Cruden Bay Golf Course

Cruden Bay is an eccentric links course that is every bit a match for the likes of North Berwick, Sandwich and Brancaster.

We’ve been devoted fans of Cruden Bay for many years and are pleased to note many more are these days being seduced by its charms.

If North Berwick is flavour of this Millennium (such is the attention on it these days, it almost feels as if it has just opened, rather than been around since the 1890s), then Cruden Bay isn’t far behind.

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One can only suspect it is a reaction against the uniformity of today’s new inland courses but we’ve long enjoyed Cruden’s unusual mixture of the challenging and random.

The par-4 3rd, ‘Claypits’, is likely to be one hole that has helped win over this wave of new fans, covering a mere 274 yards but including a blind drive through the dunes.

After being intoxicated by the 3rd, you then step onto the tee of the 4th and wonder wistfully about living in one of the cottages that sit behind ‘Port Erroll’ and being able to step out onto the tee whenever you fancied.

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Back in reality, those of us who merely visit from time to time must instead savour the blind shots over and between dunes, the green complexes, and the simple joy of it all; Cruden Bay makes you glad to be a well-travelled golfer.

The trio on the back nine, starting at the par-5 13th, ‘Bents’, and ending at par-3 15th, ‘Blin Dunt’ (referencing its blind nature), are arguably the very best of Cruden but, really, you never go for more than a couple of holes without something memorable arriving here.

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In addition to Old Tom Morris and Archie Simpson, as well as (for what was by all accounts a very skilled revision) Tom Simpson and Herbert Fowler in the 1920s, we can all thank the money behind the links, the Great North of Scotland Railway Company, for what we enjoy today.

If you enjoy eccentric links, you need to head for north-east Scotland every bit as much as you do Brancaster, Sandwich or North Berwick.

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