St Andrews Golf Courses - The Russell Hotel

Other than Pebble Beach, there are few world-class courses able to offer such an expanse of beach and water frontage that Dumbarnie Links has been blessed with.

Dumbarnie offers a world-class, prestigious links golf course just minutes away from St Andrews, the “Home of Golf.” This rare piece of land has a mile and a half of sea frontage with panoramic views over the Firth of Forth.

At first glance Dumbarnie Links may have the appearance of the style of the classic links courses. However, the extensive 345-acre site at Dumbarnie is particularly special. Its dual elevations, which are connected by a flowing escarpment, have provided the opportunity to create a number of elevated tees where holes play directly towards panoramic views of the expansive Firth of Forth. A further outstanding feature is that a number of tees and greens are in close proximity to the water. In fact, fourteen of the holes have views of the Bay and the Firth of Forth.

The design incorporates three potentially driveable Par-4s and features several holes that engender ‘risk and reward’. This course is designed to inspire rather than intimidate golfers. Total yardage for the golf course varies from 5,300 to 6,900 yards. However, there is a special set of professional tees positioned such that should an event be held at Dumbarnie sometime in the future, there are 12 extra tees whereby the course can measure up to 7,600 yards.

Dumbarnie has very generous fairways, large undulating greens and boasts stunning views of the Forth Estuary, East Lothian and the East Neuk of Fife.

“I have no doubt that Dumbarnie will soon come to stand along with Kingsbarns as the two courses (after the Old) that every serious St. Andrews pilgrim will want to play” - George Peper, Links Magazine

“Six miles south of Scotland’s Old Course at St Andrews is the new Kingsbarns Golf Links, so splendiferous in its concept and execution that we felt compelled to declare it our first ever Best New International Course” – Golf Digest, 2001.

Kingsbarns is a relatively new but classic links set against the rugged coastline of the North Sea in the most famous stretch of golfing terrain in the world. The land in East Fife is perfect for golf and Kingsbarns makes great use of the sandy soils, ridges and hollows. Glorious sea views, deep, revetted bunkers, smooth, undulating greens and the picturesque Cambo burn make for an attractive but stern test of golf which requires excellent shotmaking.

The course is now included within the end of PGA European Tour season Dunhill Links Championship!

Ladybank is a heathland course of outstanding quality set amongst pine trees and silver birch of a peaceful Fife countryside.

The course is a test of accuracy, with rewards for lonegth on reachable par-5's. Heather and gorse await for wayward tee-shots, which tests even the strongest of recovery players.

The St Andrews Castle Course is a modern links championship course laid out on a cliff-top 2 miles from the town of St Andrews, bordering the Fairmont St Andrews on St Andrews Bay.

Routed on 2 loops of 9 holes, each loop starts at the clubhouse, and heads for higher ground, before descending for the final 3 holes of each 9, alongside the coastline. Clever mounding and sculpting of fairways by MacLay Kidd (architect of the acclaimed Bandon Dunes on the west coast of Oregon) means that many of the holes are sheltered from one another, and also from tee to green, placing a premium on straight and strategic driving.

The feature hole is the par-3 17th, played across a ravine on the edge of cliffs, all into the prevailing wind from St Andrews.

Opened for play in 1914, the St Andrews Eden is a course of character but slightly less testing and more forgiving than the three courses lying on the seaward side.

The Eden Tournament, inaugurated in 1919, remains one of the major amateur British golfing events. Every year over 250 golfers play for the Eden trophy in the second week of August.

First opened in 1897, the championship St Andrews Jubilee is the most testing course on the links. Created on a narrow strip of land between the New Course and the sea, the Jubilee was originally a 12 hole course intended for ladies and beginners.

In 1988 the re-design of the Jubilee to championship standard was carried out by Donald Steel. The teeing grounds were raised, not only providing wonderful views of the Links, but also exposing the golfers to the winds which sweep in from the bay. Mr. Steel's redesigned course was 6,805 yards and a real test for all golfers.

The course was officially opened when Curtis Strange, the US Open champion, drove a ball from the first tee in September 1989.

In 2003 the Jubilee was the proud host of the British Mid-Amateur Championship and in 2004 was a qualifying course for the Amateur Championship, played that year on the Old Course.

Opened in 1895 and laid out by Tom Morris, the St Andrews New Course is considered by many as one of the best courses on the links. The course was the second course to be built in St Andrews, in response to increasing demand for golf from locals and from the visitors who were flocking to the town in increasing numbers on the recently constructed railway.

The construction of the New Course was paid for by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club as part of an arrangement under which the club was allocated the right to certain starting times on the Old Course. These arrangements were enshrined in the first Act of Parliament concerning the Links which was passed in 1894 and was the forerunner of the current Act of 1974 which specifies how the links are to be run.

The New Course is a classic links course which uses the natural features of the land to create a great golfing challenge. It also has, in the great St Andrews tradition, shared fairways and even a double green at the 3rd and 15th holes.

Located as it is in the shadow of its illustrious neighbour, the New Course can be considered one of St Andrews' best kept secrets.