Cycling Meditations: Green Cycling

In Scotland, true golf courses are not created, they are born out of the land.

I often cycle through golf courses whilst out and about. Most of them adhere to the right of way that we Scots have over our lands, and provide paths for walkers and cyclists alike. Naturally, if anyone's about I will observe golf etiquette and dismount, but I've never had any problems with golfers. In fact, they are often a good source of local knowledge, whether it be the weather or the land and its resident flora and fauna.

Around the Glasgow strath there are several golf courses with astonishing aspects of the valley. Indeed, when I was up at Kirkhill the other day admiring the vast vistas, I thought about my botanist friend's scathing remarks about there being too many golf courses in Scotland. Whilst I understand his sentiment, I also see that golf courses have protected the land from further development. To be sure, golf courses are hardly wild spaces but they do harbour a sense of wildness especially when there are no golfers about to distract you. Furthermore, they tend to be outside of the noise of the city and thus accommodate a certain pastoral quality. And because Glasgow is a valley, many of these course are on its slopes, thus offering views of the valley like no other. Then, there is the flora and fauna. And though some greenkeepers chemically spray their greens and fairways, there are some, like Eastwood, Kilmacolm and Pollok who go sparingly with such toxic substances. Correspondingly, foraging for mushrooms on such courses is a joy to behold. Then, there are the trees, huge sessile oaks, Norwegian maple, ancient stands of hazel and hornbeam... What giants there are among us, and yet most of us only see a little white ball. Then, there are the birds, the insects, the whole biotic community other than the golfers themselves... the list goes on and on, just proving the paradox: that golf courses are least of all about golf.

I have thus concluded that golf courses are a good thing, because let's face it, it's open green space, often wooded parkland.... which breathes not just by itself, but breathes into you. Often when coming back from the hills behind Neilston, I cycle through a green corridor of golf courses to my home in Cessnock (virtually the centre of the city). From Kennishead, I pass through Cowglen Golf Course, Pollok Golf Course and then Haggs Castle Golf Course (the last two within the spacious confines of Pollok Country Park). I feel like a vole or a rat creeping through the undergrowth, avoiding all traffic en route, back to my burrow. It's a marvellous thing when you re-engage your animal drive!