Castle Course, St Andrews
The newest of the seven St Andrews courses, the Castle Course was designed by David McLay Kidd and opened in 2008 on the cliffs east of town. A par 71 of around 6,759 yards, it trades the flat ancient links for a bold, modern clifftop layout with the most spectacular views in St Andrews, looking back across the bay to the old grey town and its spires.
Photograph: The Castle Course, St Andrews Links, via Google · Kevin Heggie
The verdict
The Castle Course is St Andrews doing something completely different. While the town's other courses share the flat, ancient strip of links by the West Sands, the Castle sits high on the cliffs a couple of miles to the east, on rolling farmland that David McLay Kidd, the architect of Bandon Dunes, shaped into a dramatic modern links. Opened in 2008, it is the seventh and newest of the St Andrews Links courses, and it brings bold contours, big movement and famously undulating greens to a setting with sweeping coastal views.
For the traveling golfer it is the scenery round of a St Andrews trip and a real talking point. The greens drew controversy when the course opened for being too severe, and they were softened, but the Castle remains a course that divides opinion: some love its drama and its outlook, others miss the subtlety of the old links. What is beyond debate is the view, the best of any St Andrews course, back across St Andrews Bay to the cathedral ruins and the university town. As an easy to book public course, it is a memorable, modern complement to the historic golf in town.
The Castle Course at a glance
- Opened
- 2008
- Designer
- David McLay Kidd
- Type
- Clifftop links
- Par
- 71
- Yardage
- Around 6,759 yds
- Access
- Public, Links Trust
Designer, opening year, par and yardage verified June 2026 from St Andrews Links Trust and course databases. The Castle Course was designed by David McLay Kidd, opened in 2008 and plays as a par 71 of around 6,759 yards. It is a public course managed by the Links Trust with no handicap certificate requirement. Indicative 2025 high season green fees were around 180 pounds; fees change each season, so always confirm directly before booking.
The holes worth the trip
The Castle is a course of bold gestures. McLay Kidd used the clifftop site to build wide, tumbling fairways and large greens full of movement, and the routing makes the most of the elevation, with holes that play along the edge of the land high above the sea and others that climb and fall across the rolling interior. The scale is grand, the bunkering rugg