Scotland's new classic courses

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With a golf history reaching back more than 600 years, it's the old, traditional courses that attract most visitor attention in Scotland - nothing wrong with that, these centenarians are the layouts that created the game we know today. Designed and built at a time when mechanical earth moving equipment didn't exist, out of necessity, they are completely natural and void of the artificial, man-made feeling, familiar to most of us on this side of the Atlantic. Scotland's courses are the real thing - they have withstood the test of time and are the true classics of the game.

St. Andrews Castle Course - a noble addition to the home of golf.

Stunning views of medieval St. Andrews are everywhere.

St. Andrews Castle Course - a cliff-top delight.

Dramatic elevation changes and precariously perched greens add to the thrills of playing Castle Stuart.

Wicked bunkering is only one part of Castle Stuart's defense arsenal.

Castle Stuart - a new Scots classic in the making.

Machrihanish Dunes - a traditional new links layout from David McLay Kidd of Bandon Dunes fame.

Machrihanish Dunes - 10th Hole.

Machrihanish Dunes makes a welcome addition to Scotland's links collection.

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In a country where tradition is all-important and so-called "progress" has a somewhat different meaning, the tendency, even for Scotland's newer layouts, is still to keep them as natural as possible. So-called, American type courses remain virtually non-existent; Scottish golf retains its original authenticity and is all the better for it.

This fact comes shining through in the more recent additions to Scotland's golf inventory, which have come on line during a mini-resurgence in golf development that has occurred over the last few years. There are several more layouts scheduled to open later this year holding a similar promise of excellence and all are on a path to become Scotland's new classics of the 21st century.

Each shows a reverence for Scotland's golf history, holding on tightly to the traditions of the past, yet overcoming some of the quirkiness or unfairness, often associated with many of the older courses. For the most part the designers have taken a minimalist approach of working with the terrain presented by nature, rather than recreating the landscape, while simultaneously, integrating many demands of today's players such as length and multiple tee boxes. Above all, these new guys have avoided the temptation of catering exclusively to the big-hitters of professional golf, remembering that golf is a game and games are to be enjoyed

Include one or two of these new gems on your trip and you will quickly learn why Scotland retains its position as the world's top golf destination for the real aficionados of the game.

St. Andrews Castle Course, St. Andrews, Fife. Designer, David McLay Kidd, opened July 2008 - The most anticipated new course opening in many years took place on schedule, with the usual critics taking pot-shots at the first non-links course in town. Silenced by The Castle's sky-rocket ride to the ranks of the Top 100 Courses in Britain and Ireland, all within 6 months of opening, the critics have been further appeased by some fine-tuning made over the past winter. The harshness of the rough covered fairway mounds has been softened, as have the admittedly extreme contours of the greens that had proved to be a tough challenge for even the most accomplished players to hold. The end result is a true delight of a layout that warrants every St. Andrews visitor's attention. This just might be the best layout among the town's collection of seven courses in all, perhaps edging out even the fabled, Old Course.

Scottish designer, McLay Kidd, who first came to everyone's attention with his outstanding achievement at Bandon Dunes, has delivered nothing less in the home of golf, solidly proving he is no flash-in-the-pan talent.

The cliff-top setting is spectacular, boasting glorious views across sea and the medieval town of St. Andrews. The layout itself is a rollicking, sometimes hair-raising adventure of elevation changes, rolling fairways, devilish pot-bunkers and every other conceivable challenge. Have fun with this beauty or treat it as the serious test it most certainly is, and you will have an experience to remember for evermore.

Castle Stuart Links, Inverness (The Highlands). Designers, Mark Parsinen and Gil Hanse, opening July 2009 -- Parsinen is the Californian who first shocked the golfing world with his audacious nerve in taking on the golfing establishment and building Kingsbarns, a links-like layout, located a couple of miles outside of St. Andrews. With Kingsbarns (now ranked as one of Scotland's best) under his belt, Parsinen has taken his creative talents to the Scottish Highlands, in an attempt to duplicate the success, attained 10 years ago in St. Andrews - will history repeat itself? The answer is an unequivocal, yes.

Starting with a picture perfect site, fronting the Moray Firth and located just outside the Highland's capital of Inverness, the design team can only be praised for coming up with a piece of golf artistry that could well set the golfing world on fire.

Castle Stuart is simply, links golf at its very best -- a thoughtfully planned, free-flowing layout that offers a stiff, variety filled challenge, jam packed with thrills and potential spills. It's a rollicking ride that takes you through dramatic elevation changes from shore line to the cliffs and back again. All you can do is hold on to your hat and enjoy it all to the fullest. Even before the course has been officially opened, Castle Stuart is already proving its qualifications to be ranked alongside those other Highland Champions, Royal Dornoch and Nairn. It's an inspirational links that can only remind every player, why they love this game; miss this beauty and you will never forgive yourself.

Machrihanish Dunes, Mull of Kintyre (Southwest Scotland). Designer, David McLay Kidd, opening July 2009. Old Tom Morris was responsible for the first course on this somewhat remote peninsula, which has been sitting here since 1876. Despite being consistently ranked among Scotland's top dozen or so courses for as long as anyone can remember, Machrihanish has never attracted the attention it deserves -- being the only show in town evidently has its drawbacks. All this should be changing this summer when Machrihanish's new neighbor, Machrihanish Dunes, officially opens.

The opportunity to play the 130 year-old original links, designed by one of the greatest ever, then the sparkling new Machrihanish Dunes, designed by one of today's most respected architects, will prove a fascinating comparison. McLay Kidd has produced the first pure links to be opened on Scotland's west coast for more than a hundred years - if good things are worth waiting for, excellent things must take a while longer and the wait has definitely been worth it.

Machrihanish Dunes sits on the shoreline of the Irish Sea, a place where the wind can blow harder than virtually any other place in Scotland. As if to prove the point, there are six greens cut hard against the beach front where the spray from the crashing surf, literally splashes your face. The track wends its way through, around and sometimes over impressive sand dunes on a roller coaster ride that is as natural as any to be found, wild, unbroken and exactly as Old Tom Morris must have first discovered it, 130 years ago.

This is one for the purists, literally built by hand, where earth moving equipment was only used on the tees and greens -- the rest is just as delivered by Mother Nature. The end result is a real joy and a very special, almost Holy experience on a raw links that has real teeth and those teeth are sharp. Now with two quality links layouts, there's no excuse for not making the trip to the Mull of Kintyre.

Three new courses among the 15 or so that have opened in Scotland over the past few years or are due to open soon, but they are three of the very best and each will be well worth playing on your trip to the home of golf. It's a new generation that is raising the bar another couple of notches. For more ideas and suggestions on including the best of Scotland's golf courses, both old and new, on your trip, click here.

©2009 David Brice / Golf International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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