St. Andrews, Turnberry, Carnoustie, Royal Troon ... the great Open Championship golf venues of Scotland simply roll off the tongue. But the spirit of golf in Scotland is not just found on the "low road" from Turnberry to St. Andrews. It is arguably even better captured along the Whisky Trail in the Highlands!  Start at hauntingly beautiful Royal Dornoch Golf Club, where Donald Ross learned his craft.  It may be Scotland's finest golf course. Nearby is James Braid's classic links at Brora, where the sheep and cattle still roam, and little electric fences surround and protect the greens! Cruden Bay, on the other end of the trail, is the Scotland golf of your wildest imagination, in the shadow of Slains Castle, whose ruins inspired Bram Stoker to pen his "Dracula."

Once you arrive in St. Andrews, you will find it is a destination in itself, with the "Fife and Drums" beating throughout the Kingdom at classic local links like Elie, Crail, and Ladybank, clubs that perhaps best capture the essence of golf in Scotland, not to mention the other great layouts in town such as the New and Jubilee.  From Fife, go Forth across the Firth to find some real "links to the past" east of Edinburgh such as the treasures at North Berwick, Musselburgh, and another "home of golf," the town of Gullane.

The Ultimate Hidden Links may well be in the west.  The Machrie, on the Isle of Islay, and Machrihanish, on the Mull of Kintyre, are straight from the imagination about what Scotland should be like.   Back on the mainland, Prestwick, birthplace of the Open, is the experience of a lifetime.  Western Gailes is another essential counterpart to the Ayrshire open venues.  You will love all of these courses, and if you take a Hidden Links tour, and you may find yourself rattling off some new names when you return home!

Sample Golf Tours of Scotland

Click here to begin planning your golf tour of Scotland