After a couple of days of links therapy at Royal Dornoch, I can report on my experience at Castle Stuart. The day dawned clear and quiet after a few breezy cloudy days. I went sort of expecting an American CCFAD experience. The impression was ruined on the drive in on a gravel road, not that that is bad. As I pulled into the parking lot for my 10:00 a.m. tee off time, I did notice that there was only one car in the parking lot.
I was met by a greeter and the starter, both very genial. No need to go into the clubhouse, the green fee was already paid over the phone on booking. They pointed me to the practice area, including a nice range and short game area with unlimited balls, that’s included in the fee. The putting green is enormous and slopes down from the clubhouse toward the firth. In a Hansian touch that reminded me of Rustic Canyon, some of the slope to the sea is an optical illusion, you get putts that look to break uphill towards the clubhouse.
The starter walked me down to the first tee and explained the course – much the same as you’ve seen on the web site. He was very chatty (and perhaps a bit lonely, as I was only the 3rd person out on the day) and said he wanted my opinions after I finished the round.
I should point out that the conditions, apart from being bright and warm, were also windy, around 35 to 40 m.p.h., by the time I teed off The prevailing wind blows from the west along the firth. There’s no doubt the wind affected my view of the course. It was pretty close to unplayable and it bordered on unenjoyable because of the wind. The course stretches generally east/west along the firth. The first three holes on each nine are along the firth but in opposite directions. The first three of the front were upwind and the first three of the back downwind. The rest of the course is on a 100 to 140 foot high ridge above the firth and is treeless and completely exposed to the wind. To give you an example of the wind, on the 14th, one of the high points of the course, I hit a pretty good driver 190 yards and a knock down 3 iron 130 yards and came up short on a 360 yard downhill par 4. And, I’m not a short hitter. Now the wind is probably not always that bad, but based on my experiences at Nairn, just down the coast, it must be fairly common. One of the design features of the course is super wide fairways, up to 60 and 70 yards wide – two to three times wider than any other links course I‘ve seen over here. I expect they are this wide to accommodate resort golfers, but also to accommodate the wind.
The pictures that have been posted describe the course better than I can, so I’m not going to try to describe individual holes.
Things that struck me about the architecture, which they seem to attribute more to Mark Parsinen, than to Gil Hanse include the following.
There are areas where the links style seems clearly the creation of man. Some areas are not natural looking. They told me that, in fact, it is all manufactured, that it was formerly a farmer’s field on the upper portion. Consequently, it’s not really a links. It reminded me of Bandon, but with some holes a sea level.
The routing is not a traditional out and back links. The holes change direction fairly frequently on both nines, but mostly aligned along the prevailing wind direction. The frequent changes in direction are good on windy days, you don’t get as frustrated as having to play 8 or 9 holes upwind, before turning around, or vice versa.
With the wide fairways, they claim that there is a strategic element to the course, but I was unable to see much of it in one round and given the winds. One wonders whether the strategic elements are designed for calm conditions or for the prevailing wind direction and speed. There are defenses at the greens, both bunkers and the positioning of the greens. The greens themselves have quite a bit of internal movement. They were smooth and true and running at 9 (they said). Any faster and the balls would have blown off the greens. Most greens provide a run-on option in keeping with links golf, and these are probably necessary from a wind perspective.
The holes are fairly isolated from one another and there are signs to direct you to the next tee, otherwise you might not find them the first time around.
The course has significant elevation change although most holes play level or downhill. It is a tough walking course because of the elevation changes.
The bunkers are a mixed metaphor of natural ragged edging and stacked sod wall, sometimes in the same bunker, as can be seen in the pictures. Functionally it makes no difference, but visually it’s kind of schizophrenic. Beware that the bunker sand is a lot heavier than the practice bunker. Even heavy as it was it was still blowing around in the wind. Maintaining the bunkers looks like it will be a challenge. There were bunkers all over the place, including places it looks like no one would ever go, sort of reminiscent of Whistling Straits. Despite the number of bunkers and the wind, I only found one all day. It left me wondering if they were more for visual affect than for functioning hazards. I’d need more plays to sort that out.
There were continuous tees and fairways if you like that kind of stuff.
I did notice some of the sod walled mounds or ridges, but they weren’t so many or so odd as to cause revulsion. The most egregious was in front of the 18th green. Theoretically you could roll a ball dead against the end wall and have literally no shot other than to try to putt it around the horseshoe curve of the wall or take an unplayable. I noticed today that Royal Dornoch had sod walls supporting the back of the third tee and the side of the seventh tee. Maybe it’s not so odd after all.
I asked about the RR ties. The response was that they were meant to make the place look older than it is. I don’t think anybody will be fooled into thinking this is an old Scottish course. The ties are ubiquitous in the parking lot and around the clubhouse, hardly used at all on the front nine and again more common on the back nine. They are frequently along the walking paths to retain the hills rather than in play. In any event, I think they are neither here nor there.
I don’t think anyone will come to a conclusion that this will become a classic Scottish links course. It just looks too different. It might appeal to those who like well designed modern American courses in attractive surroundings. And, the surroundings are spectacular. And, the views are incorporated into the design in several instances.
When I finished, I spent about 20 minutes chatting with the starter about my feedback. He seemed genuinely interested. I said that it was worth playing once, for me as a hard core golfer, but I wouldn’t play it again at 150 quid. It just isn’t that special. Maybe no course is for me.
I asked about their target demographic and business model. They said they get little local play because the locals who have the money and are serious about golf are already members at Nairn or other area courses, and they don’t want to pay even the discounted local rate. Scottish thrift, perhaps. He seemed to think they could be successful on the rich American tourist trade making a triple header of Dornoch, Nairn and Castle Stuart. He also noted that they were successful at Kingsbarn, so why not here. I did count the cars on the way out – there were 12, but, some of them were local gawkers looking around at the rich man’s play ground.
The clubhouse is super nice, with wonderful views from the top floor bar. Perhaps it will attract the Skibo Castle crowd. I imagine the prices are appropriately high.
So, in summary, for me, it’s a good and interesting design in a spectacular setting but the price and possibility of ferocious winds would deter me from returning. With all the authentic links courses and limited time on my trips, I don’t see why I would come over here to play a modern course that for all intents and purposes could be in America, and is very expensive compared to the classics. Perhaps its competitors over here for the American tourist trade would be Kingsbarns and the Castle Course. If they can attract people who go there they might succeed.
So, I think it may be a design success and an aesthetic success that may be done in by location, price and wind. For context, I wouldn’t go back to Bandon in the summer or Pebble Beach anytime for the same reasons.