This was a section of my environmental report analyzing the course's landscape value, for what it is worth:
Landscape: Survey, Evaluation, and Management Aim
-Survey-
The landscape at Kingarrock is quite pastoral in that it has many open spaces and views among its mature trees. There is a collection of views that vary in nature and provide different spatial and emotional qualities. The view up the first is up along toward a distant pasture, gently curving around a stand of mature trees and encouraging the eye to follow along up the hill toward a distant horizon among the trees. There is the shorter view up the second toward the woodland, and if one looks east from there they get the longest view on the property and through to the continuing valley. Upon reaching the second green, one gets their first view of the Hill of Tarvit with its odd monument on top.
The third hole brings about an open horizon view as you clear the crest, and then from the green and the fourth tee one can look over the stone wall and see rolling farm hills and the nearby village of Craigrothie—an iconic type of view commonly found throughout Fife. The fifth sweeps down through trees into a meadow where once again the eye leads the body forward. This is also the first and only time one gets that sense of being in a woodland, and how appropriate for that change of scenery to come at the exact middle of the round. The sixth plays down a valley and right towards the mansion, which looms pleasantly over the course. The seventh is short amidst some single trees and encounters the condie; there is strange feeling of isolation here despite being very much in the middle of the course. The eighth moves along a slope and wraps around the pine woodland up the hill before setting up what is a great final view from the ninth tee box. The ninth plays down a hill through two large trees, and the view from the tee is the best on the golf course. The peak of the HillTarvit looms left with the mansion beyond the green, and nearly the whole course is visible. It feels like an amphitheater with the Hill and estate house sitting back and watching the stage that is the Kingarrock Course.
-Evaluation-
The routing of the holes on this small course could actually not be much better. The way in which the golfer is directed about such a seemingly simple property is very impressive for the variety and timing of the views that are experienced throughout the site. A good golf course is an emotional journey as well as a ground for play, and Kingarrock has exceeded in providing that.
The solitary mature trees actually provide a nice overall aesthetic, and great care must be taken to preserve long views on site if clustering is to occur with any of them. The newly planted trees could be problematic from a landscape perspective, and a lot of them should either be moved or transplanted off site. This will be noted and designated in the plan.
I can give a link to anyone interested in pictures and diagrams (warning: it is just the rest of my report
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