Scotland · Scotland · Tom Morris / John Sutherland
Royal Dornoch Golf Club
James Kinloch
Golf Travel Specialist · played this course
Royal Dornoch is the most underrated course in the world, which is something only people who've been there can say with confidence, because the people who haven't been there have never heard of it. It sits in a town of twelve hundred people on the Dornoch Firth, four hours north of St Andrews, and the entire golf world should make that drive.
Tom Watson has called it his favourite golf course. He learned links golf here, returned throughout his career, and his perspective carries more weight on this subject than anyone else's. The subtlety of the course — the way the rough-edged terrain conceals fairways and green approaches until you're already in trouble — reveals itself over multiple rounds. The first time, you'll feel lost. The second time, you'll see the design. The third time, you'll stop counting.
The Royal Golf Hotel in town is basic and correct. Two nights, two rounds, and a dinner at the club. This is the Scottish golf trip.
Signature hole
Par-4 14th, Foxy, 445 yards
"Named Foxy for the cunning of the design — a blind tee shot, a deceptive approach, a green that seems accessible until you're on it. The best single hole in Scottish golf that isn't on the Road Hole."
Designer
Tom Morris / John Sutherland
Par
70
Yardage
6,728
Green fee
from £240
Best for
Best time to go
April to October. June for the best weather and longest days. October for solitude.
Play Royal
James can arrange tee times, transfers, and accommodation around this course. One call is all it takes.
Enquire about this trip WhatsApp JamesAt a glance
Explore the destination
Golf in ScotlandMore courses in Scotland
Carnoustie Golf Links
★★★★★Carnoustie is not a course designed to make you feel good about yourself. The Barry Burn crosses the 18th fairway twice. The wind off the North Sea changes direction between the front nine and back. Jean Van de Velde's 1999 Open collapse in that burn is the clearest illustration of what the course can do to a professional golfer with a three-shot lead on the final hole.
Old Course, St Andrews
★★★★★The Old Course is not a golf course. It's a place. The distinction matters — because when you stand on the first tee and look out over the shared fairways, the shared bunkers, the town visible along the entire left side, you're not about to play golf in the conventional sense. You're about to walk through six hundred years of the game's history, and the course is doing its best to make you feel every one of them.
Turnberry Resort — Ailsa Course
★★★★★Turnberry Ailsa is the most visually dramatic golf course I have ever played. The lighthouse at the 9th tee, Ailsa Craig rising from the Firth of Clyde beyond, the sound of waves below the clifftop holes — there are photographs of this course that have driven more people to Scotland than any brochure.