1899 – course layout from “Cunningham”

 
1899 saw the publication of “Inverkeithing. North Queensferry. Limekilns. Charlestown. The Ferry Hills. Their antiquities and recreative resources. History of Dunfermline Golf Club and plan of course.” Edited by A. S. Cunningham.

This local history booklet included a chart and description of the Ferryhills course.

This is the chart as published, but annotated with the holes as named as in the text.
 

Here is the layout transcribed to an OS map.

Names and Distances of the Holes.

Turning now to the course, one cannot help thinking that few players will be inclined to quarrel with the statement that the course is one of the finest for sport and for variety in the eastern district of Scotland. Now the player is negotiating a series of hedges, then he is trying to find his way to a hole up some steep hill, yonder a gaping quarry lies between him and the goal, and further on he is paying the penalty in some hollow for having wandered from the path mapped, out by the finger-posts. The following are the names and the distances of the holes:—

These distances work out a total of 4,610 yards but it by no means follows that a player covers less than three miles when he accomplishes a round on the Ferryhills course.

Some Hints to Players.

The first hole is a somewhat trying one for a start, and when the wind is strong off the west, players will find that their best course is not to attempt the double hedges, which protect the Old Drove Road of the Ferry, before the third shot.

The second hole derives its name from the fact that it is in juxtaposition to Garthill, and the third hole is named the “Forth Bridge,” because only a short distance separates it from the huge structure.

The driving tee of the fourth hole – “St. Margaret” – is on the highest point of the Ferry Hills, and the green is situated on a peak which overlooks the bay where Malcolm Canmore’s queen landed in 1096. A missed drive is badly punished in an old dyke which lies across the slope leading from the tee, and the “foozler” may find himself in no end of difficulties before he gets through the hedge which “blocks the way” to the green. In a clear day he will forget his troubles, however, and will feel that the view he obtains quite repays him for his “scramble.”

The fifth hole has been appropriately named “The Hedges.” In driving the player again finds himself face to face with the Ferry Road hedges, and after he gets clear he has yet another hedge to pitch over, or run through, before he reaches the green.

If the player is careful not to “pull” his ball he will find little difficulty in covering the distance between “The Hedges” green and the sixth hole “The Captain.”

The seventh hole gets its name from the pottery which adjoins it. Here again the player must avoid “pulling.” It pays to “keep to the right,” and the green is easiest of approach from a ball lying well to the south.

The eighth “Short Hole” is easily played, but the ninth “Quarry Hole,” which follows, requires care. The strong player who is absolutely certain of his drive – who is absolutely certain of his drive? – will go straight over the mouth of the Quarry in a favourable wind; but the ordinary player, who does not care to risk too much and wants to have a chance of the hole, will do well to keep to the right. If he lands on the plateau above the old well, he will get to the green without difficulty.

The tenth hole is situated in the bottom of an old quarry, and it is designated “The Trap” because the shot for home is apt to be trapped on its way to the green. In very wet weather the ball should be pitched from the heights above on to the green; but when the ground is hard and dry the ball which lands on the tee-side of the turf dyke will be found to be the most deadly.

From beginning to finish the eleventh“Cruickness” hole is best approached from the right. A delightful view of the burgh of Inverkeithing is obtained from the slopes leading to “Cruickness” and even golfers may linger by the way and take a peep at the weather-beaten spire of the old church and some of the time-worn buildings.

Many dangers lie on the left on the way to “Barnbougle,” the twelfth hole, and players will not err in keeping well to the right.

Once the player who can lift his mind for a few seconds off the game has reached a point within a few yards of the green, he might take a glance at the old castle of Barnbougle and at Dalmeny woods, and look down upon Port Laing, which lies immediately below the cliffs to the east of the green. Tradition tells us that Cromwell’s army landed at Port Laing, and to this day some visitors to the bay think they are able to discover the remains of the stakes to which Lambert and his men moored their boats.

The management have named the thirteenth hole “The Garden.” Disciples of the “Kailyairders,” as some writers are called, persist in the designation, “The Kailyaird.” The hole takes its name from the garden close by.

The pin at the fourteenth hole bears the name “Inchcolm” – the eyes of the player fall upon the island on his way to the green.

The fifteenth hole is named “The Dyke,” because of its proximity to one of the fences; and the sixteenth takes the name of “St. Davids” – glancing eastwards the eyes light on this quaint shipping port.

The “Long Hole” and the “Home Hole” are the suggestive names adopted for the last two holes.

The seventeenth is the longest hole on the course, and if care is taken to get over the wall which protects the green, the player will experience little difficulty in getting home.

This layout can be compared to the others on the Golf Course Maps web page.

The growing membership continued to place pressure on the facilities of the club house, leading to an extension in 1900.