TEP
Longniddry was so named so as to not confuse it with Shortniddry, which is nearby.
Dan "The "King
Cruden Bay has one great stretch of golf which is as good as it gets, 3-7. The rest of it, however, is all over the place, both figuratively and literally. I is an OK driving hole, but the second shot is no inspiring. 2 is goofy, but without much charm, and with a boring (if elevated) green. 8 has its adherents, and is an interesting par 3 1/2, but has the defect of ending up against a hill with nowhere to go. Some who are into hill-walking may like the climb to the 9th, and the vista once you get up there is in the top 50 of all seaside golf views in Scotland, but the hole you play is a clunker. Two long slogs over a barley field to a very average green. 10 is so medicore that the club has been trying to change it for years. An elevated tee to an auld water meadie. 11-13 are OK, but not much more. Good solid links golf holes, but there are hundreds of these in Scotland. 14 is quirky, but not one of the most distinguished nor most interesting of the many sunken greens in Scottish golf. 15 is crazy, but not unlovable. At Dunbar, the architect took a similar piece of land and used it as a pleasant path by the sea frrom point A to point B and vice versa. Here you hit over the side of a hill to an away green with berms at the back to bounce back over hit shots. I'll give it an 85/100 for its in-your-face quirk. 16 is quirkier, but not as charming. To me, a blind short hole of 160 or so where the play is to hit it precisely 117 yards onto the top of a hill (any shorter and you stay up on the hill, any longer and you are through the green) is just not fun, much less golf. "Target golf" at its very worse. 17 and 18 are below average links golf holes. There are few golf courses in Scotland which would be improved if they swapped their closing holes for these ones.
All that being said, the clubhouse is top-5 material, with a splendid view over the links. Unfortunately (as I have said before on this forum) much of the best parts of those links consists of the short 9-hole course which sits in the middle of the Championship course. Cruden Bay sits on land which could have created a great 18-hole course, if they had used all the great stuff which lies in front of you as you sip you Belhaven Best in the clubhouse and not tried to go south of the 8th green. There is a world class golf course out there somewhere, but the archies didn't find it, and that's the pity........
As for North Berwick, it's only slightly overrated, IMO. A bit of a mishmash of styles, with too many over-quirky (i.e. 1, 14 and 16) or average (3, the middle bit--8-11?) holes. I'd put the Redan in both categories........
Fine course, but on a par with Brora, not Littelstone.
Glad to be of service!
Rich