Highland Golfing Greats
As well as the Highland Championship Links of Castle Stuart, Royal Dornoch and Nairn there is some great value golf available within an hour's drive of the Loch Ness Country House Hotel. Some of the courses you may wish to consider include the following.
Nairn Dunbar Golf Club
Founded to provide “the working men and women of Nairn the opportunity to play the Royal and Ancient game” over a hundred years ago, Nairn Dunbar is now, even more so than at any point in it’s history, presenting a course that is so worthy of the club’s principles. The extensive area of links-land stretching along the Moray Firth towards the Culbin Sands provides ideal ground for Links Golf.
With Silver Birch, winding waterways, gorse and whin bushes, willows and sallows, dastardly ditches, the Ministers Loch and sand dunes, “It abounds in all the natural hazards so desirable in the game of golf”.
The course has become extremely popular with visiting golfers from the USA, Europe and the UK.
For more information visit the club website
Brora Golf Club
Brora Golf Club was established in 1891 and the Club recently celebrated it's Centenary. In 1923 James Braid, five times Open Champion and a prolific designer of golf courses visited the course and redesigned the 18 hole layout which has stood the passing of time and remains a fair and challenging test of true links golf.
Brora presents all the attributes of the Scottish seaside links and the layout is classic: an easy opening hole, a short hole facing each cardinal point of the compass, a hole you can't reach in two shots and the last green under the clubhouse window. The course will ensure that you use every club in the bag, and that you will have to adapt and manufacture according to whether the course is running fast or slow. The greens are renowned for their texture.
The rough is negligible in order to facilitate play, you ought to return home with all the golf balls you brought! Over all the golf course is a holiday treat, the clubhouse modern and comfortable, the catering excellent. But perhaps the most over-riding, all important feature is the atmosphere - warm, friendly and welcoming.
For more information visit the club website
Golspie Golf Club
he Course was established by the Members on the Golspie Links in 1889, extended by Archie Simpson of Aberdeen in 1908, and modified by the celebrated James Braid in 1926.
Laid out along the scenic north shore of the Dornoch Firth, the course offers a challenging mix of sea-side links, heath and parkland, against the backdrop of Ben Bhraggie.
Golspie is an easy-walking, humps and hollows links course. Paradise and The Lochy (9th & 10th holes) are favoured by many golfers as is the 16th The Cairngorms where the well-guarded, two-tiered par 3 green, created by James Braid sits beyond a deep hollow, with trouble everywhere.
Give it a go - great fun round the entire Course.
For more information visit the club website
Tain Golf Club
Overlooking the Dornoch Firth, Tain arguably offers one of the best settings imaginable in the Highlands for a round of golf. With the sea on one side and the backdrop of the mountains behind, every day brings a different aspect to this challenging and beautiful course.
Designed in 1890 by Tom Morris, the layout of the holes guarantees an interesting round for beginners or experts. The sheltered location of the course ensures favourable weather conditions for most of the year - winter greens are seldom used at Tain.
Full facilities are accessible for visitors including the purpose built locker room and changing area. The bar and dining area are fitted with large windows to give the best view of the course, especially the 18th green.
For more information visit the club website
Strathpeffer Golf Club
Strathpeffer Spa is one of the oldest courses in the North of Scotland having first opened for play in 1888. In its early years, it existed as a nine-hole course before being extended to 18 holes in 1896 with a little help from old Tom Morris. The fruits of his labour is a comparatively short layout that makes up in enjoyment what it lacks in yards.
The scenery is just remarkable with panoramic views to enjoy across the Black Isle and down towards Peffery Valley whilst the opening hole is spectacular with the highest tee to green drop in Scottish golf. It is truly scintillating stuff what a way to start your round!
For more information visit the club website
Fortrose and Rosemarkie Golf Club
Course architect James Braid's remarkable achievement in designing 18 challenging holes within the narrow Chanonry peninsula is instantly obvious and admired by first-time visitors.
What Fortrose and Rosemarkie may lack in yardage is more than offset by its small, deceptive greens and strategically-placed bunkers - challenges which are multiplied in the mind of the player by a public road dissecting the course, the proximity of the sea to eight of the holes and the dense island of gorse that awaits the wayward shot at numerous others.
Breathtaking scenery and a dolphin colony in the adjacent firth are additional attractions for discerning golfers from far and wide who make a visit to Fortrose and Rosemarkie a must on their golfing calendar.
For more information visit the club website
Loch Ness Country House Hotel at Dunain Park
