The Highlands

[Ira Fishman]

My wife and I are making our first and probably only trip there next year.  RD, Castle Stuart, Brora, and Nairn are on the schedule.  Question is whether to do a second play at RD or play Golspie.  If there is a prior thread to consult, please let me know--too many come up when searching on the names.


Thanks,


Ira

[David_Tepper]

Ira -

Just sent you a personal message.

DT

[Jon Wiggett]

Ira


I would also look at Tain, Golspie or Fortrose. I would also love to see you when you are up in the area. If you need accommodation then the guesthouse I have at my place offers very good quality rooms at a reasonable price in a central location.


Jon

[Thomas Dai]

That far north in the U.K. there’s an awful lot of daylight available to play golf at different courses in if you pick the right time of year.
Atb

[Ira Fishman]

Jon,


Many thanks.  It is our 30th Wedding Anniversary celebration so we are splurging to stay at the Links House.  I will PM you when we get closer to trip; would be great to get together.


Thomas,


It is great to have a wife who loves golf as much as I do, but she does draw the line at one round per day, thereby creating the problem of too many courses on the list for the number of days we will be there.


Ira

[Sam Andrews]

Ira,


I love Fortrose and Brora (actually I really, really love Brora) but if you are only going to visit the Highlands once, play Dornoch as many times as you can!


Sam


PS I have only seen Golspie from the road but everyone tells me it is great fun. Then again people like Tain but I really don't.

[Mike Hendren]

Ira, there's no wrong answer.  I will only add this:  Long after I've forgotten every feature of Royal Dornoch, Castle Stuart and Brora I will remember my wife and I standing in the wind and quiet before the mass clan graves at Culloden Battlefield.  I have no Scottish ancestry, but was overcome with sadness and awe.   There's a big difference between a golf trip and a pilgrimage. 

Happy Anniversary.

Mike

[Steve Wilson]

When I made my first trip to Scotland for golf in 2000, I had the fortune to play with a prominent member of the golf community.  He asked about my itinerary and I gave him the list of Braid courses I was going to play on the northeast coast.  Fortrose, Brora, Golspie, and Reay.  For reasons that still elude me, he told me "Skip Golspie and play Brora twice."  I did.  Consequently I didn't get to play Golspie until 2013.  Since then I have become Golspie's biggest booster on this site.


Is it as good as Brora?  Probably not, but it's great fun and you are as unlikely to catch it on a windless day as you would Askernish.
There's a potpourri of short par 4s, lengthy par 4, 5 par 3s of great variety.  As has been often noted its a mix of links, heath, and parkland.  Try it, you'll like it.  And if this is going to be your only trip to the Highlands, make it long enough to play all of these courses numerous times.   

[Ira Fishman]

Mike, great advice to not get too pre-occupied with golf.


Steve, great golf advice.


Thanks to both.


Ira

[Marty Bonnar]

While we have hundreds of lovely views and vistas on our golf courses, not a single one compares with Glencoe, Ben Lomond or an Edinburgh sunset.
By all means, play some golf in the Highlands, but please don’t miss the scenery and history of Scotland.
Both Brora and Golspie are a total hoot though. You may have to come back again...
Cheers,
F.

[Rich Goodale]

Ira


If I were you I would forget about Nairn and Castle Stuart (good courses but no there, there).  Stick to Dornoch but play Brora and Golspie too.  Sneak onto the Struie in the gloaming.  There's a few Old Tom Morris holes there, particularly the 1st, which is magic.  Enjoy Dornoch.  Walk on the beach.  Explore the Historylinks Museum.  Look for the seals and ospreys on Loch Fleet.  Shop in the town.  Eat at Luigi and the Royal Golf.  Have a gin and/or whisky tasting in the town.  Chill out and explore.  Maybe even walk the site for the Coull Liinks in Embo.  Your stay there will end before you know it, and you can always come back to the Highlands.


Rich

[Ted Sirbaugh]

Ira


If I were you I would forget about Nairn and Castle Stuart (good courses but no there, there).  Stick to Dornoch but play Brora and Golspie too.  Sneak onto the Struie in the gloaming.  There's a few Old Tom Morris holes there, particularly the 1st, which is magic.  Enjoy Dornoch.  Walk on the beach.  Explore the Historylinks Museum.  Look for the seals and ospreys on Loch Fleet.  Shop in the town.  Eat at Luigi and the Royal Golf.  Have a gin and/or whisky tasting in the town.  Chill out and explore.  Maybe even walk the site for the Coull Liinks in Embo.  Your stay there will end before you know it, and you can always come back to the Highlands.


Rich

If you're feeling up for it, you could also climb Ben Bhraggie... great view at the top that overlooks some of Golspie

[Rich Goodale]

Agree with you, Ted.  Also, I forgot:  Skelbo Forest walk (Dornoch); Big Burn walk and waterfall; Dunrobin Castle; and Carn Liath Broch just off the A9 from Golspie to Brora.


Rich

[Ken Moum]

Agree with you, Ted.  Also, I forgot:  Skelbo Forest walk (Dornoch); Big Burn walk and waterfall; Dunrobin Castle; and Carn Liath Broch just off the A9 from Golspie to Brora.


Rich

My wife and I finally stopped at Carn Liath Broch this summer after driving past it many times.  It hardly takes a half hour to walk around and through it, but it's amazing to see something that gives such an insight into how it was in those days.


Of similar amazement to me, an old wildlife scientist, was the salmon ladder on Torboll Falls up the hill from Loch Fleet.It might be the oldest such ladder in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torboll_Fall

[Jim Nugent]

Agree with you, Ted.  Also, I forgot... Carn Liath Broch just off the A9 from Golspie to Brora.

Ira -- all good advice, I'm sure, just take care where you and/or your wife poke around.  Similar to the heroine in Outlander, you might find yourselves spirited back to a distant era, cut off from the 21st century. 

If so, try to get over to St. Andrews.  Play TOC and write down your thoughts about the course, the equipment, etc.  We'll work out where you can leave your notes, so centuries later we at GCA.com can find them, and discuss/argue over a true document from the dawn of golf course architecture.   

[Mike Hendren]

The falconry demonstration at Dunrobin Castle is a blast!

[Ira Fishman]

Cannot thank all of you enough for ensuring a magical trip. And if it is magical enough to be transported back a half of millennium, I will do my best to provide a report that matches the adventure.


Ira

[Mark Fedeli]

I'm hijacking this older thread as I have a similar concern as the OP.


I'll be in the Highlands for the first time during the first week of September. My three other guys are not much interested in architecture, and want to play the big names, but they trust me to fill in the blanks. We're flying in and out of Glasgow, and this is what our full schedule will likely be:


Sunday: Gleneagles King's
Monday: Royal Dornoch
Tuesday: Brora & Golspie
Wednesday: Castle Stuart
Thursday: Western Gailes & Prestwick
Friday: Turnberry


It's a little bit of driving, but broken up nicely. And it's a nice change from our last Scotland trip, which covered East Lothian, Fife, and the Aberdeen area.


One thing I'm nervous about is steering the group toward Golspie on Tuesday, as opposed to playing Royal Dornoch again. I can sell them on it, but I'd hate for them to be let down. What do you think? We also have a chance to play Carnegie Club on Tuesday, but something about all the exclusivity rubs me the wrong way for this trip. Would we be crazy to pass that up?


I know there's no right answer, but I always enjoy hearing people's thoughts.

[David_Tepper]

Mark F. -

Greetings from the bonnie Highlands! My 4-week visit here ends tomorrow.

Like Steve Wilson, I am a big fan of Golspie and have been a Country Member there since 2002. I have sent/encouraged a good number of visitors to play there over the years and no one has been disappointed yet. A day at Brora & Golspie is a day of very good golf.

DT

I posted a thread re: non-golf tourist ideas for Dornoch & the surrounding in  April. You can find it here:

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,65828.msg1571560.html#msg1571560

[Mark Chaplin]

Agreed on Dunrobin Castle and the falconary, well worth a visit.


I’ve a mad dash on Sunday 9am ferry from Stromness to Scrabster and wizz past Brora, Dornoch, Tain, Boat of Garten, etc to make a 4.40pm tee time at Kingsbarns. It’s worth it for a club event and a greenfee less than 10% of the usual rate.

[Rich Goodale]

Golspie is very much worth playing, but it can be played anytime.  Turning down a chance to play Dornoch again and/or playing Skibo is not worth visiting Golspie.  IMHO.

[Garland Bayley]

If you play in the fog at RD, then choose to play there again, otherwise Brora.

[Sean_A]

I'm hijacking this older thread as I have a similar concern as the OP.

I'll be in the Highlands for the first time during the first week of September. My three other guys are not much interested in architecture, and want to play the big names, but they trust me to fill in the blanks. We're flying in and out of Glasgow, and this is what our full schedule will likely be:

Sunday: Gleneagles King's
Monday: Royal Dornoch
Tuesday: Brora & Golspie
Wednesday: Castle Stuart
Thursday: Western Gailes & Prestwick
Friday: Turnberry

It's a little bit of driving, but broken up nicely. And it's a nice change from our last Scotland trip, which covered East Lothian, Fife, and the Aberdeen area.

One thing I'm nervous about is steering the group toward Golspie on Tuesday, as opposed to playing Royal Dornoch again. I can sell them on it, but I'd hate for them to be let down. What do you think? We also have a chance to play Carnegie Club on Tuesday, but something about all the exclusivity rubs me the wrong way for this trip. Would we be crazy to pass that up?

I know there's no right answer, but I always enjoy hearing people's thoughts.

Mark

I take it Golspie and Brora would be given up for Carnegie?  If so, I am not sure thats a good trade.  If its a straight up Golspie for Carnegie then its a no-brainer.  Whatever is decided, play Brora.

I might suggest you take Dornoch x2 (if you can get an early tee time to foster getting on the road) instead of Castle Stuart unless CS is a must see.  No question its a fabulous course and one of the very best in GB&I, but Dornoch may be more fun the 2nd go. 

I would also seriously consider dropping Western Gailes in favour of Prestwick x2.  Prestwick has so much more character than WG that I am sure a second go would be appreciated. Plus, its very easy to stick around 

Ciao

[Stephen Northrup]

If you're interested in the history of the Clearances, I would also recommend visiting the Badbea site around 30 miles north of Dornoch on the A9. You've find the ruins of a group of homes on the cliffside and some information on the lives of the people who were "relocated" there. We didn't see anyone else there on the day we visited.


https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/walk-of-the-week-badbea-clearance-village-caithness-1-1352255

[Ed Brzezowski]

Play RD, it's worth it. Then head over to Glenmorangie for a tour of the distillery. Have a dram overlooking the water, talk to the guys making the spirits a neat experience.