Royal Dornoch

If I were banished to one course only, which would I choose?

County Down, Muirfield, Hoylake, Lahinch, Brancaster, Deal and Rye all compete and get a 5-star “joy to be alive” factor but in terms of continuous golfing challenge where every bump, hollow, ridge and whin has a purpose, with its views across the Dornoch Firth, the quality of turf, the feel of a wildness tamed, this course makes you prefer to be nowhere else in the world.

Dornoch is a course with a Club rather than a Club with a course and the locals make sure it is a friendly place without pretensions.

Rough golf was played at Dornoch from around 1850 with the first 18-hole course being developed in the 1890s, from which many changes have been made, with the five wonderful holes at the far end of the course being only added in 1946 by George Duncan.

It was the granting of the “Royal” in 1906 and the leadership of the Secretary John Sutherland across 58 years that helped Dornoch, only 80 miles from John O’Groats, to be recognised, though in modern marketing terms it was not until Ben Crenshaw and Tom Watson in the early 1980s discovered it (both now Honorary members) and spread the word in America that it fully came of age.

One of Dornoch’s oddities is that non-resident members have always had equal rights with local members and there are more American members than Dornoch resident members. This reflects Dornoch’s world-class reputation and, with the increased green fees from being firmly on the US visitors’ circuit, the course is routinely in immaculate condition with the wiry grasses giving a true links experience.

There is a call these days, driven to some extent by television golf coverage, to have very fast greens.  I have experienced Dornoch’s greens in different Augusts with a stimp of 14 and 9.  The cut of the fescue grasses is never less than 3mm and usually 4mm and, though the ironing machine is used on occasion to flatten out spike marks, essentially the speed is determined by how much rain there has been.  This is the natural way with Fine Golf courses.

A kilted starter welcomes you to a 1st hole that in a dry summer can be driven downwind but it can get up and bite you.  Indeed, on any of Dornoch’s holes, you might be going along steadily, but have one bad shot and in the blink of an eye a 7 or 8 will appear on your card.  This is without tough, lush rough (though there are huge hillsides of gorse) and its predominantly wispy nature is not overly penal.  There are no lush fringes around the many raised greens to ‘arrest your errant ball as it rolls off and casually explores nooks and crannies until settling on a spot where gravity can influence it no longer’.

I don’t know of a tougher start, Dornoch’s 2^nd to 6^th holes frighten with their requirements rather than their length.  Before you have your confidence, you have to choose to hit to the first of Dornoch’s four well-defended short holes.  This has a plateau green with deep front bunkers left and right and a steep slope from three sides.

A 7 iron played short hoping for a bump and run, up and down is often chosen in a medal round, though a small mound just in front of the green can still throw the ball off into either bunker.  If the green is missed on either side, a sand wedge from tight turf or a putt up the semi rough on the bank has to stop the ball on the green or a similar next shot is presented from the other side!  A bump and run will not work as the bank’s spongy grass kills the ball.

Let’s hope for no more than a four and quickly move to the 3rd where the glory of the links is presented in full and you have to hold your concentration to hit it down the left of a mound in the middle of the fairway that throws anything off to its right and into a series of pot bunkers (all Dornoch’s numerous bunkers are small, deep, revetted and gathering in) while avoiding the draw that loses your ball on the hill of gorse down the left.

The 4th (Achinchanter) along with the 14th (Foxy) are Dornoch’s best holes.  Donald Steel not surprisingly had the 4^th in his Daily Telegraph 18 best holes.

From a tee on the side of a hill of gorse running the length of the hole, a drawn shot has to be hit to stay on the sloping fairway or it will run off under a series of gullies on the right.  Many a time a great drive that looks to be perfect bounces left off the spine running up the left of the fairway and down into rough hollows and hillocks.

The triangular green with swales is typical of Dornoch’s raised greens which stimulated Donald Ross (a son of Dornoch and considered by many as America’s greatest golf architect) in his design of Pinehurst No, 2, a particularly famous US course.

A decision has to be taken on this 440 yard hole whether to pitch the green and risk running off into purgatory over the side on the right or to play through the valley in front of the green risking falling back from the bank or ending up in low bunkers left or right.  A birdie on Achinchanter will give you two against the field.

A tee shot down the left of the short par four 5th (Hilton) helps in the challenge of holding another long narrow plateau green, pinched in the middle from the right.

Standing on the tee of the short 6^th is perhaps even more terrifying than the 2^nd.  The green is half way up the left hand gorse hill with pot bunkers between the hill and the green and a precipice on the right that gives a similar challenge with a sand wedge from down below, as at the 2^nd.  There is a deep bunker guarding the front right and the only safe place is on the green or perhaps in the swale in front if your bump and run is working.

Nevertheless, it has its attractions, as, when I found myself 3 down after 5 in the final of the Davidson Cup in the Carnegie Shield week in 1999, my opponent (Alan Grant, the amiable Director of Golf at Skibo) showed the first chink in his armour by missing the green and I hit a spanking 5 iron to its heart.  It gave me the boost to start attacking the course and by the 12^th the small band of family and friends who were walking round were able to stop avoiding my eye and will me to victory on the 17^th.

Dornoch is a course where you are required to hit 100% shots, which concentrates the mind and lifts your game.  Precision and strategy are needed and, being only 6,600 yards off the whites, the need for brute strength is less important.  It is par 70 and SSS73 which regularly goes out to 75 in competitions when there is some wind.

The 460 yard 7th along the top of the hill between banks of gorse requires some thought as to how to negotiate the subtle swale between two bunkers at the front of the green and a four feels like a birdie.

The 8^th with its fairway dropping down 40 feet can leave a glorious long iron from the top or a difficult 7 iron from the bottom.  A bunker on a rise in the middle of the fairway 30 yards short of this bowl green can fool the unwary but at last we have a green that gathers a ball in, though the putting is no easier for that.

The 9th turns for home back into the prevailing wind and is a possible birdie four if you can run up onto the green protected either side by deep bunkers.

The 145 yard 10^th (Furan) small pulpit green is protected on the left and in front by devilish bunkers but, if you miss on the right, you have to play what I contend to be the most difficult shot on the course off a tight lie up a little rough vertical bank, which will not accept a bump and run and requires exquisite delicacy of touch to stay on the green sloping away from you.

The 11^th (A’chlach), 445 yards, has another raised green that is enormous with a deep bunker on the left and a pot biting into the middle of the green on the right.  A 45º swale in front suggests the need for a high approach onto the green but into the prevailing wind a low running 1 iron is the best choice and if accomplished remains in the memory for many days.

The doglegging par five 12^th (Sutherland) has a tight approach with a knoll on the centre left requiring bravery and then we are onto the last of Dornoch’s quartet of well-protected short holes, this one completely ringed by bunkers and hollows.

Why is the 440 yard 14^th (Foxy) so famous?  It has no bunkers but an S-bend fairway leaves you with either a steepling mid-iron if downwind and hit with back-spin, might just hang onto the raised, wide but shallow-in-depth, green or a running low iron up the mown five-foot-high bank in front. These are not watered target greens and they usually do not even take a mild divot in the summer.

My old friend Gavin Gilbey and I had played the Open Burghfield three-man team event in the first weekend of May for 18 years and also played a practice round on the Friday and the Open medal on the Sunday.  In twelve years neither of us had been on Foxy’s green in two.  A bottle of champagne, which was then increased to a magnum three years later, was staked and I had at last the satisfaction of offering to share the liquor with me after 90 full-blooded combined attempts.

The 15^th (Stulaig) gives some respite and a birdie chance if your pitch to the upturned saucer green is exact.

Some people think the 16^th (High hole) is unfair but if you have remembered to look across from the 2^nd to see the pin position on its long flat green you have a chance to pick the correct club for your approach after a challenging and risky drive.

The normal way to play the 17^th is down into a valley but without running out into the gorse(!) and then up an escarpment onto another bowl green with the safety line coming off the slope on the left.  The heroic method is to stay on top and hit over a sea of gorse.

The 18^th is not the best visual hole at Dornoch with so much of its trouble hidden in front of the huge green that slopes away from you but, if a par four is achieved, you will be well satisfied.

The fishing village of Portmahomack across the Dornoch Firth competes with Dunbar for the greatest hours of sunshine in Scotland.  Dornoch often has its own micro-climate that is dry and, with the Northern Latitude extending the hours of daylight in the summer, is an attractive holiday spot for its beaches and village (actually the Church of Scotland cathedral makes it a city!) beauty.

See: “A History of Royal Dornoch Golf Club 1877-1999″, by John Macleod, ISBN 1-870151-10-0.

Review by Lorne Smith 2008            Do leave a comment below

On May 12th, 2009 robin brown Said:

Returned to RDGC last weekend.As ever, it felt perfect with a superb course and equally superb welcome in the Clubhouse.Greens in wonderful condition.
Unmatched UK links course in my view.

On May 15th, 2009 Graeme Brown Said:

Played Dornoch last week and it was fantastic, lovely club and somewhat jealous of members that play it every week (for £330 a year)
One comment to make is the 14th (Foxy) won 8 to 0 against our 4 ball that played twice, truly a wonderful hole.
Cant wait to get back

On June 24th, 2009 Bill Cowgill Said:

I spend several days each May in Dornoch. Playing Royal Dornoch is wonderful. The wind conditions change as does how you play the course. There are many different types of golf holes which makes each golfer play many challenging golf shots. Always can’t wait to return.

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