The Course

The Castle Course at St Andrews may not boast the same history as that of The Old Course but it will certainly give it a run for its money in terms of links quality and enjoyability. Each hole has been carefully crafted into the land as they wind up and down the hills bringing you out over to some fantastic views of the St Andrews Cathedral and City beyond.

The golf course layout really is something to behold and really contrasts from the other courses at the links trust. The opening hole doesn’t play too long so is a great confidence boost if you can find the fairway but with a heavily sloped green, it sets the tone for the holes ahead as most of these can be pretty menacing. When I made it to the second tee box the wind was howling in my face, it’s a par 4 but with a solid drive and a good hybrid second shot, my ball was still a good 100yds short of the dance floor, it can be pretty punishing at times but turn and face the other way and prepare to feel like Dustin Johnson off the tee! Large sloping fairways will reward you for hitting them as they’ll carry your ball all those extra, valuable yards!

The rough is thick and heavy, the mounds are large and plentiful and with a constant change in elevation, it makes for some terrific golf and a tough challenge.Â Its a marvelous track with a great clifftop location and have the camera ready for the 17th par 3 as it really is an eye opener. It’s amazing to see what they have done here since before they built the Castle Course, the land was just flat farm land. All the mounds, streams, links grass and gorse bushes have been put there – but you really would not know just by looking. Hats off to the team here. One last thing – Take an extra sleeve of balls!

The Clubhouse

This purpose-built Clubhouse doesn’t capture the same historical value that the one down the road does but what it offers is a modern space with a large pro shop, changing rooms and a great restaurant overlooking the shared 9th/18th green and the coastline beyond. The driving range echoes the feel of the course and is stocked with pyramid-stacked balls. It’s an easy place to spend some time before and after your round

The Location

St Andrews, just an hour north of Edinburgh Airport is a pleasure even for the non golfer. Old cobbled streets and centuries old buildings make it a real preserved piece of Scottish history not to mention the glorious ruined Cathedral at the top of the city. Down by the main centre along the beach is where the Old Course and several others of the Links Trust reside but shuttle busses will take you just 5-10 mins to get up to the Castle Course where you can enjoy the view of the city from afar. Being a University town makes St Andrews a great spot to head out for in the evening and with plenty of golf themed bars and fellow golfers occupying them, you can be sure to have a great time here. Hotels aren’t cheap but there’s plenty of BnB’s offering reasonable rates.

Final Thoughts

Whether it’s the Old Course or not, it’s still St Andrews so a real sense of being somewhere special is hard not to feel here. It’s possibly one of the most interesting tracks I’ve been round and can wipe the floor with a lot of other links courses as they can be fairly flat, even the ones down the road by the old course won’t give you terrain quite like this. I would book a good few nights here, try to hit 3-4 of the 6 courses down the bottom and add this to your list, you will not regret it – and don’t be too disappointed if you don’t get drawn from the ballot on the Old Course, there’s some fantastic golf here to rival it!

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Castle Course – St Andrews

Castle Course – St Andrews

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