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Golf Vacations in Scotland - Kingdom of Fife

St Andrews -The Old Course ()

Unlike almost any other sport, golf provides the opportunity for even the most modest hacker to play on the same courses and face the same challenges as the great champions of the game, past and present. This creates a bond between champion and enthusiast which few other sports can match. To play the Old Course is to immerse ones self in at least 5 centuries of history and tradition. The course has its critics but the bleak and uneven terrain on which it is laid out has helped shape the fundamental principle of most links golf - that golf was never meant to be fair and as such will always be as much a test of a players character as their shot making ability.

Golf Roots Scotland can arrange a professionally produced video of your visit to this most famous of golf courses.

Playing the Old Course in 2009.

St Andrews Links Trust have recently changed the process for advance applications for the Old Course. When applying in advance they now request that you contact the Reservations Office on or after the first Wednesday in September for a tee-time in the following year. For play in 2009 this means that you need to submit your application on or after Wednesday 3 September 2008. Update - please note that due to the volume of applications, all advance times on the Old Course for summer 2009 have now been allocated, and the only way of getting a time is now via the ballot system or Old Course Experience - see below. A request for a time between April and October must be accompanied by a request for a time on one of the Trust's other 18 hole courses. On your application you need to: Provide details of all golfers (names, home golf clubs and handicaps); Nominate a Lead Golfer with a home address for all correspondence (They will only accept instructions from the Lead Golfer); State the dates you wish to play (after checking course closures). A maximum of two times a day may be applied for (8 golfers max). St Andrews aim to advise people within 6 to 8 weeks if they have been succesful.

Unreserved times are allocated by daily ballot which is drawn at 2pm for play the following day . Guaranteed tee-times can be had for 2009 - click here for details

St Andrews -New Course ()

The New Course is only a relative term at St Andrews when you consider that it was laid out by Old Tom Morris and opened for play in 1894. Locals have long considered the New to be the equal of its more famous neighbour. Like the Old, it has many undulating fairways, lots of magnetic gorse, and makes all the demands known in golf, particularly over a tough five-hole finish. A traditional links and a tough test of golf, measuring over 6,600 yards with a par of 71.

St Andrews -Jubilee Course ()

Another traditional links course , it was first laid out in 1897, again to a design by Tom Morris, and upgraded to championship standard in 1989. A severe test of golf, it comes in at 6,805 yards to a par of 72, and a mark of its quality is that it was the venue for the 1993 Scottish Strokeplay Championship, the winner of which was two over par in good weather. Donald Steel, golf architect and writer, is the man largely responsible for the present day layout - one which is now rightly regarded as the strongest test in town.

Kingsbarns ()

Opened in July 2000. Kingsbarns is quite simply the best new course to be brought into play in Britain in the last 40 years. Strictly speaking it is not new, but a re-working of the original Kingsbarns Links which was established in 1793 before being closed in 1939 for military manoeuvres. Only 6 miles from St Andrews, Kingsbarns Golf Links sweeps along the dunelined coast near the charming village of Kingsbarns. To quote Sir Michael Bonnallack, Captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club : 'Kingsbarns might well be one of the last true seaside links capable of development in Scotland. Mere words cannot convey just how extraordinary the place is. It must be seen to be believed. And once seen it will never be forgotten.'

St Andrews -Dukes Course ()

Designed by former Open Champion Peter Thomson, this classic parkland course opened in 1995 and is rated in Golf Worlds top ten new courses in Britain. The fairways are characterised by many small undulations and groups of small bunkers, often pot bunkers built into mounds. A very stern but rewarding day out.

Scotscraig ()

Situated at the pretty estuary town of Tayport some ten miles north of St Andrews, golf was first played over this gently undulating landscape in 1817. The present course was laid out by James Braid in 1923 and has remained a favourite of those who appreciate all that is best in Scottish Golf ever since. It is, by general consent, an enjoyable but demanding course, with one local describing it as 'almost as tough as Carnoustie but without the hype'.

Ladybank ()

Ladybank is unquestionably one of the great inland courses of Scotland and will once again be an Open Qualifier when the 2000 Open Championship comes to St Andrews. Situated in the heart of Fife, it is a stunningly picturesque course with a profusion of heather, wiry broom and pine trees. Those who have played it continue to marvel at the combination of grace, beauty and technical complexity from which "you leave feeling as though you've only scratched the surface". (Golf World)

It is a long course (6,600 yards) but a fair test of golf which the higher handicaps can enjoy without too much fear. Jack Nicklaus and Seve Ballesteros are both honorary members and other great players who have beaten a path to its door include: Payne Stewart, Justin Leonard, Darren Clark and Constantino Rocca.

Lundin Links ()

Superb traditional links with a deserved reputation for the condition of its greens. You can be asssured a warm welcome with everyone connected with this friendly club and the quality of the course will require you to be at the top of your game.A Final Open Qualifier when the Open comes to St Andrews.The Lundin Golf Club was founded in 1868 and was played over what is known today as The Old Course, a composition of the seaward holes of both Lundin and Leven Links. A tournament is still played over The Old Course each year by Lundin and both Leven clubs. As the game grew in popularity and membership numbers increased, ground to the north of the railway was obtained and the services of the legendary James Braid were sought. In 1909 a new course was born from the original seaside holes and the area acquired from the Montrave Estate.

Crail Golfing Society ()

In 1786, three years before the Bastille was stormed, a group of eleven gentlemen met at the Golf Inn in Crail and together formed the Crail Golfing Society. The records of that historic day are still preserved; indeed the society still possesses a complete set of minutes from the date of its inception. The Crail Golfing Society is the seventh oldest golfing society in the world. The present Balcomie Links course was designed by Old Tom Morris and is widely recognised as one of Scotlands classic links courses - always superbly maintained and with magnificent greens. It is situated at Fifeness, the most easterly point of the East Neuk of Fife and only a short drive from St Andrews. A second course, the Craighead Links, is a worthy companion to Balcomie with panoramic seascapes and stunning country views. Craighead was designed by American Gil Hanse in 1995 and features wide sweeping fairways and large greens while retaining many of the best features of a classic links.

Leven Links ()

The championship course at Leven was used once again at the Millennium as one of the four final pre-qualifying courses when the Open Championship is played at St Andrews. As well as boasting the 11th oldest golf club in the world, The Leven Golfing Society, the Standard Life Assurance Company's Amateur Champion Medal, gifted by the company in 1870 lays claim to the title of "The Oldest Open Amateur Strokeplay Championship In The World". A true sea-side course - the editor of Golf Monthly described the older part of the Leven Links as 'being one of the best stands of Bent and Fescues in Scotland'. Originally Leven was a 9 hole course, maintained by the players themselves and their families (a paid Keeper of the Green did not appear at Leven until 1876). The extension to 18 holes took place in 1868. The inaugural competition over 36 holes played on Oct 2nd, 1868 was won by "Young Tom" Morris with a score of 170. The 18th hole is reckoned to be one of the finest finishing holes in golf

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