Kingsbarns established a different approach from the many traditional golf clubs in Scotland. Opened in 2000 the golf course has only an extremely limited number of local members. It is designed to be a quality visitor experience from arrival to departure. The course is closed outside of the main visitor season – normally for around 4 months each year.
This all means it is one of the most expensive courses to play in Scotland but the quality of the links and the total experience makes Kingsbarns also one of the best. The course has received numerous plaudits since its opening and regularly features highly in top golf course listings, with good reason.
A choice of 5 tees on each hole, including the Championship standard tees, makes the links approachable and enjoyable to golfers of a wide range of abilities.
The holes are varied and testing and the setting is wonderful with the sea constantly in view. For more than half the holes the sea is directly alongside play. At the par 3 15th the hole skirts across the shore to a green jutting out towards the sea.
The immaculate fairways have the humps and hollows of links golf, there are carefully placed bunkers, the greens are superbly maintained and often difficult to read. They vary from punchbowl depressions to elevated greens to undulating tiered greens. This is a golf course that rarely fails impress.
Although the current course is 21st century the land has been home to golf, with various interruptions, since the late 18th century. Willie Auchterlonie laid out a 9 hole course by Kingsbarns Bay in 1922. That course reverted to pasture after being mined during the second World War.
The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship takes place annually across Kingsbarns, the St Andrews Old Course and Carnoustie, and in 2017 Kingsbarns is the venue for the Ricoh Women’s British Open.
* For guidance only - all timings are traffic dependent.
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