[Philip Gawith]

This course often features on GCA, but on the basis that you can never have too much of a good thing - and the whins in bloom are worth seeing.....



The infamous second. Remarkably, all four of us hit the green - unprecedented in my experience! Most still took four shots...



The 3rd green with Foxy behind...



The wonderful - and enormous - 4th green with the 12th behind.



Great view of the 5th, with the short 6th behind, and the 11th green on the right.




the 5th



The daunting and wonderful 6th in full Spring splendour



The side view of the 6th which helps the unitiated understand some of the difficulty if you leak it right - very easy given the gorse on the left.



Looking down at the 8th green with Embo (caravan park!) behind. The fairway with most movement on the course...



The (large) punchbowl 8th green



Looking back at the short 10th - except for 13, all Dornoch's shorts have severed raised greens. The pin placement of front right, with the tee box on the right was also pretty brutal.



The 11th green with 12th fairway and 4th green also clearly visible.



Another view of 11 with 6 behind, and the path up to 7...



Golfers making their way up 4 with the par 5 12th behind them. You have to play the hole to know just how much the hump left of the green comes into play.



The short 13th...



Where else? The approach to Foxy....



The green at Foxy from near the 15th tee



Looking out to sea with the tricky 15th green in the mid-ground



The skyline 16th, with low-tide behind...



Another wonderful green - the 17th, one of the best of a fantastic collection.



18 - not the most difficult green on the course, but one of the most difficult to hit.

[Jason Shanks]

I was there on or about May 23rd of last year, and absent the driving rain, the pictures wonderfully reflect my memories of a most amazing place.  Man do I love that course.

Thanks for posting the pictures.

[Rich Goodale]

Bravo, Philip!

[Craig Sweet]

Simply awesome! I wonder if they need a maintenance worker?

[Tim Pitner]

I haven't played Royal Dornoch (yet).  In some photos, the gorse looks very close to the greens.  How much in play around the greens is the gorse?  Do balls not staying on the greens run off into the gorse?  

[Evan_Smith]

I've died and gone to heaven.  Amazing shots.  After reading Rubenstein's "A Season in Dornoch" I wanted to move there.  After seeing your greats photos, I want to be buried there!!!

[Philip Gawith]

Tim, the gorse is in play on some holes but the ball does not run off the greens into the gorse.....

In general the gorse is in play more off the tee than around the greens.

Thanks for the kind words Evan! I can now go to sleep a happy man! I never tire of the course. I doubt even comrade Goodale tires of it and he has been around many, many times!

[Garland Bayley]

...


The 3rd green with Foxy behind...

...

I always appreciate seeing a Foxy behind! Thanks Philip.

[Bill_McBride]

Well that does it.  Plans are being laid for May 2008, 5 days in Fife and 5 in Dornoch, as I type.    Paging John Krystynak!

[Geoffrey Childs]

Wow- Thanks for those great photos.  I wish my trip had been during Spring!

[Doug Bolls]

What great pictures - we were there first week of April and saw the beginning of the whins in bloom - they look a little better now.
Bill - I don't know where you plan to stay in Fife, or if you have any experience there - and I am not setting up myself as an expert (ok, enough disclaimers!) - we had 7 days in St. Andrews starting with TOC Reverse - I have been there 3 times and stayed this time in the Dunvegan - I would absolutely recommend their B&B.  If you have enough (6) to take the Auchterlonie Suite, it is the best possible experience I can think of.  We played Carnoustie, Kingsbarns, Muirfield and No. Berwick while staying there - to come back from a round and have a big room to gather, watch the Masters and just generally socialize is a very nice change from the routine B&B experience.  
Doug

[Stan Dodd]

What magnificent pictures and what a place.  I am booked in Dornoch from the 3rd of July until the 28th this summer and can not wait.  Thanks for the tease.

[Michael Christensen]

what great pictures......I had the same idea Bill!  What a beautiful day you had!

[Bill_McBride]

What great pictures - we were there first week of April and saw the beginning of the whins in bloom - they look a little better now.
Bill - I don't know where you plan to stay in Fife, or if you have any experience there - and I am not setting up myself as an expert (ok, enough disclaimers!) - we had 7 days in St. Andrews starting with TOC Reverse - I have been there 3 times and stayed this time in the Dunvegan - I would absolutely recommend their B&B.  If you have enough (6) to take the Auchterlonie Suite, it is the best possible experience I can think of.  We played Carnoustie, Kingsbarns, Muirfield and No. Berwick while staying there - to come back from a round and have a big room to gather, watch the Masters and just generally socialize is a very nice change from the routine B&B experience.  
Doug

Doug, we must have just missed each other - we had a crowd of 8 or 12 in St Andrews for the end of March Reverse Old Course.  John Krystynak, Peter Pittock and I stayed at the Vardon House up the Scores a couple of blocks, very nice B&B.  The Dunvegan was full.  I did get in there a couple of times for drinks.  We also played 2x at North Berwick and "the day" at Muirfield.  Great trip.

North to Dornoch in 2008!  

[Gordon Oneil]

And this was the one place in the world that I wanted to take my Pop while we/he still can, based upon GCA, "A Season in Dornoch," and everything I have heard...
...before I laid eyes on some of the best golf photos I have ever seen!

Well done.

"The daunting and wonderful 6th in full Spring splendour..."

Help me out here.  This picture reminds me of a famous golf line which at this moment I can't remember who said it or which hole he was referring to but it went something like, "I don't know whether to play it or photograph it."

The O'Neils, Father and Son, Spring 2008, book it.

[Philip Gawith]

May is a good time to go in my experience - you need to go one of the middle two weekends as the first and last are Bank Holidays.

Our routine is to play 36 holes at Brora, followed by 36 at Dornoch and then a further 18 at Dornoch and I never tire of playing either course. Brora was in the best condition i have seen it in over ten years. I will post some pictures in due course.

One of the many joys of Dornoch is that the golf always moves at a great pace - sometimes you have to play 2-balls and you can come in in 3 hrs15, while 4 balls need not take much over 4 hours. I cannot remember waiting in a round at Dornoch - i am sure i have, but it is a long while back.

This year owing we stayed, by way of variety, at the Bridge Hotel in Helmsdale which is ten miles north of Brora, 40 min north of Dornoch. It is a really fun little hotel, very reasonable for what it offers, in a beautiful part of the world, and probably more charming than anything Dornoch has to offer. I would highly recommend it, though it does preclude the option of walking around the course early or late.

[Rich Goodale]

Philip

If we both talk nice-nice to him, do you Ran would allow some of those fabulous pictures to be added to my "My Home Course" profile of Dornoch?  Would it be OK with you?

Stan

I'll be In Dornoch July 15-21 (amongst other times).  Let me know if you want a game.  Would be good to see you again.

Rich

[Philip Gawith]

Rich I would be delighted for you to speak nicely to Ran re my pictures (I am sure he does not need to hear from me) - and for you to use them! There are quite a few others, but these are the ones I liked most, within self-imposed limit of 20.

[Ed Tilley]

Philip,

Are you some kind of sun god? All your pictures seem to have clear blue skies - I've been to Dornoch a few times and I'm not convinced that the sun ever shines there.

I love that picture of the 5th - I love the whole course but that hole is my favourite. I'm a big fan of short 4's and this is one of the best.

Ed

[Philip Gawith]

Ed we played three rounds and there were there for a day and a half. I think you are pretty unlucky if you have clouds all that time. Some of the pics taken during the more cloudy weather, but we were undoubtedly lucky since it was chucking down in the South and we never opened an umbrella in three days.

You can see on the 5th that the pin was right at the front - I tried to approach from the right twice and it was impossible not to go into the side bunker. When the flag is there it is even more important to go down the middle or centre-left, but it is difficult to do!

[Rich Goodale]

Philip

These days, the play off the tee to a front pin is to try to hit it into the greenside bunkers.  Simple explosion shot to 3-5 feet and you have your biride.

Rich

[Philip Gawith]

Now you tell me Rich?! My bunker play might be an obstacle in executing that strategy....but you are right, should not be that difficult and is the only way you are landing softly enough.

[Rich Goodale]

Philip

Another alternative for a man of your prodigious length is to hit it long right of the green, then you chip back to the hole.  Oopes, I forgot about your chipping...... .  Or you could do like your man Ernie ("Where the Hell's he these Days") Els who tried to guide his drive to roll up and over that cart path/channel to the left of the green.  Almost made it, too, from the back tees (360).......

Both of those alternatives get you in the front bunkers if you miss the shot straight.

Rich

[Philip Gawith]

You are probably right about playing driver there - I always mess around with a shorter club to very mixed effect. It is  great hole - plays harder than it looks. What portion of drives do you think finish in the left half of the fairway? I would reckon 15% maximum.

 I would like to play the course off the back-tees one day - I have never done that. In truth, the challenge is good enough off club markers - if conditions benign and your game good, you can score well, but if you are a bit off, especially with your short game, they are challenge enough.

[Rich Goodale]

Philip

15% is not a bad number, gven that it takes a really accurate and long shot to get to the left hand (preferred) side.

The back tees can be done, mostly through playing in a competition, which raises this thought!

May 2008 will be the 5th anniversary of the 1st Buda Cup, which was played over Dornoch and Brora, which included two tournament rounds (Burghfield Open and Open Medal) played over Dornoch.

How about Buda V going back to its roots?  Forget those fine English courses we seem to have regressed into and go back to the home of golf!

If people will look closely at and remember the amazing pictures above, I think we will have no shortage of volunteers........

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