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.
