The 2018 Open and golf in Scotland beforehand

driveandputtmachine · January 3, 2018

For my birthday my wife got tickets for us to go to the Saturday and Sunday of this years Open Championship at Carnoustie. We will be staying Wednesday - Monday (7-18 to 7-23) at an AirBnB in St. Andrews. Our hosts are locals and stated they can get me on the old course on Thursday or Friday if I am OK playing with them and then we could play the New Course or somewhere else the other day.

My Questions.......

We arrive on 7-13 and plan on heading to the Highlands area(I know very general) and plan on some sightseeing Friday(7-13) until Wednesday(7-18). She asked me how many rounds of golf I wanted to play while up there and I told her maybe two or three. So I know she wants to stay a night in a Castle that I think is in Inverness and another at a castle in Dornoch.

As we will be mostly in central and Eastern areas of the Highlands which golf courses are some that I should look into? Should I stick with Castle Stuart and Royal Dornoch, they seem to be two of the most highly recommended courses no matter where you look?

davep043 · January 9, 2018

Royal Dornoch is absolutely brilliant, you don't need to look much further. I also played the course at Tain, and while its not as good as RD, its still enjoyable. Its also less expensive, and more of a "locals" course. That would be a nice contrast to some of the other courses you've mentioned. I've also heard that the course at Nairn is outstanding. I know I'm not with the mainstream, but I'd probably play at Nairn, with its 100+ year old history, instead of Castle Stuart, which was built (figuratively) yesterday. Another option you might want to look at is the course at Boat of Garten. Boat is about 90 minutes south of Dornoch, so it would be on your way coming or going. A friend played here a while ago, and said the course was really good, and the views were stunning.

A quick note about staying in Dornoch, the Dornoch Castle Hotel isn't an actual castle, but rather the original home of the Catholic bishop. There are a number of "modern" garden rooms, as well as rooms in the old tower. The pub is lovely, with a great selections of whisky. My wife and I stayed at an outstanding B&B called Two Quail. Just 3 rooms, if I remember right, and Donald Ross' boyhood home just out the back window. At the time, the owner was also Head Chef at the golf club, where we had a great meal. Now he's serving dinner at Two Quail, so that might make a nice romantic evening for your wife and yourself.

driveandputtmachine · January 17, 2018

Thanks for the info. I have been talking with our AirBnB hosts about courses as well. I just booked my round at Royal Dornoch on Sunday the 15th. I am planning on playing Castle Stuart on Tuesday the 17th. Based on my host and your recommendation I think i may try and play Nairn on Wednesday.. Thursday and Friday will be going for the old course and then either jubilee or kingsbarns.