Montrose Medal

The verdict

Few courses can match the sheer depth of history at Montrose. Golf has been played on this stretch of links between the town and the North Sea since at least 1562, a lineage so remarkable that the club renamed its famous Medal Course the 1562 Course to mark it. This is, by widespread reckoning, the fifth oldest golf course on earth, ground that has been walked by golfers for more than four and a half centuries, and the course you play today has been touched by an extraordinary roll call of architects, from Old Tom Morris and Willie Park Jr to Harry Colt and, more recently, Martin Hawtree.

For the traveling golfer, Montrose is a links of genuine quality wrapped in unrivaled heritage. It plays as an Open qualifying venue when the championship is at Carnoustie, so its credentials are beyond question, yet it remains relatively quiet and excellent value. Routed over rumpled, natural duneland and exposed to the sea wind, it is a true links experience, the kind of honest, characterful course that golf history buffs and serious players alike should make a point of seeking out on any Angus trip.

The holes worth the trip

Montrose has been described as a magnificent stretch of marvelously natural ground, and that is the essence of the place. The links runs out along a band of dunes between the town and the beach, the fairways tumbling and heaving over genuinely old golfing terrain that has barely been touched by earth moving machinery. This is golf as it was meant to be, where the lie is what the ground gives you and the line into a green often runs along the turf rather than through the air. The undulating fairways and the fast, firm greens make for a subtle, thinking golfer's test.

The defining factor, as on every great east coast links, is the wind. When the breeze comes inland off the North Sea, Montrose bares its teeth, and holes that look benign on the card become a stern examination of flight and judgment. The hands of so many fine architects over the years have left a course that flows naturally with the land while asking precise questions at the right moments, with cleverly placed bunkers and greens that demand a thoughtful approach rather than a brute one.

What stays with you is the sense of continuity, of playing the same game on the same ground that golfers have enjoyed for centuries. Montrose is not a manufactured championship test bolted onto the landscape; it is a living piece of golf history that still plays as a serious links, and to walk it with that knowledge adds a dimension that the grander, more expensive venues cannot buy.

Where to stay nearby

Montrose itself has comfortable hotels and guest houses, and the wider Angus coast, with Carnoustie and Dundee a short drive south, gives you a range of bases for a few days of golf. The region's compact geography is a real asset: you can stay in one place and reach several championship quality links within half an hour, which makes the Angus coast one of the most rewarding and efficient golf trips in Scotland.

Montrose is best played as part of an Angus circuit. The headline neighbor is the fearsome Carnoustie Championship Course, while the fellow Open qualifier at Monifieth Medal and the traditional inland links at Forfar complete a varied and historic few days.

Looking for a base? See our recommended hotels and resorts around Angus.