Royal Dornoch Golf Club, Dornoch Scotland

Royal Dornoch Golf Club, Dornoch Scotland Highlights

Royal Dornoch Golf Club in Dornoch Scotland—we could not conceive of visiting Scotland without playing our favorite course in Britain!  Located in the atmospheric Scottish Highlands, Royal Dornoch Golf Club is the original home of the raised green design, as Dornoch is the place where the great Donald Ross learned his craft. Royal Dornoch Golf Club’s upside-down saucer greens, always firm and incredibly fast for a links course, are nearly impossible to hit. This glorious stretch of links in the Scottish Highlands hugging the sea is one of the most natural courses in the world. A perfect  example is the 14th at Royal Dornoch, cunningly named “Foxy,” slyly meandering through the dunes to one of the best raised green locations on earth, all with nary a  single bunker to navigate. Our personal favorite at Royal Dornoch Golf Club is the 8th, at the far end of the course towards the village of Embo and distant Dunrobin Castle, Scotland’s version of a Walt Disney castle.  On the 8th at Royal Dornoch you can lay up to the crest of the hill and have a longer approach at a better angle, or blast a driver blindly over it for a shorter and trickier approach. The village of Dornoch is said to be haunted by the last witch in Scotland, Janet Horne, who burned at the stake in 1722 on the evidence that two of her fingers were joined.  A stone in the greenskeepers’  backyard, called “The Witch’s Stone” and located close to the Struie Course’s 18th tee, marks the spot!  The Struie Course incorporates six holes from the original championship course and is one of the most underrated golf courses in all of Scotland. Royal Dornoch Golf Club notwithstanding, the “Haunted Burgh” of Dornoch has so much atmosphere that it almost must be seen to be believed, from the 14th century cathedral to the best suite at Dornoch Castle Hotel, once the local court where scores of people were sent to death. How special is Scotland’s Royal Dornoch Golf Club? Just ask Tom Watson, who called Royal Dornoch the most fun he has ever had playing golf. We can’t say it any better than that!

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