Royal Dornoch: It's Good
- Gunnar Kobin
- Apr 23
- 5 min read
Tom Watson said Royal Dornoch was the most fun he ever had on a golf course. Herbert Warren Wind said no golfer has completed his education until he's played it. Andrew Carnegie said if there's a heaven on earth it's here. I played Royal Dornoch toward the end of our Highlands trip and my honest reaction was simpler than any of those. Good course. I enjoyed it. I don't feel qualified to rank it among the great spiritual experiences of my golfing life the way the Americans seem to. Maybe that's a failing on my part. Maybe it just means I don't need a course to deliver transcendence, just good golf.
Either way. Here's what I thought.
First the context. We'd driven up from Inverness that morning. An hour north on the A9 along the Dornoch Firth. The road itself is pleasant with some of that wild Highlands scenery but I wouldn't describe it as spectacular. The village of Dornoch is a small Highland town with an old cathedral in the middle, a few shops, some nice hotels, and the golf club at the end of the road. Charming without trying to be. We stayed at the Royal Golf Hotel which sits basically on the first tee, which is convenient in the obvious way.
Bit of history since people always want it. Founded 1877. Old Tom Morris laid out 18 holes in 1886. Donald Ross was born in the village, learned to play here, became the club professional between 1893 and 1899 before emigrating to America and becoming one of the great course architects of the 20th century. George Duncan rebuilt holes 6 through 11 after the war when an airfield had wiped out the originals. Tom Watson arrived in 1981, loved it, played two extra rounds the same day, got made an honorary member. That's the mythology and it's worth knowing as you walk the course because you can see the thread of it everywhere.
The first hole is the weakest opener I've played on a major Scottish links. Flat, short, unmemorable. You tee off basically in the car park and hit down toward the firth and you've already made par before you've really registered that you're out on a course. This surprised me. I kept waiting for the round to start properly.
It starts on the 2nd. Par 3, 184 yards, one of the most famous saucer greens on the course. Donald Ross built his entire American career around interpretations of this green. You stand on the tee and the green looks inviting enough, just a raised surface ahead of you. But miss it short, left, or right and the ball repels off and now you've got a tricky little up-and-down from tight lies on angled slopes. I left mine short and spent the next few minutes trying to figure out which of three possible shots was going to give me the best chance. Played the bump-and-run. Got it to fifteen feet. Two-putted for bogey. This is where the course announces what it's going to ask of you.
The saucer greens really are the thing at Dornoch. I'd read about them before the trip and wondered if they'd live up to the hype. They do. Every green on the property sits up on some kind of plateau, with surrounds that reject anything not struck cleanly onto the putting surface. What this does to your approach game is force you to pick a landing spot rather than a target on the green. You're thinking more like a links golfer than an American resort player. It's a different way of approaching a round of golf and I found it intellectually interesting even when I wasn't executing well.
The first eight holes play along a ridge of dunes heading away from the clubhouse. The views open up around the 6th. Par 3 into the side of a gorse-covered dune with three bunkers left waiting to catch anything weak. Beautiful hole. I hit a 6-iron that finished just off the green in the rough. Got it up and down for par. Walked away feeling the course was starting to give me something.
The 8th is a par 4 that gets a lot of praise in the course guides. I can see why. Demanding tee shot with gorse left and right, approach into an elevated green. It's the kind of hole where a par feels earned. I made five.
After 8 you come off the high ground and the back nine plays along the firth itself. This is the photogenic stretch. The 10th is another excellent par 3. The 14th is called Foxy and it's maybe the most famous hole on the course, a 445-yard par 4 with a double dogleg and no bunkers at all, just the shape of the land doing all the defensive work. Donald Ross himself reputedly said it was the finest natural hole in golf. I bogeyed it. Wasn't unhappy about the bogey.
The 17th is another really good par 4. Blind tee shot with an aiming pole, then the fairway dives downhill and sweeps left to a green with gorse all around it. Drew my tee shot too much and ended up in trouble. Made double. Walked onto the 18th tee having stopped trying to score and just enjoying the round.
The 18th is another weak hole honestly. It finishes back at the clubhouse with a flattish par 4 that doesn't carry the same quality as most of what comes before it. A few of the course rankings people I've read have made the same observation. The opening and closing holes of Dornoch are the weakest parts. The middle fourteen or so are genuinely world-class. The bookends are serviceable.
So where does that leave me on Royal Dornoch.
It's a very good course. The saucer greens are a legitimate design feature that teaches you something about links golf. The hole variety through the middle of the round is excellent. The setting is genuinely beautiful, especially on the back nine along the firth. The club is welcoming and the whole operation runs smoothly.
Is it the greatest course in the world? No. Is it the greatest experience I had on this trip? Also no. For me Castle Stuart had a more dramatic overall feel and Cruden Bay had more fun. Dornoch sits alongside them as one of the three best rounds of the week without standing obviously above them.
I think part of what's happening with the hype is that American golfers make Dornoch a pilgrimage. They fly across the Atlantic, drive up from wherever they started, arrive at this remote little village in the Highlands, play the round in the knowledge that Donald Ross learned his trade here, and they come away with that whole narrative stitched into the experience. I respect it. But I didn't come with that narrative. I came after playing Nairn and Cabot Highlands, with Aberdeen courses fresh in my memory. My benchmark was different.
Cost was £250 for summer green fee which is the most expensive round of the trip. Twilight rate is £150 if you can get out late. Worth the money given the pedigree and the quality of the middle stretch. Not worth driving across Scotland specifically for, in my opinion, unless you're doing the full Highlands tour.
Practical stuff. The village has good hotels and I'd recommend staying at least one night. Dornoch Cathedral is worth a look. Glenmorangie is a short drive if you like whisky. The Struie Course is the other course at the club and supposedly a decent links in its own right though I didn't play it this trip.
I'd come back to Dornoch. But I wouldn't come back specifically for Dornoch. I'd come back to do the Highlands loop again and this would be one of four or five rounds. That's the honest assessment from someone who enjoyed the round without quite being transformed by it.
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