Lanark Golf Course is not an easy course despite the excellent condition of its greens and fairways. The heathery rough which is a blaze of colour in Autumn can prove a tough obstacle to a par, score, and makes the recent Course records of 64 (Professional, Sam Torrance; Amateur, Mr C.V. Mclnally) all the more remarkable. Nature is all too often a false friend on a golf course and the attractive clusters of wild thyme and violets ringing the bunkers often have to be ignored in the heat of repetitive bunker shots.

The first hole is an attractive opening drive beside the Loch but presents fewer problems than it did a few decades ago when the greenkeeper's cottage nestled on the right and many a golf ball would ricochet off the roof either into the rough, out of bounds inside the corrugated fence of the garden, or, worse still, "doon the lum". The eighteenth green also combines a picturesque setting with golfing problems where a weak tee shot will end either on the formidable road in front, or bound left down the "Cabbages" (the former greenkeeper's vegetable patch - now mercifully turfed over). Such drama unfolds under the watchful and critical eyes of the lounge and smokeroom windows with the Loch and Tinto Hill providing a magnificent backdrop. The Burn crisscrossing the 2nd and 11th fairways regularly comes into play as do the remains of the old Drove Road which once crossed the Course.

The greens are usually in excellent condition but are never less than tricky with varied slopes which can foil the unwary. However on a balmy midsummer's day with the larks singing and the smell of moorland turf in our nostrils, a day's golf at Lanark can be refreshing regardless of the score. Moreover in early June the fortunate golfer may witness a string of horses cantering over the right of way, reenacting an ancient ceremony of Riding the Marches which culminates in the Burgh Standard Bearer receiving a stirrup cup mounted at the Clubhouse door.

For further refreshment the fully modernised and hospitable Clubhouse provides comprehensive lounge and dining room facilities with panoramic views from Clubhouse windows. The old wood panelled smokeroom has been maintained and largely occupies the same setting as the earlier Clubhouse of 1882. It evokes the tradition and history of the club - of days when the red blazer was de rigueur on the course.