Cabot Highlands Old Petty

Cabot Highlands Castle Stuart is world-renowned for its 18-hole links golf course from Gil Hanse and Mark Parsinen. The second 18-hole golf course will be known as Cabot Highlands Old Petty.

Tom Doak has designed and routed the course with long-time associate Clyde Johnson taking the lead on the project. Chris Haspell, a well-known agronomist and shaper who worked on the original Castle Stuart links, has been on hand to lend his talents to the project.

The description is understandably vague with promises of natural contours, meandering holes through hillsides and expansive land. There is even a promise of several holes along the water. The CGI's created show rumpled ground, open sand and whispy fescues - not a lot to take away or glean from them. Heather makes an appearance in the Harris Kalinka visuals.

Don Placek's hand-drawn map is more telling. The golf course begins and returns to the Golf Clubhouse with the opening and closing hole crossing whilst sharing the same fairway. If it works at St Andrew's Old Course, there's no reason to think it won't work here.

The 2nd hole plays past Old Petty Church before the 3rd (also sharing common ground with the 16th) plays past Castle Stuart. The Old Bothy stands adjacent to the 5th green. From here, Tom Doak resisted the urge to use the waterside frontage but turned inland for the final holes on the front nine.

The 10th will use the Moray Firth as a backdrop before turning inland and returning to the tidal estuary on the 14th. The 15th runs parallel to the Firth before crossing the estuary on the 16th. A short par 3 serves as the penultimate hole before returning home.

Castle Stuart is a moderate walk with on long trek to be found on the back nine. There was no other alternative to a long, uphill hike to make the routing work. Old Petty, even by nature of the site itself, will be an easier walk.

The routing is anything but traditional with 6 holes sharing land on the opening 3 and closing 3 holes. We will have to wait and see but the 6-hole loop could prove to be very popular with guests…

A recurring theme is the routing near the 400-year-old Castle Stuart and alongside Old Petty Church which dates from 1839. The logo for the golf course is neither the church nor the church but rather a highland coo (cow).

As has become en-vogue in the USA, the driving range will double as a short course after morning warm-ups. The greens are a collection of some of the greatest greens found in Scotland. With free reign to push the boundaries on an unofficial course, they should be worth the journey alone.