The Birdie Brae editor

I started playing golf in 2022 after a colleague made the mistake of mentioning the Old Course ballot over lunch. I took up the game mostly to justify the visit. Four years later I'm at 14.5 and still haven't got on via the ballot — which is, at least, good material.

I live in Glasgow and play most of my golf within forty-five minutes of the city. Littlehill, Cathkin Braes, Haggs Castle, Pollok — the kind of courses that don't come up in the travel supplements but punch well above their green fee. Some of my best rounds have been on £16 municipal courses in November. That's the honest version of Scottish golf that this site tries to tell.

I started Birdie Brae because most of what comes up when you search for Scottish golf was written by people trying to sell you a package holiday. I wanted a site that told you what the ballot odds actually are, which courses are genuinely worth the money, and what to do with the non-golfers while everyone else is on the course. Four years in, the handicap's improving and the database has grown to over 200 courses. Both of those numbers still have a way to go.