Paul_Stewart
Tour Rookie
The Castle is the newest of the courses owned by the Links Trust and is part of the seven they administer. The two courses at Fairmont and the one at Kingbarns are not part of the group.
The Castle opened a couple of years back and is about two miles outside of the town on the road to Crail. It overlooks the sea and is truly spectacular in terms of views and designs.
But it is a tough course and you have a choice of tees to use. I played from the yellows and found them challenging enough on a fairly windy day. This macho thing the Americans do of playing from the very tips, shooting about 10 over their handicaps, and then bitching about the course, well it drives all the locals mad too.
The greens on the Castle are truly wild with huge slopes, plateaus and valleys. And when you combine this with a normal wind-swept links, you can see why scores can be so high there. On some holes you really can rule 50% of the putting surface out as a place to put a flag which does seem a little strange.
The holes that are truly memorable are the ones towards the sea, the 2nd, 6th and 7th being excellent par 4s. On some occasions, you look like you are playing off a cliff only to find a sculpted fairway over the crest when you get there.
And for a truly memorable signature hole, you have the par-3 17th, some 200-yard across the cliff face. It was a 5-wood aimed 30 yards left that finished 15 feet away thanks to the wind and slopes when I played there. Earlier that day, one of the pros in the shop hit driver from the same tee.
The Castle is £120 to play but only £40 if you have bought one of the three or seven day Links passes. Caddies are £40 plus tip and I would recommend one on this course on your first visit.
The varied greens are not going to be everyone's cup of tea and it is very different to the traditional Old, New and Jubilee courses in the town, but the Castle is well worth taking on if you are in St.Andrews.
The Castle opened a couple of years back and is about two miles outside of the town on the road to Crail. It overlooks the sea and is truly spectacular in terms of views and designs.
But it is a tough course and you have a choice of tees to use. I played from the yellows and found them challenging enough on a fairly windy day. This macho thing the Americans do of playing from the very tips, shooting about 10 over their handicaps, and then bitching about the course, well it drives all the locals mad too.
The greens on the Castle are truly wild with huge slopes, plateaus and valleys. And when you combine this with a normal wind-swept links, you can see why scores can be so high there. On some holes you really can rule 50% of the putting surface out as a place to put a flag which does seem a little strange.
The holes that are truly memorable are the ones towards the sea, the 2nd, 6th and 7th being excellent par 4s. On some occasions, you look like you are playing off a cliff only to find a sculpted fairway over the crest when you get there.
And for a truly memorable signature hole, you have the par-3 17th, some 200-yard across the cliff face. It was a 5-wood aimed 30 yards left that finished 15 feet away thanks to the wind and slopes when I played there. Earlier that day, one of the pros in the shop hit driver from the same tee.
The Castle is £120 to play but only £40 if you have bought one of the three or seven day Links passes. Caddies are £40 plus tip and I would recommend one on this course on your first visit.
The varied greens are not going to be everyone's cup of tea and it is very different to the traditional Old, New and Jubilee courses in the town, but the Castle is well worth taking on if you are in St.Andrews.
