Kingsbarns Golf Links is the kind of course where your best shots will likely be made with a camera, not a club. Spanning 1.8 miles of coastline, every hole is in sight of the North Sea on this picturesque seaside links course. It’s located on the grounds of the Cambo Estate, seven miles from St Andrews.
Opened in 2000, Kingsbarns differs from many of the other top courses in Scotland in that its age is measured in years, not centuries. Despite its relative newness, Kingsbarns has been the subject of much acclaim.
Kingsbarns Golf Links is consistently rated as one of the best courses in Scotland and has received many media and industry awards. Also, not only is Kingsbarns ranked as one of the top 100 courses in the world, it even achieved the rare feat of debuting in the top 50.
It could be said that Kingsbarns had plenty of time to “prepare” for its grand opening, as golf has been played over at least part of the current course since 1793. The course seen today was designed by Kyle Phillips and developed by Mark Parsinen and Art Dunkley.
Phillips, who is an American architect, studied various courses in Scotland, including Royal Dornoch, to ensure that the end result would look natural. A surprising amount of earthmoving went into the creation of this “natural” course, which led to the uncovering of one of Kingsbarns’ most prominent hazards, a burn standing between golfers and the green on the 18th, a hole touted as one of the most demanding closers in the British Isles.
For golfers traveling to Scotland who haven’t played Kingsbarns before, it’s safe to say that it will be the course you will talk about most when you get home. The conditioning, layout, and seaside views from all 18 holes make it so.