Britain & Ireland

Scotland

North Scotland

Royal Dornoch Golf Club is spellbinding. It seems to mesmerise amateur and professional golfers from all over the world and many make the pilgrimage to this natural links at some point in their lives. Let’s be honest, for most people, it takes a concerted effort to get to Dornoch. For those who live in Glasgow, the drive by car will take about four hours.

, Sir Robert Gordon described the course in glowing terms. Dornoch… “doe surpass the fields of Montrose or St Andrews”, he wrote. There are also written records showing that golf was played at Dornoch in 1616, long before its first nine-hole golf club was founded in 1877.

In 1886, Old Tom Morris “updated” the original nine holes and came back three years later to extend the course to 18 holes. John H. Taylor later made changes to the layout with guidance from the club’s secretary, John Sutherland. After the Second World War, George Duncan added six new holes (6 to 11), when former holes 13-18 were incorporated into the new Struie course.

It’s the timeless setting that makes Royal Dornoch such a pleasing place to play golf. It’s wild, isolated and, at the same time, absolutely beautiful; there’s the blaze of colour in early summer when the gorse is in flower. The pure white sandy beach divides the links from the Dornoch Firth and it all feels very humbling.

Ostensibly the course itself is pretty straightforward: it’s an out-and-back layout. Many of the greens, though, are built on natural raised plateaux making approach play especially challenging. It’s the raised domed greens that became the trademark of Dornoch’s most famous son, Donald Ross. Born in 1872, Ross became the club’s head green-keeper and professional. He later emigrated to the States and became one of the greatest golf course architects of all time. Many of his designs, most notably Pinehurst No.2, bear the hallmark of Royal Dornoch’s greens.

There are plenty of great holes to choose from at Royal Dornoch. The 4th is in the middle of a stretch of three excellent par fours. The line from the tee is the statue of the Duke of Sutherland. “Whinny Brae” is the par three 6th that signals the change from the low-lying holes to the more elevated ones. It requires an accurate tee shot across a swathe of gorse that wraps its way around the plateau green. The 14th, called “Foxy”, is a long par four, measuring almost 445 yards, and it is one of the most simple and natural holes in golf featuring a classical Donald Ross domed green.

The town of Dornoch is steeped in history; there has been a human settlement in the area for over 4,000 years. The witch’s stone stands in a local garden, commemorating Scotland’s last “witch” burning. The stone says 1722, but Janet Horne, the alleged witch, was tried and condemned to death in 1727.

Most people know about Dornoch and many have this course on their must-play list. All we can say is that you shouldn’t leave it too late (as did Bernard Darwin), this course must be played sooner rather than later. "And then, alas!—worst of all the deficiencies in my education—there is Dornoch. I never seem yet to have enough time or enough money to get so far north."

In 2017, Tom Mackenzie of Mackenzie & Ebert oversaw a number of improvements made in-house to holes 5, 10, 11 and 12. Shortly after these were implemented, work began on creating a new 7th hole, routing it closer to the edge of the escarpment, with the old gorse bushes removed to open up views of the coastline for the entire length of the hole.

The new hole opened for play in 2020 and the green is now shaped exactly to the dimensions of the old one. New tees will also be built on the site of the former 7th green, allowing golfers to tee from the top of the hill as part of the original design intent of Old Tom Morris.

Royal Dornoch (Championship)

Royal Dornoch Golf Club is spellbinding. It seems to mesmerise amateur and professional golfers from all over the world and many make the pilgrimage to this natural links at some point in their lives.

Only one course of action was open to American developer Mark Parsinen once he’d overseen the triumphant opening of Kingsbarns—scour the coastline of Scotland to find a suitable place to develop another world class layout that might even outshine its illustrious predecessor.

Parsinen felt he had discovered just such a special site on the southern shores of the Moray Firth, between Inverness and Nairn at Castle Stuart, and from what we saw previewing the course as it was growing in during Autumn 2008, we had absolutely no doubt that it would make as big an impact on the golfing scene as Kingsbarns did when it was unveiled eight years earlier.

The opening three holes on each nine run away from the clubhouse along the edge of a raised beach by the side of the Moray Firth, offering spectacular views across the water to the Black Isle. In order to reach shore level from the escarpment above, a thrilling drive must be struck from tees cut into the cliff side down to the fairways below on holes 1 and 10—a heart-pumping way to start both the outward and inward half.

As with so many modern designs, clever mounding ensures most holes are played in isolation to the rest, with the next hole only revealed after the current one has been played. Another eye-catching feature throughout the entire layout is the use of expansive, wild-looking waste bunker areas to fringe the sand capped-fairways and green sites, adding a wonderfully natural feel to the course.

Holes 4 to 9 and 13 to 18 are played more inland, with each loop ending on either side of a clubhouse that sits on the edge of the cliffs. One of the best holes on a sensational front nine is the 552-yard, par five, 6th which is played to a long, narrow green that sits between a pair of beautiful waste bunkers. On the more elevated back nine, the testing 220-yard 17th on top of the cliffs is a really daunting prospect to play so late in the round.

Castle Stuart now offers some serious competition to both Royal Dornoch and Nairn when it comes to attracting visiting golfers, but that can only be a good thing for the Highlands where they seem determined to raise the golfing bar of excellence as high as possible.

In January 2011, Castle Stuart was confirmed as the venue for the 2011 Barclays Scottish Open, which for the previous 15 years Loch Lomond had hosted. Unfortunately the 2011 event was hit by unprecedented summer storms that forced a foreshortened 54-hole tournament. The rain delays, however, did not dampen Luke Donald’s form. The world number one cruised comfortably to victory claiming his first Scottish Open title by four shots.

Aberdeen Asset Management took over sponsorship of the event the following year and both the 2012 and 2013 editions of the tournament were decided by a play-off after the leading players finished tied on the same 17 under par total of 271 for four rounds. In 2012, India’s Jeev Milkha Singh beat Italy’s Francesco Molinari then Phil Mickelson from the United States overcame South Africa’s Branden Grace in sudden-death twelve months later.

The Scottish Open has since moved around the country to different venues but it returned to Castle Stuart in 2016, when Sweden’s Alexander Norén claimed his fifth European Tour title with a one-stroke victory over his nearest challenger, England’s Tyrrell Hatton.

It was announced in the Spring of 2022 that development company Cabot had purchased Castle Stuart and engaged Tom Doak to design another 18-hole links-style layout next to the existing course.

Castle Stuart

Castle Stuart now offers some serious competition to both Royal Dornoch and Nairn when it comes to attracting visiting golfers, but that's a good thing for the Highlands where the golfing bar of excellence is very high.

Nairn Golf Club is located on an elevated, rumpled piece of linksland on the Moray Firth coastline, close to the historic fishing port. It’s one of Scotland’s lesser-known gems.

This is a course which has been touched by many great architects. The club was founded in 1887 to an original design by Archie Simpson. A few years later Old Tom Morris extended the layout and, prior to the Great War, James Braid made further alterations. Directly after the Great War, Ben Sayers added his mark to the course only to find James Braid itching to polish off the design. It is no wonder that Nairn is such a detailed masterpiece.

One of the most spectacular seaside courses in Scotland, Nairn boasts sea views from every hole. If you are a right-hander and you’ve got a slicing problem, you could find the beach from your very first tee shot. The sea is in play on six of the first seven holes; make sure you’ve got an adequate supply of balls.

When the sun is low in the sky and the shadows are long, you cannot fail to appreciate the undulating, bunker-pitted moonscape that is Nairn. It’s a delightful links with fast, firm but narrow fairways, a number of which are framed by gorse bushes and heather, heaping further pressure onto a nervous drive. The greens are sited in the trickiest places – some are raised and others are nestled in hollows. Most are well protected, either by bunkers or natural hazards, and all of the greens are fast and true, a Nairn trademark.

There is a plethora of good holes at Nairn and the 5th is one of the best. It’s a great 390-yard par four called “Nets” which requires a straight solid drive avoiding the beach on the right. This will leave a short approach shot to a small, elevated green that is well protected by bunkers and a sharp bank sloping off to the right.

The 9th, named “Icehouse”, is a lovely par four to close the outward nine. A tough long drive from the tee is required, avoiding the whin bushes on the left and the bunkers on the right. The green is located to the right of the white cottage which is, in fact, a Salmon Bothy Keep your eyes peeled for the Icehouse which is covered in thick grassy turf where salmon was kept on ice for up to two years.

Nairn is a very long way north. However, you may be surprised to hear that despite Nairn’s Highland latitude, it is located in one of the driest places in Britain. So, why not follow in the footsteps of Peter McEvoy? In 1999, here at Nairn, he lead the Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team to a resounding 15-9 victory over the USA.

Following a Course Audit presentation by Tom Mackenzie at a Special General Meeting, approval was given to start work on a course upgrade at the end of 2018. New forward tees were added and new greens constructed on the 1st, 7th and 14th holes, with further reshaping and bunker adjustments made to a further twelve holes.

Nairn (Championship)

The Championship links at Nairn Golf Club is one of the most spectacular seaside courses in Scotland, boasting sea views from every hole.

Located on the edge of the beautiful Dornoch Firth with views of the Struie Hills, the 8,000-acre Skibo Castle estate is something special, very special. It’s a place where fairytales meet reality. Schytherbolle, its Celtic name, roughly translated means fairyland. But it wasn’t always like this – there was once much bloodshed when Sigurd the Mighty and Thorstein the Red, the early Nordic settlers, descended upon Dornoch. Things are much calmer these days and a trip to Skibo, whilst making a dent in your wallet, will make you temporarily feel like a millionaire.

In 1898, the original Laird of Skibo, billionaire Andrew Carnegie, commissioned Royal Dornoch’s Secretary, John Sutherland, to build a private nine-hole links course. But after Carnegie’s death in 1919, Skibo Castle and the golf course soon became fallow. British entrepreneur Peter de Savary bought the Skibo estate in 1990 and he asked Donald Steel and Tom Mackenzie to resurrect a links. In 1995, a new Carnegie Club links at Skibo Castle was born.

US billionaire Ellis Short bought the club in 2003 and Tom Mackenzie was re-commissioned between 2005 and 2007 to alter the original design – aided by David Thomson (Skibo’s Director of Golf) and Gary Gruber (Course Manager at the time, now Estate Director). Gorse, which lined a number of holes, was removed and the landscape reshaped along with rebuilding and revetting every one of the seventy-two bunkers. In total, eight holes were refashioned, including the opening of four new holes.

The updated new millennium Skibo, which stretches from 5,400 yards to more than 6,800 yards, contains many tough holes at the start of the round, but the best of the bunch by a long way is the wonderful par three 6th, it's a magnificent short hole with its elevated plateau green which is guarded at the front by a deep, threatening bunker. There is a slight lull in proceedings around the turn before the dramatic three closing holes kick in. The 17th is a risk-and-reward gem, a short par four measuring 304 yards from the back tees with the green definitely in reach, but you’ll need to flirt with the beach and the deep bunkers guarding the front of the green. The 18th, a sweeping par five, concludes a memorable and varied round. The hole doglegs left, hugging the salt marshes. Big hitters might reach it in two.

In June 2012, for the first time since becoming private in 2007, the Carnegie Club at Skibo Castle announced that limited public tee times will be available on special request. Click here for more details.

Skibo Castle - Carnegie Club

The Carnegie Club is located on the edge of the beautiful Dornoch Firth with views of the Struie Hills, the 7500-acre Skibo Castle estate is something very special. It’s a place where fairytales meet reality.

Brora Golf Club lies just off the A9, about 20 miles north of Dornoch. It's one of the most delightful short road journeys imaginable. The A9 follows the East Coast of Sutherland and skirts around the westerly edge of Loch Fleet before passing through the Highland village of Golspie - where there's another fine course. Grab a glimpse of Dunrobin Castle, where the Duke of Sutherland died in 1833 and then enjoy the coastal views before passing through the village of Doll, where a big cat-like animal was recently spotted. And then, you arrive at Brora, ready for even more excitement.

Scotland has dozens of famous classic links courses but Brora is probably the least well known and this most northerly course really does deserve to be discovered. When Brora Golf Club was founded in 1891 the members played on a nine-hole course and the Secretary of 

, John Sutherland, later extended it to 18 holes. J.H. Taylor made further changes following a visit and, in 1923, James Braid was commissioned to redesign Brora and little has changed since.

It's a traditional out and back layout with the opening nine holes hugging the North Sea coastline. We can think of no other course in Scotland which has so many holes playing so close to the sea. What's more, there are no dunes to obscure the magnificent seascape, but the downside is that when the wind blows, you'll have to hold on to your hat. The ground undulates gently and you can expect to encounter the odd wily burn and a series of electric fences, which do a fine job in keeping the grazing animals off the fast Brora greens.

Measuring 6,211 yards from the back tees, Brora is certainly no championship layout, but playing to handicap will be a real achievement, not only because the greens are tough to hit and tough to read, but because it's even tougher to concentrate on your golf in these breathtaking surroundings. When you arrive at the 2nd tee, you'll know what we mean. The tee is sited on a small promontory directly next to the beach and from here you are presented with the most arresting view along the full stretch of the coastline.

If it is good enough for a five-time Open Champion, then everyone should play Brora. The late Peter Thomson visited regularly, proclaiming it to be his favourite course in the world.


There are so many great holes, but the 9th, a 162-yard par three called Sea Hole, is our favourite. It will come as no surprise that it's a visually attractive hole, where the North Sea is a rather large lateral water hazard. The inward holes are solid but less dramatic than the front nine. The closing hole is a tough par three where the tee shot must carry across a deep gulley to a green which seems to be too close to the clubhouse for comfort.

Our message to those pilgrims who are heading to tick 

 off their list is this, take your time and add Brora to your itinerary, you will not be disappointed.

Brora

Brora Golf Club is a fine, natural seaside links. A Highland delicacy to be tasted alongside Royal Dornoch. Brora is one of the jewels in James Braid's crown.

Only regular visitors to the southern shore of the Moray Firth will be convinced that this part of the north of Scotland is blessed with such a favourable climate that it's not unusual to see golf played on every day of the year. Happily, this assertion is true and golfers have been enjoying that fact since Moray Golf Club was founded in 1889. Old Tom Morris, who became a frequent visitor and played a number of exhibition matches in the early days, originally laid out the Old Course.

Currently a neighbour to RAF Lossiemouth, the Old course was extended to eighteen holes within two years of formation. J. Ramsay Macdonald, one of the club's more famous sons, was excluded from Moray Golf Club in 1916 because of his pacifist views, and he refused to rejoin on his becoming Prime Minister.

Moray was popular with visiting gentry in bygone years and the club had a number of members who were local distillers. The club is still strongly connected to the single malt whisky trade so hogsheads are bought annually and bottled at ten years of age. Moray and its near links neighbours present a fine option for a few days of links golf, particularly as a second course – called the New – was designed by Sir Henry Cotton and opened for play in 1979.

The shoreline 1st on the Old course is followed by a series of holes that work their way a little further inland over the first eight holes at Lossiemouth. Four of these are par fours exceeding four hundred yards, with bunkers providing an additional defence. The westernmost point is reached as Covesea Lighthouse dominates the skyline on the 11th and this hole begins another sequence of four strong par fours..

A three-hole stretch from the short, but well-bunkered par three 15th hugs the shoreline before the challenge of the 18th. Tightly bunkered down the left, with out of bounds on the right, a long accurate drive on this uphill hole is essential if the elusive home green is to yield up a finishing par.

Moray has played host to many national championships over the years and this excellent 6,717-yard par 71 links provides a real challenge to even the best of golfers. Featuring one of the finest finishing holes in Scottish golf, the Old course is well worth a visit.

Starting in 2014, Howard Swan has overseen improvement work on both the Old and the New courses. A number of bunkers have been refurbished, new tees created and gorse cut back in an ongoing renovation programme that also included remodelling the 1st and 17th holes.


Moray (Old)

The Old course at Moray Golf Club is a traditional treasure - a links which starts and ends in the town. The closing hole is one of the finest in the British Isles.

The Boat of Garten Golf & Tennis Club is located at the gateway to the Highlands. It’s an enchanting place. Flanking the course to the west is the quaint Strathspey Railway, which runs from the popular ski resort of Aviemore, through Boat of Garten, which is also known as the Osprey village. The lovingly restored steam trains, occasionally puff and pant their way past the course. The River Spey lies to the east of the heath and beyond that are the distant peaks of the Monadhliath Mountains. Dominating to the south are the mighty, snow-capped Cairngorms. This 

Boat of Garten Golf Club was founded in 1898 and the celebrated Scottish architect, James Braid, was asked to convert the original 9-hole layout to an 18-hole course in 1930. Make no mistake – this is fun golf. This lovely course wends its way, up and down, through heather, whin, pine and birch. The fairways pitch and roll – sometimes alarmingly in the summer when the ground is hard – making for awkward stances.

It’s a short course, measuring slightly less than 5,900 yards from the back tees. There are a couple of long par fours and two short par fives, but apart from those holes, your driver will not be required. Unusually, Boat of Garten opens up with a par three – always tricky early on in the round – followed by a short par four, where the fantastic views really begin to grab the attention. If a good golf hole is a memorable one, then the par four 6th, called “Avenue”, will remain etched in the mind for eternity. The hole doglegs to the right – pine and birch trees tightly flank the fairway. Cutting off the dogleg is fraught with danger, but a lay-up will leave a 200-yard approach to a hogback green. It’s a beauty.

Some regard Boat of Garten as holiday golf. It's so much more in our opinion. Clearly it’s a short course, but on the other hand, it’s also a difficult course on which to score well. We think it’s an absolute delight and we’d happily become lifetime members.

Boat of Garten

Make no mistake – this is exciting golf. The lovely course at the Boat of Garten Golf & Tennis Club wends its way, up and down, through heather, whin, pine and birch.

Scottish golf may be blessed with an abundance of fine links courses but, apart from a handful of venues such as 

, it suffers from a distinct lack of really top class inland venues.

We can now add the Macdonald Aviemore Spey Valley moorland course, which opened in the summer of 2006, to the relatively small list of quality inland Scottish courses. Bearing the hallmark design traits of architect Dave Thomas – who also built the Macdonald 

 course in Peebles a few years ago – this 7,118-yard course, is set to become a premier golfing attraction, completing a Highland Championship triangle with 

Spey Valley has an old fashioned out and back routing and water comes into play along the way on several occasions. Holes are generally very open, though heather and gorse line many fairways and strategically placed trees are cunningly located on more than one fairway dogleg. Elevated tees are used at most holes and trademark Dave Thomas bunkering threatens at just about every conceivable opportunity off the tee and around the green.

Fairways were surprisingly firm when we played the course three months into its first season and the subtle undulations of the enormous greens were obviously designed to tax even the finest of putters.

The surrounding Cairngorm scenery is nothing short of sensational, adding greatly to the visual impact on most of the holes. With nearby courses like 

 to the north, Spey Valley is located in prime Highland golfing territory and will do more than hold its own in such illustrious company, even with green fees a little pricier than those other pay-and-play tracks. You know the saying “you only get what you pay for”? Well it holds true for Spey Valley and it’s well worth paying that bit extra to sample its many golfing delights.

The only downside for the traditionalist is that (in a similar vein to the 

 layout) there are many rather lengthy green to next tee hikes. Set aside your aversion to this and you are guaranteed a helluva Highland golfing experience.

Spey Valley

The golf course at Spey Valley has an old fashioned out and back routing and water comes into play along the way on several occasions.

When Sir Alexander Dunbar of Boath stepped on to the first tee here in May 1899, just as Queen Victoria was celebrating her eightieth birthday, he declared open another golfing gem on the coastline of the Moray Firth, adding Nairn Dunbar Golf Club to Royal Dornoch and Nairn as "must play" clubs in the region. Sir Alexander donated both his name and sixty acres of whins and gorse for the admirable pursuit of a game in an area that enjoys a surprisingly mild climate for such a northerly latitude.

A challenging par four opens the par 72 course, followed by a shortish par four, then a straightforward par three, allowing a relatively gentle warm up. Be prepared though for a strong quartet of long, demanding par fours which are then encountered, where gorse, trees, greenside bunkers and out of bounds all present problems. This tough sequence of holes is then topped off by the semi-blind par three "Brodie," the 163-yard signature hole 8th, with its green nestled in a bowl, surrounded by bunkers.


Three newer holes are located around the turn, at the furthest point from the clubhouse, before the routing moves inland, culminating in a muscular three-hole stretch that maintains the challenging nature of Nairn Dunbar right to the end. With two par fives in this closing section at holes 16 and 18, you might think there's the chance of perhaps even securing a birdie - think again, as the benign stroke index for these holes is very misleading, especially at the last, which requires a blind approach shot to the severely raised home green.

Richard Johnstone, Nairn Dunbar Course Manager, kindly supplied us with the following quote in October 2016:

Over the last few years, we have made great strides towards promoting links golf here at Nairn Dunbar Golf Links. Continued tree and gorse removal will only allow the natural grasses to flourish. There has been a big attempt to firm the surfaces up: sand topdressing regularly, hollow coring approaches and sanding to promote firm entrances to greens, allowing players to use the bump and run shot.

Regular over seeding to greens with bent and fescue seed has seen us move from Poa-dominated greens to around 70% bent grass 10%Fescue. Fairway cutting height has been taken down from 12 mm to 10 mm which has made a big difference, allowing golfers to putt from well off the green, which was not possible before.

A rough management plan is in place where we will cut back all our rough areas twice a year, scarifying, spraying and picking up the clippings so that we can reduce the amount of rougher grasses and promote the finer links-like grasses to enable us to line our fairways with golden, wispy rough.

Nairn Dunbar

Situated on the shores of the Moray Firth, Nairn Dunbar Golf Club is a classic course, steeped in history.

Organised golf has been played in this part of the Scottish Highlands for well over a hundred years with Golspie Golf Club formed in 1889 – twelve years after Dornoch, one year before Tain and two years before Brora.

Unlike these other three neighbouring courses, the terrain at Golspie is not exclusively links in nature. The course routing sets out over meadowland, quickly turns back as links along the Dornoch Firth for several holes, veers away from the shore into tree-lined heathland around the turn then returns to parkland and links by the end of the round – quite a combination!

There are birdie opportunities early in the round at the 493-yard 1st hole, named “Backies” and at the 522-yard par five 4th hole, named “Gully”. However, you’re well advised to leave your second shot at the 4th short of the small valley in front of the green – the ball may be playable on the right side but there is heavy rough on the left side and any shot out of here will be played blind to the green.

An interesting pair of short par fours – the 288-yard “Sahara” and 285-yard “Fleet” – are played immediately before and after the par three 6th hole, called “Saucer” then the course enters its heathland section at Ferry Wood, which was laid out by James Braid in 1926. Holes 8 to 10 are located here at the furthest point to the clubhouse and they form a lovely loop, bounded by tall pine trees and deep heather rough.

Holes 11 to 14 are all played over pastureland beside the road that runs down the left of each fairway. The 15th turns back, away from the clubhouse before an old fashioned golfing quirk is chanced upon – back-to-back par threes! “Cairngorms” is the 175-yard 16th hole played to a tiered green with magnificent views across the Firth and Tarbat Ness. It is followed by the 211-yard “Sahara Back” 17th hole which is often played short right by members to avoid sand and rough surrounding the green. A pitch and putt on the large, level green will result in a highly satisfactory par score at this hole.

At a touch over 6,000 yards in length, Golspie does not intimidate the visiting golfer in terms of yardage from tee to green but it does ask a fair number of strategic ball placement questions around the course so keep your thinking cap on when playing here.

Golspie

Golspie Golf Club is a vintage seaside course with a varied and enjoyable mix of links, heathland and parkland holes.

There is reference to golf being played here at Fortrose & Rosemarkie as far back as 1702 (making it the 4th oldest golf course in the world), though it was not until 1889 that a formal golf club was established with a membership of fifty playing over six holes. Play was suspended during the First World War when the clubhouse was used by the Highland Cyclist Battalion as a guardhouse!

The course was extended to 18 holes by 1924 but it was ten years later before James Braid shaped the links to its current design and Sir Hector Monro opened the revamped course 1935. War intervened again in the early 1940s when the military requisitioned the course and clubhouse as a training ground during the Second World War but all 18 holes were back in play by 1947.

Fortrose & Rosemarkie lies out on a narrow peninsula named Chanonry Point, just north of Inverness – jutting out into Rosemarkie Bay – protecting the entrance to the Moray Firth. The road to the lighthouse divides the course in two, with just enough land either side to accommodate a 5,881-yard long golf course.

What Fortrose & Rosemarkie lacks in yardage is more than made up for with its small, subtle greens, strategic bunkering, dense island gorse, several blind approaches and the proximity of the sea at nearly half the holes. Playing to one’s handicap, especially with the wind up on this exposed sliver of land is never easy.

The scorecard is deceiving as it shows that 11 of the 14 par fours measure less than 400 yards in length, whilst the two par fives are each less than 470 yards but, remember, length is not everything on this course – the 455-yard par five 4th is not stroke index 1 for nothing and the degree of difficulty is obvious to the visitor when standing on the tee.

Fortrose & Rosemarkie proudly hosted two national competitions during 2010, the first time the club had ever attracted such prestigious events to the Black Isle. The first tournament was the SLGA Scottish Senior Ladies Amateur when Fiona de Vries of St Rule beat defending champion, Heather Anderson of Alyth 1 UP in the match play final. The other contest saw the three-man gents team of Carrickvale from Lothians win the SGU Scottish Club Championship by a winning margin of three strokes over second placed St Andrews.

Fortrose & Rosemarkie

Fortrose & Rosemarkie Golf Club lies north of Inverness on a narrow peninsula which juts out into Rosemarkie Bay...

The old Torvean golf course opened as a 9-hole layout in 1962 and was subsequently doubled in size twenty-six years later. Originally operated as a municipal-run facility, the course was taken over in a leasing arrangement by the golf club in the late 1990s, with the land remaining in council ownership.

When the Inverness West Link Road was constructed, all but two of the holes on the course were lost to this new highway project. Highland Council then stepped in to provide a like-for-like multi-million pound golf facility for the club, engaging architect Stuart Rennie to design the new layout.

The sixteen new holes are routed across undulating land to the west of the old course, overlooked by the Scottish Natural Heritage headquarters. The vision, according to the architect, was to create a heathland-style layout with modern design principals where heather, gorse and fescue grasses can thrive.

Biodiversity is also an important consideration and a number of waterbodies and wetland areas have been fashioned to enhance the course’s eco credentials. Public access trails have also been provided, allowing the local community to integrate with the golf course and its new environment.

, Stuart Rennie had this to say about his first new build assignment:

“I was only 32 when I was appointed to design the course, very young to win such a job, and, let us be honest, there are not that many new golf course projects around at the moment. So obviously this has been a hugely important project for me, and I have put my heart and soul into it.

During construction, we had to ensure that there were always eighteen holes available for members to play, but we also had to have the new course open by 2019, so that phase two of the road construction could start.

The old course was pretty flat, but now we have a nice, undulating site. There is 65m (210ft) of elevation change between the top and bottom of the site. The soil is quite nice – sandy and gravelly, although it had been arable farmland. We were able to build a very lay of the land course.”

Completing the makeover package, the club was renamed as Kings Golf Club in honour of the 6th century Pictish King Bridei. Saint Columba is said to have converted this monarch to Christianity at nearby Craig Phadraig around 565 AD and it’s thought that Columba may have camped on this site whilst visiting the king.

Kings

Originally Torvean Golf Club, Kings Golf Club (named in honour of the 6th century Pictish King Bridei) was established in 2019 and the club's new heath-like course was designed by Glasgow-born architect Stuart Rennie.

The origin of the name Tain is unclear, but what is certain is that in 1066, King Malcolm III granted the very first charter to Tain, making it the oldest Royal Burgh (borough) in Scotland. With panoramic views across the Dornoch Firth, Tain's Highland setting is dramatic and also pleasantly sheltered with the estuary on one side and the mountains of Easter Ross on the other.

Tain Golf Club was founded in 1890 and Old Tom Morris was commissioned to design the course. After a detailed survey of the land, Old Tom found only 15 suitable green sites and the course opened with only 15 holes. Some years later, John Sutherland revised the layout, but Old Tom's mark is still indelibly etched and there are eleven of Old Tom's green sites in use today.

Today's Tain is a full, sporting 18-hole layout, which measures 6,404 yards from the medal tees, where accuracy rather than length is essential. The nature of Tain is a combination of links and heathland and there are a number of forced carries across tangly heather to rumpled fairways, which are edged by dense gorse (stunning in full bloom).

The Aldie Burn meanders through the par four 2nd, which is called "River" and measures 391 yards from the back tees. The cozened fairway is punctuated by a ridge which falls away towards the artful burn which waits to trap the under-hit approach shot. We meet the "Alps" at the par four 11th, which requires a confident but blind approach shot over two sentry dunes in order to find the hidden green nestled beyond. Two great par threes at 16 and 17 bring us close to home and they are both strong single shot holes where the wily burn returns, waiting to catch the errant tee shot.

Tain will always remain in the shadow of its illustrious neighbour, 

, which lies on the opposite bank of the Dornoch Firth. But whatever you do, don't pass Tain by. There is variety and fun to be had on this challenging course. Heaven forbid, if the golf is not sufficiently celebrated to capture your attention, then surely a nip of malt at the local Glenmorangie Distillery will provide the ultimate temptation.

Tain

Overlooking the Dornoch Firth, Tain Golf Club arguably offers one of the best settings imaginable in the highlands for a round of golf. With sea on one side and the backdrop of the mountains behind.

The Askernish course was created by Old Tom Morris back in 1891 but over the years, it fell into disrepair. Some of the course was levelled and used as an airstrip in the 1930s then a 12-hole course was laid out to the north of the original holes but this became a 9-hole affair with 18 tees back in the 1970s.

It was in 2006 that Gordon Irvine (the man responsible for the restoration of Royal Cinque Ports in Deal) embarked on the quest to bring the original course back to life. He, along with architect Martin Ebert and a stack of local volunteers, then spent the next two years transforming the Askernish Machair into an 18-hole layout that most closely resembled the routing of Old Tom’s course.

The first four holes head north from the clubhouse then the next eight, from holes 5 to 12, run in and out of the dunes parallel to the coastline before the last six holes are played slightly more inland, returning back to the start. The outward half has a par of 37 and the back nine are 150 yards shorter with a par of 35.

The restoration project is the focal point of an effort to regenerate the area and it is hoped the evolving course development will attract a growing number of golfers who are curious to discover what the fuss is all about in such a golfing outpost as South Uist in the Outer Hebrides.


The news about the Askernish project seems to be spreading far and wide with growing excitement. The quest to find the Old Tom Morris layout has led to a routing design inspired by the values and construction methods available in the days of 1891 when golf was first played over the classic sand dunes.

The project really will present a course which is a Living Golf Course Museum and is already in play after the official opening in August 2008, the year of the 100th anniversary of Old Tom’s death.

The creation of the course is so similar to the way that the first courses evolved. Golfers just playing the land as it lies with the greenkeepers refining the course as it becomes more popular.

Rudimentary putting conditions to begin with but gradually an improvement of the surfaces by minor levelling and conditioning. Tiny tees which will, over time, need to be made larger. Bunkers formed by the cattle and where the golfers’ divots will wear the grass away.

Golf as it used to be, following in the footsteps of Old Tom Morris…


Askernish

The Askernish golf course was created by Old Tom Morris back in 1891 but over the years, it fell into disrepair. In 2008 the Askernish Golf Club came back to life.

Organised golf has been played at Moray Golf Club since the club was formed back in 1889, when Old Tom Morris laid out the inaugural 9-hole course for the founding members. Later enlarged to a full 18-hole track, the Old course is acknowledged as one of the finest in all of Scotland.

A 9-hole Ladies course was brought into play in 1905 and this remained the relief course at Moray until 1979, when it was incorporated into Sir Henry Cotton’s design for the 18-hole New course.

The three-time Open champion is most associated as an architect with Penina in Portugal, where he lived, and his list of Scottish projects is far from extensive – in fact, we know of only one other, Stirling, which he redesigned in 1967.

Today, the New course measures a respectable 6,068 yards from the white medal tees. Playing to a par of 70, it features only a couple of par five holes, “King o’ the Castle” at the 3rd and “Dinna Top” at the 14th, both of which dogleg slightly left from tee to green.

The only hole on the course that actually touches the shoreline is “Bents,” the right doglegged 10th, where a ditch crosses the fairway of this short par four as it heads towards a bunkerless green.

At 181 yards long, the penultimate hole, named “Caesar’s Grave,” is the toughest of the par threes. Playing thirty yards longer than any of the other three short holes on the card, it requires both length and accuracy off the tee in order to secure a par or better.

Moray (New)

A much underrated course that extends to just over 6,000 yards from the back markers, the New course at Moray Golf Club opened in 1979 when Sir Henry Cotton converted an old layout.

Reay Village Golf Club was founded in 1893, with twelve holes laid out for golf between Sandside Bay and the main road to Thurso. According to a Course & Club History booklet produced by the club in 1993, “during that first year, membership rose to approximately thirty, and was limited to persons living or working on the Pilkington estates. Visitors, or strangers as they were more often termed, could play the course albeit on a limited basis.”

James Braid and his Four Hundred Golf Courses

 authors John F. Moreton and Iain Cumming make reference to a visit made by James Braid on 10th January 1933: “The estate changed hands in 1931, and the maintenance of the course devolved to the club. Hence Braid’s arrival and the possibility of an eighteen hole course. However, financial implications weighed heavily and the new six holes were never built. As for Braid’s suggestions for the original twelve, they were all implemented.”

Alex Manson held the position of club secretary from 1893 to 1938 but within two years of his resignation (and the start of World War II) the club entered into something of a hibernation period. This lasted for around fifteen years, until the nuclear establishment at Dounreay was commissioned right next to the course, bringing an influx of workers into the area. John F. Moreton and Iain Cumming pick up the story:

“In the late 1950s nine holes were constructed or reconstructed and by 1965 eighteen holes were in place. The present course uses some of the elements of the original, with five holes having a strong relationship with the pre-World War II course.” In more recent times, a new chapter began during the club's 125th anniversary year in 2018 as the land on which the course is laid out had been purchased the previous year, allowing it to be retained as a community asset for many years to come.

Reay

Billed as Britain’s most northerly 18-hole links course, the layout at Reay Golf Club was established in 1893 but it fell into decline during World War II, only to re-emerge stronger than ever in the early 1960s.

Elgin Golf Club celebrated its centenary in 2006 and members have enjoyed golfing over the same wonderful, free-draining terrain south of Elgin city for every single one of those one hundred years, playing first on a 9-hole course then an eighteen hole layout since 1924.

Measuring 6,458 yards in total, Elgin plays to a par of 71 from the back markers. However, visitors to Moray who play here shouldn't expect a leisurely round of holiday golf, as the par becomes 69 from the regular yellow tees with the short par fives at the 1st and 14th playing as long par fours.

There may be three short par fives contributing to the overall length, but six of the par fours on the card are longer than 400 yards, with three of them, from the 457-yard 8th to the 433-yard 10th, particularly demanding.

These three holes around the turn follow another delightful, old-fashioned feature at Elgin – back-to-back par threes – with the hefty 221-yard “Pines” 6th hole faced before the 167-yard “Road” hole at the 7th.

At clubs such as Elgin you sometimes discover little golfing gems, like the original head greenkeeper (who also laid out the course) spending 44 years in the job and a former secretary remaining in his post for 20 years. Little wonder Elgin has fittingly named the first hole “John MacPherson” and the last hole “Gordon Wilken” after both club stalwarts!

Elgin

Elgin Golf Club celebrated its centenary in 2006 and members have enjoyed golfing over the same wonderful, free-draining terrain for every single one of those 100 years...

Durness is located in one of the most remote areas of mainland Scotland, way up in the far northwest corner of the country, close to Cape Wrath. It’s an area of unspoiled natural beauty, with miles of rugged coastline, vast tracts of barren moorland and isolated pockets of beautiful sandy beaches.

It’s in this spectacular setting that the golf course at Durness Golf Club is set and it’s recognised as one of the true hidden gems of Scottish golf, featuring on many a “must play” list of golfers who’ve read about the beguiling attractions of this little 9-hole links layout.

Established in 1988, the course was laid out by three golfing enthusiasts on land overlooking Balnakeil Bay and they configured the layout in such a way, with nine greens and eighteen tees, that an 18-hole round can be played quite comfortably.

The 6th/15th is the only par five on the card and it’s a wonderful long hole, sweeping right around Loch Lanlish to the green. Fabulous though this hole undoubtedly is, the par three 9th /18th hole trumps it somewhat, as it calls for a tee shot to be played across a sea inlet to a small sand-protected green on the other side.

Durness

Durness Golf Club was recently voted the second best 9-hole course in Scotland and it occupies a remote site in the north western corner of the mainland where fairways are set out along the Faraid Head peninsula.

Grantown-on-Spey is one of the most delightful parkland courses in the Scottish Highlands. It was set up as a 9-hole course in 1890 then Willie Park Junior extended the layout to 18 holes in 1911 before James Braid made further improvements ten years later which remain to this day.

The course was never constructed for championship play – it is more of a holiday golf destination – and, as such, it is the perfect foil to a round at nearby Boat of Garten, some ten miles to the south. Both venues share the same spectacular mountain scenery, of course!

The first six holes are laid out on flat, open parkland. Holes 7 to 12 are routed through hilly woodland then the final six holes are played out over undulating parkland. Each set of holes have some marvelous names – “Peesie’s Nap” at the 4th, “Poor Hoose” at the 11th and “Wee Dunt” at the 16th.

The 7th hole is named “Bobby Cruikshank” after a Grantown member who emigrated to the USA in 1921, turned professional in America then lost in the 1923 US Open play-off against Bobby Jones, who won his first major with a score of 76, two better than the man from Grantown. Bobby Cruikshank, or “Boback” as he was known in Grantown, came close again to winning the US Open in 1932 when Gene Sarazen narrowly beat him but he never did get to win a major.

The signature hole on the course is the 275-yard, short par four 9th called “Murdie’s View” which is played to a backdrop of pine trees and the Cromdale Hills. Short par fours are a feature, in fact, with no fewer than six out of the fourteen par fours on the card being less than 300 yards in length.

Five of the eight other par fours measure less than 400 yards so not-so-long hitters will have no problem getting up in two shots at most par fours – and at only 5,710 yards long with a standard scratch score two less than the par of 70, it can truly be said that Grantown-on Spey is a test of accuracy rather than power.

Grantown-on-Spey

Grantown-on-Spey Golf Club is the perfect foil to a round at nearby Boat of Garten with both venues sharing the same spectacular mountain scenery.

Founded in 1802 to house and employ those affected by the Highland clearances, Hopeman lies on the southern shores of the Moray Firth. A little over a century after the village was formed, Hopeman Golf Club came into being and its links course has been in use since 1909, only doubling in size to an 18-hole layout in 1995. Moray pro Charles Neaves laid out the original nine holes with another professional from the same club, J. N. McKenzie, adding the additional nine.

Nowadays, the course measures a modest 5,624 yards from the back markers, with gorse and broom fringed fairways playing to a collective par of 68. It’s stating the obvious to say that accuracy, and not power, is all-important here. There’s only one par five on the scorecard (at the 517-yard, left doglegged 4th) and that hole has only been extended to a three-shotter in recent years.

Holes of note include both par threes on the front nine, where the 171-yard 3rd shares a double green with the 6th and the 193-yard 7th plays to a burn-protected green. Short par fours around the turn (at the uphill 9th and downhill 10th) are definite birdie opportunities whilst the 362-yard 11th ("Warren") must be one of the most rumpled fairways in Scottish golf, with what looks like a herd of small elephants buried in shallow graves beneath the fairway.

Undoubtedly, Hopeman’s signature hole is “The Prieshach,” at the par three 12th. Measuring only 150 yards, the hole plays from an elevated tee position with panoramic views of the Firth to a green nestled over 100 feet below in Clashach Cove. Described by Honorary President Paul Lawrie as one of the best short holes he’s ever played, it’s a little beauty that's worth paying the green fee for on its own.

Hopeman

Founded in 1909, Hopeman Golf Club has never looked back since members decided to add a further nine holes to the original course layout in 1995.

The Struie course at Royal Dornoch started out in the early 1900s as the Ladies Course and this layout, along with part of the 

, was taken out of play when the Air Ministry acquired it as the site for an airfield during World War II.

When hostilities ended, the Championship course was extended – George Duncan adding holes 6 to 11 – to fashion the modern day links that’s now revered around the golfing world, and six of its former holes (13-18) were appended to three from the old Ladies course to create a new layout.

This 9-hole course remained in that format for over half a century until adjacent land by the shores of the Dornoch Firth became available at the end of the 1990s, allowing Donald Steel and Robin Hiseman to expand the Struie layout into a full 18-hole course.

Essentially, the 6,265-yard course in play today is configured with the opening two holes and closing hole routed across an area of high ground close to the clubhouse, while the remaining holes occupy the largely level terrain that lies closer to the waters of the Firth.

“Gizzen Briggs,” the slightly doglegged 406-yard 5th is rated the most difficult hole on the front nine, whilst “Black Burn,” the 429-yard 14th is the toughest hole on the inward half, playing to a green that’s protected by an intimidating pond to the right side of the putting surface.

Course architect, Robin Hiseman (now working with European Golf Design), commented as follows:

The Struie redevelopment was born of a desire to elevate the status of the second course, so that the sale of combined course day tickets was a viable option. The old Struie had been tinkered about with by Donald Steel before I became involved, but was still mostly a knockabout course for the locals and not really suitable to attract visitors in large numbers. It was a big thrill to be commissioned by such a great club and the highlight of my career at that time. I really enjoyed working on the scheme and there were good people at the club, with an ambitious vision for the future.

With the addition of 300 acres of new land alongside the Dornoch Firth, there was scope to make considerable changes. The first phase of redesign was limited in so much that the course had to start and finish at the existing clubhouse. This limited the incursion onto the new land to just 5 holes, but this was arranged so that further new holes could be added in the future to meet the ultimate objective of creating an entirely new second course. I mapped out these additional holes but sadly, the ambition for this has not yet been realised.

The club’s aim was to increase the length and par of the course so that in terms of challenge it was more of an equal with the Championship Course. This involved the five new holes (9 to 13) plus the redesign of a further six holes (3, 4, 5, 6, 14 and 15) within the Struie. Two holes were abandoned completely (the old par 3’s at 4 and 15) in the reorganisation and a further three were converted into a three-hole warm up loop alongside the practice ground.

We also took on a radical redesign of the burn that crossed the course. When we arrived it was a straight, wide canal, but we restored it to its original winding course. I don’t think many people realise that was part of the work, but I’m very proud of that part of the project. The style of the new holes was heavily influenced by the natural sand dunes and blow outs found between what are now the 10th and 11th holes. When they were discovered, this area bore comparison to what is found at Kiawah Island. Sadly, the culling of the rabbit population has resulted in the sand blow outs filling in with grasses to a large degree.

The new Struie is a good test of golf, but it has never really hung together as a cohesive test, due to the patchwork of design styles and landscapes. There are some great holes out there and some lovely natural contours, but the flat part dissected by roads and alongside the caravan park was short on natural appeal. I had a plan to realign and rebunker holes 16 and 17 which would have added a good strategic twist but never got the opportunity to see it through as the committee structure changed.

The five new holes took the Struie to a fantastic location down by the firth and they were good, testing and spacious golf holes, in contrast to some of the tight holes amongst the gorse. I went back to the Struie three or four years ago and was rather upset with what I saw. The new holes have been heavily sanitised with many of the prominent strategic features of the original holes having been removed, along with a handful of beautiful ridge line bunkers. It seemed to me that the ambition for the Struie had diminished when it could easily have been of 

 quality had the full plan been implemented.

Royal Dornoch (Struie)

Three of the original Ladies Course holes are used in the modern day Struie course at Royal Dornoch Golf Club. The Struie was upgraded in 2000/1 when five new holes were assimilated into the latest design.

Established in 1889, Forres Golf Club’s first 18-hole course opened for play fifteen years after the club was founded. In 1912, when a more favourable tract of land became available at Muiryshade, the club decamped to that location, engaging Willie Park Junior to design a new 18-hole course which James Braid subsequently upgraded in 1923.

 by John F. Moreton & Iain Cumming, a “

 article of 20th July 1928, surveying the courses of north Scotland, enthuses ‘here you see Jimmie Braid written all over the place… he suggested all the improvements that have made it what it is’.”

The book goes on to say that two holes, the old 5th and 6th, have since disappeared (resulting in quite a long walk from the modern day 5th green to the 6th tee) with two new holes – the 202-yard par three 7th (”Witch Tree”) and 368-yard par four 8th (“Rodger’s”) – replacing those that were lost.

Five par fours in succession (at holes 11 to 15) form a formidable challenge on the back nine and they’re immediately followed by the signature hole on this rolling parkland track which is “Pond,” the 322-yard 16th, where the fairway doglegs right past a sizeable water hazard on its way to the green.