Highland Links has one of the greatest routings in the world, with the long walks part of what makes it so overwhelming. Plus the use of natural, intense contours as an integral part of the strategy. You play brutally long, uphill defile holes like the par-5 7th, followed by the exciting, anticipatory up-and-over blind short par-4 8th. It has an extraordinary collection of par-3s, everything from an 8-iron to a 3-metal. And then you have these convex ramps into a green like the 13th where the shelf to work the fall in is about 5-yards wide, with anything left of it steered that way or to the right of it steered the other way.
The walk itself, as Lorne Rubenstein described it in his epic speech when the place was rededicated in the late-1990s, is a classic historical march through the Scottish Highlands, starting inland, moving along the lower-lying beach, shifting through marsh, then up into the mountains and back. It is a stirring journey, one you miss entirely if you ride a cart.
Having said all that, the maintenance standards, rain or even dry, are just too heavy-handed, with not enough ground roll, not enough turf cover, too many dirt areas along the tree lines, and too many tees enshrouded in shade. plus you never get to play the river there (10th green is a classic example) because of the trees they've allowed to overgrow. But for the tee shot on the 11th, where the carry across the stream is inconsequential, you never actually confront the Clyburn as an integral design element. As an aside, the ranger-ing is non-existent, there's inadequate staffing of basic amenities. But the real issue is that the maintenance program does not allow the genius of the architecture to be properly playable. I'm not talking about the need for lush green cover; just firmer, faster playable ground. Yes, the greens are in very good shape, but not the tees, fairways or roughs.