St Andrews Links

Opened in 2008, the Castle Course brings a modern clifftop identity to St Andrews Links.

Unlike the older courses at St Andrews, the Castle Course is situated on a clifftop plateau above the North Sea. The terrain is more pronounced, the views more open, and the sense of exposure more intense. The land was reshaped to create undulating fairways, hollows, and complex greens, while the cliffs, tall fescue, and sea wind give the course a distinctly more dramatic identity.

The Castle Course opened to the public in 2008 as the seventh course at St Andrews Links. Its creation addressed the desire to increase the complex's capacity while offering a different experience from the historic links located west of the town. David McLay Kidd was given an agricultural site on the Kinkell heights, east of St Andrews, overlooking the bay. The course takes its name from Kinkell Castle, an ancient structure once established on this coastal promontory.

David McLay Kidd adopted an expressive architectural style: expansive earthworks, bunkers with irregular contours, and highly sculpted greens. The routing uses changes in direction to multiply the effects of crosswinds and progressively reveals views of St Andrews and the bay. The course's main signature lies in its putting surfaces, whose slopes and plateaus can turn a slightly imprecise approach into a delicate recovery.

The Castle Course is a coastal plateau course rather than a strict ancient links. The fairways often offer width, but this width conceals preferred landing zones. The holes near the cliffs, particularly in the second half, combine diagonal angles, changing winds, and exposed greens. The 17th, a par 3 played over a rocky cove to a promontory green, constitutes the visual highlight of the course.

The modern clubhouse overlooks the course and offers one of the complex's grand views of St Andrews. The experience is more contemporary, panoramic, and spectacular than that of the historic courses. It is particularly suitable for visitors who wish to discover another facet of St Andrews, even if the very undulating greens can divide opinions among players.

The Round selects the Castle Course for the contrast it provides: it demonstrates how St Andrews has expanded its heritage in the 21st century by embracing a modern, visual, and demanding clifftop architecture.

Opened in 2008; designed by David McLay Kidd; seventh course at St Andrews Links; panoramic views of St Andrews Bay and the Old Town.