“Quiet, unassuming, neither loud nor brash… you won’t find any noisy neighbour here.”

With its rather illustrious and somewhat well known neighbours, Scotscraig sits quietly on Golf Road in Tayport some eleven miles north of St Andrews and sixteen miles from Carnoustie. There are few signs alerting you to its presence. It’s the quiet neighbour that happily goes about its business without a fanfare.

Scotscraig was founded in 1817 by members of St. Andrews, who had wished to play more golf. Originally built as just six holes and on a horse racing track it is believed to be the thirteenth oldest golf course in the world. The course was extended to nine holes in 1893 before the eighteen hole Championship course was overseen by James Braid in 1923.

It is difficult to accurately describe the golf course. Links type undulating fairways and pot bunkers. Gorse and heather lining many fairways. Lush grass at the rear of some greens, and deep wooded areas with a burn running through holes eleven, fourteen and the suitably named ‘burn’ hole, fifteenth. A pond featuring on par three, sixth hole. The course is almost a hybrid of a heathland inland links with parkland features. The terrific undulating, firm rolling fairways are accompanied by deep and visible superb pot bunker hazards. At 6698 yards, an emphasis on accuracy is required on some holes, yet providing more generous landing areas, from the tee, on others, providing something for everyone.

A fine mixture of tiered rolling greens and more large flatter greens provides great creativity both on and around the putting surfaces. Four par three holes, varying in length between the 214 yard, third hole and the 145 yard sixth hole are accompanied by three par five holes providing an overall seventy one par. Only on an odd occasion, after a par three hole, does one play two consecutive holes in the same direction meaning the inevitable winds will be a feature and changing the difficulty of each hole, each time one plays her.

Since 2016 the club has seen fit to remove a vast amount of its gorse and trees, most notably, between the fifth and seventh holes making the brilliant 401 yard seventh hole a less daunting and more playable test. It has, although such is the genius of its work, unnoticeably redesigned and built, the green of ‘Westward Ho’, making the 362 yard fourth hole a much sterner test with an elevated green. The club continues to redesign and recreate the many bunkers on the course. The new ones much more pleasing to the eye yet fair in punishing a misdemeanour. They are also brilliantly and fairly positioned shaping and creating risk and reward decisions from the tee.