Cruden Bay Golf Club Championship Course Review


Cruden Bay Golf Club Championship Course Review - An old-style links with some wonderful vantage points

Cruden Bay Golf Club Championship Course Review

Cruden Bay Golf Club Championship Course Review

Green Fee Range: £135-£150

Medal Tee – Par 70 – 6,263 Yards

Visitor Times: Monday any time after 10, Tuesday to Friday any time after 8:30, Saturday – from 14:10 then every second tee time, Sunday – from 12:30 then every second tee time

Website: www.crudenbaygolfclub.co.uk

Cruden Bay Golf Club Championship Course Review

Old-school links charm abounds but there is a quite different feel here due to the elevation changes and dunes that throw up the most wonderful, panoramic views. Burns, bunkers and bumps will test every element of your game.

Related: Top 100 Courses UK and Ireland

In 1894 the Great North of Scotland Railway Company commissioned the building of a course at Cruden Bay to accompany the Cruden Bay Hotel that was being constructed at the same time. The course – designed by Old Tom Morris – and the hotel were opened in 1899.

The magnificent pink granite hotel was sadly demolished after the Second World War but, thankfully, the golf course lived on.

Plateau greens, undulating fairways, blind shots, streams and gorse, Cruden Bay is an absolute joy to play.

Looking out over the links from the elevated clubhouse, the duneland here looks as though it was designed for golf.

This is a rugged and natural links where the golfing test has remained consistent for the past 100 years.

Visible from most parts of the course is the imposing ruin of Slains Castle – supposedly an influence for Bram Stoker; the author holidayed in Cruden Bay when writing Dracula.

The rest of the course’s surroundings have less of the gothic about them. In fact, this is an extremely picturesque and peaceful location.

Out amongst the sandhills, with the call of skylarks drifting on the breeze, the real world seems rather distant. This is golfing escapism at its best.

Course changes since previous ranking

None

Proposed course changes

None planned

Golf Monthly Verdict

All that is great and challenging in an old-fashioned links combined with real variety

This article Cruden Bay Golf Club Championship Course Review appeared first on Golf Monthly.