XXVII: Trump Scotland
​There can be no doubt that golf courses evoke a distinct personality. Just like people, part of it lies in their genetics – the land and setting, the foundations and bones of the course which shape its natural advantages and limitations. We have however seen wonderful pieces of land go to waste, contrived, disjointed, their potential thrown to the wayside. This is where it falls into an architect’s hands to mould the personality of the course, maximise its bones to embody a developer’s vision. With drama and shock-value at the forefront, Trump Aberdeen’s personality directive and plot of land go hand in hand.
If that doesn't scream golf....
When we dream up a lustful setting for golf, there’s a good chance that it involves sand, sea and dunes – the holy trinity of the links. Whilst the shapes and sizes of the landforms are up for interpretation, it would take something of a fantasist to dream up the setting of Trump Scotland – colossal dunes peaking at 100 feet tall flush up against the theatre of the North Sea’s crashing waves. Immersed in nature and totally exposed to its elements, it’s hard to truly explain what being amongst this setting feels like – there aren’t many places I have carried my clubs which made me feel smaller nor more irrelevant, Trump Aberdeen has a scale of its own and every sensory dial is turned all the way up.
Big, bold and show-stopping grounds for golf
Much has been written on Trump Aberdeen boasting the ‘ideal site for golf’, its heaving dunes laced with Marram grass and thrilling seaward vistas at the forefront present an idyllic setting, however all I could think was just how difficult it would be to route a golf course amongst it. For effective routings and interesting, balanced holes, there are limitations which come with the overwhelming scale, presenting the necessity for tiresome uphill walks and the potential for a repetitive nature of shots between the sandhills. Trump Aberdeen however, had a clear directive for drama, wow moments and a sheer intensity to every hole throughout the round, any opportunity to take players’ breath away was pounced on and perhaps that is the best way to approach a site littered with a magnitude of landforms rarely seen. This is rock and roll golf - large, loud and in your face.
Fairways slither through the dunes
For many links courses, the most obvious gateway to players’ enjoyment is how holes and shots associate with the dunes. To the preference of some, places like Ballybunion, Prestwick, Lahinch and Cruden Bay play over the top of dunes, creating a beloved element of blindness – a point of contention and unfairness for others. Primarily due to the scale of the dunes, Trump Scotland’s touch points with the dunes are elevated teeing areas, perched green sites atop their ridges, and flatter fairways which cut and weave between them. With a wall of dunes guarding the shore, in order to satisfy the design brief and maximise the loop’s wow moments any opportunity to utilise the apex of a dune for a tee or green was snatched at, opening up the famous long views.
Everything at Trump Scotland is maximised, pushed to its absolute visual limits and framed within an inch of its life with a grandeur that punches you in the face with force and regularity – its elevated tees and greens are centric to this ethos and the defining feature of the layout. It has to be said, it’s fortunate that the views are awe-inspiring as the walks will take your breath away just as quickly!
The visual limits of a golf course may well have never been pushed harder
To break down Trump Scotland architecturally would go away from the spirit of the layout’s personality – best understood through a handful of the loudest and boldest moments:
The Gateway to the Dunes
When a golf course is built with ecstasy and wonder at the head of the snake, first impressions become slightly more important. Despite all I had read on Trump Scotland, standing on the first tee in the pouring rain, the gateway to one of golf’s most remarkable dunescapes blew me away. Plenty of width and nothing but a green and a sea of sandhills in the distance, it just looks exactly as golf should.
The view back down the first fairway
The First One-Shooter
​Out of sight but far from out of mind, for the opening pair of holes the presence of the sea is clear – the sound of crashing waves and the famous coastal breeze at the forefront, but arriving at the third tee provides the first encounter. The perched up, domed green-site immersed by dunes straddles the sand a short pitch from the coastline. The 165-yard shot through the wind is the first of many exacting shots amongst an inspired setting.
The magic of the third
The Sixth
Routing a golf course across explosive land like the dunes of Trump International opens up plenty of potential to lay out original and dramatic holes – with a directive for the spectacular, conservatism wasn’t an option. Entangled in nature, rugged and raw, the putting surface of the sixth carved atop a dune is truly mindblowing. An all carry mid-iron across the valley offers no room for error, commanding control, execution and downright commitment. The sixth is the type of hole you could show a non-golfer and their interest would peak.
The sixth is a one-of-one
The Fourteenth
A handful of walks from green to tee at Trump Scotland are staunch uphill hikes – an often less desirable feature of a routing. However, every now and then one of these walks brings you to a scarcely believable view, the walk quickly forgotten – rarely does this ring truer than the 14th tee at Trump Scotland. Summiting a dune, one of golf’s most rousing views unravels below – violent seas, golden sands and a brilliantly angled fairway ensconced by walls of dunes. Hypnotic and alluring, this is the most distinctive image of Trump Aberdeen – an embodiment of the exact sense of place that the developer chased – audacious, bold and theatrical.
Some tee shots justify the hike....
The Closing Moment
After the visual spectacle of the previous 17 holes, it should come as no surprise that the developer wouldn’t allow the final impression to be anything less than overwhelming. A big, brawny par five which stretches to 650 yards from the top of yet another dune, the architectural merits of the hazard ridden 18th have been fairly questioned, but the sheer beauty and magnificence of what lies ahead can only be applauded. Trump Aberdeen’s final vista is a knockout blow.
