Murcar Links

www.murcarlinks.com

White tees par 71, SSS 72, 6303 yards

Red tees par 72, SSS 73, 5635 yards

Murcar Links Golf Club lies adjacent to and north of Royal Aberdeen Golf Club on the links coast of Aberdeenshire which includes Cruden Bay, Newburgh on Ythan and the newer Trump International Golf Links at Balmedie.  Opened in 1909, the original course architect was Archie Simpson who was the professional at Royal Aberdeen and purportedly dropped in on his lunch breaks to design the course.  Advice on alterations was obtained from James Braid in the 1930s.  In the days before cars were widely owned the difficulty of reaching the course from nearby Aberdeen was solved by the use of the Strabathie light railway owned by the Seaton Brick and Tile Company.  It ran past the clubhouse and through the middle of the course.  Bought by the club in 1924 the railway was used until 1949 and was only removed in 2006. 

The narrow entrance to the 3rd green

The view from the 5th tee with a notable absence of fairway

We played Murcar with Lynn and David Lawson on a cold and windy day.  The overall impression of this course is long carries over vicious rough and a number of blind drives.  Take plenty of golf balls!   The first three holes are par 4s adjacent to Royal Aberdeen.  The third hole runs downhill to a green situated in a bowl with a tight entrance guarded by gorse and rough.  The course then turns to the north and the next stretch of six holes running by the sea was the best part of the course.  With no fairway the par 3 5th is a fearsome hole with a long uphill carry into the wind over hummocks

The 7th, 'Serpentine' has a long carry over a burn and a twisting

fairway uphill to the green

covered by thick rough.  Anything less than perfection is a goner!  The 7th, 'Serpentine' is deservedly the signature hole with a high tee with panoramic views of the North Sea, a drive over a ravine which must carry a twisting burn to a narrow fairway guarded by a gorse covered hill on the left and punitive rough on the right.  The second shot is to a front to back sloping green where anything right or long is in trouble.  The next three holes have long carries for the drive with the 10th being blind over gorse bushes. 

The 12th hole maintains the standard of difficult par 3s with no fairway and a sloping green.  The course then turns for home with a stretch of weaker holes on the inland side which lost some of the character of the earlier holes.  The 13th has a blind uphill drive and then a steep downhill slope to a flat rather nondescript green and the 14th had a wet fairway.  The last of the par 3s is the 16th which plays at right angles to the 15th to a plateau green.  The course then finishes with two short par 4s.

The par 3 16th crosses a ravine to a plateau green

Worth playing?  Yes - a tough course with some wonderful links holes but some disappointing ones.