Dumbarnie Links

Dumbarnie Links: The expansive 345-acre site at Dumbarnie is now home to Fife's newest golf offering. Clive Clark's excellent out-and-back design contains many great looking holes, and a layout that's forgiving and challenging in equal measure … a fair test, eminently enjoyable and fun to play. This relative newcomer is set to join the likes of the Old Course and Kingsbarns on the bucket list of every visiting golfer to the "Kingdom".

Boasting a mile and a half of sea frontage, the course offers panoramic views over the Firth of Forth from just about every hole. The layout's dual elevations, connected by a flowing escarpment, provided the opportunity to create a number of elevated tees, from which you play directly towards the expansive Firth.

All the vital ingredients of a top-quality links course are present, from the square cut teeing grounds and crisp rolling fairways, to the slick run-offs around the large but often subtly sloping greens. There's lots of variety, ever-changing views, and no two holes the same.

Looking out onto the good-width fairways, you'll also be aware of plenty of stylish bunkering, a heady mix of rustic and revetted. Water ditches occasionally put in an appearance, not least at the par-4 1st, par-5 2nd, and par-3 8th, while a small pond also threatens at the long par-4 10th (SI 1). The design incorporates three potentially driveable par-4s and several holes that will engender "risk-reward" course management.

Pick of the holes: Dumbarnie’s seaward-facing par-3s would steal the show on many courses. They’re kept good company by the short par-4 at 11, the memorable "over-the-wall" par-4 at 17, and testing par-5s at 2 and 13 … one watery, one quite tight. All book-ended by excellent par-4s to start and finish the round.