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Kingsbarns golf
© L.C. Lambrecht

Kingsbarns

Five miles up the road from St. Andrews, Kingsbarns spreads across the Cambo Estate

At Kingsbarns, five miles up the road from St. Andrews, the first reference to golf is dated 1793. The course spreads across the Cambo Estate, owned by the Erskine family, three members of which have served as captain of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club since 1797. The original Kingsbarns Golf Club apparently disbanded in 1844, was resurrected in 1922, and then was put out to pasture again when its acreage was commandeered by the military in 1939.

Seventy years, later, the latest golf incarnation there, Kingsbarns Golf Links, looks like it will have considerably more staying power. The course, designed by Kyle Phillips and Mark Parsinen and opened in 2000, boasts stellar ocean views and some of the best seaside golf shots you’ll ever play. Nine of Kingsbarns’ holes reveal the ocean in your frame of play, and all 18 provide sea vistas stretching as far away as Carnoustie.

Kingsbarns is about big, billowing features, subtle nuances and dramatic routing. The holes ramble along a mile and a half of shoreline and across an old sea cliff. Fescue and bentgrass carpet the heaving humps and hummocks, flowing between riveted bunkers and perky little burns, and surging dramatically among dune ridges and hollows. The turf is tight and rich and practically begs for deft bump-and-run shots, but you’ll also face some thick rough if you miss these fairways. The large, undulating greens typically are broken into smaller sections by their contouring.

At Kingsbarns, superior shot values back up what sound like the scribbled musings of Shivas Irons. Stunning fairway contours complement the natural landforms and are also intrinsic to strategy. The angles of play are quite easy to read if you pay attention. Aggressive driving lines are rewarded with auspicious kicks and favorable approach paths into greens shaped to channel balls toward the hole. Conversely, safe driving lines result in daunting approach angles, which convert supportive contours into confounding obstacles that deflect shots away from the target.

 






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