Cruden Bay

Few links courses anywhere carry as much mystique as Cruden Bay. Laid out in 1899 by Old Tom Morris and refined by Tom Simpson in 1926, it occupies a stretch of Aberdeenshire coastline so dramatic and idiosyncratic that it barely resembles any other course in Scotland — or the world. The dunes here are enormous, the fairways tumble and careen through corridors of marram grass, and several holes demand shots that feel more like leaps of faith than measured calculations. The par-4 14th, "Whins," and the approaching drama of the closing stretch along the bay are the kind of holes that stay with a golfer for years.

Cruden Bay village sits roughly 20 miles north of Aberdeen, a remote and quietly beautiful corner of the northeast coast where the North Sea sets the mood for everything. Wind is not a variable here — it is the course.

Despite never hosting a major Open Championship, Cruden Bay has earned fierce devotion among those who make the pilgrimage, consistently ranking among the top links experiences in Great Britain and Ireland.