In the News: Trump's New Links

Scots tend to be a reserved breed, which is perhaps why the brouhaha about Donald Trump’s new course on the Aberdeenshire coast seems so unexpected. The New York real estate magnate opened the Trump International Golf Links last summer. Designed by Scotsman Martin Hawtree, the course winds through giant sand dunes backed by vistas of the North Sea. I did not rush to play the track during my recent trip, believing that it is preferable to judge a new course after it has had a year or two of seasoning. But I made a point of speaking to several golf- savvy friends who have played there. And while they may not agree with Trump’s assessment that it is “the best golf course in the world,” they did term it a first-rate layout that already deserves to be ranked among the finest links in the country.