Small Historical Links Challenge at a Bargain Price
Summary: Round weekday £18; weekend £22 . Par 65. Value (out of 5) – 4
Detail:
Kinghorn’s second green with views over the course to the Forth Estuary
Kinghorn Golf Club, was founded in 1887, with the initial 9 holes being designed by Old Tom Morris – the remaining 9 holes were laid out in 1905 by Willie Fernie of Troon. Kinghorn therefore represents a fine historical pedigree of golfing architecture.
Kinghorn is one of 7 courses managed by the Fife Golf Trust which was established in 2011 to take over Fife Council’s directly managed courses.
The tricky Par 3 3rd with the wall in play!
This is becoming a common practice by Local Authorities in Scotland to manage golf courses. The golf club is private, like many Scottish clubs associated with public courses.
The course presents a fine test of all aspects of your game, especially your course management – my advice would be that other than the long par 4 8th and 13th holes (the 2 hardest on the course), leave your driver in the bag. Accuracy from the tee will pay dividends here.
An “eagle” at the par 4 6th – putting a joy on these greens
There are some tricky blind tee shots, with the 2nd and the 6th, both par 3s (from the yellow), needing good club selection to reach the green. Although I played from the yellow tees, it was easy to imagine how much more difficult from the white boxes several of the holes were. The SSS is 3 shots different between white and yellow.
Uphill approach to the Par 4 10th
The longest hole on the course – the 8th – a might 2 shots might not reach here.
The greens, and their immediate surrounds, were the highlight of the course condition when I played, and must be amongst the best in Fife; hard, true and very fast, it was difficult to judge your approach shots at times. The fairways were mixed, most were very good but some, notably the 18th, were poor. The tee boxes in particular needed attention. I think if some of the considerable effort placed on the greens, were shared to other areas, the whole course would benefit greatly.
This is a great little course, with magnificent views of the Forth Estuary and if you’re able to play after 3pm during the week in Summer, the twilight round rate of £12 represents great value.
Key Facts
Course Type: Links
Green Fees:
weekday £18 (round), £24 (day)
weekend £22 (round), £29 (day)
Par 65 (0 par 5, 11 par 4s, 7 par 3s)
Distance(white) 4587 yards
Moly’s Gross Score 88
Moly’s Kinghorn Scorecard – 88
As a womens club, the “back tees”, are the LGU Red tees, with the white tees being in front, therefore this is one of the few courses where my tee shots were guaranteed to land in front of the ladies tee!
