As any golfer with their salt will tell you, Scotland is a paradise for golfers. The chance to enjoy a game, however short, on any of the many ethereal courses dotted around the country is like a gift from heaven.
The natural beauty, shaped and smoothed to include smooth, rolling courses, is beyond comparison with views that include everything from raging oceans to ancient forests and moors.
Yes, almost any chance to get onto a golf course in this mystical land is a good one, but as with any pursuit or hobby, there are always a few options that stand head and shoulders above the rest.
Scotland’s premium, luxury golf courses are surprisingly many, but if you’re looking for the cream of the crop, you simply cannot improve upon these three choices.
The courses themselves are exceptional, but it’s their exquisite surroundings, the resorts and hotels that have sprung up around them, and their proximity to luxury travel hubs that make them truly exceptional.
Royal Dornoch Golf Club (Championship)
Closest airport with private aviation support: Inverness Airport, 50 miles away.
This is a magical place. So unique and impressive is the Royal Dornoch Golf Club course that both professionals and amateurs of every level and from every part of the world are stunned when they first set foot there.
If you’re serious about golf and luxury travel, then the course of your life will eventually bring you to the Royal Dornoch, like a pilgrimage to a holy site.
That said, getting to the club to enjoy it does take a concerted effort. Getting to the location from Glasgow by Road will cost you four hours of driving.
It is much more convenient, comfortable, and time-efficient to book a private jet and land at Inverness Airport, 50 miles away.
A general view of the 163 yard par 3, 6th hole at the Royal Dornoch GC in Sutherland, Scotland. Pic: David Cannon /Allsport
From there, a helicopter charter can transport you directly to the club (with permission arranged in advance of your trip) and offer you incomparable views along the way.
Dornoch is hardly a newcomer; written records indicate that an early form of golf was played there as early as 1616.
The first official nine-hole golf club on the premises was founded in 1877. In modern times, the club offers up a selection of excellent holes that provide demanding and potentially impressive play.
The 14th hole, known as “Foxy,” is a stretched-out par four (almost 455 yards of it) is one of the simpler holes that provides players with a classic domed green a la Donald Ross, the “Whinny Brae,” a par three that heralds the courses shift from low-lying play to an elevation; you’ll need to make a tee shot across a patch of gorse that circles the green to complete it.
Playing on this course certainly tests a golfer’s skill.
Old Course St Andrew’s Links
Closest airport with private aviation support: Dundee Airport, 11.3 miles away.
St Andrews is the pinnacle of acclaim in the Scottish golf community and one of the world’s most highly ranked courses. The Old Course at St Andrews has the honour of having hosted more Opens than any other course in golfing history: 29 Open Championships, to be precise, and has even been called “The Home of Golf.”
This is a scarce and special link, shaped by nature long before the game of gold ever existed, but in such a way as to make it an incredibly stimulating and challenging course today (and for hundreds of years prior).
View of the 2nd and 16th holes of the Old Course, St Andrews Links
St Andrews has been written about extensively over its lifespan—it’s hardly some tiny secret course known only to the locals after all—but somehow its praise always bears repeating.
History tells us that golf, or some ancient version of it, was likely played here as early as the 12th century, making it a strong contender for the title of “Oldest Course in the World.
” The eclat and prestige that come with such titles are extensive, but it’s more than status at St Andrews. The Old Course is special, but not something that every first-time player really understands off the bat.
While the course looks flat on a TV screen, it has many surprising hollows and ripples that make it challenging to play.
The fairways are impressive, the pot bunkers can throw a wrench into even the most carefully laid plans, but that’s all part of its appeal.
Muirfield: Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers
Closest airport with private aviation support: Edinburgh Airport, 29.6 miles away.
Muirfield is close on St Andrews’ heels in terms of acclaim. It’s the venue that has hosted the third-highest number of Open Championships in golf history (16 of them) and has the oldest golf club anywhere on the planet (opened in 1744).
The courses have changed significantly since then—what players used in the 1700s was a five-hole course set over Leith Links.
Today, Muirfield is considered an eccentric course, yet one with links that consistently outperform the best.
Muirfield PIC: R&A
Thanks to the soft, eight absorbing seaside turf underneath the fairways, the bunkering across the course is sensational, and the rough is a challenge indeed.
For such an acclaimed course, the greens are relatively small in size, but this means that implementing a strategy when you plan your course of action is essential.
Careful thought goes into every approach shot played on this course, but it’s not over there.
The putting surface also requires a firm hand and a considered approach, thanks to its subtle contours and subtle borrowings.
Not only a golf game here, but an entire experience that elevates the game and ensnares the senses of the players.
Golfing in the Motherland
As far as golf goes, Scotland is the cradle of civilisation- the golfing Motherland. The courses here are exceptional in many ways, not least for their grandeur. These three courses will delight, amaze, and challenge you as a player; are you ready?
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