July 1, 2008 - Opening of the Castle Course
In what has been hailed in some golf magazines and websites as the most anticipated new golf course of 2008, the Castle course at St Andrews has finally opened its fairways to the public.
It opened for play on 28 June, 2008. As a course that has just opened, the ‘money making machine’ that is the St Andrews Links Trust, the organisation responsible for all of the St Andrews courses, has slapped a playing fee of £120 on the course, only £10 less than the much heralded Old Course and almost double the New and Jubilee courses (£65). Given the course is new, £120 seems a little steep, but hey, bleeding money from the punters is a polished art form in St Andrews.
The course is situated east of St Andrews, a couple of miles from the other six courses. It is on elevated farming land with spectacular views across the town, St Andrews Bay and Dundee and Carnoustie in the far distance. The views are wonderful.
Unlike the other courses in St Andrews, the Castle course is not a links, something freely agreed by the Links Trust. It is on heavy clay-based arable land that until a few years ago had been used for grazing cattle and crops. The course has been manufactured to have a links appearance, and in some respects, plays with those same qualities. From featureless grazing fields a few years ago, the movement of hundreds of acres of soil has revealed a largely impressive golf course.
The Castle course was named after a public competition was held and a local man suggested the Castle course as the ruins of Kinkell Castle are visible from the site.
Six years in the planning, the course is now open and ready for play. Debate has raged for many years as to the need for an additional course. The official line from the Links Trust is that demand for the Old course (and to a lesser extent, the New and Jubilee courses) is at such a level that a new course would relieve the pressure placed on the existing courses. Others believe there was no need for another course and the real sceptics believe the Trust had so much money that they had to spend it on a ‘new toy’.
With a large budget to work with, the Links Trust selected Scotsman David McLay Kidd to design the course. Kidd had previously designed the course at Bandon Dunes in Oregon, USA and this has become an instant hit, peaking at number 70 (2002) in US Golf Magazine’s list of the top 100 courses in the world. This, plus his origins in Scotland put him in a favourable position at the time the selection was made. Kidd and his company currently has 7 courses in play around the world with another dozen or so under construction or being remodelled, including the Ryder Cup course at Gleneagles and the much anticipated Machrihanish Dunes in Scotland.
Arriving at the Castle course, there is a narrow, single lane drive through the dunes down to a circular clubhouse by the beach. Staff are ready to take your bag at the bag drop and store them while you park your vehicle and register inside the clubhouse. The clubhouse is designed in such a way that you pass through the shop en-route to the bar and dining room, just in case you wish to buy a shirt for £65 or a sleeveless vest for £105.
The clubhouse is tastefully decorated and functional with a modern theme. It bears no immediate resemblance to a traditional golf clubhouse. The staff are attentive and eager to please.
A bacon roll and a cup of tea is an extortionate £4.55, but entirely predictable. Any of the clubs in town would charge less than half this price.
The tables by the window are reserved for people either about to go out on the course, or those who have just played. Oddly, those going out on the course can reserve a window table for their return visit to the dining room after golf. Time will tell how long this bizarre rule will last and how long before the first heated argument breaks out over a table not being available.
Upon returning to the bag drop, players are shown the driving range, complete with a pyramid of free range balls. Free, I tell you - unprecedented in St Andrews. The range is uphill into the prevailing wind with various targets dotted around. Play is from mats only although provision is made for a grass tee in front. A short walk away is the practice putting green by the first tee and starter’s box. The starter hands out scorecards, hole placement sheets and a course guide, again, all free (or included in the green fee)
Caddies are available although not necessary if you’re happy to carry your own clubs or drag a trolley around and follow your course guide.
The course looks intimidating as you drive in with wild looking rough surrounding the closely mown fairways and greens. Once you’re on the course, however, the landing areas are a lot more generous than first impressions would suggest. The course guide is very accurate in depicting the topography of each hole. Even into a stiff breeze, hitting the first fairway was not too problematic for our group.
As you’d expect from a new course, the fairways are in excellent condition. They are covered with fine, seaside grasses that have been allowed to grow and so far, extremely successfully. The first disappointment occurred when we arrived at the first green. The greens are medium in size and feature enormous slopes and ridges, swales and hollows. Most of the greens have only a few positions that would be suitable for a hole to be placed, although I’m sure there will be plenty of unfair placements in the future. Approach shots played away from these positions or even slightly mishit will cause the ball to roll unpredictably away from the putting surface, sometimes into bunkers or gnarly rough that surrounds the greens. For amateur golfers, they are completely unfair and detract from the enjoyment of the course.
The greens are very firm. Even well played shots landing short of the flag were bounding to the back of the green or even off the back or sides of the greens. Thankfully, the greens are of medium pace. Any faster, given the undulation and winds would make the course even more ludicrous.
Another contentious design feature has arisen with the placement of small mounds in the middle of most fairways. These act as a penalty in the same way central fairway bunkers do, normally ensuring the player is penalised at least one stroke if their ball comes to rest in these. The criticism has been that a player can hit a good shot into the fairway and should expect to be able to play their next from a good lie. These mounds are seen as unfair as they penalise an otherwise well struck shot. These mounds are highlighted on the course guide but are not as obvious as fairway bunkers.
One Scottish journalist, upon playing the course prior to its opening, likened the long, wispy grasses of these mounds to the hairstyle of Don King, the notorious boxing promoter. Certainly in our group, avoiding the ‘Don King’ in the middle of the fairways became an important aim on each hole.
Strategy plays an important part in playing the Castle course and studying the course guide is essential. There are several ‘Princess Diana’ holes where taking a driver is not a wise move. Hitting a shorter club into the fat part of the fairway will see an easier approach to the ‘lottery’ green you are about to face.
Only one ‘Grace Kelly’ hole springs to mind where taking a driver would have been more prudent, bombing a driver over the Don King’s and leaving a very short distance from the green. That hole is the downhill ninth. Three players in our group (3 handicap, 3 handicap and 6 handicap) hit drives to within 20 yards of the green, yet given the poor design of the green and the placement of the flag meant that none of our second shots (of less than 30 yards) held the green.
The 17th is seen as the signature hole. It is a par 3 of 200 yards along the cliff top and over a deep coastal void. With the wind whipping into our faces, only two of us hit the green and neither two putted, such was the severity of the green and the unfair pin placement. The first to play landed his tee shot short of the flag where it bounded up the large hill to the back of the green. It was then impossible to putt to within 3 feet. We all tried later and no one got with 15 feet under the hole.
The course is not over bunkered. There are 95 in total (17 on the 18th alone) which may sound a lot, but these are sparsely placed and there to catch very errant driving. Many of the greens don’t have any bunkers around them although given their poor design, the putting surfaces alone are sufficient to provide a hair greying experience. The bunkers are mostly ragged and have that unkempt look. They serve two purposes – provide a penalty for poor play and add to the aesthetics of the course. The sand is excellent to play from and we only saw one semi-plugged lie.
Off the fairways, the first cut of rough is quite generous in girth and given the already spacious fairways, this adds an additional buffer. The grass is a couple of inches long providing a reasonable chance to get your ball back into play. Beyond that first cut of rough, however, finding your ball will be the result of extreme good fortune. The rough is long, more than 2 feet in some places and the ball settles right at the bottom. Even the old rule that ‘if you see the ball bounce, you will find it’ doesn’t apply. You might as well reload if your ball is going to cross the first cut. Whether they change this in the future, only time will tell, however you really need to stray a long way from the centre of the fairway for this to occur.
Overall, the course is extremely well laid out and the designer has done an excellent job, tee to green. He lets himself down badly with the greens. They are 18 of the worst designed greens you will ever encounter and really spoil and otherwise excellent experience. Given it takes a course some time to settle once it is in play, they may become less severe, however a complete renovation in the near future would not be out of place. It’s a shame.
No doubt the architect will claim that if you hit the ball into the right part of the fairway, you will be rewarded with an easier approach. This rule of thumb does not apply on the Castle course as on most greens, there is no easy approach but plenty of opportunity for embarrassment and requires more luck than good play to get a ball close. I suspect even touring pro’s would find some of these greens unplayable.
The clubhouse has been well thought out and although the food is expensive (for clubhouse food), not plentiful or of the highest quality, it’s OK for that environment. Pubs meals in town are better value (but will not have the cracking view). The people working at the Castle are trying very hard to provide a great service and for the most part, this is achieved. They are attempting to follow American service standards, such as Bag Drop, concierge service and even a telephone at the 9th tee to pre-order mid round refreshments.
Kidd must take responsibility for the tricked up greens and before long should be either tasked with flattening them out, or the Links Trust should be employing another designer to perform this task. Already there is sufficient bad press about the course and this will continue as more journalists play. Perhaps Kidd’s reputation will take sufficient battering that he will rethink his design philosophy?
Overall, for the golf course, I would feel generous awarding it 6 out of 10. Greens are critical to the merit of a golf course, and these are so bad, they would knock 2 points off immediately. As a layout, I thought it was better than Kingsbarns, a few miles along the road, and it’s certainly in better condition than that course.
Is it worth playing? Yes, of course, but only once. As we know, a day on the golf course is better than any day at work, but go prepared for extreme frustration at the end of each hole.
by John Cornish
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