After our first week in Dornoch, with the 3-day bank holiday weekend coming on, we decided to take a little roadtrip. As we had never played golf north of Brora before (despite well over 35 visits to the Highlands), Saturday morning we headed north up the A9 to Wick GC.
https://www.wickgolfclub.org.uk/The club is located a few miles north of the town. It is an out and back routing that runs parallel to the sea and is separated from the water by one of the longest, steepest, tallest dune-ridges I have ever seen. Although it is interrupted in a few spots, the dune-ridge is at least 2 miles long.
The front 9 heads north and is the furthest inland. It is relatively flat. The turf is more meadow-ish than links-like. The tee boxes are built up a foot or two, but most of the greens are at fairway level. The 5th hole is a 400+ yard par-4 with a burn crossing the fairway about 250 yards out. The burn turns to guard the left side and back of the green. The 9th is angled east towards the water and is an uphill par-3. To me those were the 2 best holes on the front 9.
The back 9 heads south and is closer to the dune-ridge. The turf is much more links-like and the holes have more character. The stretch from 13 in is really pretty good. The 13th green has a swale running thru it. The par-3 14th is played to an elevated green.
The elevated tee boxes on both 17 & 18 are set into areas where the dune-ridge is not as high. You can see the water easily from them. #17 is a nice "Cape" hole.
The problem is most of the dune-ridge is so steep and tall that, aside from the tee boxes in 17 & 18, it does not offer any real opportunities to be incorporated into the course.
The other problem is the course suffer from a sizable rabbit infestation. There are rabbit scrapes and burrows everywhere.