A short drive from St. Andrews, if you are going to St. Andrews, Kingsbarns Golf Links should not be missed.
While it is more expensive than the Old Course at St. Andrews and probably pricier than it should be, the stunning panorama views along the North Sea Coast are worth the round. But for your money you do get a welcome “kit” with a Bag Tag, Tees, Markers, Pencils and Yardage Book!
Our concierge, Ramsey was extremely welcoming and the Pro Shop staff very nice. We enjoyed our round with a lovely Australian couple and our caddy Neill who really helped to make the round more manageable. As with most links courses, there are dips and hills, twists and turns. While the course is walk-able for sure, having the caddy’s knowledge helped our scores (somewhat, as we still had to execute against the advice). Liz opened the day with a birdie on hole 1 - unfortunately that was the highlight of the round, along with a few Pars!
The first 9 holes had many views of the sea - bring your camera and also remember to turn around when walking; many of the views were even more beautiful from behind. The back 9 is very beautiful as well, with some extra-special bunkers and a section called “The Trees”. Also a public “park” there is a walking path that hikers can take called the Coastal Trail. Apparently you can walk for 3 days along it and reach Edinburgh.
This course had the best yardage markers for sure. Each of fairways 200, 150 and 100 standard markers included to the front, middle and back. It also had the more traditional Tee-Box. You can see both in the photo below (upper right). As per Scottish tradition, the Tee-Box and the Teeing Ground (what we call the Tee-Box) are different. The Tee-Box in Scotland (pictured below) was traditionally used to hold sand that the golfers would use to make a "Tee" by filling a small pyramid shaped tool with sand. They would turn over the pyramid and get a raised area to place their ball. Today we use wooden and plastic Tees.
A quaint restaurant awaits, where you can sit a spell after your round or head back to St. Andrews to The Jigger Inn and enjoy a post round meal while watching players on the Old Course’s 17th Fairway.