Is there a better place in the world to play golf?

Best golf courses near St Andrews: 5. Elie

This Earlsferry course was laid out by Old Tom Morris and his work inspired one of the club’s young members enough for him to become a legend of the game.

The great James Braid grew up on this simple-but-brilliant links and, in a later era, Celtic Manor Twenty20 creator Ross McMurray enjoyed long holidays here too.

One of the country’s oldest courses, it begins with a blind shot over a hill and you use an old submarine periscope to learn if it is safe to play.

It is only 6,273 yards but you always seems to be fighting for par. There are no par 5s and only two par 3s – both of which are delightful – and Braid believed the dog-leg 13th was the finest hole in Scotland.

Best golf courses near St Andrews: 4. St Andrews (Castle)

David McLay Kidd’s modern clifftop course was not universally loved when it opened at the start of this millennium but its extreme greens and tufts of rough in the middle of fairways have been softened or removed respectively, and it is now being viewed with more affection.

The vistas over the town are spectacular and the firm sandy turf on the clifftop ground is a delight to play from.

Improving all the time, we already like it more than some.

Best golf courses near St Andrews: 3. St Andrews (New)

The little sister that has of late been receiving the acclaim it has deserved for all of its life.

Some even prefer it to the Old and regard it as a better challenge. That view is possibly a little extreme for us, but this is a GB&I Top 100 contender for sure.

Tighter than its neighbour, it benefits from more definition by virtue of its gorse and natural topography.

It is hard not to be charmed by its humps and hollows, even if they are awkward obstacles to a tidy short game.

Best golf courses near St Andrews: 2. Kingsbarns

The finest new course built in Europe in the last 50 years, Kingsbarns offers a breathtaking setting with a cerebral design by Kyle Phillips.

It is packed with all-world holes and a never-to-be-forgotten feel from pretty much start to finish.

It was brilliantly routed by Phillips and so skilfully shaped that it has the feel of a great old links.

Obdurate links purists might suggest it is as much clifftop as links but nevertheless its location on the edge of the coastline gives it some of the best views on Scotland’s east coast.

You’ll love the 8th, 12th, 15th, 16th and 17th – and this modern masterpiece as a whole.

Best golf courses near St Andrews: 1. St Andrews (Old)

An experience and an atmosphere like no other. It may take more than the first, giddy round to appreciate its nuances but most eventually come to love the Old.

The Old is simultaneously the most discussed and coveted course in the world yet also frequently being deemed bland and overrated.

I very much place it in the ‘coveted’ corner.

The back nine is generally regarded as the stronger, with the 11th, 12th and 14th a terrific run leading up to a vigorous closing stretch headlined by the infamous Road Hole.

Playing these epochal holes, with their iconic features, rebukes those who say that without its history the Old would be an ordinary course.

Just as you cannot judge Turnberry without its views, you can’t separate the Old’s heritage and atmosphere from the experience, which remains the most special in golf.

Yes, I know what you’re thinking: Where’s Carnoustie? Well I decided to keep this list to just courses in Fife. You can see where Carnoustie fell in our Top 100 Scotland list here.

So what’s your favourite golf course near St Andrews? Let us know in the comments below, or you can tweet us.

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