Among its glens and lochs and in between its castles and crofts, Scotland is home to arguably the finest collection of golf courses anywhere in the world. At the last count there were 597 to choose from, each with an enduring story to tell.
There are the headline grabbers; the courses you know like the back of your hand after seeing them year after year on television. St Andrews, Turnberry and, this year’s Open Championship venue, Muirfield are as familiar to golf fans as their own local clubs. These trophy courses have become engrained into our collective consciousness establishing Scotland as the place where history walks hand in hand with beautiful landscapes and a brisk breeze.
But Scotland’s treasures are etched deep into the country’s DNA. Great golf courses are part the landscape and even greater riches can be found beyond the Open Championship rota.
Cruden Bay Golf Club
Take Cruden Bay, for instance. Found on the north east tip of Scotland, the remarkable view from this friendly club will stop you in your tracks. If the clubhouse view over pristine duneland stretching as far as the eye can see doesn’t get your golfing juices flowing then nothing will.
Thankfully, in this case, beauty isn’t just skin deep. Like the shorter nine-hole St Olaf course, the Championship course was laid out by Old Tom Morris and Archie Simpson and then redesigned by Tom Simpson in 1926. It follows a figure of eight around a magnificent bay which at one end harbours a colourful collection of fishermen’s cottages while at the other golden stretches of sand are home to hundreds of seabirds. High above it all on a northerly headland, is the sinister silhouette of Slains Castle, reportedly the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
The buzz of playing a links course that weaves its way through towering dunes is a good enough reason to love Cruden Bay, but a run of holes on the back nine add something special to your round. The 14th, for instance, is described in the official course notes as “a great driving hole, with the North Sea on the right as a lateral water hazard … the second shot to the sunken green [is] completely blind.” If you’re playing the course for the first time, the option to hit-and-hope has never been more apt. www.crudenbaygolfclub.co.uk
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