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Designed by five times Open Champion Peter Thompson and owned by St. Andrews Old Course Hotel, The Dukes Course is a classic inland Scottish course and is the perfect complement to St. Andrews famous links. Situated two miles from St. Andrews, the elevated parkland setting of The Dukes Course provides majestic views over the coastline to Arbroath and the countryside to the Highlands. Spurred by the ever-growing demand for tee times at St. Andrews, the Old Course Hotel secured the purchase of the former Craigtoun Hospital and 330 acres of surrounding farmland in 1992. The project to build an 18-hole championship golf course began in earnest in 1993, when on September 1st, the first sod was turned in the mission to build what is certainly one of the finest inland courses in Europe. Opened for limited play in 1995 and for general play by 1996, Dukes has become the latest jewel in the St. Andrews' golfing crown. Being a stout admirer of the work of renowned designer Alistair Mackenzie, Thompson has succeeded in creating an enjoyable, tempting, relatively torment free golf course, very much in the Mackenzie mould of design. Beautifully sculpted holes exploit the natural features of the stunning parkland setting and the course lends itself ideally to the pitch and run game. The fairways are characterised by many small undulations and groups of bunkers and while the greens are constructed not to punish but charm, do not underestimate the challenge imposed by what is a long and difficult golf course. The Craigtoun estate, which has sported rich, fertile grassland for centuries, presents the ideal location for a modern course. Boasting plantations of mature trees, the layout pitches and rolls through bracken, over burns and around ponds, generally alien to golf in St. Andrews. The venue has long contained a golf course in the fantasies of local golfers. Now that fantasy has become reality and the end result has surpassed even the greatest of expectations.
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