The Fife Links – St Andrews, Kingsbarns and Crail
Three days, based in St Andrews.
The route
St Andrews calls itself the Home of Golf, and three days based in the town give you three very different links, one round a day.
The first is on the Links in St Andrews itself: the Old Course, or the New Course beside it if no Old Course time comes your way. The Himalayas putting green and an hour in the R&A World Golf Museum fit in around it. The second day runs down the coast to Kingsbarns, a links laid out along the shore on ground where golf goes back to the 18th century. The third heads out to Fife Ness for Old Tom Morris's Balcomie links at Crail, then west through the fishing villages of the East Neuk to Elie. There the starter looks through a submarine's periscope to see whether the first green is clear, and the trip ends on the road home.
Before you go
Book three nights near St Andrews
Book three nights in or near St Andrews for a trip between April and October: the night before day one and the two between, as days one and two set out from the town and day three ends at Elie, on the road home.
BalmulloBracken Treehouse at AirditSleeps 2
PittenweemThe Old StableSleeps 2
PittenweemThe Crow’s NestSleeps 4
PittenweemFifiesSleeps 2
PittenweemMaybell CottageSleeps 2
NewburghLindores LodgeSleeps 8
NewburghThe GlasshouseSleeps 6
NewburghThe ArchesSleeps 2
NewburghWest CottageSleeps 6
KinrossieFairygreen CottageSleeps 4
SconeMurrayshallA place to stay
23 miles awayThe Cabin at FairygreenSleeps 2Book a package with a guaranteed Old Course tee time through one of the Links Trust's Authorised Providers, golf tour operators and local accommodation providers, for April to October; without one, enter the Old Course ballot by 2pm two days before you hope to play, for two to four named golfers, online, by phone on 01334 466666 or at the Old Pavilion or a Links clubhouse, for one day of the trip only.
Book your tee time with the club well ahead: Kingsbarns has no members and welcomes visitors, and it is not open all year, so ask it for its season, closed days and the price when you book.
Book a morning tee time on the club's online tee sheet, for up to four players: the round, lunch and the afternoon at Elie and the lighthouse need about seven hours of daylight after you tee off, so once the clocks go back in late October take one of the first times of the day.
Book the 18-hole blue course online up to four days ahead; bookings open at 8pm four days before.
Book the R&A World Golf Museum
Book online at least 48 hours ahead to save £1.50 a ticket; tickets are also sold at reception on the day.
Day one
St Andrews
A day on foot on the Links at St Andrews, with the round at its heart: the Old Course, or, if no time comes your way, usually a walk-on round on the New Course next door. Around it there's putting on the Himalayas and the story of the game at the R&A World Golf Museum, both a short walk along the links.
Old Course at St Andrews
An attraction
The Old Course ballot is for golfers in the area: two to four enter by 2pm two days before they hope to play, and the draw is out after 4.30pm. For a time that's certain, the Links Trust's Authorised Providers sell packages with guaranteed Old Course tee times from April to October. Check in at the Old Pavilion, beside the first tee, 20 minutes ahead with a handicap certificate of 36 or under. If the ballot says no, Tom Morris's New Course of 1895 next door is mostly walk-on.
About 5 min on foot
The Himalayas
An attraction
From the Old Pavilion it's a short walk to the Himalayas, the putting green of the St Andrews Ladies' Putting Club, between the Old Course and the West Sands. The club goes back to 1867, and the steep humps and hollows of its green explain the name. The club posts its public hours day by day on its booking page: in late October, 11am or noon to 3 or 4pm. Putt after a round that starts before about 10am, or before one that starts after noon.
6 min on foot
The R&A World Golf Museum
An attraction
It's a 6-minute walk along the links to the R&A World Golf Museum on Bruce Embankment, opposite the clubhouse of the R&A. Its galleries take you through golf's past, present and future, and the museum's shop and Clarets café are under the same roof. It's open from 9am to 6pm until the start of November and 10am to 4pm through the winter, with last entry 45 minutes before closing, so an early round leaves time to do it justice. With a late tee time, see it in the morning instead.
If it rains
Golf on the Links goes ahead in the rain. In heavy rain the Trust may hold starts back by up to an hour and stop play when the greens can't be putted on. A round you give up on is not refunded, and in fog the golfers decide whether to start. The R&A World Golf Museum, its shop and Clarets café are all under one roof, so give it longer, and leave the Himalayas for a dry hour.
Day two
Kingsbarns
A day on one of Scotland's modern links, down the coast at Kingsbarns, where the course runs along the shore with the sea beside it. It's one round, and back to St Andrews in the afternoon.
22 min at the wheelAbout 8 miles
22 min by car
Kingsbarns Golf Links
It's 22 minutes' drive south-east from St Andrews on the A917 to Kingsbarns Golf Links, which Kyle Phillips laid out along 1.8 miles of the North Sea shore. It opened in 2000, but golf has been played over part of this ground on and off since 1793: the first nine holes closed in 1850, and the course laid out in 1922 was given over to land mines in the Second World War. It has no members and welcomes visitors, so book your time with the club well ahead.
If it rains
Kingsbarns plays in the rain, so bring waterproofs and layers, and ask the club when you book what happens if the weather closes the course.
Where to eat
CrailThe ShoregateA restaurant
St AndrewsSalt and PineCrêpes by Kinshaldy beach
St AndrewsForgan'sA restaurant
St AndrewsCromarsA restaurant
St AndrewsHaarA restaurant
St AndrewsOndine Oyster & GrillA restaurant
St AndrewsSpoiled LifeA café
St AndrewsThe Seafood RistoranteA restaurant
St AndrewsRoad Hole RestaurantA restaurantDay three
Crail
A day at the eastern tip of Fife and along the East Neuk. The morning is a round on Balcomie, Old Tom Morris's links by the rocks at Fife Ness. The afternoon follows the coast west through the fishing villages to Elie, for a look through a submarine's periscope and a walk out to the lighthouse on the point, where the trip ends.
1 hr 2 min at the wheelAbout 25 miles by carAbout 1 mile on foot
28 min by car
Crail Golfing Society
An attraction
It's 28 minutes' drive south-east from St Andrews to Crail Golfing Society's Balcomie Clubhouse at Fife Ness. Set your sat nav to go through the middle of Crail, past the Golf Hotel, as the club asks: the last stretch is single track with passing places. The club dates from 1786 and Old Tom Morris's Balcomie from 1895. Check in at the Pro Shop, on the left before the main car park. A morning tee time leaves the afternoon's light for Elie and the lighthouse.
30 min by car
The Golf House Club, Elie
It's 30 minutes' drive west along the coast on the A917, through Anstruther, Pittenweem and St Monans, to Elie and the Golf House Club. In the starter's hut by its first tee is the periscope of HMS Excalibur, a Royal Navy submarine scrapped in 1968, which looks over the dune to see whether the first green is clear. Players and visitors may use it. Not playing? Ask at the starter's hut whether it's a good moment, and keep out of the golfers' way.
4 min by car
Elie Ness Lighthouse
An attraction
It's a 4-minute drive to the car park at Ruby Bay, then a 10-minute walk round the bay to Elie Ness lighthouse on the point, with Lady's Tower, built in the 1770s for Janet, Lady Anstruther, on the east side. Mariners pressed for a light here: in bad weather off Elie Ness they could see neither the Isle of May's nor Inchkeith's. It was first lit in 1908. Go in daylight, back from the rocks in a swell. The trip ends here, about half an hour from St Andrews.
If it rains
Crail plays in most weather, and the club's Balcomie Links page says each morning whether both courses are open. If the afternoon is wet, stop at the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther on the way to Elie, in place of the walk to Elie Ness, and check its hours before you go.
On the way
- Crail
The road from Balcomie runs back through Crail, a royal burgh since 1178, past the Tolbooth on Marketgate, its tower under a Dutch-style roof; the harbour is a few minutes down the hill on foot.
- St Monans Auld Kirk
The kirk on the rocks at the west end of St Monans, with the coast path right beside it: a place of worship since 1265, rebuilt between 1362 and 1370 under David II. The story goes that he was giving thanks for surviving a shipwreck in the Forth. The village owns it now and opens it on open days; on other days it's seen from the path.
Where to eat
CrailCrail Harbour Gallery and TearoomA café
AnstrutherAnstruther Fish BarA restaurant
Elie and EarlsferryThe Pavilion, ElieA café
LevenThe Ship Inn, ElieA restaurant
KilconquharThe Kinneuchar InnA restaurant
St MonansCraig Millar @ 16 West EndA restaurant
PittenweemThe Dory, PittenweemA restaurant
Saint MonansBàern CafeA café
PittenweemPittenweem Chocolate CompanyA café
Lower LargoThe Railway InnA restaurant
Lower LargoThe CrusoeA restaurant
AnstrutherSt Andrews Farmhouse Cheese CompanyA restaurantPhotographs by golftraveller and Alan Hurrell via Google; worldgolfmuseum and bonnieweegolf