St Andrews Castle Course

The eagerly-anticipated Castle Course in St Andrews is due to open next month – but Golf World has been given an exclusive sneak preview.

Travel Editor Richard Green played the St Andrews Castle Course last week, and says the layout lives up to expectations.

He said: “It might be the seventh member of the St Andrews Links Trusts’ family, but the Castle Course is certainly not a links in the conventional sense of the word.

“For starters the golf course is on the headland two miles above the hallowed turf, with claggy soil instead of the sandy ground that produces those springy fairways. But the team was not daunted, managing to give the golf course a feel that is undeniably linksy.

“Most noticeable are the huge, sweeping fairways that swing this way and that, rarely directly to the hole, leading golfers through a playground of hazards and interest, all frame by ‘dunes’ that look like they might have always been there.

“Beautiful ragged bunkers are set into hollows in the dunes, whiskery mounds litter the fairway just like the gorse on the Old Course, while sleek green approaches offer the chance to play a ground game. Indeed, this is the area of your game that will come under most scrutiny, with run-offs, swales, hollows and nooks gathering shots not struck with the necessary precision. But it’s not just a question of mastering the bump and run. Brilliantly, the massive undulations and irregular shapes of the greens mean that you’ll need every short game shot in the bag; from low-runners to high floaters and everything in between.

And once on the putting surface, all sorts of hidden borrows await. So huge are the greens, and with so many slopes and funnels, that correct positioning becomes massively important. But with certain pin positions, holed approaches and tee shots won’t be uncommon. Think of the Thursday flag placement at Augusta’s par-3 16th where players hit into the bank and saw the golf ball gathers down towards the hole.

‘The fairways, too, are deceptively receptive, with hidden landing areas allowing some degree of waywardness. It will make the second shot harder but you’ll still have a shot, as long as you can avoid the highly unusual mounds that dot the fairways. The near side is closely mown, allowing you to at least find a ball that nestles in, while the green side is rough and ragged. Sounds strange, but it really works.”

For the full report, plus sensational pictures, see the latest issue of Golf World – out on May 26.

We also have a selection of video clips from our visit to the site last year, before it was finished. We played the soon-to-be-famous 17th hole with designer Dave McLay Kidd and his director, Paul Kimber.

The St Andrews Castle Course will be a public course, open in the summer of 2008.

For more information or to make a booking call 44 (0) 1334 466666, or email reservations@standrews.org.uk