Royal Dornoch

Opened: 1877
Designer: Donald Steel
Par: 72
Length: 6,276 yards

The jewel of the Scottish Highlands, golf at Royal Dornoch has been played in some form for nearly 400 years. Regarded by many as their favourite course in Scotland, the course has been perennially ranked top 20 in the entire world.

The sense of remoteness and naturalness is immense at Dornoch, and when the gorse is in bloom there is perhaps no prettier course on earth. The par 4’s provide a good challenge with 8 of 12 stretching beyond 400 yards. But it is not length that provides the teeth for the course, rather it is the incredibly confounding plateau greens surrounded by sharp falloffs and humps and hollows. A deft short game is key to scoring well at Dornoch.

One of golf’s greatest and most prolific golf architect’s, Donald Ross, was born and bred in Dornoch and played a key role in its current design. Ross would eventually leave for America where he made a huge impact on the growth of the game and designed such notable courses as Pinehurst #2 and Oakland Hills.