It is no accident that members play Craighead as much as our old course. The course is a very different challenge to the links of Balcomie, but no less memorable. Gil Hanse, the acclaimed American architect designed the course to be at one with the clifftop environment and ancient medieval walls. At full-length Craighead Links has hosted national and international championships. From expertly placed tee boxes, golfers of all levels play spectacular holes surrounded by breathtaking coastal views.
Though opened in 1998, Craighead enjoys a more timeless quality.
When the decision was made to build a second course on the acreage beside the Balcomie golf course at Crail (the seventh oldest golf club in Scotland), the question remained who should design it. Located twenty minutes in a car from the university town of St. Andrews, the clifftop property affords views to the south of North Berwick and to the north past Carnoustie. Would the Society elect to go with a professional golfer-turned-architect as at Loch Lomond and Gleneagles or would they go with a professional architect? In selecting Gil Hanse, the Society ignored the trend and Hanse became the first professional American architect to build a course in Scotland.
Via Golf Club Atlas