Brora Golf Club
Sutherland, Scotland
These days golf has become too much of an effort — from building the course and clubhouse to going through the whole routine of having someone take your clubs from the car, arrange a cart and point you in the direction of the practice tee. Golf need not be this complicated. If done properly, it is a simple affair. Brora is such a simple place. Right against the North Sea, James Braid was blessed with some of the most natural humps and bumps on which to lay out this course. A flock of sheep roams the course, necessitating the electrical wire fencing around each green. Brora has an unfinished look to it, but so much the better. Thanks to the sheep, there is no real rough on the course. The greens have some slope but are not frightening, especially at the slower speed that seems to be the standard.
The attractive drive and pitch first.
On paper, the course might seem to lack the kind of challenge that will continually lure a golfer back. It is barely over 6,100 yards from the back tees. As one of the staff of the nearby Carnegie Club at Skibo Castle sniffed, “it’s hardly real golf if you can’t even lose a ball.” However, upon closer inspection, par is a tight 69 as there is only one five par for the low marker to try and beat up. Furthermore, there are six four pars measuring in excess of 400 yards. Also, the wind has been known to blow from time to time in northern Scotland.
The sixth: Each one-shotter plays in a different direction.
But statistics are the last thing Brora is about. The course has one attractive hole after another. The muscle is thrown in in just the right places (the 3rd, 5th, 10th, 11th, 15th and 17th). While the 4th, 7th and 14th holes won’t win any prizes, the rest of the course is most appealing. In keeping with the natural look of the course, the bunkering is scarce but effective – there are no superfluous bunkers. James Braid only had to make two trips to Brora as its architect.
A crowded day at Brora, just to the right of the eighth fairway.
To Braid’s credit, he managed to do what most architects fail to accomplish “ he made the holes away from the sea as interesting (and probably more so) than the holes that follow hard by the shoreline. How much better would Turnberry and Royal Aberdeen be if the same could be said for them? Braid combined the rippling fairways with the out of bounds down the right side to make the golfer clearly think his strategy well through. Holes to Note: Fifth hole, 400 yards; The stream that crosses the fairway at 170 yards from the green ensures that even the longer hitter must still face a mid-iron approach to the wonderfully natural green tucked into the right-to-left slope of the hill. Eighth hole, 500 yards; Outstanding strategic, gambling par five. The key is the small cliff to the right of the hole for the last 150 yards and the bunker that eats into the left side of the green. To go for the green in two requires a bold shot over this sunken area (which, truth be told, is not as horrible a place to be as it appears). The solitary bunker to the left of and short of the green does not allow the player to “sort of” to go for the green. Braid must share the credit for this hole with the present golf committee at Brora “ the bunker was built only in the past few years.
The intimidating second to the eighth.
Ninth hole, 160 yards; A good example of routing a hole out toward the sea rather than just along it. In many cases, the former can be more effective and more visually appealing.
The ninth green, complete with sheep fence, hard by the shore.
Eleventh hole, 400 yards; The hole that best exemplifies Brora. Wild and rugged and completely original. If it weren’t for the flagstick, you would never know you were on a golf course. Twelfth hole, 320 yards; The most thoughtful hole on the course with a bunker left and OB right off the tee. Seventeenth hole, 430 yards; Braid’s favorite on the course and one of Scotland’s finest holes. The elevated tee on this big hole offers the best views of the course. The player still needs to concentrate as this is the most difficult par at Brora. Into the wind, the fairway is uncharacteristically narrow as the drive must be fitted between a hill on the right and bunkers on the left. The long approach is to a tightly protected, sloping green. A very good hole for this stage in the match as it requires positive swings and does not allow the player just to steer his way home. Eighteenth hole, 190 yards; The severe upslope on the front of the green fends off any half-hearted shots — only a full-blooded tee shot will find the green. The charm of Brora is such that the visitor does not realize until the drive home that he finished his round on a par three. Ronan Rafferty, the European tour player and lover of links golf, played at Brora a few years back. He found the course a sheer delight. He made suggestions on locations for several new championship tee positions. The exciting thing is that Brora does in fact have the land to add a couple hundred yards to the course should they ever choose. But even as it stands today, the authors must echo James Finnegan’s sentiments: it is one of our favorite dozen links courses in Scotland.
In search of an errant drive on the sixteenth.
Unlike some of the more well-known Scottish courses, Brora is the real thing. You pull into the parking lot, pay your green fee, head to the first tee and away you go. Three hours later, after minding the sheep dung and electric fencing, you will be re-living your round with friends while enjoying a beer in the upstairs bar. The tremendous views down the first and last few holes will only reinforce that this is golf in its most enjoyable form.
Another enjoyable round at Brora.
The End