Is This the Greatest 36 Holes on Earth?

The trip began in the north, flying into Inverness before making our way to Cabot Highlands. We were treated to blazing sunshine and zero rain. The kind of day that makes Scottish golf feel like cheating. But as beautiful as Cabot was, it was always the warm-up act. The real reason for the alarm set at an ungodly hour was what awaited two and a half hours south, just outside Aberdeen.

Trump International Golf Links had already claimed the title of my favourite golf course in the world after a previous visit. The old 18 holes set against the North Atlantic, framed by towering dunes, is the kind of course that lodges itself permanently in your memory. But now a second 18 holes had been added and the resort had made a statement. They weren't calling it a good new course. They were calling it the greatest 36 in golf.

Buzzing doesn't quite cover how I felt arriving at the estate. This was the most anticipated round of golf I have ever played.

Between our two days of golf, we checked into the on-site lodges. The accommodation is lodge-style, tucked into the estate, intimate, deeply comfortable, and finished to the kind of standard you'd expect from a resort that takes pride in every detail. The service is impeccable.

Transfers to and from the course are available. Breakfast is served a stone's throw away in a dedicated dining room, where professional, unhurried staff set exactly the right tone for a day of serious golf ahead.

This is not a hotel that exists to fill beds between rounds. Every element, the quality of the linens, the warmth of the staff, the pace at which the whole operation runs, tells you that Trump International understands what a golf trip should feel like when it's done properly.

Walking to the new course's first tee, I was nervous. When a place already holds the title of your favourite in the world, there's a real risk that adding something new only dilutes it. The opening hole runs inland, no crashing surf in the background, slightly smaller dunes and I'll be honest, my first thought was the old course wins this one.

Then came the fourth hole. And everything changed.

Standing on that tee box, I saw windmills turning in the North Sea, a wide water hazard glinting ahead. Right, we're at Trump International now. The new course introduces water throughout, something entirely absent from the old. With smaller dunes opening the layout up to the full force of the coastal elements, the difficulty takes on an entirely different character. Wind plus water is a different equation from dunes plus wind. Both are brutal, but they demand different thinking and a different game.

Around holes seven, eight, and nine, the new course does something extraordinary. It produces three consecutive holes that, in my view, surpass anything on the old course. That is not a sentence I write lightly. The old course is my favourite 18 holes on the planet. This stretch plays through a tight gap between two dunes. The infamous Trump Bunker is so tall the resort installed sprinklers to keep the sand in place. It genuinely stopped me in my tracks.

Looking up at that bunker, I genuinely could not estimate how high it was. It is a golf feature unlike anything I have ever seen. Somewhere in that stretch is a par three, played over water, with severe elevation change. I told my playing partners: ❝That is the best par three in the world.❞ I stand by it.

On the way through the round, tucked among the dunes, sits what I'd confidently call the finest halfway hut in golf. A small, traditionally built wooden structure, luxury inside, beautifully appointed, with a proper bar stocked with Scottish whisky, food, television screens showing golf, and staff who treat you exactly as you'd hope to be treated mid-round. A brief rest there, with the dunes framing the silence around you, is one of the quieter pleasures of the whole experience.

The back nine settles slightly, less consistent in delivering jaw-dropping moments. The 18th, a blind tee shot onto an uphill fairway, cannot match the old course's theatre. But once you crest that rise and the North Atlantic comes into view behind the distant clubhouse, with the old course's familiar silhouette in the background, you understand that this is still something very, very special. And it's brand new. A course this good only improves with age.

❝There is a stretch of holes on the new course that beats any hole on the old. That is the single most remarkable thing I can say about it.❞

These are two genuinely different golf experiences. Comparing them is like comparing a perfectly aged single malt to a bold new distillery expression, both exceptional, both necessary, but serving different parts of the soul.

The good news is that this trip is more accessible than you might think. There are essentially two ways to approach a stay at Trump International, and the gap in experience, if not in golf, is significant.

On-site Lodges: The Full Trump Experience
Staying on the estate puts you inside the world of Trump International entirely. The lodges are immaculate, the service is exceptional, transfers are seamless. There is something genuinely special about waking up on-site and walking to the first tee. This is the premium option and it is priced accordingly. For those who want the complete experience without compromise, this is the choice.

The Sandman Hotel: Exceptional Value, 25 Minutes Away
Staying at the Sandman Hotel in Aberdeen — approximately a 25-minute drive from the course — can save you close to a thousand pounds compared to on-site accommodation. This is not a budget option: the Sandman is a quality hotel with excellent rooms and great service. The golf remains unchanged. For golfers who want Trump without the full estate price tag, this package makes the experience genuinely achievable.

Both routes lead to the same extraordinary golf.

Yes. It is the greatest 36 holes in the world.

If I could play 36 holes anywhere on earth tomorrow, I would be on the first flight to Aberdeen. The old course remains my favourite 18 holes ever built. The new course has produced a stretch of holes that beats anything the old course offers. Together, they are not just the greatest 36 in the world, they are an argument for why golf was invented in Scotland in the first place.

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