An Introduction to Scotland's Carnoustie Golf Links

The town of Carnoustie, Scotland, is north of Edinburgh. The links are located just south of town, where Barry Burn empties into Carnoustie Bay. The links are almost due north of St. Andrews, and northwest of Dundee.

Dundee, 14 miles away, has a small airport with limited options. Large airports close by are in Edinburgh (63 miles away) and Glasgow (90 miles away). Golfers flying into any of those airports will have rail, bus, and rental car options for continuing on to Carnoustie.

The physical address of the links is:

Carnoustie Golf Centre,
Links Parade,
Carnoustie,
Angus,
DD7 7JE

The phone number for the links' golf/administrative office is +44 (0)1241 802270 and its website is carnoustiegolflinks.co.uk.

Yes, the Carnoustie Links are open to the public. The golf courses are managed by the charitable Carnoustie Golf Links Management Committee, which includes representatives from local golf associations and was formed in 1980 to run the links. All profits are reinvested into the golf courses.

Note that 28 is the handicap limit for men, 36 for women and golfers aged 14 to 18. Golfers younger than 14 are not permitted on the Championship Course. Caddies are available for a separate fee.

To book a tee time, call the reservations department at +44 (0)1241 802270 or email golf@carnoustiegolflinks.co.uk, or use the online booking system.

Green fees in the high season (April 1-Oct. 31) range from £50 for the Burnside and Buddon links to £200 for the Championship Course (fees subject to change) for adults, but there are discounts for golfers booking as a four-ball and for golfers buying a three-day pass.

Fees are significantly cheaper in winter (Nov. 1-March 31), but golfers are required to hit off mats in the fairways during that period. The Carnoustie website links above include many more details about booking and playing the links.

The Carnoustie Golf Club was founded in 1839 at a time when the links—there is record of golf in the town of Carnoustie going back to 1560—were quite rudimentary, barely beyond a natural state.

Some of the greatest and most important golfers in the history of the sport have had a hand in shaping the links at Carnoustie. In 1842, Allan Robertson, considered the first-ever professional golfer, laid out a 10-hole course.

In 1867, Old Tom Morris (a onetime apprentice to Robertson) added eight new holes, bringing the Carnoustie links to 18 holes.

And in 1926, James Braid—five-time British Open winner and one of the three golfers who made up Britain's legendary "Great Triumvirate" of the late 19th/early 20th century—renovated the links.

More tweaks occurred over the years, including rebuilding most of the bunkers prior to the 1999 Open, and the lengthening of holes at various times. But the routing of today's Championship Course is pretty much the same as it was following Braid's 1926 work.

These are the yardages from the White tees, which are the back tees for daily play on the Championship Course:

• Hole 1 - Par 4 - 401 yards
• Hole 1 - Par 4 - 435 yards
• Hole 1 - Par 4 - 351 yards
• Hole 1 - Par 4 - 375 yards
• Hole 1 - Par 4 - 387 yards
• Hole 1 - Par 5 - 520 yards
• Hole 1 - Par 4 - 394 yards
• Hole 1 - Par 3 - 167 yards
• Hole 1 - Par 4 - 413 yards
• Out - Par 36 - 3,443 yards
• Hole 1 - Par 4 - 446 yards
• Hole 1 - Par 4 - 362 yards
• Hole 1 - Par 5 - 479 yards
• Hole 1 - Par 3 - 151 yards
• Hole 1 - Par 5 - 476 yards
• Hole 1 - Par 4 - 459 yards
• Hole 1 - Par 3 - 245 yards
• Hole 1 - Par 4 - 433 yards
• Hole 1 - Par 4 - 444 yards
• In - Par 36 - 3,505 yards
• Total - Par 72 - 6,948 yards

The ratings for each set of tees:

• White: 6,948 yards, par 72, SSS 75, slope rating 139
• Yellow: 6,595 yards, par 70, SSS 74, slope rating 135
• Red: 6,144 yards, par 70, SSS 71, slope rating 130
• Ladies: 6,127 yards, par 74, SSS 77, slope rating 140

Every year the Championship Course at Carnoustie is one of three courses used for the European Tour's Dunhill Links Championship. In addition, the links has been the site of many professional and amateur majors. Here is the list of those majors along with the winners for each:

• 1931 British Open: Tommy Armour
• 1937 British Open: Henry Cotton
• 1947 British Amateur: Willie Turnesa
• 1953 British Open: Ben Hogan
• 1961 British Ladies Amateur: Marley Spearman
• 1966 British Amateur: Bobby Cole
• 1968 British Open: Gary Player
• 1971 British Amateur: Steve Melnyk
• 1973 British Ladies Amateur: Ann Irvin
• 1975 British Open: Tom Watson
• 1992 British Amateur: Stephen Dundas
• 1999 British Open: Paul Lawrie
• 2007 British Open: Padraig Harrington
• 2010 Senior British Open: Bernhard Langer
• 2011 Women's British Open: Yani Tseng
• 2012 British Ladies Amateur: Stephanie Meadow
• 2015 British Amateur: Romain Langasque
• 2016 Senior British Open: Paul Broadhurst
• 2018 British Open: Francesco Molinari

Like many older golf courses in the UK, Carnoustie has names for each of its holes. Here are those hole names, plus explanations for the more unusual ones:

• Hole 1 — Cup
• Hole 2 — Gulley
• Hole 3 — Jockie's Burn. That's the name of a waterway that crosses in front of the green.
• Hole 4 — Hillocks
• Hole 5 — Brae. A "brae" is a steep bank or hillside.
• Hole 6 — Hogan's Alley. Named after Ben Hogan's performance at the 1953 Open Championship, when four days in a row he drove down the narrower and more dangerous side of this hole's split fairway.
• Hole 7 — Plantation
• Hole 8 — Short. It's the first par-3 hole but, counterintuitively, not the shortest.
• Hole 9 — Railway
• Hole 10 — South America. Named after a long-ago caddie who claimed he was moving to South America, but passed out drunk on this hole and went no further.
• Hole 11 — John Philp. Formerly named Dyke, this hole was renamed to honor 26-year superintendent John Philp after his retirement in 2012.
• Hole 12 — Southward Ho
• Hole 13 — Whins. "Whin" is another name for gorse.
• Hole 14 — Spectacles. The Spectacles bunkers, so-named because some say they resemble a pair of eyeglasses, are two round pot bunkers in front of the green.
• Hole 15 — Lucky Slap. The drive is considered particularly tough, so  it takes a "lucky slap" to stay on the fairway.
• Hole 16 — Barry Burn
• Hole 17 — Island. The island here is the landing area in the fairway, rather than the green.
• Hole 18 — Home. The "home hole" is a traditional name for the last hole on a golf course.

• At the time of the 1953 Open Championship, Carnoustie measured 6,701 yards. It went over 7,000 yards for the 1968 Open, nearly reached 7,400 yards for the 1998 Open, and passed 7,400 yards for the 2018 Open.
• Of all the courses in the Open rota, Carnoustie is considered the most difficult; hence, its nickname: "Carnasty."
• The name "Carnoustie," according to the club's website, probably originates in the combination of two Scandinavian words meaning "rock bay." But there's also a legend involving a battle fought in 1010, Scottish King Malcolm II, Norse gods, a curse, and a whole bunch of crows. A nearby woodland became known as "Craw’s Nestie" (crow's nest), which was later corrupted into Carnoustie.
• Stewart Maiden, the golf instructor of Bobby Jones, was a Carnoustie native who emigrated to America in the early 20th century. Other Carnoustie natives who became famous golfers include brothers Willie Smith and Alex Smith, winners of three early U.S. Opens; and third brother Macdonald Smith, winner of 24 PGA Tour titles.

• Carnoustie Golf Links, located in Scotland, is periodically the host course for the British Open.
• Golf has been played in Carnoustie since at least the 1500s. The golf course that exists there today traces back to the mid-1800s.
• Tom Watson, Gary Player and Ben Hogan have all been crowned major championship winners at Carnoustie.