The Castle Course

A history of the site
How the other courses got their names
The heritage

The Links Trust is creating a seventh18 hole course to join its portfolio of six courses. It will be a public course, open all year round and is hoped to be ready for play in 2008. The course is being designed by David McLay Kidd.

A history of the site

The site of the Castle Course is one that has been intimately connected with St Andrews for many hundreds of years. Earliest records indicate that the land was part of a hunting ground for Pictish kings who adopted St Andrew as their patron saint in the mid eighth century. At that time the district was called Muckross, from muic meaning a boar and ross, a promontory. From around 1100 AD the land was called the Cursus Apri, or Boar’s Chase. A boar still features as part of the town crest of St Andrews and a nearby village is called Boarhills. St Andrews town is linked to the site of the golf course by a stretch of coast called Kinkell Braes, which is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

(Kinkell comes from ceann coille, or head of the wood. Brae is a Scottish word for a hillside or steep slope.)

The Braes is an area of wildflowers which has long been a favourite haunt of St Andreans walking along the clifftops and taking in spectacular views of the town and of St Andrews Bay. The Braes are not included in the golf course land, but mark its northern boundary.

Public access to all the clifftop area has of course been maintained.

The site of the course is made up of land purchased from Kinkell Farm and Brownhills Farm.

The focal point of the course will be the headland named Kinkell Ness, or Kinkell Point, which is where the double green that serves holes 9 and 18 is situated and where the clubhouse will be built.

On this headland there was once a fortification known as Kinkell Castle, which included a dovecot. Below the castle, there was a Kinkell Harbour. St Andrews Bay has long been notorious for shipwrecks and the small natural harbour was a welcome sight to many a sailor in distress.

The ruins of Kinkell Castle in 1767

Closer to the shore, down on The Braes, there is a Kinkell Cave. This is thought to have been used by a hermit and may also have played a part in the smuggling trade of bygone times.

Below the western edge of the course is Maiden Rock, a large isolated formation on the pebble-strewn shore, while the most prominent feature of the rest of the foreshore is an unusual sea-stack called the Rock and Spindle. In former times it was called Spindle Rock, a name which refers to a circular volvanic feature at its base which resembles a spindle, a device that played a part in the weaving industry which was a mainstay of the local economy up to the nineteenth century.

The Rock and Spindle: it lies below the 18th fairway

The central part of the golf course was surveyed in 1837 when it was part of an area known as Spinkston.

Other details on the map include names such as Kinkellfield, West Kinkell, Lower Briery Hill, Lower Twentys, Upper Rigs, Longlands, Collier Shod, Middle Shod and Craigendaff – this was also spelt Craigduff in the mid-nineteenth century.

When the land at Kinkell was farmed in the middle part of the last century it was split up into a number of fields, all of which bore a name.

The area where the clubhouse is to be situated was known as Castle Park. The others along the cliff top were called Cove and Craigduff.

Further inland, there was Highland, east and west, and Spindle. Two of the southern fields were named Quarry Park and Milestone, with Centre Park making up the rest of the middle section. This information was kindly supplied to us by Henry Wilson who worked on the land in the 1940s.

The requirement for a seventh public course at St Andrews was first recognised in 1998 and much of the early planning took place as the Millennium unfolded and passed.

The right land was eventually found and purchased in 2002 and then the detailed planning was able to take place – including the selection of David McLay Kidd as the course architect. This period coincided with the four year study period at the University of St Andrews of Prince William, the heir to the throne.

How the other courses got their names

The courses at St Andrews Links carry names which refer either to their location or to the circumstances surrounding their building.

When there was only one course at the Links it was known as St Andrews Links. It was only with the construction of a second course in 1895 that a definite term for the world’s oldest course became necessary.

In a town where the three principal streets are called North Street, South Street and Market Street it is not surprising that the commonsense Victorians of St Andrews chose to call their latest course the New, and the other one the Old.

Two years later a third course was opened for play. Originally a 12-holer for ladies and beginners, the Jubilee Course was opened on 22 June 1897, the date of official celebrations throughout Great Britain to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s accession to the throne. The Jubilee fountain, once next to the first fairway of the Old Course and now positioned beside the starter’s box of the Jubilee, was first used at the same time.

Course number four was the Eden Course of 1914, built by HS Colt with assistance from Alister McKenzie, who later built Augusta National with Bobby Jones. St Andrews Links is fringed on one side by the Eden Estuary.

The name pays tribute to what was once a vital part of the St Andrews economy, where boats were moored and where the profitable trade of collecting mussels was carried on.

This quartet of courses constituted St Andrews Links for almost sixty years, until the 9-hole Balgove Course was laid out in 1972. This course carries the name of the farm on which it is built. Prior to World War II, Balgove was considered a possible site for a St Andrews airport.

In 1993 the Balgove was redesigned by Donald Steel when he was commissioned to build the Strathtyrum Course. In this case, the name comes from the neighbouring estate from which some of the land was purchased.

St Andrews golfers colloquially call the Jubilee ‘the Jube’, and the Strathtyrum ‘the Strath’. Only the Balgove and the Eden require more than two syllables!

It has been noticed that all the initial letters of St Andrews Links’ courses spell out the name B JONES. Mr R T Jones, or Bobby Jones, was of course one of the greatest champions to play at the Home of Golf. All that is missing is a course beginning with a letter ‘T’!

The heritage

David McLay Kidd and his team have transformed featureless farmland into an exciting links-like challenge set above the cliff-tops at Kinkell.

Kidd takes his place among a select group, for the list of course architects who have worked at St Andrews is in itself remarkable.

Although the Old Course is largely a product of Mother Nature, the course owes much to the contributions of Allan Robertson (whose Carnoustie Links can be seen from the seventh course) and Tom Morris in the nineteenth century. Morris also laid out the New Course.

The original 12-hole Jubilee was brought up to 18-hole standard by Morris’ assistant David Honeyman, whose work was in turn added to by 1893 Open champion Willie Auchterlonie. In more recent times Donald Steel re-routed some holes of the course and he went on to oversee the building of the Strathtyrum Course and the 9-hole Balgove.

Donald Steel is one of the great architects to have contributed to the Eden Course. It was designed by Harry Colt with assistance from Alister MacKenzie. Colt’s designs include Wentworth, Sunningdale, Pine Valley and Hoylake (which was the venue for The Open 2006 and which was re-routed for the championship by Donald Steel).

MacKenzie went on to design Augusta National with Bobby Jones as well as Cypress Point and Royal Melbourne. He also redesigned the famous eighth hole at Pebble Beach, which players of the seventh course may be reminded of when they play the 17th.

Hole 17 of the Castle Course gives a sense of the beauty and the drama of the site. The transformation of the landscape effected by David McLay Kidd and his team is easy to see. These pictures show the view from the tee of the par three

Many of the world’s greatest designers have taken their inspiration from St Andrews, including: Donald Ross, the architect of Pinehurst No2; Pete Dye, whose great creations include Harbour Town and Long Cove; Tom Doak, whose Pacific Dunes is a neighbour of Kidd’s own Bandon Dunes; and Robert Trent Jones of Spyglass Hill and Firestone fame. Spyglass Hill takes its name from a place in the novel Treasure Island by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. Stevenson’s family built several harbours in the neighbouring coastal settlements that together are known as the East Neuk (ie corner) of Fife and his grandfather, Robert, was the architect of the Bell Rock lighthouse, which is still in use and which is visible from the new course. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote in 1880: Whenever I smell salt water, I know I am not far from the works of my ancestors.

The Castle Course at St Andrews will have an unparalleled pedigree, joining a family of courses that have attracted the very best players in the history of the game as well as untold thousands of golfers eager to experience for themselves the thrill of the ancient links, which were given over to the people of the town in 1123 by King David I of Scotland.

The Home of Golf has always welcomed the world to its doors. St Andrews Open champions include Americans Bobby Jones, Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, arguably the four greatest male golfers to have played the game. European titans Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros have also triumphed, as have South African Bobby Locke and Australian Peter Thomson. As we anticipate the staging of the Women’s British Open in 2007, it is also worth noting that the legendary Joyce Wethered won the ladies’ championship in 1929 and a young Annika Sorenstam launched her international career when she triumphed on the Old Course at the St Rule Trophy of 1990.

In counterpoint to this elite band, thousands of St Andrews residents and visitors have enjoyed their rounds on the Links.

Doubtless, the Castle Course will take an honourable place alongside its sister courses at the Links with its public access ethos at the heart of its attraction.

Although the Castle Course is not a links course it has been designed with the Scottish links tradition very much in mind. The approaches to the green will be similar to the greens themselves so that running shots will be playable as well as pitches. Also in the Scottish tradition, the grasses being cultivated at the site are a bent and fescue mix. Fescues will also feature strongly in the extensive areas of natural rough and wild meadow which will provide a variety of habitats for wildlife including the very rare maiden pink species which has been found on the 220 acre (90 hectare) site. The construction of the Castle Course has been a model development, with full consideration given to environmental factors.

The site’s commanding viewpoint overlooking St Andrews has attracted artists for many centuries. In the late 17th century John Slezer engraved the scene from about the site of the sixth green. He drew a somewhat fanciful representation of the town’s famous ecclesiastical spires, with the now ruined cathedral, in its day one of the largest in Europe, dominating the scene. Interestingly, the foreground shows the St Nicholas area which was once considered as a site for a golf course in the early decades of the twentieth century.

John Slezer's engraving of St Andrews in the 1600s

The experience of playing the Castle Course will be a treat for the senses. The North Sea is a visible presence on every hole while the view towards St Andrews is one of the finest possible.

North East Fife’s softly rolling glaciated landscape dominates the southern view. Turning to the west, the extinct volcano of Lucklaw Hill is set behind the town, at the head of the Eden Estuary, while the extensive forest at Tentsmuir lies between the Eden and the Firth of Tay. Human settlements dated to 6,000 years ago have been traced in this area. The city of Dundee and the town of Arbroath can both be seen to the north. In 1320 the Declaration of Arbroath was issued as a statement of Scotland’s independence from England. This document is thought to have influenced the writers of the American Declaration of Independence. Its most famous passage is: It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom – for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself. The mountains of Angus rise up in the distance. To the east, the coastline features a series of golden strands punctuated by inlets and coves.

What was known as the Boar’s Chase is set to accommodate hunters of birdies, eagles and albatrosses; prey that may prove just as elusive as the royal quarry once was.