Another guest post from our canine correspondent (way) up north – Bertie (ably assisted by her person, Steve). I am getting out on the course again myself and bringing along pooch pals when I can, but mostly just playing at my club, Temple. So contributions from afar are most appreciated and help expand the database of useful information on dog-friendly courses for everyone.

Bertie is 4 in December so we are now combining a dual passion of owning a dog and playing golf. So the holiday choice was quite simple, let’s hire a camper van and do somewhere remote and the Shetland Isles came out on top.

The Shetland Isles has three golf courses, one is a 9-holer and they don’t allow dogs so we will move swiftly on.

Shetland Golf Club is just outside the capital Lerwick, it is set in a valley with a sea view at one end of the course. Its 5536 yards with a 68 par. It’s £35 each as a visitor. It is very well maintained and given the time of year (June) it was a lot firmer than our local course in Lancashire. It has a modern clubhouse which to be honest isn’t open most of the time. We played on a Monday and the weather was pretty poor with heavy rain most of the day.

Now Monday, unknown to us, is a big grass cutting day at Shetland Golf course and we could see 6 or 7 ground staff cutting, rolling the greens etc. On arrival spoke to one of these greenkeepers and Bertie was no problem as there were no sheep on the course!!

So off we go waterproofs on, and Bertie wearing his coat!! After a couple of holes one of the staff approached in a big mower having cut some fairway rough down a bit. Now you always think there is a problem as officialdom approaches but far from it. Introduced himself, thanked us for playing the course and gave some balls he had found in the rough. Turns out its members volunteer day and most of the green staff are members of the club and they are doing maintenance. I nearly asked if I could have a go on the mower!!

They are a really friendly club and as we worked our way around the course several of the members stopped us to talk about the club, they have lost their full-time green keeper and are in a gap before the new one arrives. The greens were immaculate and the course in brilliant condition.

Bertie had a great time running about in the wet and he discovered a new game as Cormorants dive bombed him as he was obviously near a nesting area, they would swoop down towards him screaming at him and he would respond by chasing after them.

There is a stream running through the centre of the course with a number of bridges to traverse, Bertie was true to his character and insisted on being carried across every one of them!!

Welcome – Our visit to North Wilts Golf Course was one of the warmest welcomes throughout the day that we have ever received. We saw lots of dogs and asked if they went around the course (we were looking for a poster puppy for this post), but unfortunately, they all just visited the clubhouse with their persons as well as walked around the grounds. But everyone commented how many members did bring their dogs around for a round. We had lots of welcoming chats with various members throughout the day.

Walk – One of the finest aspects of North Wilts is its aspects. Brilliant views of the Cotswold hills that just gets better as the first 5 holes climb higher and higher. But the gradient is quite gradual so it is not exhausting.

Water – The course has no water hazards nor other water sources, but it does circle back to the clubhouse where you can top up on refreshment.

Wildlife – We also didn’t spot much wildlife on the course so no distractions there.

Wind Down – While we enjoyed a bit of 19^th Hole refreshment at North Wilts, we decided to head down the road to the Waggon and Horses pub for a more substantial meal as the sunlight was waning. It was not only dog-friendly, but the dog, Ollie, we sat next to had particularly friendly owners. In fact, we ended up spending most of the meal chatting with them about the area, dogs, and all manner of topics.

Welcome – We had a bit of a sad welcome to Four Marks, but it was nothing to do with the course itself. We had long planned a foray further south with the distance justified by seeing our fellow dog golfing friends, the Baileys. Initially intended as a reunion for Grace and Pepper, with at Grace’s departure it pivoted into an anticipated soothing dose of doggie-ness from Pepper to help our grief. But when we arrived, the Bailey’s told us that Pepper too had passed away just a few days ago from a sudden seizure. As a result, the session became a memorial round to our two beloved companions. I wore my Rhoback dog golf shirt (see above) as I had to step in as the face of Dog Golf UK for the day. The course is undergoing a bit of a refurb at the moment, but nonetheless, it is a bit of a casual aesthetic typical of such parkland courses. But always makes dog accompanying players a bit more relaxed about how fellow golfers feel about canine caddis.

Walk – The course is laid out in a tidy and fairly compact 9-hole course at only 1960 yards. Being flat it was a very easy step back onto the links after an extended time away after losing Grace (and my hip giving me a bit of gip). The exception to the flatness was the greens who seemed to all be perched on near vertical precipices. The course play, like our old girl Grace, was a bit rough, bumpy and motley.

Water – The course has small artificial ponds near holes 1, 4 and 7, but they (like many other parts of the course) were under repair so completed dried out (actually, without being spring or stream fed, most small artificial ponds of this type don’t make for good drinking as they get quite stagnant even if they do have water). Still, with such a small course, you are never very far from the clubhouse if you need to retreat there to get a drink.

Wildlife – Lots of sheep and cows in the surrounding fields, but not too many critters crossing the fairways.

Wind Down – The clubhouse itself had a lovely dining area which, as you can see from the sign below, certainly welcomed dogs. But we opted for the intriguingly named “Castle of Comfort” pub just down the road. Several very friendly dogs in the bar area greeted us. One of the simplest menus with an assortment of nicely grilled meats (with some excellent cheesy chips). So plenty of opportunities for scraps for your fellow dining dogs. In fact, the proprietor is also a butcher so you can ask him for some extra bones or scraps that he might have out back.

With the loss of Grace, we blessed to have another report from Bertie to keep the dog golf reconnaissance coming in

Having added a couple of days leave onto the platinum jubilee we thought we would entertain Bertie with another 9 holes. This time we put the doggolf.info website to test. We looked up the database of dog friendly clubs, selected Lancashire (a very small offering from Lancashire!) and the nearest to us was Poulton-le-Fylde golf club.

A quick email to confirm dogs were welcome got an instant response confirming they were and that members regularly brought their dogs with them.

It’s a nine hole course with a large clubhouse and a very nice veranda with a view onto the course. On arrival we paid at the bar, £10 each, and on the veranda was a member with a dog!

It was busy and we had managed to get the last available tee time, there were lots of people around the first tee. Poulton-le-Fylde golf club has the tag line “the friendliest golf club on the Fylde coast” and this was certainly true. Everyone wanted to be introduced to Bertie so there was a crowd when we teed off. Thankfully they both went down the middle!

It’s also a parklands course with a very relaxed atmosphere.

We now have a better understanding of how we control Bertie, we have bought a lead we can tie to posts when putting and driving, we have also developed an understanding of who should hold the lead and when. Bertie seems to be getting used to golf as well, he used to manically chase a ball and i had set aside an old ball for him but he never once chased a ball today.