Scots d. Danes, 10 & 8

The clubhouse at Cruden Bay has a handy sheet of key dates in the history of the town and golf club, which starts in the year 1012 when a key match between the forces of King Sven and the home team occurred.  From that comes the town and club's name, meaning something along the lines of "Encirclement of the Danes."

And golf as well has a rich history there, as per this excerpt from the club's website

There is evidence, in the form of a ballot box inscribed Cruden Golf Club 1791 that a nine-hole golf course existed before the layout of today's links course. It may have been located at the Ward Hill near Slains Castle, and indeed the Cruden Bay Golf Club of today has in its possession a winner's medal from a competition played on the Ward Hill dated 1883.

Bram Stoker spent a good amount of time at Slains Castle, pictured above, and it is reportedly the inspiration for you-know-what.  Amusingly, the roof was removed from the castle at one point to avoid a roof tax, not for the faint of heart on the East coast of Scotland.

The current golf course was laid out by Old Tom Morris and Archie Simpson and opened for play in 1899.  Redesigned in 1926 by Tom Simpson and Herbert Fowler, the routing remains essentially as conceived by Old Tom.  This video will help introduce you, and I especially like the use of the old railway posters which have long been a favorite of mine:

Some ten miles up the coast from the Trump, Cruden Bay shares the same topography as it's neighbor, but in a more modest manner befitting its times.  Its considered by many to be a quirky course (whether too quirky is a matter of personal taste), but the vast majority of the golf course flows over entirely manageable terrain.

Our day begins with this rather quaint scene of the honor rolls being updated in the most traditional of manners:

No white-out permitted.

As with many links, the pleasures build slowly.  The first three holes run inland away from the clubhouse, though the less-interesting terrain is used imaginatively, including the uphill second and the driveable third.  The Par-3 fourth turns towards the sea, and our Tessie owns this hole, parring it both times:

A small digression if I may....since day one I've struggled with the T&C's pf our competitions, specifically the fact that the ladies' par might vary considerably from the gents'.  In past years I'd give the bride the extra strokes only to have her close me out on the eleventh green... I know, a just result in your eyes but I was hoping for something more competitive.

As an alternative we played Cruden under a Stableford, which handle the discrepancy in pars quite handily yet denied us the hole-by-hole drama that is match play at its best.  We therefore reverted to match play in Crail, though that didn't make Tessie any happier (but you'll have to wait on that tale.

The course offers many beautiful vistas as it winds amid the dunes:

The greens staff was out in force, no doubt taking advantage of the fine day.

Madam has had some difficulties in the bunkers ( I know, who hasn't?), but she handled this one quite deftly:

Lots of views along the lines of this:

I especially liked this Par-4 with its green nestled in the dune:

I couldn't hazard a guess as to which green this is, though we were on an adjoining tee box:

The high ground here is the newly constructed ninth tee, and Brian and Rita succumbed to the terms and conditions of their retention:

The far end of the property is not without its charms as well:

Theresa played quite well as we traveled out, enjoying a four-point lead after nine.Brian and I summoned our will and charged back, tying her after the twelfth.  However, if your taste in comedy runs to the slapstick, you'll regret missing our play on the long Par-5 thirteenth, when we both completely lost the plot and hilarity ensued...Here Rita retains firm hold on the reins:  

Though she seems quite despondent at this turn of events:

No worries, Rita, Brian is about to hand me my 4-wood and we'll nae see that ball again.

As Theresa and I headed down the stretch, her game proved up to the task and mine own....well, she played quite well.  The quirkiness count against Cruden Bay primarily relates to the 14th and 15th holes.  The former, pictured below, is a stout Par-4 with a blind approach shot aided only by an aiming post:

I'm far less bothered by the blindness (it's blind only the once, as they're apt to say) than by the narrowness of the target and the depth of the rough just left of the green.  But if that's not your cup of tea, then you'll certainly not enjoy the next, a completely blind Par-3.  

The blind 15th.  There's a couple of markers in the dune to the left to guide one, but it's strange all the same.

Madam ultimately dispatched me with....well, dispatch, and we were left to drown our sorrows in the rather nice bar.

Only then did we notice the welcome mat laid out for us:

I for one wouldn't want to be known as Large Lawson....

One last story of note.  In our trip prep I spoke to both Elaine Stephens, the Booking secretary, and Les Durno, its General Manager.  Both were delightful, of course, and both were amused of the tale of our first visit to Cruden Bay.  Les guaranteed us a fine day, and he was able to do so because it was his 30th wedding anniversary.  I saw Les in the morning and introduced myself, and ran into him again after play.

I asked Les a question about the golf course, and before I knew it Less was beckoning me to follow him to a computer on which he showed me this video from the Scottish Screen Archive.  It's a long video (8:10) and while the images are appropriately evocative, they go on far too long.  Scan through it if only to see video of Slains Castle.

But at the 4:20 mark you'll see a cluster of men leaving the Cruden Bay Hotel, and in that gaggle are Harry Vardon and Ted Ray, and it includes footage of their 1914 match on the Cruden Bay course.  As we watched, Les pointed out the holes they were playing, holes we had been on an hour or two earlier.  The footage was only recently discovered and you'll enjoy it greatly, though i can't offer you the voice of the club's General Manager saying, "You were just on that very same tee box."  A fine travel moment indeed, except of course for the beating at the hands of m'lady.

For those keeping score at home, the current standings are S. Simpson 2.5 - T. Simpson 1.5.