Arbroath

Old Tom Morris designed the original links layout at Arbroath in 1877 then thirty years later, when more land became available, Willie Fernie (who was the Troon professional for some thirty seven years) redesigned the layout, extending it to 5,748 yards.

According to the book James Braid and his Four Hundred Courses by John F. Moreton & Iain Cumming, James Braid later remodeled the course in 1931, increasing the overall yardage and installing many of the sand traps that remain in play today.

As the authors state: “It seems that his main brief was tees and bunkers. Presumably, he lengthened the course by putting in new tees and bunkering was second nature to him by now. More sand bunkers would arrive and irrelevant bunkers would be grassed over.”

The modern day course measures 6,185 yards, playing to a par of 70, with fairways routed out and back alongside the railway line that runs down the coast. The only two par fives on the card – at the 2nd and 17th – sit adjacent to each other and they’re both crossed by a drainage ditch that will catch errant shots.

The four par threes at Arbroath are all good one-shot holes. On the front nine, “Lint Pot,” the 166-yard 4th, features another burn that cuts diagonally across the front of the green whilst “Corse Hill,” the 159-yard 7th, plays to an unusual, bowl-shaped green.

On the inward half, both par threes are rather longer and more testing: the 14th (“The Secretary”) measures all of 239 yards from the medal tee with a narrow entrance to the green whereas the 182-yard 16th (“The Dunes”) has five deep pot bunkers protecting the front of its green.