The whole American country club thing is just wrong in Scotland
Yeah, the thing is, I've gotten to the point where I am so disappointed in the golf and golfers i play with here, that ANY course lauded by the typical American golfer (not GCAer) is going to slide down my list--a loong ways.
On my first trip to Scotland, just about every American I ran into in Fife, and maybe even East Lothian, asked me, "Have you played Kingsbarns?"
Being a smartass, I told each of them, "Kingsbarns opened in six years ago, I'm still working on the 1890s."
On that trip my wife and I were accompanied by another couple who LOVE American golf, but wanted to go to Scotland anyway. They bitched the whole time but said they loved it.
When my friend and I met Euan Grant, then head greenkeeper at TOC, he asked what we'd played. When I got to Brora on my list, Euan said "Brilliant!"
His boss said, "Larry didn't like Brora," and Euan turned to Larry and said, "Heathen."
I suspect that to this day he thinks I put him up to it.
Larry loved Nairn, and would have been over the moon about Kingsbarns.
I'm just damned glad I didn't schedule us there.