Glasgow Golf Club

Glasgow Golf Club was founded in May 1787, which makes it the ninth oldest club in the world. It played on Glasgow Green, lapsed, revived, and moved several times as the city expanded, arriving at Killermont in Bearsden in 1904. The house on the estate became the clubhouse and Old Tom Morris laid out the course in the grounds, opened by the Lord Provost of Glasgow.

James Braid was later commissioned to work on it, in 1924, and lengthened some holes by moving tees back while adding and reshaping bunkers. He left the routing and Morris’s greens alone, which is an unusually restrained verdict from an architect who rebuilt half of Scotland.

What it asks of you

A par 70 of 5,977 yards at Killermont, which is short by any modern measure and defends itself by other means. Mature parkland on the banks of the River Kelvin, small Morris greens that were built for the running approach and now have to be held with a wedge, and enough elevation change that level stances are the exception.

The river runs down the left for the early part of the round and is genuinely in play. The trees are the other defence, and the four par threes are the holes reviewers single out as the best set on the course.

Avoid the trees and the Kelvin and a good player will score. That is a real caveat rather than a compliment: the course is a fine examination of accuracy and a poor one of length.

What players say about it

Visitors generally play as a member’s guest, so the public record consists of guest accounts, architecture writing and rating panels rather than a volume of visitor reviews. The notes below summarise themes that recur across those public sources. They are other people’s opinions, not ours: we have not played the course, and we do not name or quote individual reviewers.

What comes up in its favour

• Conditioning draws consistently excellent marks, and the greens in particular are described as among the best parkland surfaces in the west of Scotland.
• The course is repeatedly placed among the finest parkland layouts in Scotland, which is a strong claim in a country better known for its links.
• The set of par threes is singled out again and again as the highlight of the round.
• The Morris routing and the Braid restraint are both admired: this is a course that has been left largely as it was drawn.

What comes up against

• Length is the obvious limitation. Under 6,000 yards from the back tees will not stretch a strong player in calm weather.
• Access is the practical objection. Visitors play as guests of members, and getting on is a matter of who you know.
• Parkland in a country famous for links means the course is often overlooked by visiting golfers entirely.
• The review record is thin because of the access arrangement, and almost all of it comes from people who were invited.

Getting there and when to go

Killermont is at Bearsden, five miles from Glasgow city centre and around half an hour from Glasgow airport. The club also has a links course at Gailes in Ayrshire, which is worth knowing about when planning a trip.

The course plays all year, with late spring and early autumn the best of it. Guest play is arranged through a member; there is no visitor tee sheet.

Green fees

Guest conditions and rates are set by the club and are not published. See the club’s own site.

How this page was made

The factual frame comes from public sources: OpenStreetMap for the location, Wikipedia and published architecture coverage for the club’s history, the Morris design and the Braid alterations, and the club’s own site for access. The opinion section summarises public commentary and guest accounts read in September 2026; we report recurring themes rather than individual voices, and we do not reproduce or attribute quotes.

We have not played this course, and nothing here is a substitute for that. The club has not paid for this page, has not seen it before publication and has no say in what it says. If you know the course and something here is wrong or out of date, write to us and we will correct it.