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The Castle Course is the modern seventh course created for St Andrews Links and opened to the public in 2008. Scottish architect David McLay Kidd designed the 18-hole, par-71 layout on elevated land east of St Andrews, overlooking St Andrews Bay and the town. The established back-tee measurement is 6,759 yards.
Unlike the historic courses on the main St Andrews linksland, the Castle occupies a clifftop site that had previously been farmland, allowing Kidd to create a deliberately different style of golf. The project was commissioned by St Andrews Links Trust and represented the first new 18-hole course at the Home of Golf for roughly a century. The course is open to public visitor play.
The course is an 18-hole links golf course. It plays to par 71, 6,180m (6,759 yards). Designed by David McLay Kidd, the course originally opened in 2008. It is open to the public. On-site facilities include Clubhouse, Restaurant, Golf Shop, Practice Area, Caddies, Club Hire, Shoe Hire, Lockers, and 1 more.
St Andrews Links Trust began planning a seventh course in the early 2000s to expand the public golf offering around the town. The chosen site lay east of St Andrews on elevated former farmland with a long historical connection to the area. David McLay Kidd won the design commission after a competitive selection process involving multiple firms.
The Links Trust brief called for an enjoyable but challenging course that took full advantage of the clifftop setting. Kidd later described his intention as deliberately bold and creative. The resulting course uses broad landforms, strongly contoured greens and exposed coastal conditions rather than attempting to reproduce the character of the Old, New or Jubilee courses.
The course opened in June 2008 as the seventh public course in the St Andrews Links portfolio. Early reaction was notably divided, particularly around the severity of its green contours. Later adjustments softened parts of the design as the course matured.
Golf Monthly returned the course to its Top 100 UK and Ireland list at No. 95 for 2025/26 after earlier appearances in the ranking.
The Castle remains a public St Andrews Links course and provides a deliberately different setting from the town's older layouts. Its dedicated clubhouse overlooks the course and St Andrews Bay.
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