A Pictorial: Murcar!!!

[Kyle Henderson]

While I didn’t have the pleasure of playing Murcar Golf Links during my trip (as it was hosting the Scottish Amateur Stroke Play Championship during my stay in Aberdeen), I was able to walk the course and take pictures during a practice round. As many of you already know, the club’s main course (par 71, 6516 yards) is flush with the northern border of the Royal Aberdeen Golf Club’s famed Balgownie Links. Murcar also boasts a number of supplemental amenities including the 18-hole Strathbie course (5369 yards, par 70), a full driving range (a rarity in Scotland, with grass teeing grounds protected from the wind and rain by a large, glass, 3-sided enclosure), and a number of practice bunkers and greens.

Regarding the main course at Murcar, I found it to be very comparable to the Balgownie links, as most of the best holes on each course occupy the seaside dunes heading north before the routing turns inland for a series of slightly less compelling holes heading back to the clubhouse. For anyone spending a few days in the area on a golfing trip (Cruden Bay is about a 25-minute drive the north), Murcar is definitely worth a look. These three courses occupy some very impressive sand dunes, and one must hope that Donald Trump’s fledging golf development will measure up to its neighbors.

FYI: My other pictorial threads from this trip can be viewed at the following links:
Royal Dornoch http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,40107.0/
Brora http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,40120.0/
Golspie http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,40126.0/
The Castle Course http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,40204.0/
Murcar http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,40281.0/
Crail: Craigshead & Balcombie http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,40325.0/
Lundin Links http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,40387.0/
Muirfield http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,40439.0/
Cruden Bay http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,40565.0/
Gleneagles - Kings Course http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,40675.0/
St. Andrews - Old Course http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,40696.0/
Gullane #1 & #2 http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,41085.0/
Panmure http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,41122.0/
Gleneagles - Queens Course http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,41152.0/
Kingsbarns http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,41184.0/
Royal Aberdeen - Balgownie Links http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,41498.0/
Carnoustie – Championship Course http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,41834.0/
North Berwick - West Links http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,42104.0/

*not featured: Nairn, Eden, New, Castle Stuart (tour)

And now, the Murcar Golf Club's main course, along with some descriptive/incomplete sentences:

The 1st hole (par 4, 322 yards) plays downhill and downwind, an easy warm-up hole for member play but a must-birdie during tournaments. Royal Aberdeen Golf Club sits in the distance.

This view is looking back down the 2nd hole (par 4, 404 yards), which climbs steadily from tee to green, views of Aberdeen in the distance.

The 3rd (par 4, 401 yards) tee view reveals little. A short iron or fairway wood over the aiming marker will carry to…

… either the upper right or lower left fairway short of the maintenance road.

Looking back at the 3rd green from the left rear (actually taken from the 10th tee at Royal Aberdeen).

Looking at the  4th (par 5, 489 yards) tee (on the seaside dunes above the gorse) and landing zone (where the player is standing about 290 yards from where he started ) from the 6th tee, adjacent to the 5th green (in foreground) and 3rd tee (behind me). Got all that?

Panning left to 4th green and uphill approach, 5th green still in the right foreground.

5th (par 3, 176 yards) tee view (6th tee seen behind 5th green)

The 6th (par 4, 453 yards) tee shot turns the course back to the north, a heading it will maintain through the 9th green and again for the 11th hole before turning back towards the clubhouse. The left fairway bunker requires a 250 yard carry, rewarding bravado with a healthy forward kick off of  the down slope beyond.

6th landing zone beyond left fairway bunker. From here, it’s another 170 yards to the flag, slightly uphill.

The 7th  hole (par 4, 423 yards) is crossed by two burns (180 yards to clear the farthest). The fairway is angled around impressive dunes that frame the left side, with wetlands down the right making line selection very tricky. Great hole.

This view of the landing zone shows that flatter lies and a better line into the green can be found closer to the left-hand dunes. The approach is slightly uphill.

7th green viewed from front right.

8th (par 4, 393 yards).

8th approach. A deep swale 280 yards from the back tees (110 yards from the green) might suggest a lay-up off of the tee.

9th hole(par 4, 323 yards) viewed from right of teeing grounds. Playing downwind, as it was on this day (normally the wind would be from left to right or against), birdies were plentiful.

The 9th green is very deep, but protected heavily on both flanks by bunkers

Tee shots on the 10th (par 4, 400 yards) are played blind and severely uphill, heading inland and south.

Over the crest, the 10th fairway is on a down slope and heavily rumpled, though less so on the right side from where the green is more easily viewed (above the left edge of the fairway, slightly elevated).

10th green seen from right of the fairway. The green finally comes clearly into view, with a breathtaking backdrop. Note the ruins of an old stone shack perched in the large patch of gorse behind the green.

13th hole(par 4, 386 yards)  viewed from right of the tee box. It’s 222 yards up to the aiming pole on the horizon. The fairway feeds left.

From the top, it’s another 160 yards to the center of the green, though the drop in elevation probably requires about two clubs less than that yardage. Bombers will drive down to the bottom with favorable winds.

14th tee view (par 5, 540 yards) showing the dramatic left-to-right slope of the fairway.

14th green from front left, 15th hole beyond.

15th hole (par 4, 383 yards) seen from near the tee. The tee shot drops way downhill. The green is perched short of the aiming pole in the distance, past the steep upslope at the end of the fairway. The 16th hole is a par 3 ( 172 yards) that crosses the 15th at the upslope, tees on the right, green on the left.

[Cristian]

A beautiful pictorial of a spectacular course; The 3rd hole looks fantastic in particular. It is sometimes hard to see the scale of things though, are the fairways quite narrow or is it just the framing dunes which are so high?

[Philippe Binette]

It looks in much better shape than when I was there in 2006

[Rich Goodale]

Many thnks for that, Kyle.  Murcar is one of my favo(u)rite courses in Scotland (i.e./aka The World).  If you nicked a scorecard, check out the 1909 picture on the cover of the 7th (Serpentine) showing the designer (Archie Simpson) playing the hole on the Opening Day.  Compare it to your picture and tell me if there is anything such as "permanent architecture" when you are dealing with proper linkland.

Slainte

Rich

[Kyle Henderson]

It looks in much better shape than when I was there in 2006

They probably had it in peak from for the Scottish Am. 

[Kyle Henderson]

Many thnks for that, Kyle.  Murcar is one of my favo(u)rite courses in Scotland (i.e./aka The World).  If you nicked a scorecard, check out the 1909 picture on the cover of the 7th (Serpentine) showing the designer (Archie Simpson) playing the hole on the Opening Day.  Compare it to your picture and tell me if there is anything such as "permanent architecture" when you are dealing with proper linkland.

Slainte

Rich

That hole does look very similar to its original form, but the scorecard photo appeared to have been photoshopped to include the players, if memory serves. I'll try to scan it in and post it later for all to judge.

[Gary Slatter]

was it a Friday when you were taking the picture of the 3rd green?  I think I saw the same people when we were playing Royal Aberdeen.

[Kyle Henderson]

was it a Friday when you were taking the picture of the 3rd green?  I think I saw the same people when we were playing Royal Aberdeen.

Thursday. Friday was 36 holes at Cruden Bay. 

Sorry I missed you!

[Rich Goodale]

Many thnks for that, Kyle.  Murcar is one of my favo(u)rite courses in Scotland (i.e./aka The World).  If you nicked a scorecard, check out the 1909 picture on the cover of the 7th (Serpentine) showing the designer (Archie Simpson) playing the hole on the Opening Day.  Compare it to your picture and tell me if there is anything such as "permanent architecture" when you are dealing with proper linkland.

Slainte

Rich

That hole does look very similar to its original form, but the scorecard photo appeared to have been photoshopped to include the players, if memory serves. I'll try to scan it in and post it later for all to judge.

Not photoshopped, Kyle, and if you look closely, that hole has changed big time over the past 100 years, particularly on the right hand side.

[Brian_Ewen]

Kyle , thanks for posting , really enjoy your pictorials .

That photo of the 7th was also used for this years Centenary Book .

http://www.scottishgolfview.com/2009/03/murcar-links-centenary-book-is-good.html

[Mike_Cirba]

Kyle,

Really awesome...thanks.

It's like looking at golf course porn...

[Chris Wirthwein]

Kudos, Kyle for the beautiful photos!

With the changing weather and sky in your pix, it felt like a regular day on the links in Scotland. It transported me!

You know, I'd forgotten just how undulating (and interesting) some of the fairways are -- very cool. For my money, Murcar is one of Scotland's best.

Cheers...

[Rob Rigg]

Wow - imagine living in a country where this is golf - ie) real links golf - it's incredible.

Another spectacular photo presentation Kyle - well done - you must have been chomping at the bit to get out there and play. Looks like a great layout.

[Andrew Mitchell]

Thanks for the pictures Kyle.  Murcar looks to be in superb condition.  When I was there in 2005 the conditioning at Royal Aberdeen was better than Murcar's but RA had hosted the Senior's British Open a few weeks before.

I thoroughly enjoyed both courses and when adding Cruden Bay into the mix that area of NE Scotland is often wrongly overlooked for golfing tours.

Any pix of Cruden Bay and Royal Aberdeen to follow?

[Ally Mcintosh]

£140 overseas subscription with no joining fee and 20 minutes from the home where i grew up...

As much as Scottish green fees have been pushed up in recent years, they are still world beaters when it comes to good value membership deals...

[David_Tepper]

Ally M. -

140 pounds for an annual overseas membership and no joining fee really is a terrific bargain. That is even cheaper than several clubs I know of in the Highlands.

Are there still a lot of Americans in the oil business passing thru Aberdeen these days? You would think they would be joining Murcar by the dozens.

DT

[Brian_Ewen]

David , not many Americans at all here nowadays , just the stragglers left behind .   

It still amazes me that the linksland munis in Aberdeen get ignored on here , especially Balnagask , real value for money and always fast & firm .

[Kyle Henderson]

Any pix of Cruden Bay and Royal Aberdeen to follow?

Indeed. All in good time. 

[Kyle Henderson]

£140 overseas subscription with no joining fee and 20 minutes from the home where i grew up...

As much as Scottish green fees have been pushed up in recent years, they are still world beaters when it comes to good value membership deals...

If I recall, the visitor greens fee is £75, so the subscription would pay off pretty quickly for annual visitors.

[Chuck Brown]

What a stunning photo-tour.  Bravo, sir.

More than a return to St. Andrews and Carnoustie, more than a trip to East Lothian, more than Ayrshire and more than Ireland, I should like to go to the north, to Dornoch and Aberdeen and Murcar.  You just convinced me.

[Kyle Henderson]

What a stunning photo-tour.  Bravo, sir.

More than a return to St. Andrews and Carnoustie, more than a trip to East Lothian, more than Ayrshire and more than Ireland, I should like to go to the north, to Dornoch and Aberdeen and Murcar.  You just convinced me.

Check back with me after I've posted photos from St. Andrews, Crail, Kingsbarns, Carnoustie, Panmure, Gullane, Muirfield, and North Berwick.

But seriously, thank you for the compliment. It's good to know my efforts are appreciated.