Royal Dornoch Golf Club

Anticipated Links Experience:
With a delightful view over Dornoch Firth and gorse en masse, this a strong , memorable links course with razor-sharp character.
The first eight holes follow a ridge and the remaining ten are played in the other direction on links terrain towards the sea.  Incredibly, enjoyable links golf with large portions of delight. The only slight fly in the ointment that taints this great fountain of joy is the number of green-fee guests, particularly those from the USA making their pilgrimage to play the course in the footsteps of Donald Ross, who began his career here.

Best Holes:
par 3 – 8th hole
par 4 – 2nd hole
par 5 – 9th hole

Worthy of Note:
Visit the course in May when the surrounding landscape is painted vibrant yellow by the gorse.  The natural surroundings are fabulous at any time but in May they truly come into their own. Make sure to stay at the Royal Golf Hotel with its view over the first fairway, and take the opportunity to play its sister course Struie. Take out your camera at the 7th tee and turn around. A more beautiful view over a links course would be hard to find.

History:
The course was founded in 1877 and the first nine holes laid out. In 1886 Old Tom Morris was called in from St Andrews to oversee the layout of the course. He introduced the plateau greens which are the soul of the course, their uniqueness lies in their size and their inverted saucer shapes. In 1906 the club became the 7th to be granted royal status. Donald Ross was born in 1872 in Dornoch. He spent a few years at St Andrews but returned to Dornoch in 1893 and became greenkeeper/ pro. He later emigrated to the USA, where he became involved in the design of, amongst others, Pinehurst No2. Between 1900-1948 Donald Ross was involved in the construction of 413 courses in the USA. During WWII four of the course’s holes were destroyed and it was decided to construct more holes along the coastal stretch – holes 6 to 11.

Review

Turf	High	Tweed	Medium
Marker Posts	Low	Gorse	High
Salinity	High	Bunkers	High

Blogposts:
In Links Heaven at Royal Dornoch

Photos:

Website: www.royaldornoch.com