Those words will be like music to the ears of Dundonald Link’s Californian-based designer, Kyle Phillips, who intimated from the outset that it was his intention “to create a championship Ayrshire links that felt and played as though it was an old, rediscovered course.”

Phillips, a traditionalist and also the designer of Kingsbarns near St Andrews and The Grove in Hertfordshire, moved some earth around while constructing Dundonald Links but only where it was necessary to enhance the existing contours. The result is a thoroughly natural test of golf, one that is comparable to nearby Royal Troon and Turnberry, but with a character all of its own.

Dundonald Links, it should be recorded, was built on land that was briefly used as a golf course between the years of the First and the Second World Wars. That long-forgotten original course was dug up to aid the war effort in the 1940s and nothing of it survives today. Instead, Philips used his own vivid imagination and the same light, sandy soil to build a traditional 7,100-yard masterpiece that lingers in the memory long after a visit is over.

Philips is renowned for creating undulating, well-protected greens and that is a feature that can be found both at the 460-yard par-4 1st and the 405 yard par-4 2nd where the putting surfaces present an elusive target and slope away on all sides. The burn, which meanders all over the site, makes its first appearance on the dangerous 540-yard par-5 3rd and then it is on to the challenging 215-yard par-3 4th, which is normally played into the wind and is the first of four exceptional short holes at Dundonald Links.

Phillips still makes regular visits to Ayrshire and over the winter of 2006-‘07 he elected to built a new bunker into the right-hand side of the landing area on the 550-yard par-5 5th hole. It is a dog-leg, a birdie chance in some wind conditions, but also another hole where putting can be treacherous on a severely sloping green.

Accuracy is the key on the memorable 170-yard par-3 6th, where a ditch sits in wait to the left of the green, and also on the 405-yard par-4 7th where a massive swale protects the front of the green. There is also a 9-foot drop at the front of the green on the 395-yard par-4 8th and then the opening half comes to a close with the demanding 410-yard par-4 9th where a cavernous bunker lurks in the centre of the landing area and a ditch will catch any shot that comes up short of the green.

The 465-yard par-4 10th starts close to the clubhouse and then the course moves seaward, first to the delightful 120-yard par-3 11th, on to the short 350-yard par-4 12th and then to the 410-yard par-4 13th that runs parallel to the railway line and close to Western Gailes, another of Ayrshire’s fine links courses.

The 11th, Dundonald’s most picturesque hole, is like the 8th or “Postage Stamp” at Royal Troon in as much as it provides concrete proof that a hole does not have to be long to be demanding and it is the same at the 12th, the shortest par-4 on the course but a fine challenge nonetheless. The 13th, meanwhile, deserves to be conferred instant classic status. On a good day, the hole affords a fine view of the distant Isle of Arran but trouble also abounds, both off the tee and all the way to a heavily contoured green protected by a ditch.

Sheer length is seldom an issue on this firm, fast running links but the 540-yard par-5 14th will seldom be hit in two, even by the biggest hitters. The green on 215-yard par-3 15th is just as elusive while the 470-yard par-4 16th, situated close to the railway and Western Gailes’ clubhouse, is another stern test.

Quite deliberately, when stretched to its full length, Dundonald was built to test even the best golfers and it finishes, first with the 420-yard par-4 17th, the sharpest dog-leg on the course, and then the daunting 560-yard par-5 18th, where accuracy from the tee is essential for anyone who harbours hopes of hitting the green in two.

The 18th, like the 7th and one or two others, is another example of Dundonald still being a work in progress. Here, after much deliberation, Phillips elected to move the ditch several yards away from the green, thereby turning an unfair shot into a demanding one. It is all part of the designer’s masterplan. He wants you to get what you deserve at Scotland’s newest links and that, most golfers would argue, is exactly the way it should be.

Dundonald Links was purchased by Lyle Anderson Company Inc, owners of Loch Lomond Golf Club, in 2003 and can now be played by discerning green fee customers (Monday to Wednesday £95, Thursday and Friday £110 and Saturday and Sunday £125).

“We believe we can offer visitors a combination of a great golf course and exceptional levels of customer service,” said Niall Flanagan, General Manager of Loch Lomond and Dundonald Links. “From the valet parking on arrival, to great food and beverage and a unique locker room service, visitors will enjoy a first class day’s golf.”