Kingsbarns Golf Links is one of the finest modern links courses in the world — and the highest-rated course opened in the last 25 years in Scotland. Sitting on the Fife coastline just five miles from St Andrews, it plays beside the North Sea on every hole, with the water in sight for virtually the entire round. Designed to feel as though it has been there for centuries, Kingsbarns somehow manages to be simultaneously brand new and utterly timeless. It is as close to a perfect day of golf as Scotland can offer.
Golf was played on the Kingsbarns land as far back as 1793, but the modern course was designed by Kyle Phillips and opened in 2000 after an ambitious restoration of the coastal terrain. Phillips's genius lay in creating a routing that uses every ridge, burn and dune while keeping the sea in play throughout — a feat that established Kingsbarns as a world-class venue almost immediately. It has hosted the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship since its opening year, bringing the world's top players to its fairways each autumn alongside celebrity amateurs. Owned by the Kohler Company since 2012, the course and its facilities are maintained to an impeccable standard.
Kingsbarns is the kind of course that stops guests mid-round to just take in the view. There are moments — the approach to the 15th, the par-3 12th above the rocks, the walk to the 18th green — that are simply hard to describe. It is a course that guests ask to play again before they've even finished the round. Kingsbarns anchors every Fife itinerary without question.