XXIV: Cruden Bay
It’s no coincidence that few courses around the world have heightened their reputation and accrued the adoration of a cult-like following over the last 20 years quite like Cruden Bay. Largely undiscovered by the masses prior to the 1990’s, there can be no doubt that its hidden status has been thrown by the wayside, however it remains every bit the gem it has been touted. Dynamic, overwhelming and flat-out breathtaking, Cruden Bay finds plenty of touch points to the golfer’s heart, scrambling minds with quirk and blasting senses in the process. Loud and in charge in the most charming way, Cruden bay remains authentically itself.
Early flashes of the rumpled land at the second green
From the outset it became clear that Cruden Bay’s most fruitful commodity is the land on which it lays. Characterful, unique landforms which scale various shades of severity throughout the routing – at times it rumbles and rollicks, its thrills abrasive and in your face, whilst at points it laps, swirls and folds with poise, elegance and subtlety. It’s this variety in personality and nature of its landforms which provides Cruden Bay with a wonderful pacing and balance as you move through stages of the round.
It takes a wonderfully creative routing to maximise features of such varying scale and the chopping and changing direction at Cruden Bay creates a series of original holes amongst bowls, bathtubs, ridges, peaks and valleys. Blind tee shots matched by tee balls launched off cliffs and gathering bowls offset by treacherous run-offs – each hole deeply varied but at every stage the land does the talking.
The varying scale of Cruden Bay's features in plain site behind the 8th green
The routing of Cruden Bay is defined by two stretches of holes which bring the sport to life; 3-8 and 14-16. These periods seamlessly intertwine the beautiful madness of unconstrained golf with some of the world’s finest traditional links golf holes, a balance likely only reached because it was exactly what the land dictated. After a subdued start, Cruden Bay finds its feet at the third which kicks off 90 minutes of goosebump inducing, spine tingling golf matched by so very few – flashes of Machrihanish and Lahinch came up for air and put me in a blender, this was precisely the golf I chased.
Golf is better for the randomness surrounding the third green
The gateway to some of Scotland’s largest dunes, the third and fourth are brilliantly asymmetric in their qualities and questions. Marker posts, bells and now traffic lights have quickly become glaring indicators of fun and the thrilling half-par, driveable third is the type of hole I would love to have in my backyard. Completely blind from the tee, the land over the ridge tosses and tumbles downhill, sending balls cascading and funnelling toward the sunken green.
It’s tee sitting handsomely atop a dune with the picturesque fishing village across the river to the left, and a Dornoch-esque raised surface perched 200 yards from the tee, the exacting fourth counteracts the inviting third with demand for precision, anything less is sent tumbling down the slopes. Early in the round this one-two punch delivered a high-quality summation of Cruden Bay’s rollercoaster of balance where old man par stands for so little and every slope has two sides.
The fourth presents an exacting test amongst a quaint setting
Scottish golf is often characterised by a lack of elevation change, however for four holes on the front side, Cruden Bay is blessed with dunes which wouldn’t look out of place at Ballybunion or Portstewart. Bigger, louder and more severe, as the fifth tee to the 8th green carves through and into the dunes, the course finds a distinctly grander scale. Beginning atop a dune and opening up the first breathtaking view, the long fifth plunges into the valley of sandhills and paves the way for an electric run of shots. The sprawling 5th green with its crafty front to back tilt deserves a special mention, as does the angled burn slicing across the front of the elusive raised green of the par 5 sixth laying ready to contest most second shots. However, it was the dogleg seventh splitting the dunes, with its devlish greensite hanging perilously above the fairway between two hillocks, which shone the brightest.
The elevated fifth tee launches players into the dunes
Traversing these distinctly different sections of Cruden Bay make it one of the most adventurous walks in golf, and scaling the hillside to the 9th tee opens up what may be the finest links golf view in the world. Raw, exposed and natural, a deep atmosphere of seclusion permeates the air – Cruden Bay’s magic extends well beyond its quality of golf. The next few holes may lack the brilliance of those either side, however the routing does a fine job of matching them up with vistas like this…...
Some of golf's most majestic views arrive at the 9th tee
The golf at Cruden Bay is non-formulaic and a deeply reactive approach to architecture, where the binding to rules and pre-conceived notions is thrown by the wayside. Nowhere in the routing is this more apparent than the corner of the property where the 14th and 15th reside. Teeing straight to the top of a hill, from the 14th there is little indication of the rollercoaster to follow, but the completely blind approach over a ridge tumbles downhill to one of the most magical and eccentric greens in golf. Never will I forget cresting the hill and looking down on its sunken bathtub green, pure, unadulterated, Old Tom Morris magic and surely a contender for the most fun hole in golf.
Back to back blind holes are likely to upset some, which is why I have such an affinity for the blind one-shotter at 15. Hitting blindly straight over the left hand dune sees balls careening down the slope to the green. Much like the 5th and 6th at Lahinch, this two hole stretch will quickly sort the proper links lovers from the imposters.
The 14th's sunken blind bathtub green from above
With its flurries of eccentricities throughout, the lazy reaction would be to confine Cruden Bay into a box of quirks, however its qualities cut far deeper. Much of the golf which surrounds these thrilling moments of brilliance is fundamentally sound and traditional links golf - holes like the 4th, 5th and 6th through the dunes at the forefront. It all comes back to the word balance, and to my mind Cruden Bay walks that tightrope seamlessly.
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Endlessly simple with bottomless layers of natural complexities, Cruden Bay takes its rightful place amongst a handful of courses which can scarcely be matched for pure enjoyment, its joyous peers including the likes of North Berwick, Prestwick, Lahinch and Machrihanish. It’s interesting now looking at that list, their commonalities resting mainly in that each of these courses lie naturally, uncontrived and free-spirited. They are places where the land and its features ask a variety of one of one questions, inimitable by the human hand – brilliantly unique and characterful, these links transcend time as the soul and spirit of the game. Cruden Bay lies authentic and so utterly sure of itself.