St. Andrews Castle Course: A new chapter in golf history

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The opening of a new municipal course in St. Andrews this past summer, was an event preceded by all the debate, disagreements and controversy you might expect in this very traditional small town that gave birth to the game 600 years ago. After all of the usual bickering, agreement was eventually reached between the differing factions. A piece of Fife coastline, located just a couple of miles outside of town was acquired and work was underway on St. Andrews seventh course, eventually to be named, The Castle Course.

The views over medieval St. Andrews are inspiring (photo - Larry Lambrecht.

Serious bunkering and unforgiving rough add to the test (photo - Larry Lambrecht).

The Castle's ominous 18th (photo - Larry Lambrecht).

Accolades are being heaped on The Castle Course Fast and Furious (Photo - Larry Lambrecht).

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St. Andrews is not an easy town to work with, even if you are the St. Andrews Links Trust, the authority charged with the responsibility of managing and operating the town's golf courses for the good of the local populace. Complicating matters further, The Castle Course would be the town's first new championship quality layout to be opened in over 100 years -- an important development in tradition bound St. Andrews. From the very rare, native-born St. Andreans, to the far more common, newer residents, hailing from other parts, every one of the locals is an expert on golf (whether real or imagined) and what is best for the town. Not surprisingly, self-interest, in one shape or another, is usually the motivation.

No matter how superlative The Castle Course might turn out, local criticism would still be inevitable and all but assured -- change is never easily digested in St. Andrews.

The Castle opened on June 28th this year and after a brief, four month-long first season, will rest over the winter, re-opening in earnest next April. So what is the initial verdict?

As anticipated, there have been critics and some who have been unfairly harsh in their comments regarding the difficulty of the layout, but these folks have been in the minority. Interesting, has been the overwhelming amount of truly positive comments that have come from a very diverse range of visitors, locals and even professional tour players.

The respected British publication, Golf World Magazine, has immediately placed The Castle on it's highly regarded and just published, "Top 100 Courses in Britain & Ireland" rankings, the first time a course so young has received the honor. Not only did The Castle make this prestigious listing, it came in at the very high position for a debutant of 67th.

Our own Travel & Leisure - Golf Magazine has only this month voted The Castle as "The World's Best New Course of 2008". Remember, this child star of a course, was only open for four months, so there is a little record breaking going on here. The Castle Course has definitely arrived with a drum roll and fanfare, the likes of which we have never seen before.

Two of Golf International's local St. Andrews Golf Managers were invited to play the course prior to the official opening and both had nothing but the highest praise. This was an unusual unity of opinion between a pair of very serious golfers, neither of whom has ever previously shown any propensity for flattery.

There is no question that St. Andrews Links Trust has more than delivered on its promise of bringing to St. Andrews a very special new golf experience. Unquestionably it's tough, as most agree it should be, but it's an enjoyable challenge that takes full advantage of a splendid, cliff-top location, overlooking The Auld Grey Toon. The design brilliance of Scottish architect, David McLay Kidd (of Bandon Dunes fame) has provided St. Andrews with a piece of future golf history, likely to be compared in importance with The Old Course, in the never-ending evolution of the game.

As with any good custodian, St. Andrews Links Trust is not only taking good care of the distant past, but in The Castle Course, is also preparing a more recent golf history for future generations.

St. Andrews is destined to always carry the responsibility of caring for golf's most historic and revered Old Course, a perpetual attraction to golf aficionados from around the globe as the birthplace of the game they love. But history is a living thing and a continually growing book, The Castle Course is only the most recent chapter and reason enough for golfers to linger just a little longer in this delightful town and experience as much of the golf and other historic attractions as time allows.

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©2008 David Brice / Golf International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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