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Trump International Golf Links, Menie Estate
The New Course at Trump International Golf Links opened in 2025 and was immediately named World’s Best Golf Course and Europe’s Best New Golf Course at the World Golf Awards. The Old Course, which opened in 2012, is already in Golf Digest’s World’s 100 Greatest, voted Best Modern Course in Great Britain and Ireland, and became a DP World Tour host that same year. Both courses occupy the same vast Aberdeenshire coastal estate. You play them from the same tee sheet. There is no other 36-hole facility in Scotland that comes close.
Best time to visit: April to October (open year-round).
Nearest airport: Aberdeen International Airport (ABZ), 20 minutes from the Menie Estate.
Flight time from Dubai: Approximately 7.5 hours via London or Amsterdam.
GOLF COURSES
1. Trump International Golf Links – Old Course
• 18 holes, Par 72
• Designed by Dr. Martin Hawtree and opened in 2012, the Old Course sits in Golf Digest’s World’s 100 Greatest – a rare distinction for a course barely a decade old. It became a DP World Tour host in 2025 and boasts the largest practice facilities in Scotland. The routing through the Great Dunes of Scotland along the North Sea shoreline produces a links experience that is both classically framed and visually unlike anywhere else in the country.
2. Trump International Golf Links – New Course
• 18 holes, Par 72
• Named World’s Best Golf Course and Europe’s Best New Golf Course at the 2025 World Golf Awards in its opening year. Cavernous sandy hollows, expansive native wetlands and towering marram grass dunes define a layout that pushes further into the wilder reaches of the estate – longer, rawer and more elemental than the Old Course, with open sea views from the closing stretch.
WHERE TO STAY
1. MacLeod House & Lodge
• Rating: ★★★★★
• Why it stands out: A Scottish baronial mansion at the heart of the Menie Estate, MacLeod House has 18 ensuite rooms, secret stairways, log fires, a whisky snug and a wellness retreat – and you’re sleeping two hundred yards from the first tee. The Restaurant & Cellar offers refined seasonal menus with sommelier service; the intimate bar functions as the best post-round room in Aberdeenshire. Available for exclusive hire.
BEYOND FAIRWAYS
Must-try restaurants & cuisine
• The Dunes Restaurant & Bar – Scottish and American classics with North Sea views.
• Trump’s Restaurant & Cellar at MacLeod House – refined seasonal menus with sommelier service and the kind of white linen that makes a Sunday lunch feel like an occasion.
Cultural highlights
• Balmoral Castle is one hour by car and worth the detour.
• Aberdeen city centre – 16km from the estate – offers historic granite architecture that gives the city a particular austerity and a distinct character from anywhere else in Scotland.
Activities & experiences
• Sea kayaking, salmon fishing and deer stalking in the Aberdeenshire glens.
• Whisky tasting on the estate and across the nearby Speyside distilleries.
• Heritage Retreat wellness spa on the estate.
Local tip
• Visit the Clavis Whisky Bar on the estate after your round. It carries one of the finest whisky selections in Aberdeenshire – and the dram tastes different when you’ve just played
36 holes across the Great Dunes of Scotland.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Average green fee
• EUR 80-150 per round.
Getting around
• Car hire recommended.
• Aberdeen city centre 16km.
• Taxis available from Aberdeen.
Currency
• British Pound (GBP).
Language
• English.
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Main Image: Trump International Golf Links – New Course. Jacob Sjöman
