Course No 680 - Dunnikier Park Golf Club - The 2019 Course

Shortly afterI started my attempt to play every course in Scotland way back in 2009, one of the earlier new courses I tackled was Dunnikier Park GC, a municipal 18 hole parkland course owned and operated by Fife Council.  At that time there was only the 18 hole layout and although it was a pretty good course, I just never got round to playing it again.  Fast forward to earlier in 2026 and my friend Stuart Bendoris announced on his Facebook pages that he'd played the 6 hole course at Dunnikier Park as part of his continuing efforts to follow my efforts in playing every course.  

Stuart  began his attempt some years ago by playing our Top 200 courses, a noble effort in itself, since some are pretty exclusive e.g. Loch Lomond or Skibo Castle and are generally not cheap when you can get access. He's now going round playing the rest, from the more modest layouts outside the Top 200 to private courses, pitch and putt courses and some really basic layouts that we'd both agree merit being played only once.  He's also "Doing it for Dougie" in loving memory of his brother Dougie, tragically no longer with us and is raising money for a mental health charity. You can read all about Stuart's progress by searching for him on Facebook and please, if you can, follow his Facebook pages and send him a message of support.  Stuart is not only a far better player (1.6 handicap) than me, he's also a better writer, as his many Facebook entries will testify.  So, follow him and enjoy reading about his travels to some of the less heralded and far flung golf courses here in Scotland. 

Playing every course in Scotland involves real determination and stamina (and in my case, lots of golf balls!) made all the more difficult by the lack of a fully comprehensive list of courses.  It's easy enough to identify courses that are officially recognised by Scottish Golf and have official Slope Indexes etc but it's really tricky to find courses that aren't listed anywhere or are normally private and not readily accessible. I'd given Stuart a copy of my course list a while ago but I'd not known about Dunnikier's 2019 Course until he played it and wrote about it on Facebook.   I suspect that I'll learn about a few more such new courses by following Stuart's progress.

Anyway, I finally got back to Dunnikier Park on 15 July 2026 to play the 2019 Course. As the name suggests, this 479 Yard Par 18 course opened in 2019, providing an excellent short game practice facility for established club members, an informal route into golf for beginners and importantly, an opportunity for all sections of the local community to have some gentle exercise and just enjoy our sport.  Speaking to the local Pro, I was really pleased hear that the 2019 course is enjoyed by all ages, and also caters for elderly folks no longer able to play on the big course at Dunnikier Park, people with dementia and other equally debilitating illnesses,  returning addicts etc and that absolutely everyone is welcome.  The Rules of Play on the scorecard says it all, with the final rule being "Have Fun!"

Here are some more photos that I hope give a flavour of what's on offer here, with 6 holes ranging from 63 to 112 yards.

I'd expected that the 2019 Course might be fairly simple but I certainly wasn't prepared for the small elevated greens.  I went round twice, with gross scores of 21 and 20.  Nothing great, but fun nevertheless.  The greens were pretty slow and a little bumpy with 6 inch wide holes (!) so my scoring could have been better.  

A final comment.  I'd a few minutes on the practice putting green at Dunnikier.  This green was simply stunning, running very fast and true at around 12 on a Stimp and significantly better than at my home club, Dunbar GC.  (I have a 5 hole artificial grass putting green in my back garden at home that runs at 10.8).  Wow, if the full 18 hole course at Dunnikier Park has greens as good as their practice green........... 

I must get back there some time and find out!   

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