Scotscraig (Scotscraig)

Member Name: polydeuces

Product:	Scotscraig
Date:	06/08/08 (0 review reads)
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Scotscraig Golf Club is situated in the small village of Tayport just over the Tay Bridge from Dundee. It is an old established club with a course challenging enough to be used for the qualifying competition for The Open Championship when The Open is at nearby St Andrews. The course is close to the sea but is not wholly a traditional links course having a mature parkland feel to it having more trees than the average links course and plenty of bracken and gorse to make it demanding as well as picturesque.

The course has many tight fairways and like many links type courses has natural undulations and crests which make it interesting. The 1st hole is one such hole being tight and with a long stretch of out-of-bounds to the right. The green is sheltered among trees and bushes. The 2nd's fairway is even tighter but opens to a wide green. The 3rd is a longish par 3 which is open all the way to the green but be wary of the bushes around it. The 4th is a nice hole with a 200yd plus drive to reach the expansive fairway. From there a high iron should see you onto the elevated green being wary not to over-hit to the out-of-bounds beyond it. Trouble awaits the hooked drive on the 5th but otherwise its not too demanding. Again the green slopes away to the right.
The 6th is an easy par 3 of just 140yds. Green slopes away back right but otherwise no problems. Having had an easy hole the 7th is quite tough. A lot of out-of-bounds to the left , gorse and bushes to the right., big dip in the fairway half way up. I found it better to play safe off the tee and approach from the right. The 8th is a little easier offering a much wider fairway and though the approach to the 2-tiered green has a lot of trees. The turn is reached with the par 5 9th but at 470yds and not much danger it is a safe par for most golfers.

Coming back the 10th has a wide fairway and relatively few hazards. There is still the odd bush to catch you out though. The dog-leg 11th is a par 4 which deserves to be a par 5 . Long but with a lot of hazards in driving distance it's a tester. The 12th is shorter and no serious danger. The 13th is a lovely 150yd par3 with an island green sloping sharply at the front. This leads to a hellish long par 5 14th with out-of-bounds to the right for all the hole and a burn some 90yds from the green. A difficult hole to say the least.
The par 3 15th and par5 16th also has the out-of-bounds to the right where the old railway used to run. The 2 tier green of the 15th holds few dangers and the 16th is a standard long straight hole where you need to watch for the trees. Two similar par 4s complete your round with a road to your right as you drive along the holes. The green of the 18th nicely nestles into a very welcoming clubhouse where we made to feel very much at home.

Scotscraig is reasonably priced compared with the Championship courses and I found it an immensely enjoyable round of golf.

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