Podcast: Cruden Bay Golf Club – Legendary Links

D.J. Jones: Welcome to Golf and the Good Life, Your Guide to Golf Travel Across the Pond.

I'm DJ Jones, joined as always by my good friend, Connor Evers.

And today's episode is going to be a little different.

We are returning to our Legendary Links series with a look at Cruden Bay, but we're doing so with the show's very first guest.

If you don't know Ru Macdonald, there's a good chance you've encountered some of his work.

Ru is part of the outstanding content and social media team at the DP World Tour.

But prior to that, he was the voice of the Scottish Golf Podcast, which he's recently rebranded, and he's even carved out his own piece of the golf travel business.

We covered all of that in today's episode, but most importantly, at least for the topic at hand, Ru is also a lifelong member at Cruden Bay.

So without further ado, enjoy our conversation with Ru Macdonald.

Well, Ru, we have to start with some big time congratulations.

You and your wife, Brittany, are like 10 days removed from welcoming your second child, young Callan.

There are a lot of better places you could have been tonight than sitting here talking with us.

So congrats and thank you for investing the time.

Ru Macdonald: Not at all, DJ.

And thanks to you and Connor for having me, and a long time fan of Haversham and Baker and all the work that you guys do.

And thank you for the congratulations.

We've recorded this at 8 p.m. at night. So just after the bedtime rituals are all finished with.

So I'm looking forward to a bit of a break away from the babies and the children and the life and the family stuff, and maybe chatting about a golf for half an hour.

And you know how much I love Cruden Bay and Scottish Golf travel.

So I'm very much looking forward to it.

Connor Evers: That's great.

Well, to kind of started off, Ru, kind of chat about DP World Tour, obviously, with social media.

It's been fantastic.

I really enjoy the content.

The one thing I love the most is it's almost like the Formula One after the race chat.

After the round, I've loved that.

But kind of talk about your role with them, kind of what you do on a daily basis.

And like I said, outside of Cruden Bay, we'll talk more about that too.

Ru Macdonald: Yeah.

So I have kind of stumbled into social media at the right time.

I did a communications and public relations degree at Aberdeen Business School, and social media was just in its infancy.

I think DJ and I were on social media at the same time.

A lot of people offered to work for Stuart McColm at Castle Stuart for nothing.

I was in my early 20s. I had no kids and wife at that point, and you could afford to ask to take up opportunities at that.

So I thank Stuart McColm for the opportunity to help Castle Stewart out there with the Scottish Open in 2016.

That got me in the shop window, and I guess I got offered a job from the European tour, which is now the DP World Tour a couple of months after that.

So I've been with the tour seven and a half years, been around the world about four times, hit a golf shot off the Eiffel Tower.

I got on the bus and recorded the celebrations at the Rome Ryder Cup just last year.

Been to Kenya, Shanghai, I mean, some incredible experiences and built up some really strong relationships with some of the players and the managers and the caddies.

So I count myself very fortunate.

I mean, one thing that I have experienced through all that is a greater appreciation of Scottish golf travel and I guess Irish golf as well.

I think links golf in the UK and Ireland is the purest form of the game.

I've been all over the world.

I've been to the Middle East a couple of times a year.

And that's great that golf's doing really well overseas, but there's nothing better than links golf.

And then, yes, it's a burning passion of mine.

And it still is a burning passion of mine.

D.J. Jones: You mentioned back in the early days.

And you're right.

I mean, you and I kind of got started at roughly the same time, 11, 12 years ago.

You started the podcast, Scottish Golf Podcast, and I came to work for H&B.

And back then, it was like the Wild West. Golf clubs weren't on social media.

They had hardly any representation on their website or what they did have was not great.

And to have watched you through these years, transition to everything that you just described has been a lot of fun.

And I think my favorite moment, you did an interview with Tommy Fleetwood two or three years ago, and you asked him your question and you put the microphone up to him and he says, so they're letting you do this now?

And I just thought that was the funniest thing.

Like, here's my buddy Ru just getting totally ribbed by Tommy Fleetwood on television.

Ru Macdonald: Yeah, I mean, I don't do too many interviews with the players, but yeah, I mean, you talk about the content that we do, Connor, and the DP World Tour is going to be known for.

And a lot of it is, you know, the players and how relaxed they are and how they don't hit themselves very seriously.

And certainly Tommy is one of those guys in terms of, you know, the content is great because they allow us to be great and they buy into it all.

And like I said, they don't take themselves very serious.

So yeah, it's been really cool.

I mean, Tommy is definitely one of my favourite guys out on tour.

And I've been very lucky to kind of get to know him over time.

But I do pinch myself.

I'm very lucky and very grateful of the role that I've done for so long now.

Seven and a half years has flown by.

So yeah, there's still lots to do.

I'm still going to be on tour next year.

But yeah, looking to try and do a little bit more back on home soil.

You know, certainly the younger family trying to do a bit more Scottish Golf tourism content in my spare time.

So yeah.

D.J. Jones: Well, that's all great stuff.

And that's obviously why we're here today.

And so shifting kind of back to that and really to the focus of the episode, being Cruden Bay, when Connor and I started talking about this episode, we were like, you know, we would do a fine job with this, but we really kind of just need to go straight to the source and talk with Ru.

But for those who may not be familiar, would love to hear a little of your Cruden Bay backstory, if you will.

Ru Macdonald: So, I mean, like a lot of children that start the game of golf, it was my father that introduced me to the game.

He was a member there.

And, you know, Cruden Bay is not a high-end club at all.

I mean, annual dues now is 850 pounds.

I mean, just over $1,000 a year to be a member of a top 100 golf course in the world, a 27-hole facility with a complimentary drive-range, range balls, practice area, 18-hole jumbo pot of green, and old Tom Morris.

Yeah, so we're very lucky.

But yeah, it was my father who was a member.

And, you know, I vividly remember like the catalyst for my intrigue in Scottish golf tourism.

And, you know, my love of Cruden Bay was hearing the overseas visitors, you know, the Australians, the Americans, the Canadians.

And as an 11-year-old boy playing golf, you know, asking yourself, why are these people at my golf course?

Like, why do they come all this way to play my golf course?

And so I realized quickly that Cruden Bay was pretty special.

And then like North Berwick, I guess, Cruden Bay is going through this whole kind of artisan, crafty kind of genre at the moment where it was once described as maybe quirky as a negative and quirky now is very much a positive trendy thing.

So Cruden Bay has never been busier, has never had so much love and fanfare overseas, probably more fanfare, believe it or not, overseas than domestically.

People in the UK hadn't really heard of Cruden Bay, but you ask anybody on the west coast, a country club on the west coast of America and they've heard of it.

So, yeah, very lucky.

It's in great condition.

They continue to invest in the golf course and improve it, but importantly, and nothing will ever change, the membership have access to the golf course and lots of access.

So I'll play tomorrow morning at half past seven with my brother, and there's tee times available tomorrow morning for members.

So we're not slammed, very accessible, a very welcoming family club.

My little boy was running around the clubhouse there last week.

So a lot of things that golf does really well is symbolized in Cruden Bay.

It's kind of mantra and ethos from a club culture standpoint, which I really resonate with as well.

Connor Evers: That's great.

Just a quick kind of fun follow up to that.

I know we'll get more into the nuts and bolts of the course, but if you could walk out to Cruden Bay without your golf clubs, which hole or which area would you go to on the course, maybe to view shots or just have the most peaceful area, if you would.

Ru Macdonald: I mean, I'm looking at both your Zoom backgrounds to show the beach.

I mean, we've got two and a half kilometers of golden sand.

There was actually a minke whale washed up there just last week on the beach.

But I would normally say there's not a spot on it.

It's the most clean beach.

So anywhere down by the 14th green, I think I would be out there walking my dog.

And there's obviously other favorite parts of the golf course, you know, with golf clubs.

But I think just for a walk, that beach, which we may be get into it.

But Bram Stoker, the Irish author who wrote Dracula, who wrote Dracula in Cruden Bay, used to walk that beach every day.

And you kind of don't have to spend much time figuring out why.

It's beautiful.

So two and a half kilometers of beautiful sand.

And you might see one other person out there when you walk.

So that's where I'll be going.

Connor Evers: That's great.

I guess, you know, kind of on top of that, too.

What makes Cruden Bay so special to you and to other people throughout the world?

Like you were saying, you know, people on the west coast of the United States have heard of it.

But folks in the UK may not have.

But what makes it so special to you and just so many people?

Ru Macdonald: Yeah, I mean, golf courses, they're like beer or wine or coffee.

I mean, we all have our personal taste.

And my personal taste, you know, probably influenced by my upbringing is Blinks golf courses that offer kind of, I would say, traditional feeling to them, but offer great views.

And a lot of my favorite golf courses seem to have a seaside.

And yeah, great vistas and original greens.

So North Berwick, Royal Dornoch, they're all, and Machrihanish Old, are like all my favorite golf courses in Scotland.

And they all kind of take a similar box.

So I would say it's that.

And it's also quite unique in the sense that, you know, it's still quite, it's got a members feeling about it.

I mean, you will go to places in Scotland and Ireland now that many of your clients listening will go to and probably not hear a local voice.

Whereas Cruden Bay, you'll walk into the clubhouse and they'll be, the majority will still be kind of local feel about the place.

You won't be overrun by your fellow countrymen.

So that's why I think warms people to Cruden Bay.

And I think it's unchanged and it's the people there.

You probably both run into Irene, who oversees the catering there.

She's just a bundle of energy.

And I think Cruden Bay and Andrew Goodnow is the general manager.

They all, Elaine Stephen, who takes all the booking reservations.

The small team there really pride themselves of being a very friendly and open club and making each visitor and golfer feel appreciated.

Maybe not waiting hand in glove like you might get in some country clubs overseas, but they will make you feel welcome, which I think goes a long way.

Connor Evers: Yeah, I definitely had that same feeling.

I was telling you before we recorded, I checked out of my hotel in Dornoch and drove down, it was a long day, and then played Cruden Bay, but I got there pretty early.

I had a sandwich before I teed off and I'm like, this is great.

People, the team and Elaine and everyone there and they're like, hey, this is it.

It just felt like a very homey feeling.

Again, like you said, nothing wrong with any other facility throughout GB&I, but you get that kind of, you're a member for a day feeling of what it actually is, so.

Ru Macdonald: Yeah, I mean, it's not forced. It's quite natural.

And like I say, I think we're all grateful that we're able to share, certainly as a member myself.

And obviously, I've caddied. I worked at the Pro Shop. Like I've seen it all.

I think as a general rule, the membership overall feel grateful that they're able to share their golf course, their special golf course with the world.

And I guess the benefit is that it offsets our membership and keeps our annual subscriptions down to about 850 pounds a year.

So, win-win.

D.J. Jones: Before we went live, we were talking about Cruden Bay, the town and how it's a small town.

In the States, we would call it a one-stoplight town.

I'm not sure if there even is a stoplight in Cruden Bay.

It's hard to reconcile thinking back or imagining what it was like in the early 1900s, when there was a grand hotel and the railroad came to town and it was this resort destination.

Like, that just does not jive with what Cruden Bay is today.

And it's a really interesting piece of the story, I think.

Ru Macdonald: Absolutely, and you know, I just watched a brilliant piece of content that No Laying Up made today about the old course in reverse on their YouTube channel.

And they talk about the growth of St.

Andrews and the growth of St.

Andrews as a town only came about because of the railroad and the railroad making St.

Andrews a holiday destination for the wealthy of London and the south.

And Cruden Bay was very much part of that era.

And yeah, there was a hotel which was probably in the location of the car park, which is the existing car park now.

And it was called the Pink Palace in the Dunes.

And it was called the Pink Palace because of the granite and the local stone that they got, which shone pink in the sunlight.

And it was very much like a Glaneagles style property.

And you know, could you imagine what that would be like if they maintained that structure and what it could be just now?

I mean, it's all worked out really well and we've still got the great golf course.

But yeah, it was very much a place for the well to do, a resort, if you will.

And yeah, unfortunately, Cruden Bay, I was just saying before we started recording, Cruden Bay probably lacks a couple of restaurants for a lot of the clients listening and the overseas traveler to Cruden Bay probably requires a couple of more restaurants.

I mean, the food in the Clubhouse is great and there's a couple of nice pubs in town, but maybe not the level of cuisine that you might get on the high street of Dornoch or St. Andrews or North Berwick for that matter.

D.J. Jones: So, you mentioned, you know, for the visitors coming to Cruden Bay and hearing all of the different accents from around the world and so forth.

A lot of times that type of traveler, if you will, they're pretty limited on time.

No matter how much we try to drive home here on the podcast of, don't show up, get off the coach, play and get back on the coach and leave.

Spend a few extra minutes, go through the clubhouse, have a pint in the clubhouse, whatever it might be, still, time is short.

And what are the places, while they're during their visit to the club, that they just shouldn't miss?

Or what are the things that they need to be looking forward to during that short time?

Ru Macdonald: I mean, I think you're right.

Unfortunately, people don't stop and slow down.

And I would love, if there was a bingo card, I would always say to somebody, play your repeat round bingo card at Cruden Bay.

It's got half a dozen blind shots.

You'll almost feel like you're playing on the moon the first time you're playing it.

So give yourself time to go round again, which often requires people to stay a night in Cruden Bay, which doesn't really get people too excited.

So if that isn't a possibility, then I would say you've got to make time for New Slain's Castle.

I referenced Bram Stoker and the novel Dracula.

Well, that was all inspired by this beautiful castle, which I'm sure you've shared many a picture, DJ., from Haversham & Baker's social media of the silhouette of a castle overlooking the first tea at Cruden Bay.

Unfortunately, it's a ruin, but it's a spectacular site.

There's actually just some local history being uncovered just this week about the pivotal role that played in the Jacobite uprising and the connection between the French and the Scots and how that all came about.

So quite a historic castle, which has played its part as well in the history and the formation of the Golf Club.

So the Earl of Hay, again, you could get really into this kind of the Crown history, but I've done a little bit of history.

But the Hay family, which is the symbol, the kind of bird symbol that you see on the Cruden Bay logo, is the emblem for the Hay family.

And the Hay family were so philanthropic, they built schools and bridges, and churches in the local community, they ran out of money, so they had to sell off some of their land and part of their land was the golf course.

So without the philanthropic efforts of that family that owned the castle, then the golf course would be where it is today.

So we have them to thank, they sold the land off to the railroad company, and then they built a resort off the back of that.

So make time for the castle.

It's only about a 15-minute walk from the town center.

You'll be able to see the car park overlooking over the river from the 4th T at Cruden Bay.

So it's very walkable and you could be back to your car within half an hour.

So definitely worth doing that and then before you hit the road.

Connor Evers: Very cool.

I just love how the history just, you know, not even just Cruden Bay in general, but specifically, but in general, courses overseas, particularly in Scotland and Ireland, how just the history is ingrained and a lot of times it has to do with the course that's right by.

So I just love it. It's cool.

Ru Macdonald: Yeah.

And you know, you've got me, you've got me just thinking about the history of Cruden Bay.

So, you know, like, like DJ said, like you said, DJ., there's, there's not a stoplight in Cruden Bay, but there is a bit of history.

So believe it or not, Cruden Bay was the last ever battle between this, the Vikings and the Scots.

It was so fierce that they, there were so many men from both sides slain in the castle, that they had a truce and a peace agreement between the Danes and the Scots, and they never fought another battle again.

So that took place over a thousand years ago.

There's, there's a lost church in the sand dunes in Cruden Bay, which, you know, I'm sure the drones nowadays, you could probably laser the land and find it.

But there's some historical significance to, to Cruden Bay.

There's also the first ever flight and aircraft to golf from Cruden Bay Beach over the North Sea and landed in Stavanger in Norway.

So yeah, you could go dig in.

I could, I could spend hours talking about the history of Cruden Bay and the surrounding area.

But there's certainly enough there to keep people interested and keep you thinking about what life was like, perhaps, before the golf course came about.

Because the golf course only came about in the late 1890s, which from Scottish golf course and club perspective, is quite late, believe it or not.

So yeah, we had obviously Tom Morris come and commission on behalf of the Railway Line Company, an 18-hole golf course, which was later added to by Tom Simpson, another renowned golf architect in a couple of decades later.

So certainly a golf course in a little village rich in history.

Connor Evers: I know I previously asked you what's your favorite place to go out and walk without your clubs.

But if you've got your clubs, what's your favorite hole or holes on the course?

Maybe just describe it as best as possible.

I know you don't have video, but just audio to the listeners would be appreciated if you could do it as best as you could.

Ru Macdonald: Three, four, five, six, seven, eight, 14.

No.

We have a holiday rental by the first tee, and we commissioned an American artist, Aimee Smith, to draw two of my favorite holes in the course.

So Aimee is an American artist, comes over and she always visits the sites that she draws.

So we had her stay for a couple of nights and she got the drone up, and she captured this incredible drone shot of standing pretty much in the center of the third fairway, obviously with a drone perspective onto the third and the fourth.

These were the two holes that Tom Morris didn't have or as original route in.

They were added by Tom Simpson, like I say, in the early 1900s.

They show the town and I guess for me, a lot of my favorite places in Scotland, golf courses are great golf courses in Scottish towns.

I feel like when you're on the third green, you're as close to the village of Cruden Bay as possible.

I mean, you could literally be putting and hear kids chatting on their bicycles as the cycle passed, which I like.

Obviously, I love views like I touched on in the fourth tee and the view overlooking the water and the mouth of the river and the glimpse of the North Sea for the first time.

Then the fourth is one of the best parts of Asian Scotland.

It's also pretty hard off that back tee playing 200 yards into a prevailing wind.

It's also the part of the golf course which is as close to the castle as possible.

I love that whole area.

I think it's quite symbolic from the history of the town and everything like that and it's our little Amen corner as well.

So that would be my section.

But like I'm stealing this line from Geoff Shackelford, but he was obviously a renowned golf course architect as well as a sort of pundit and media member, golf media member.

Jeff said to me great golf courses are kind of like albums.

They have like different genres and they can't all be number one hits and I just feel like Cruden Bay kind of plays in a figure of eight and there's different themes to the golf course.

And that section I refer to there in three and four is kind of that section near the village before you kind of begin that very hard stretch of holes into the sand dunes.

And before you get onto that ninth tee, which everyone talks about and the views kind of reveal themselves.

But the first few holes, you're kind of unaware of that North Sea area.

So when you play those holes.

But yeah, I mean, I probably could pick a new favorite hole every time, every day.

D.J. Jones: It's almost impossible.

I mean, because you I mean, even starting with the second, you know, the approach to the second green is fantastic.

You've got three and four, like you said, and then you jump ahead to six.

I don't know if you remember our last match a couple of years ago.

I slipped and fell into the burn.

I don't know if you remember that happened, but you know, it did.

And, so of course, I remember the sixth. But for my favorite little duo, there has to be, like you said, eight and nine.

You know, eight is a hole that may not register on the memory banks for too many, but it's a reachable par four.

So, of course, you know, just take out the driver, throw it up there.

And, it's a chance to score.

And then you climb up to the top and you're like, I can't believe this is the day like this is where I'm getting to spend, you know, the next these these four hours or whatever it might be.

Ru Macdonald: You know, more and more people are talking about the ninth tee and it's perhaps, I mean, it's for you guys to say, I'm biased, but it's probably one of the best views.

And if not in the world of golf, it's certainly in the in the UK and Ireland.

And just this incredible vista, you can see, I think, all but a couple of holes from up there.

You spend the first seven, eight holes kind of thinking that you can hear the ocean and without ever seeing it.

And then suddenly, like the whole of the North Sea is kind of right out in front of you.

And then, like I say, you sort of see the holes that you've played and you've got a glimpse of the holes that are to come.

And obviously you're standing on top of the 14th green below you.

So yeah, it's pretty special.

And then I was fortunate enough to see the Northern Lights up there.

I mean, Scotland, I mean, we're not renowned for the Northern Lights, but there's certain times of the year.

And it's becoming more and more popular.

Maybe with social media, people are capturing it more.

But I was fortunate to sort of see the weather forecast and run up there one evening.

And then with it being quite a rural area, there was very little light pollution.

So the actual the Northern Lights were really strong and powerful.

And then I've been lucky enough to pass that footage on to the to visit Aberdeenshire, the local tourism board, who are going to use it to promote the area, which is great.

And but yeah, pretty special, especially with daylight and pretty eerie and spooky under the Northern Lights.

D.J. Jones: Before we shift to stuff off the course, I mean, we did all this talking about the course and we never even got to the back nine.

And that should tell you everything you need to know about Cruden Bay.

I mean, there's still the 14th that has to be one of the most memorable holes in Scotland.

You've got the back to back par-3s.

Connor, what are some of your favorites?

I mean, not to make you talk about the back nine, and that's not a hint, but like, what are your favorites out there?

Connor Evers: Well, it's 14.

And so to our point, I mean, again, it's hard to describe it.

We're just talking audio, but we're looking at the ninth hole right now.

And in the No Laying Up, when they went to their tour sauce in Scotland, they said, hey, when you're at nine, look down and see where that pin is on 14 Green, because you're going to need that for local knowledge here in a few holes.

Well, I remember it again, it was a quick go through at Cruden Bay.

I think I played in like three hours.

So before I even travel to Scotland, I've got this in my mind.

Well, so I'm playing, I go up to 14.

I think I hit like three wood off the tee.

It's, correct me if I'm wrong, about 400 ish yards or so.

And it's the bathtub green for the folks that are listening.

And there's a pole in the middle of the fairway.

And I think it was kind of the mist coming off the ocean.

I couldn't really see it through my laser.

And I thought, oh, that's the green.

Perfect, you know, 100 and whatever yards.

And I hit this thing.

I flagged it, right?

It was maybe like a pitching wedge into a par four, which it's 400 yards.

I'm looking at the score card, like, this isn't right.

And I hit it.

And I'm like, what made a funky balance?

I'm like, what in the world?

And I go up and I'm playing by myself.

And I go up and my ball ends up rolling down the hill.

I'm in kind of the front fringe and it's a back pin.

And I bust out laughing, like, extremely hard.

And I'm having the time of my life.

I'm playing this beautiful course.

As the past listeners and now you Ru know, I love quirky.

Like, Prestwick is my favorite golf course in the entire world.

Every time I'm over on Ayrshire Coast, I try and play it every time.

It's my favorite place.

It's where I'd be an international member anywhere.

I just love it.

So Cruden Bay has those kind of, you know, feels, especially in the back nine that we're talking.

And I'm just out there, again, just like kid in a candy store running around.

I'm just having the time of my life.

So 14 is my favorite hole there.

One of my favorites in Scotland.

And then you've got the back to back part threes and it's just it's it's so fun.

It's one of my favorite nines anywhere in the world.

D.J. Jones: So so are you saying that you you lasered the blind shot poll?

You lasered that instead of the flag stick?

Connor Evers: Yeah, exactly.

Exactly.

Because I don't think you could see the flag or maybe a bit bit of it.

And Ru obviously will know best.

But yeah, that's like, oh, I hit this thing perfect.

Right at it.

No, I'm 20 yards short.

It was comical.

Ru Macdonald: Yeah, no, that flag is 100% blind for everyone.

But yeah, you share the same favorite hole as Tom Watson when he played it in the 1980s.

So like created by nature, that hole hasn't really changed.

And there are some incredible old photographs of that in black and white in the early 1900s.

And I mean, the green is exactly the same.

So cool.

D.J. Jones: So I really hate to shift off of Cruden Bay, but you talked earlier about golf tourism and so forth.

And I feel like we've got to kind of broaden out into the Aberdeen area as a whole.

You know, as someone who grew up in this area, you know, there's no shortage of outstanding golf.

But as a local, besides Cruden Bay, where are you playing golf in Aberdeenshire?

Ru Macdonald: Well, you know, I've just made a video actually of playing the three top 100 golf courses in the same day.

And you know, how many regions in the world can you play public three top 100 golf courses in the world?

And they're not even like outside of the US.

These are like genuine bonafide top 100 golf courses.

So you've got Trump international, you've got Royal Aberdeen and you've got Cruden Bay.

They're all 18 miles of coastline separate of three golf courses.

So they're the big ticket items that people gravitate towards in the area and they all kind of have different, again, like themes, the Cruden Bay is a quintessentially Scottish golf club like we touched on.

Trump international is a very modern links course, which is pretty exclusive and private in the sense that it's quite expensive to play.

So it's quite quiet.

You will rarely see a lot of people around.

It's got a different feel to it.

And then you've got the Royal Aberdeen, which I described, it's the sixth oldest golf course in the world.

Still very much a traditional golf club in the sense that they're almost an open road course in all but name.

Hosted Walker Cups, British Amateurs.

So you've got a very traditional feel.

You almost feel like you're stepping into a Muir field or a Prestwick for that matter.

And so they're very different.

So that's where you would start.

I mean, anyone, you know, anyone that wants to play the top tier courses, that's where people gravitate towards.

And like any region in Scotland, if you take a, you know, peel back the onion that you see the next tier of golf course, which, you know, I think Murcar is probably the one right next door to to Royal Aberdeen.

They've done a great job of making that way more accessible and wider landing areas and shares the same stretch of land as Royal Aberdeen.

And, you know, again, early 1900s, the golf club was formed.

And I mean, a weaker back nine, but really, really strong.

If you could pair Royal Aberdeen's front nine and Murcar's front nine and make, you know, an 18 hole course from that, it would be world class.

It would be hard to beat, actually.

And then one of my favorites, and, DJ, I know you're familiar with Fraserburgh.

I mean, Royal Aberdeen is the sixth oldest club.

Fraserburgh is the seventh oldest club.

Again, has so many great spectacular holes.

It's quite remote.

It's kind of in an odd spot.

It's about 35, 40 minutes from Cruden Bay, which is, you know, it's another 40 minutes north.

It's kind of not even near halfway between the Aberdeen region and Inverness.

So it's kind of out there by itself, but a really, you know, incredible site for golf.

And again, perhaps one of the biggest hidden gems in Scottish golf is Fraserburgh.

And I tell them they don't know how good they are and how much people would love to go play their golf course.

And then just along, you know, a little bit closer to Cruden Bay, 10 minutes away is Peterhead Golf Club, which is for the golf sickos.

I mean, that's the 18th oldest golf club in the world.

Again, some incredible links land there.

I mean, sure, you'll play five or six average holes, but you'll play five or six incredible linksy holes there.

So that's my ramble.

I mean, there's so much golf, like, like we were saying earlier, but you just stay still, stay in one region, you'll be able to find and play all these great golf courses.

But unfortunately, you guys do such a good job of getting people in these nice buses and off around the country and playing Turnberry one day and then, you know, Muirfield the next.

But, you know, North Americans, you don't get a lot of vacation time, do you?

So that's true.

Connor Evers: Yeah, I've always said I've wanted to go. And you can just do it.

You can just go to Aberdeen, stay in a hotel for a whole week and play around there.

You've got so much good golf and, you know, our folks, I mean, it's mostly Cruden Bay, Royal Aberdeen and so forth.

But yeah, Peterhead and Fraserburgh and a few others.

There's just spectacular golf, as you mentioned.

Sounds great.

Ru Macdonald: And, you know, I think, you know, you guys, you guys and Haversham & Baker are obviously having to piece the trips together.

But at this point, some of these golf courses we mentioned, North Berwick, Royal Dornoch, they're getting pretty booked up for next year.

The great thing about the Aberdeen area is that I think, I mean, you guys might know more than me, but I think you could pretty much still book a golf trip there for next summer.

So certainly, of all the regions, it's maybe the fourth, number four, and the number of regions that you want to visit in Scotland.

With that, allows you to leave it quite last minute and still get a really good golf trip out of it, and still make time to drive by St Andrews and try to get on there.

But I think there's enough golf in Aberdeen and whether it's pairing up with St Andrews or pairing up with the Highlands of Scotland, and enough there to get a really good golf trip out of.

Connor Evers: Yeah, I agree.

As I plan and help plan a lot of trips, there's still great availability.

I just booked in a group a couple of weeks ago in July, essentially during the Open championship Week for next year.

So great tee times, 10 a.m., pretty much everywhere.

So you're definitely right on that.

And as you mentioned, the podcast and kind of our company logo is Golf and the Good Life.

obviously, golf is where you go, but there's other things outside of golf.

Any favorite pubs, restaurants, shops, anything around Cruden Bay or Aberdeen?

If, you know, if I'm going over for the first time, what are you telling me to check off the box outside of golf that you'd love to do?

Ru Macdonald: I love coffee, so there's a great coffee stop, I guess, in between Cruden Bay and on your way to Aberdeen.

It's called the Coffee Apothecary.

And they've got two coffee shops, so make sure you don't go to the wrong one.

And they've got one in Ellen, which is where I'm recording from just now.

Yeah, just great coffee, kind of an Australian vibe to that coffee shop, which I'm sure resonates with you, DJ.

The Udny Arms, which is a hotel, and again, on the coast road between Cruden Bay and Aberdeen, has just undergone a massive refurbishment.

It's an old classic, I mean, it used to be the place to stay in the region back in the 1990s.

But local family have purchased it, done it all up, and they do some really good food and drink there, if you want to meal after one of your rounds of golf.

Then I would say that we've got some of the best beaches in the region.

So if guys wanted an afternoon off and wanted to see what Scotland's beauty and nature spots are like, I think anywhere near Cruden Bay, I mean, we mentioned the beach behind you guys on your virtual backgrounds, 2.5 kilometers of sandy beach.

But I mean, it's basically 15, 20 miles of Sandy Beach in that part of the world.

So bring a jacket, maybe a bubble hat because it can be pretty breezy.

But yeah, I think you could see some incredible nature spots.

I mean, even that on the arms, the village of Newburgh has the largest gray seal population, and they've just built an all abilities trail there.

So you could see the seals within five minutes of stepping out your vehicle.

So yeah, some great spots there, which we all see these tweets about golf holes are not golf holes.

I mean, that whole part of the world, you can be walking along the dunes in these nature reserves and thinking, dreaming about the golf courses that could be on them.

But unfortunately, or fortunately, they're protected.

D.J. Jones: So well, I can definitely vouch for Coffee Apothecary.

Thanks for not outing that I went to the wrong location to meet you for our last round.

And, we touched on it earlier, but don't sleep on the clubhouse view at Cruden Bay itself.

You know, finishing your round and having a pint like to rush in and rush out of that clubhouse would be would definitely be a mistake.

Ru Macdonald: And, you know, that's a great point.

And then, you know, I see a lot of fanfare for Dumbarnie Links.

They offer this complimentary, you know, shot of whiskey.

And for whatever reason, Cruden Bay has been doing that for a couple of years before Dumbarnie even came about.

You get this beautiful little miniature.

And, you know, it's been distilled locally by one of the local distilleries.

And it's not even forcing you to drink it there and then it's letting you go away with that and back home if you wanted to.

And I think that's a cool little little quirk that Cruden Bay offers is that little miniature that you get.

Connor Evers: Yeah, I was going to bring that up because I was remembering that because it's a little thing of the Tomatin whiskey.

And I was like, it was so good.I got a bottle and duty free.

And I had I had a dram of it last weekend, smoking a cigar.

Ru Macdonald: So to say to that, I hope that hopefully the Tomatin whiskey guys are listening.

And that's the activation pain off.

But you could also you can buy the 70 CL and all the big bottles in the in the behind the bar in the clubhouse as well.

D.J. Jones: Obviously so many of these clubs these days, you show up and at the tee, you're being you're given a little pouch with your scorecard and your tee is maybe a scorecard holder or something.

It's a great way to to stand out, you know, to have a to have a little drama whiskey in there as opposed to just the the pouch itself.

So we touched again earlier on the on golf tourism and you you've obviously been one of the I don't want to say loudest voices for Scottish golf tourism for a decade, but it's you you've certainly been one of the most engaged and you now have you've sort of rebranded the Scottish golf podcast, you know, content, if you will, into Linksland Golf and then you also have the Dunes Cruden Bay.

I don't know if you watch Hot Ones, but at the end of the episodes, the guy says, yeah, tell the tell the people what you've got going on in your life.

Well, tell us what you've got going on in your life, particularly on those two things.

Ru Macdonald: Yeah, I mean, Links Land is essentially me kind of, you know, I say loudest voices, I basically went mute for for the period I was working with the DP World Tour, but as I kind of make more time, you know, spend less time on the tour and more time at home, I want to turn my attention to, we all see the creator economy on Instagram where people, you know, become the specialist in their area and people follow them, whether it's doughnut reviews for you, DJ, or whether it's, you know, people are telling you what cigar or whiskey to buy.

So I want to become that voice, that personality online, and that's what Links Land is.

I want to become the specialist for people planning Scottish golf trips.

In my mission statement or my values, I've already said, don't become a golf tour operator.

There's already enough great golf tour operators out there, so I will not become a golf tour operator, but I'll hopefully create content or inspiration for golf clubs and golf tour operators to share.

So for instance, Fraserburgh, one of the golf courses that I mentioned have put out that they're doing this lifetime overseas membership.

So I make a little video and tell people about the overseas membership that's available.

The St. Andrew's Links Ballot just went live, so trying to create people, educating people on what they should do for that.

So I think there's enough stories to tell in Scotland.

There's enough interest in Scottish links golf.

It's called Linksland because I don't think it stops in Scotland.

I think that you could replicate that in Ireland, and once I get on my feet and I get a cadence to post it and create content, then hopefully I'll branch out a little bit further.

But that's where a lot of my energy is going to go in the next 12 months, is trying to become consistently putting out content that, whether it's even showing people the second or third tier courses, I think there's more of an interest in those courses.

The Open rota courses will always demand interest and will remain popular.

But I think we've all touched on the artisan movement of the quirky, the power 62, the nine hole course.

I mean, there's more and more of that.

And I think there's a lot of those stories to tell.

Connor Evers: And what about the Dunes?

Kind of talk about that as well.

Again, it's your time to shine.

Ru Macdonald: The Dunes Cruden Bay is a five bedroom, holiday rental, self catering property, exclusive use, and literally 50 yards from the front door of Cruden Bay.

So with views over the 18th green, you can see looking down the first hole.

The view is unmatched.

And we were lucky, just during the COVID times, we heard of a member selling up.

And my brother and I kind of went into that business together.

And not a glamorous business to be in, but we've made it a passion of ours, obviously, to showcase Cruden Bay.

And yeah, it's really steady. We're into our third season.

We have a lot of our overseas members come back every year. And so it's growing.

We have a two-night minimum stay, obviously trying to advocate for what I was saying about staying put, putting a flag on the ground and staying put for a couple of nights and seeing some of the other great golf courses that are around.

But yeah, with four of those bedrooms being on-suite, double rooms, it's perfect for four.

I mean, we do have groups of eight there, but it could be quite a tight fit by people sharing rooms.

But we're very lucky that we secure that property.

It's going to be something that we do for the next 25, 30 years, each year paying off the mortgage a little bit more each year.

But it's certainly been fun.

It's great to have, you know, when you have people like you guys coming into town and we can host you and spend some time there hanging out.

And or whether it's our friends at No Laying Up or whoever come through, it's always a great place to serve.

Throw them the keys and say, have a good time.

So certainly certainly count ourselves lucky there.

And, you know, if it goes well, we might one day have another house somewhere else in Scotland.

And I think the rule would be has to be a great golf town, has to be near or within walk a distance of, you know, one of the great links courses.

So St. Andrews might be out of the question, but it might be North Berwick or Dornoch or even Lahinch was talked about.

So we'll we'll continue chipping away and saving some some money to get the next property.

But for now, one's enough.

Connor Evers: Understood. That's fantastic.

Looking forward to seeing more of the content.

It's been fantastic. I literally I just saw it on my for you page on Instagram.

And then I think it came up also on my on my YouTube on my TV.

It's the first time I saw it.

Like, what's this?

I'm like, oh, my gosh, it's Ru.

Like what?

You know, that's I organically saw it being being honest.

So it's been great. And a few videos have been fantastic.

So looking forward to more your content.

Ru Macdonald: Thank you.

Yeah.

I mean, we've got, like I say, a way to publish that that three golf courses in a day.

And then I filmed kind of a short game chipping competition with no laying up on the 17th green of the old course in Andrews, which will be going out.

And then, yeah, try and find the cadence.

There's loads of these stories I want to tell.

It's just about getting the time.

And then, you know, with my schedule next year, I'll be traveling a lot less with the DP World Tour and more time at home, which is a choice I've made.

And yeah, pursue this path that I've got a passion for and but still very much working with the DP World Tour and the Ryder Cup and Bethpage, which will be, I'm sure, quite entertaining.

D.J. Jones: No doubt about it.

Well, Ru, this has been awesome.

I mean, I feel like we could have carried on for at least another hour.

You had a lot of better places to have been tonight.

So thank you for doing it.

You know, in the very beginning, you talked about tagging along with your dad and not to tug at some heartstrings or what have you.

But it won't be long before it's going to be your boys that are saying, Dad, why are these Americans over here playing Cruden Bay?

Ru Macdonald: Yeah, they'll probably be in our company because dad's dragged them along to play with me and us.

But yeah, I mean, the great thing we didn't even mention in our Cruden Bay, wax and lyrical about Cruden Bay, we've got an incredible nine hole course there and they've made some really cool improvements there.

It's, you know, you talk about these short courses becoming kind of popular again.

We've got this wonderful nine hole course, which is going to be great for bringing my two little boys out to play just like my dad did.

And so I'm looking forward to that in the next, I would say, four or five, six years.

D.J. Jones: So it's what it's all about, isn't it?

And we cannot wait to see where the road takes you.

And we look forward to tagging along.

But thanks for being here, Ru.

This has been awesome.

Ru Macdonald:Thanks, guys. Cheers.

D.J. Jones:And a big time thank you once again to Ru Macdonald.

We will link to his channel as well as some additional resources about Cruden Bay in the show notes.

As always, if you have any questions, DM us on social media or shoot us an email golf at haversham.com.

Thanks, as always, for tuning in.

We will be back again soon with another episode.

But until then, we wish you plenty of golf at its finest and life at its best.