The Kingdom’s Latest Links
It’s hard to believe that Fife has room for new golf courses! Surely even the Kingdom of Golf has its limits! But the past two decades have seen several new projects that prove very much otherwise!
Kingsbarns kicked it off.
that started the trend and it’s perhaps ended with the new Dumbarnie Links but you just never know.
Crossing the Firth of Forth into the Kingdom of Fife, we enter golf's ancestral home. St Andrews Old Course heads the pantheon but there is a string of new courses that make the Kingdom a serious contender for more of your golfing attention.
Kingsbarns Golf Links
The opening of Kingsbarns Golf Links started a flurry of course-building along the Kingdom’s craggy eastern coast and beyond. Two California dreamers, Mark Parsinnen and Art Dunkley blew in from San Francisco and created a course that to this day stands as a benchmark in a new era of Scottish golf.
Parsinnen particularly was a lover of links courses, spending years studying Scotland’s premier tracks before applying that passion and knowledge, first here in Fife at Kingsbarns then, at his next project at Castle Stuart in the Scottish Highlands. The two are now ‘must-play’ courses for all golfers touring the ‘Home of Golf’.
I knew the Kingsbarns site long before it became a golf course. On various Fife photo-missions, I would occasionally park my old VW campervan on an unserviced ‘Caravan Club’ site (basically a cow pasture) with the most amazing views across the Firth of Forth to East Lothian beyond. Sitting sipping a coffee and enjoying the sunset, I could not predict what was to materialize from the manure!
Dunkley and Parsinnen started a trend, i.e. wealthy Americans looking to make their mark in the land where it all began.
The Castle Course
Seeing the success of Kingsbarns, the town and St Andrews Links Trust just had to get in on the act. In 2008 they opened the Castle Course, a carbon copy of the Kingsbarns operation that was attracting so much attention. The Castle occupied a parcel of land used for rough grazing and the occasional potato planting. There was virtually no sand to be had on top of these cliffs so it was shipped in and shaped up. That’s the wonder of modern golf course construction! Given a few hundred tons of sand and the service of an experienced ‘shaper’, you can fashion a links-lookalike from almost any old potato field or cow pasture. All of a sudden, this almost useless land had real earning potential. What is it they say… 'where there's muck there's brass'!
David McLay Kidd, the Scots designer of Bandon Dunes in Oregon was given the conceptual remit but some might say he attacked The Castle project a little too enthusiastically. Kidd and his new course withstood much criticism during its opening rounds. Perched atop cliffs next to the North Sea, wind is inevitably a factor but add in almost impossible putting surfaces and all manner of lumps, bumps and hairy mounds sprinkled seamingly with almost gay abandon, Kidd was called back to make some much-needed adjustments.
Now, a dozen seasons on and a much more affable version of its original self, The Castle has settled and is a favoured outing even for St Andrews locals who eventually woke up and warmed to its quirky character. It’s certainly a different outing from the other 6 courses run by the town council with expansive views back to St Andrews and over the craggy cliffs. It was initially seen as a bit of a fraud in terms of what you would expect in St Andrews but The Castle has proved its mettle and is a must-play during a St Andrews visit.
Dumbarnie Links
I never thought there could possibly be any more land on which to build yet another links golf course! But somehow, like the proverbial ‘manna from heaven’, they keep popping up.
Opening this year (2020), Dumbarnie Links is part of the historic Balcarres Estate, which has been in the Balniel family since the 16th century. There was a golf course here at Dumbarnie way back in the 1920s. It was a fellow golf writer, Malcolm Campbell who alerted the presence of a near perfect piece of linksland near his home village of Upper Largo and told Clive Clark, an ex English Ryder Cup player now residing in California. Yes, there is a definite pattern emerging.
I suppose it makes sense, with St Andrews so nearby and attracting golf pilgrims that there should be other options . And given the position of St Andrews and the quality established by Kingsbarns, the bar has to be very high indeed. It looks like Clark and his team and achieved just that.
Campbell and Clark approached Lord Balniel with the idea and convinced him – and then the local planning authorities – to allow them to gather investors and move forward with a plan to create an 18-hole golf course named Dumbarnie Links. Sweeping views on Dumbarnie Links near St Andrews. (Photo by Harrison Shiels) “We knew any golf course built within proximity of the St. Andrews would have to be special,” said Campbell, who also referenced nearby Kingsbarns as a popular modern links course. “We will not compete with the Old Course and Kingsbarns – we will complement them,” Lord Balniel insisted. “But it’s true our course is more exciting.” That comment was meant to be cheeky, but even though he is not a golfer, Lord Balniel has come to know the terrain intimately. He emerged from Balcarres House to go down and quietly visit the construction of the course almost daily. “It looked like Armageddon down there for a while,” said Lord Balniel, who was sometimes unrecognized by the laborers and the landowner. The reason the lovely land looked that way is because Clark, in construction, moved a half-million yards of dirt to design and build a links course with dunes and 80-feet of elevation change on what was a pasture. Beastly Beauty The challenge and natural beauty of Dumbarnie Links. (Photo by Harrison Shiels) “I am a nerdy perfectionist, but when it was finished I was blown away by the beauty. There are nesting birds, orchids and wildlife,” said Lord Balniel. “It’s still a very natural setting. And when the wind is blowing I don’t see how anyone will be able to play it.” While the unspoiled nature of any true links course may appear fearsome to a non-golfer such as Lord Balniel, Clark, who finished third in one of those British Opens and made a hole-in-one at the Masters Tournament, was able to calm his perception. “Dumbarnie is an authentic links with a modern twist: there are some holes with dual fairways: one is very narrow and one is very wide. But if you hit your drive onto the wider fairway, you play the hole the longer way,” said Clark in explaining the time-honored concept of “risk/reward” laid into most every golf course. Other elements at Dumbarnie are at play as well either directly or aesthetically. “Some of the par-three holes play right toward the ocean and some have tees so close to the sea you could toss a rock into the surf. Ultimately Balniel’s decision to allow Dumbarnie Links to be built on the estate land will benefit the local community, too, according to Clark. “It’s an international destination but we want to encourage the Scottish and local people to enjoy it as well. We have no memberships. All are welcome. There will be a lot of employment with wait staff, caddies, maintenance workers and increased opportunities for the local restaurants, taxi drivers, butchers and bakers,” he said. As Lord Balniel saw us to the door at the conclusion of our visit with him at Balcarres House I joked with about checking our pockets. “We’re having the silverware pieces counted as we speak,” he joked.
The 6th at the Castle Course, St Andrews with the ‘Auld Grey Toon’ waiting quietly in the background.
Two Dunfermline Golf Club members, John Reid and Robert Lockhart first took golf to the USA in 1888, establishing the first US golf club, The Saint Andrews Club in Yonkers, New York Two Dunfermline Golf Club members, John Reid and Robert Lockhart first took golf to the USA in 1888, establishing the first US golf club, The Saint Andrews Club in Yonkers, New York
Within a Royal Vault in Dunfermline Abbey, we discover the resting place of King Robert The Bruce, ‘The Outlaw King’ and nearby we visit the village of Culross, setting of several memorable ‘Outlander’ scenes. Culross contains many unique historical buildings and the National Trust for Scotland has done an impressive job in their restoration and preservation.
The design incorporates three potentially driveable Par-4s and features several holes that engender ‘risk and reward’. This course is designed to inspire rather than intimidate golfers. Total yardage for the golf course varies from 5,300 to 6,900 yards. However, there is a special set of professional tees positioned such that should an event be held at Dumbarnie sometime in the future, there are 12 extra tees whereby the course can measure up to 7,600 yards. Leading golf course contractor, Landscapes Unlimited (based in Nebraska, USA www.landscapesunlimited.com), built the golf course at Dumbarnie Links. Landscapes Unlimited have worked on over 1500 golf courses around the world. Their work at Dumbarnie Links has been outstanding. “We would also like to acknowledge the support of Fife Council, OB Sports, Malcolm Campbell, the many consultants, and our project manager, Paul Kimber.”
