A round with...Michael Buchan

The majesty of Royal Dornoch

More than 130 years before 22 noblemen, academics and landowners got together to found the Society of St Andrews Golfers in 1754 the game, in some form at least, was being played on the links at Dornoch.

Golf has been played on the lands around this Sutherland town and the links bordering the seashore since at least 1616 and maybe even earlier.

Royal Dornoch Golf Club

There has been a community in this part of Scotland for a thousand years or more, long before the Vikings arrived on the shores of what they called ‘Suderland’ - the Southern Land.

As the native Pictish-Celtic people were driven inland, or integrated with the new arrivals, this coastal region fell under the Norse influence that can still be seen today in place names such as Skibo, Skelbo, Embo, Brora, Helmsdale, Wick and Thurso.

Shot of the 3rd on the Championship Course

The name 'Dornoch' comes from the Gaelic for 'pebbly place’ and the town became a Royal Burgh under a charter granted by Charles I in 1628.

Up until the later half of the 19th century the area was possibly best known as the last place in the British isles to legally execute a witch by burning.

The 4th Green

However, in 1877 the Dornoch Golf Club gave the town a new and far less gruesome claim to fame. It was founded under the auspices of Alexander McHardy, a pioneer of golf in the north of Scotland, and Dr. Hugh Gunn, who had learned the game while a student at St Andrews.

Initially it was just nine holes but in 1886 the club invited Old Tom Morris to come and survey the links and create a first-class course which made the most of the natural contours which define this stretch of the coastline.

The 15th

Over the following years Dornoch worked hard to build a reputation as a world-class destination, continually keeping pace with developments in the game.

When the new rubber-cored golf ball was introduced in 1899, heralding the phasing out of the old and slower gutty ball, the course was redesigned to accommodate the faster game and for a time Dornoch was renowned as the fifth longest course in Britain.

The club’s reputation was further enhanced in 1901 when Andrew Carnegie presented a silver shield as a competition prize. It attracted some the world’s biggest names in the game, including Ernest Holderness, Charles E. Dick, Roger Wethered and J. Gordon Simpson.

Perhaps the biggest accolade for the club came five years later when, through the influence of the Duchess of Sutherland, Dornoch Golf Club secured the title of ‘Royal’ from King Edward VII. It gave the club an air of grandeur befitting its standing and reputation.

Even today, playing the par 70 championship course at Royal Dornoch is both inspiring and challenging.

The natural lay of the undulating landscape, overlooking the white broad beaches of the Dornoch Firth, provides all the most attractive qualities of the best links courses in the world and just as many of the difficulties.

The make up of each nine is such that the majority of holes are a par four with a couple of par threes and a par five thrown in for good measure.

Due to its position overlooking the windswept coastline no two rounds are ever the same. The speed and force of the sea breeze often dictates the style of play and is guaranteed to provide even the most competent golfer with a memorable experience.

Although largely remodelled in the late 1940’s, to create a design that remains a firm favourite for golfers from around the world, many of the original features created by Old Tom Morris survive, including the plateau greens renowned for their unique size and inverted saucer shapes.

And, if one first class course is not enough, the Royal Dornoch’s second course, known as The Struie, is also in the Top 50 Links layouts in the UK.

Initially opened in 1899 as a 12 hole course for ladies it has been modified and extended over the years and was reopened in 1999 with 18 holes capable of challenging the best of either sex.

To play the links of Royal Dornoch is to enjoy the essence of how golf is, and has been for hundreds of years, in Scotland. It’s no wonder the club can boast five times Open Champion Tom Watson as a member.

A visit to Dornoch is not just another course to be played and ticked off a bucket list of top Scottish courses. For the dedicated golfer with a sense of history it is akin to a pilgrimage. A place to experience the game the way it was always intended to be played.