Presidential Address

Mike Wilson looks at Trump’s ‘Holy Trinity’ of links courses in Scotland and Ireland and discovers they offer an unrivalled combination of sporting challenge for golfers of all levels of ability, with a fusion of style, comfort and excellence in the hospitality offer that backs-up the golf

The 11th Hole, Trump International Golf Links Scotland at Aberdeen

Hawtree says of his creation, again undertaken under the watchful eye of the man the Scots call, ‘The Donald,’ “The course offers a sequence of superlative topographies, panoramic views, landscapes alternating between spaciousness and enclosure, the whole time a rich texture of vegetation and wildlife habitats surrounding the golf holes.

“The golf course is lacking for nothing, there are no weak holes,” adds Hawtree, concluding, “It is simply the most dramatic, stimulating, invigorating stretch of golf anywhere I have seen in my career.”

A traditional Scottish links course comprising two out-and-back loops of nine holes, Trump International Links threads and weaves, ducks and dives its way through the ecologically-important Great Dunes of Scotland, rising to find panoramic views of the coastline before plunging back down to sea level and some delightful, secluded valleys redolent with native flora and fauna.

With a variation in elevation of over 100ft from some tees sculpted atop the towering dunes down to the fairways and greens, dodging the 93 deep, revetted bunkers, many of them invisible to the ball-striker, is the name of the game, as is keeping out of the perilous, tangling rough at all costs.

Not one single hole reveals itself until on the tee, each and every club in the bag is tested, each shot presenting its own particular challenge, this is a course that lures the golfer into going for his or her shots, but cruelly punishes anything not struck with authority.

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