St. Andrews: Kingsbarns Golf Links

December 10, 2019 Off By BBF

At first blush I would say your Scotland itinerary should be cultivated specifically to enjoy the ancient Golf Links of Scottish golf courses where golf has been played for up to 500 years. Enjoy the ancient Scottish course style of placing 20 foot deep sod faced bunkers in the middle of the fairway, and giant greens where you can putt for 100 yards. Relish the pancake flat “teeing ground” and see how the golf course designer had to use his imagination to bring a golf course to life from a bloody sheep pasture.

Kingsbarns would be my only exception to this advice. Kingsbarns is actually a modern golf course and has many of the features of a modern golf course (raised tee boxes, clearly cultivated and manicured fairways and green complexes). Sure golf has been played in, around and near “the Kingsbarns golfing society” for hundreds of years, but the current course was reclaimed from a field in 2001, and was raised from the sand to be a muscle bruit of a test of golf. Honestly, it is a MUST PLAY. Make sure to make room for Kingsbarns in your itinerary. Prioritize it ahead of the New Course in St. Andrews, even before the Jubilee. This is an ancient Scottish informed, yet modern links style golf course…and it is glorious.

Be sure to get caddies and be prepared for a challenging walk and test of golf. The caddies will help you find your errant shots into the fescue, but it’s best you try to stay out of the fescue in the first place. The views of the water on this golf course are second to none and the variety of holes and shotmaking skills make it a very memorable experience. There are many holes that will leave an impression, including the very interesting 18th hole that has a downward sloping fairway that will require a solid shot over a forced carry. But perhaps none is as memorable as the signature 15th hole / par 3. A solid shot over water onto the huge peninsula green will be required.

Definitely ask your caddy to get a picture of your group in front of that hole, as it will be a memory for a lifetime. Throw a handful of the Kingsbarns martini golf tees into your bag as well, and you’ll have a little surprise memory for months to come as you tee it up.

How it ranks:

Bucket list rank (from 1 to 5 buckets): 4 buckets, this is perhaps one of the most bucket list bucketable modern golf course in existence without making it to 5 bucket status
Location: Europe/Scotland
Spectacle/ visual: 8
History: 6
New/ancient: Modern
Playability : 8
Memorability : 9
Buddy-a-bility : Yes Amazingly so.
Service/etc: 6
Value: 6 it’s not that expensive for what you get
Shopping: 7 Very brow-sable golf shop.. Be sure to pick up a little something for yourself as a memento of the round. They do a nice custom bag tag, and the Martini Tees are free.
Warm up facilities/Range: 7–Nice warm up facility.
Food & Drink: 7–Very decent, full restaurant and bar

CategoryEurope: Scotland Four Buckets

TagsGolf Course Reviews Golf Travel

About The Author

BBF

BBF or “Big Ball First” comes from a golf saying for hitting a shot fat. Or hitting the “big ball first” in that you hit the ground (the big ball) before hitting the golf ball. In the BBF blog, it’s a metaphor for traveling the planet, soaking in exclusive experiences, and pointing people to the Awesome, the Great, the Good, and the not so good out there. We’re hitting the big ball running with tales from international golf courses, with fine wine, fine food, did I mention golf…well, especially the ‘buddies bucket list golf trips’. The hope is that like minded people will enjoy the stories, and hopefully use it as a reference point. If this blog helps people prioritize the experiences they want to have on our planet then we will have succeeded on our mission. We only have so many go’s at “bucket list” travel experiences. Especially the bucket list buddies golf experiences. My hope is you can refine your experience based upon my learning, and take your “big ball first” experiences to the next level.