The considerable buzz about the new Castle Course at St. Andrews has been
one-sided: too hard, way too hard. After playing the course during a sneak preview
of the highly anticipated layout, which opens officially June 28, I can report
that yes, it is difficult. But it is also very fun, at least for this
14-handicapper.
Scotsman David McLay Kidd has transformed a piece of farmland overlooking St.
Andrews Bay and the town, just a few minutes south of the Old Course, into a
surreal landscape of sprawling bunkers, uneven mounding and seriously undulating
greens. From most tees you'll wonder about the size of the fairways. Fear
not-most are wider than they appear and many also tumble downward dramatically
to greens.
If you're looking for a layout that resembles the Old Course, look elsewhere.
The 7,188-yard Castle is not a true links, and the only qualities it shares with
its older brother are a double green (the 9th and 18th) and an address. In fact,
the course is more reminiscent of other similarly built waterside courses like
Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.
There are several memorable holes. While the sea is visible from nearly
everywhere, five holes, including the last two, hug the coast. The first of five
stellar par 3s is the 217-yard 3rd, “Cathedral,” which has the St. Andrews
skyline as the backdrop. When viewed from the tee, the 468-yard 6th has an
infinity edge fairway that falls toward the sea before turning left to the
green, which is the first time the course meets the water-the 7th through 9th
then run along the sea.
The most difficult hole may be the 481-yard 12th, made longer by an uphill
approach. But the green will reward your efforts with views up and down the
coastline. Already, the most famous hole is the much-photographed 17th, 200
yards from the tips with a deep ravine between the tee and green. A large, pitched bailout area on the left funneled my tee shot 20 feet from the pin, as it will most
shots. The 555-yard closing hole seems impossibly long, but a downhill
approach helps.
I played on a relatively calm day, but prepare to move up a tee when-not
if-the wind kicks up. (For most, the yellow tees, at 6,376 yards, will provide
plenty of golf.) A warning: You'll also catch yourself standing on some greens
taking in the scenery rather than focusing on your putts. That's a problem,
because a whole herd of elephants lie beneath these putting surfaces, which will
require your complete focus. Greenskeeper Allan Patterson says speeds will be
kept around nine and a half on the Stimpmeter. Fair enough, but you still face
multiple choices when it comes to choosing angles for your putts. Frustrating at
times, but always thought-provoking.
Unfortunately, the undulations aren't limited to the greens, giving Castle
its primary weakness. The course could do without a number of unnecessary
mounds, most in the middle of fairways, that serve little strategic or aesthetic
purpose.
Especially if you catch the layout on a calm day, St. Andrews' seventh course
is enjoyable enough that you should, as Billy Crystal's character Miracle Max
memorably advised in The Princess Bride: “Have fun storming the castle.”
