were Gross 75 and 82, handicaps 6&11, nett 69&71, this may have been contributing factor of enjoyment.

Great scenery, shame about the greens. If the place was well maintained it would be a surreal experience and would pay much more for the pleasure.

Lovely laid out course with some real challenging approaches, would be fantastic and recommended if the greens weren't in such a state but there's no getting away from that.

I don't like criticising courses unfairly but the greens are in need of a lot of TLC. When I booked initially I was forewarned by the guy on the phone that they were bumpy. The guy at the course shop said they weren't that bad but he was being optimistic. First 3 holes aren't too bad. Then it's a lottery, I think it was 11/12 that was shambolic.

Get the feeling it's the overall hotel finding it's feet after re-opening as there were other issues but once sorted I'd love to play again. Photos (if they load) aren't even the bad greens.

Lovely course in idyllic scenery. The greens are improving and I can’t wait to come back. The fairways are in great shape Mark was very friendly and honest. This course overall is well looked after. A brilliant place for couples if your partner doesn’t play.

What a great chamionship course, Fantastic location to saty over and play other coursers. Carpet fairwys, white fuffy sands, set in the tweed valley, spectacular panaramic veiws.
They have had problems with the greens last year with irregation failure but they are on the mend its only a matter of time now for them to be back to Championship standard.
I will be back later on in the year. Tough test of golf 7,000 yds lots of bunkers. Tough American undulating greens. This course is on the mend.

I returned to play this course to see if the devastation caused to the greens by the failure of the irrigation system was being addressed. The greens are far from perfect having been drilled but they are recovering albeit slowly, at least there is more green than brown now but the ball still has no chance of running true. The ground staff though seem to be putting in the effort to get the course back into the condition it used to be pre-Covid. The bunkers are also being renovated with evidence of recent works. I would give the course another couple of months of spring growth and hopefully with some further care the greens will at least be more grass than moss. The remainder of the course was in good condition. It needs the replacement of the signs at the end of the 8th hole for the directions to the 9th tee for visitors who don't know the course, as I met a threesome who had been wandering around for 10 minutes lost!! The replacement of signage on the tees for distances etc... would be welcome and a guide for the pin position ie. front, middle, back etc... but all in all it is good to be able to see some effort being made to restore the course. Once there is full time golf staff things can only get better.

The course was totally wasted with unplayable greens. All the grass was dead due to green staff incompetence. The areas of greens had been top sanded and seeded in an effort to repair with Hollowtinning also having been carried out. The general surfaces were exceptionally bumpy making it impossible to putt and as a four ball we simply played to the green and then walked to the next tee.
As a minor point the bunkers had not been raked and the area was exceptionally compacted.

Never in all my playing days have I come across greens that consisted of a mixture of rancid earth mould and very little grass more like weeds Bunker surrounds never been strimmed for ages A good stretch of the legs us the only good thing a can say about it Brian

I usually play this course multiple times in a year but less this year. The greens are an absolute disaster. The grass has suffered from severe die back owing a failure of the irrigation system. The surface is probably worse than an artillery firing range. The ball does not run true as it leaps and jumps across the surface. It is an absolute lottery and as putting is half the game, the price should reflect that OR there should be a clear warning that the greens are in extremely poor condition. They are recovering slowly compared with a couple weeks ago but still poor. Some of the bunkers need attention with a crop of weeds in evidence. Overall impression is that still lot of green keeping catchup to be done. The pace of play also extremely slow with corporate groups slowing progress. Just shy of 4.5 hours is ridiculous.

2nd time played this course however it’s the worst greens I’ve ever played on …..no grass just bumps and brown earth no sure what they done to the greens but absolutely terrible

Apart from the greens being bare no good condition at all the golf was ok

WORST GREENS IVE EVER SEEN PUTTING ON THE FAIRWAY WOULD HAVE BEEN AN IMPROVEMENT

The course is well set out, beautiful countryside, challenging
but the whole thing is let down by greens in dreadful condition

The course layout fairways and tees excellent but let down by terrible greens that have not recovered from the bad winter weather.
The bunkers were not raked and no rakes were available.

Having played this course a long time ago and all was good, I was very disappointed to find the condition of the course on this occasion. The greens were in a horrendous condition, it feels like the course has just been forgotten about and that there is not much maintenance goes into it. The bunkers hadn't been rakes and were full of weeds and grass.

I honestly would never play this course again or recommend this course to anyone.

Unfortunately the greens are in shocking condition now due to lack of water/maintenance. So sad to see how much it has deteriorated.