Earlsferry

Having lived for over twenty years within just a few miles of Crail but having never played Balcomie (never felt the desire to be honest as I always believed it to be over-hyped) I succumbed to playing with two friends earlier this month; to be fair we had played all other (proper) Fife courses and despite my protestations I was dragged along to Crail. Weather was breezy and chilly. Crail Golfing Society make a big fuss about their course and a whole historical bit about being one of the oldest clubs although the actual course (as opposed to the 'club') was opened in 1895 so the course (which is what really matters after all) isn't as old as a great many courses. Sure the views are great but I come for the challenge of the course and in this respect I was left as disappointed as I had expected. My wife (with a handicap of +1) had warned me of a likely disappointment such as she had a few years earlier with her shock at such a generous ladies' par of 70 for such a short track. I digress. The front nine can all be seen from the first tee so it is not only a short track but a cramped one with too many simple par 3s and a strange finishing stretch set inland and accessed after a long walk away from the shore. The course would be less used by visitors were it not for being close to St Andrews; I guess Crail makes the most of what it has but it's not bucket-list material and were it located anywhere but close to the Home of Golf then it would struggle to sell tee-times. Overall, it's fine for a short walk for higher handicap players but it's not for the purest nor for the accomplished player: I came away still shaking my head at the over-hyping of Crail.