[David_Tepper]

Golspie is the next village north of Dornoch (about 7 miles) on the east coast of the Scottish Highlands. It tends to get overlooked by visitors to the area, as Royal Dornoch and Brora get the vast majority of traffic. However, (I believe) Golspie was used, along with RDGC, for qualifying rounds when the British Amateur was held at RDGC in 1984 (I think that was the year).

Here is a link to a gallery of 19 pix of the course. Unfortunately, the pix have no captions.

www.golspie-golf-club.co.uk/gallery.htm

     

[Jonathan Cummings]

Golspie is a tremendous and somewhat hidden gem of a course.  It has links, heathlands and parklands holes, all on one golf course.  A must if you ever find yourself tired of Dornoch.

JC

[David_Tepper]

Jonathan-

Thanks for the ringing endorsement! I have been a Country Member at Golspie the past 3 years and I really enjoy playing there. The heathland holes (#8-#13) are quite good. I think the five par-3's at Golspie are the equal of what you find at RDGC or Brora. #16 especially is a great par-3.

Golspie was designed by James Braid, as was Brora.

DT

[Jonathan Cummings]

David - Golspie, in my mind, is #2 in the highlands, well ahead of Brora, Tain, Skibo, Inverness, Nairn, and Lossiemouth, but well behind Dornoch (I could play Dornoch forever).

J

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Jonathan, That is high praise for Nairn is a very good to almost great course.I have not played Golspie only because Dornoch is that good, ie you cannot play it enough.

[ForkaB]

Thanks for the pics, David.

Golspie is indeed a gem, although I wouldn't "rank" it as high as Jonathan.  What Golspie has is incredible variety and some great holes--but also some not-so-great holes, unfortunately including 1 and 18.

That being said, it is as good as or better than all but 5 or so courses in Fife.  Better than the Eden (overall) for example.  But, As JB and Jonathan say, it's hard to make the 10 mile drive north when you are staying at Dornoch and have the chance to play one of the truly finest courses in the world.  I've spent a huge amount of time in the area over the last 25 years, but haven't played Golspie for the last 10, not because it is not a superb experience, but because it exists in an environment where the golfer and person has an embarrasment of riches. I'll be rectifying this in August, and am very much looking forward to seeing how the course holds up these days.

[David_Tepper]

For an RDGC member, it is indeed hard to pull yourself away from Dornoch to play anywhere else in the Highlands. However, for anyone visiting the area, it should be noted that the green fee at Golspie is 25 pounds, roughly 1/3 of what Dornoch is charging these days. I hope that tempts a few of you out there to give Golspie a try.

[Doug Wright]

David,

Thanks for the photos. Our first full day in Scotland this fall is at Golspie & Brora.

Best,

[David_Tepper]

In my mind, ranking golf courses can be a tricky thing to do. However, I will say that the view of the golf course from the modest clubhouse bar/lounge at Golspie is far superior to what you get to see at either Royal Dornoch or Brora. At the latter two, all you really get to see is the 1st tee and the 18th green. At Golspie, you get to see 6 or 7 holes plus a lovely view of the ocean. The food there is not too bad either.  

[ForkaB]

Please don't get me wrong, David, I like Golspie very much, and said so in my first post.  My comment was just to concur with others that IF you are inclined to be intensive rather than extensive on a golfing trip to the Highlands, it's hard to get away from Dornoch.  I'm such a person--for example, if I had the chance to play 36 at Augusta National for 3-4 days, I'd probably turn down the chance to substitutre one or more of those rounds for one at Augusta CC, good as that course may be.  Others differ and for those who prefer to be extensive, I would highly recommend Golspie, Brora, Tain and Dornoch (Struie), all of whom are roughly of the same quality and interest, IMHO, although each is very different.

[TEPaul]

Just last night I was reading a chapter on that specific region by Herbert Warren Wind. He and his host had such good rounds during Herbert's one and only visit playing Dornoch and he liked Dornoch so much his host decided he would not let Herbert play it again and instead took him to play Golspie.

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