Royal Dornoch

[ScottWS33]

Something of a Mecca in recent years for American golfers eager to experience links golf Royal Dornoch's prestige has heightened in the preceding 25 years thanks largely to well publicised visits by the likes of Tom Watson and Ben Crenshaw. Even now many reputable professionals drop in past Dornoch as an Open Championship warm-up course.

 

At first glance it's not entirely clear why is so acclaimed. The club house, although a charming building, is very discreet and the practice facilities are far from comprehensive.

 

The course itself begins with a short par 4, very traditional of link courses in that it offers the player a good birdie chance. The 2nd sets the scene for the par 3s. Accuracy is of the foremost importance and the penalties are severe. Turn the corner through the manicured gorse off the back of the 2nd and a wonderfully endearing sight awaits. The views over the mid-section of the course are superb and the quality of the holes more than lives up to it. The 4th and 6th are rated in the 500 holes in the world and rightfully so. Personally the 6th has always appealed to me. Short at only 163 yards bunkers and winn bushes guard the left hand side and anything right will gather away from the green. Basically if you miss the green your next shot will be of stupendous difficulty. After the somewhat gimmicky but netherless fun 8th hole you turn back for home and you are at the mercy of the strong Sutherland winds. The course once again shows it's best features on this stretch that includes the famed 14th, 'Foxy'. You must find a winding fairway before playing to a green elevated by almost 10 feet in places. Although a shot to the right of the green is a safe option it still leaves a hard 2 putt regardless of the pin placement. Unfortunately though soon after arguably the courses best hole comes the worst. The 16th is a let down with a largely featureless green and a tee shot that does not represent a fair test. Luckily the mistake is recensiled by the 18th, a 456 yard hole that is well protected by a gully short of the green.

 

Holistically Dornoch is a great course and well worth a visit. Its sheer difficulty - the SSS form the furthest back tees is 74 on a par 70 layout! - and the mass of superb holes make it a compelling layout that will enthral the visitor. Unfortunately though Dornoch is by no means perfect. The 8th, 15th and 17th are often criticised and the 16th is noteworthy unfortunately in a negative sense. But with such masterpieces as the 4th and 14th and possibly the greatest par 3s to be found anywhere this course deserves its high reputation.

[BEND OF THE RIVER GC]

Pictures laddie, pictures!

[ScottWS33]

I am afraid I have no pictures of my own but here are some pictures from Royal Dornoch Golf Club's website.

1st

 

2nd

 

3rd

 

5th

 

6th(left) and the 11th(right)

 

7th

 

8th and 9th beyond

 

12th

 

14th

 

17th

 

[siggitomm]

i'm going to play there in some tournament - i think it's about 10-11 october - not quite when exactly but I think it's around that time

[ScottWS33]

i'm going to play there in some tournament - i think it's about 10-11 october - not quite when exactly but I think it's around that time

 

Hope you enjoy and do tell us how you get on.

[FAHooGolfs]

I'll be playing Royal Dornoch this August 2007. I'll be sure to post a review and some more pictures when I return.

[brf6315]

My favorite course in the world, and the pictures do not really do it justice (although it is great to see the ones with the gorse in bloom). Dornoch feels so old, you would not be surprised to see someone looking like Old Tom Morris swinging a hickory shaft on the next hole. Last time I played it was in a howling gale; I hit a spectacular 4 iron on the second (playing about 135) and was 10 yards short! On the downwind par 3 on the back (10 or 11?), I hit half a sand wedge well over. The scoring record was not in jeopardy, but the day was great fun even if I needed a calculator to keep up. I'll be back this summer and cannot wait to get there; if you have not been there, do yourself a favor. There is no other golf course like it.

[Lundingolfer]

Overrated and now overpriced! Better to go ten miles up the coast and play at Brora Golf club. Great greens and golf played as it was 250 years ago. all for £30. This is Braids hidden gem in the north of Scotland. In fact visit Scotland have photo's of Brora for their Golf campaign in golf magazines. Also go play Golspie as well next door.

[oneplanedan]

Try to get Paul or Billy as your caddie......they work in US and are good caddies not to mention good firends...........if you are traveling the area I am not sure where he works any longer but if you can find him....Chicky...........the best fu''' laugh you'll have while over seas

[Chanceman]

Anyone have a recommendation on where to stay in Dornoch? Looking for something in the 150 quid/ US$200 area (double, self and wife).

[babyfade]

I will stay in Amalfi B&B in May.

[davep043]

Anyone have a recommendation on where to stay in Dornoch? Looking for something in the 150 quid/ US$200 area (double, self and wife).

I stayed at 2 Quail with my wife. 2 Quail is right in the middle of town, just 3 rooms, I think, and was delightful. We were in a rear bedroom, and Donald Ross' boyhood home was just across the street in back. At the time Michael was the head chef at the golf club, where we had a delicious meal, I understand he now serves dinner at 2 Quail. You'd need to contact them for prices. http://www.2quail.com/index.php

I stayed at Tullochard with 3 other guys during a later visit. Where 2 Quail is an old building, with the smaller rooms that is typical, Tullochard is a relatively new house, maybe a 10 minute walk from the center of town. Good breakfast, comfortable beds, everything there was absolutely fine. http://dornochaccommodation.com/

I'd recommend either one, but I think I'd prefer 2 Quail if it was myself and the wife. In town, dinner available, maybe just a little more "charm". I've heard good things about Amalfi House as well, its no more than a 5 minute walk to the center of town, and its probably the closest B&B to the golf course.

[Hawkeye77]

We found a 3 BR small house in view of the first tee last year through Gael Holiday Homes (great folks to deal with in our experience) - just out of curiosity I looked and saw that particular house was booked through the summer already, and the price was right, so I understand why it would be popular. Don't overlook the B&B or self catering options!

 

I second any recommendation for staying in walking distance of the village, so check on a map the locations of places you are considering - some aren't all that "near" Dornoch.

[davep043]

We found a 3 BR small house in view of the first tee last year through Gael Holiday Homes (great folks to deal with in our experience) - just out of curiosity I looked and saw that particular house was booked through the summer already, and the price was right, so I understand why it would be popular. Don't overlook the B&B or self catering options!

 

I second any recommendation for staying in walking distance of the village, so check on a map the locations of places you are considering - some aren't all that "near" Dornoch.

Personally, I really prefer a B&B over the other options. I enjoy the interaction in the mornings, with both the staff and the other guests, I like to have a proper breakfast before a round of golf, and I enjoy the "smaller" feel, as opposed to a hotel. Usually self-catering is a little less costly, but the small increase for a B&B is worth it to me.

[Hawkeye77]

We found a 3 BR small house in view of the first tee last year through Gael Holiday Homes (great folks to deal with in our experience) - just out of curiosity I looked and saw that particular house was booked through the summer already, and the price was right, so I understand why it would be popular. Don't overlook the B&B or self catering options!

 

I second any recommendation for staying in walking distance of the village, so check on a map the locations of places you are considering - some aren't all that "near" Dornoch.

Personally, I really prefer a B&B over the other options. I enjoy the interaction in the mornings, with both the staff and the other guests, I like to have a proper breakfast before a round of golf, and I enjoy the "smaller" feel, as opposed to a hotel. Usually self-catering is a little less costly, but the small increase for a B&B is worth it to me.

 

I liked the house for the whole family, and we were doing laundry daily, so that was the main thing. I think we only ate a couple meals there and had stuff to snack on - we wanted to get out to the local restaurants. Our next trip the wife and I are going the B&B route for a week (she likes the interaction, lol, I have to work at breakfast conversation on a good day at home!) - then just a tidy one bedroom apartment for the second location. Never done a self catering in the states, but do try B&Bs when we can - I do like the the way most owners really take pride in their B&Bs.

[tiderider]

have 36 on a sunday scheduled next summer, though we're staying in tain ... can't wait ...

[Shrinkwr4p]

Anyone have a recommendation on where to stay in Dornoch? Looking for something in the 150 quid/ US$200 area (double, self and wife).

 

You could do a lot worse than

 

https://www.royalgolfhoteldornoch.co.uk/

[Hawkeye77]

Anyone have a recommendation on where to stay in Dornoch? Looking for something in the 150 quid/ US$200 area (double, self and wife).

 

You could do a lot worse than

 

https://www.royalgol...ldornoch.co.uk/

 

No idea what the rooms are like, but I reserved a table for lunch on Father's Day last June (we teed off a couple hours after lunch - what a day!).

 

All of our meals were absolutely first class - for some reason I always forget to mention we ate there and how good it was when talking about various parts of the trip which makes no sense to me.

 

The food, the service, the room, the view - fantastic! Quite a place. They had what appeared to be some apartment units under construction on the property adjacent, no idea if that was for condo type living or additional for rent places for that hotel or something else.

 

Recommend highly for a nice, sit down meal. But LOTS of good eating in Dornoch.

[Chanceman]

Just doing some reminiscing about previous golf trips and this came up. Went to Dornoch in 2019 and stayed at the Royal Golf Hotel which virtually adjoins the first tee. We scored a room on the absolute corner of the hotel overlooking first fairway and out to sea. The wife was ecstatic which made the big $$$ worthwhile. The Chef is husband of lady who runs 2 Quail BnB. Beautiful town and may I say the golf course to match. Helped that I scored one of my best ever rounds, helped by avoiding every bunker. What a course! Architecture, scenic value, right level of difficulty and all round totally memorable. Also played Brora and Fortrose&Rosemarkie, nice courses but neither comes close to RD.

[jonnymc44]

Every time I drive up to my in-laws I wish I could carry on driving up the A9 to Dornoch and have a round. Instead I turn off the roundabout at Tore towards Skye and drive for another hour and a half to the west coast! Can't complain really. I did get the chace to play last year and was blown away by the course. It was the week before the Carnegie Shield, their most prestigious open competition, and the course was immaculate.

Like you @Chanceman I managed to avoid all the bunkers. I can still recall every hole and every shot in my head from August 2019. Shot a 77, including a triple on the second! I played with an American father / daughter duo who were both members at Bel-Air Country Club. I had the best time.

There's a Scottish Pro Tour headed by Paul Lawrie, previous Open winner, currently playing at RD. Some decent scores going on. For the leaderboard click here if you're interested.

[milesgiles]

For all those wondering why I moan about prices so much..

 

note the above comment, Brora was £30 13 years ago. Now.. £90.

 

nuff said! 

[Schley]

Supply and demand Miles. If Brora couldn't get 90 quid they wouldn't be charging that. Although it is popular to blame the yanks for the high prices. No worries, can't blame us for wanting to play links golf.

[MattyO1984]

On 9/8/2020 at 5:09 PM, milesgiles said:

For all those wondering why I moan about prices so much..

 

note the above comment, Brora was £30 13 years ago. Now.. £90.

 

nuff said! 

 

A little bit of publicity and they really do seem to have gone mad. It’s fine, decent place to go for a knock but condition wise it is not a patch on other courses which charge that Green Fee. If it was £50, I would think fair enough but not nearly twice that.

[milesgiles]

7 hours ago, MattyO1984 said:

 

A little bit of publicity and they really do seem to have gone mad. It’s fine, decent place to go for a knock but condition wise it is not a patch on other courses which charge that Green Fee. If it was £50, I would think fair enough but not nearly twice that.

 

We are planning to wing it this summer.. we’ll try and haggle a bit, if they’re not interested, fair enough, we have some cheaper alternatives.

 

the daft thing is if those courses were charging something sensible I’d be happy to book now and they could be sitting on the cash. As it is, at that price, I’ll wait and see how the weather is.. 

[MattyO1984]

11 hours ago, milesgiles said:

 

We are planning to wing it this summer.. we’ll try and haggle a bit, if they’re not interested, fair enough, we have some cheaper alternatives.

 

the daft thing is if those courses were charging something sensible I’d be happy to book now and they could be sitting on the cash. As it is, at that price, I’ll wait and see how the weather is.. 

 

Totally makes sense and completely agree that there are courses that are shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to pricing. I have heard the argument that a higher price actually attracts visitors but I don’t quite follow. The masses head to Asda and Tesco not Waitrose or Marks & Spencer’s 😂

[scott_Donald]

4 hours ago, MattyO1984 said:

 

Totally makes sense and completely agree that there are courses that are shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to pricing. I have heard the argument that a higher price actually attracts visitors but I don’t quite follow. The masses head to Asda and Tesco not Waitrose or Marks & Spencer’s 😂

 

You have to think of some of the visitor pricing as this -

 

Price is set to attract X amount of visitors and Y amount of revenue. Some clubs don't want too many visitors but enough to subsidise the cost of running the golf club, simple.

[MattyO1984]

59 minutes ago, scott_Donald said:

 

You have to think of some of the visitor pricing as this -

 

Price is set to attract X amount of visitors and Y amount of revenue. Some clubs don't want too many visitors but enough to subsidise the cost of running the golf club, simple.

 

Totally agree, it can limit the amount of visitors but having seen it work the other way, it can back fire in that it puts people off.

[scott_Donald]

6 hours ago, MattyO1984 said:

 

Totally agree, it can limit the amount of visitors but having seen it work the other way, it can back fire in that it puts people off.

 

You would be surprised, when I chat to random folk I am playing with here in Texas; they cannot believe how cheap my membership is or how cheap it is to play as a visitor, never mind how cheap I get a guest for. 

 

The deal I have for RAGC is amazing, I am learning more and more. 

Edited February 11, 2021 by scott_Donald

[jonnymc44]

On 2/11/2021 at 3:14 PM, scott_Donald said:

 

You would be surprised, when I chat to random folk I am playing with here in Texas; they cannot believe how cheap my membership is or how cheap it is to play as a visitor, never mind how cheap I get a guest for. 

 

The deal I have for RAGC is amazing, I am learning more and more. 

I think it's all relative. As a member at a course in England I find some of the prices to play in Scotland, and England too, obscene. Your friends In America, and this is generalising at the highest order, probably pay a significant more in membership fees than we do over here. Comparing a round at RD to my membership in England, and a round at RD compared to the average membership in America, there will likely be a huge disparity.

 

Being a member's guest is the golden ticket, especially at a course as good as RAGC!

[milesgiles]

been away for a while, finally played RD...

 

more than worth the trek. Its that good. A few pluses and minuses, opinions will differ..

 

Best looking, most attractive championship links ive seen, Not quite as spectacular as Trump Aberdeen, but better views

 

Very playable, mainly I think due to the fairway watering, which I wasnt expecting. Purists may recoil in horror, but honestly at my level of golf I dont mind fairly firm, but rock hard is just too much hard work. Dont think we looked for a ball all day, which I think means it is very sensibly set up. Greens have tiers and many are elevated, but they are big targets. Overall despite its SI I think a decent score is more gettaable here on the right day than most other name links..

 

My quibbles are really not at all serious and didnt spoil the day at all, but I'll say them anyway

 

Public path to the beach across the first tee. Not sure tattooed footy yobs wandering across is quite the ethos the club is looking for. Common in the uk, but may be a culture shock for the international golfer

 

2nd hole.. hmmm.  An absolute brute, medium/long iron to a smaller raised green, absolutely dead if you miss either side or long. They have left grass on the banks so you cant run it up, so if you do miss you will be there all day until you get lucky or turn into Phil Mickelson. Its the biggest card wrecker on the course, and its only the second.. 

 

15, 16 get criticised a lot. Not sure that's fair, there are a lot of links holes like the 15th in the uk but it is a bit too short for the modern game. 16 is a blind approach to a very big target, ordinarily I dont like greens you cant see but I think we can allow a course like this one of them, just to remind you its a traditional links.

 

But overall, its bucket list. I can still picture every hole, and there arent many courses I can say that about on one viewing.