Big Hairy Coo

For its scenery alone, the Scottish Highlands is a bucket-list bullseye! And there’s whisky! Need I say more?

Royal Dornoch sits at the peak of the Highland experience but the much-lauded links is a long way to go for a round or two of golf, almost a 4-hour drive from St Andrews.

Then along came Mark Parsinen, who along with Gil Hanse, created the breathtaking Castle Stuart Golf Links from a few arable fields overlooking the Moray Firth much like he had with the hugely popular Kingsbarns in the Scottish Kingdom of Fife.

Castle Stuart opened in 2009 and has hosted the Scottish Open several times. The late Parsinen’s dream was to build another course alongside his Highland sanctum and now that hope has been realised. Purchased by the Canadian ‘Cabot Collection’ in 2022, Castle Stuart was renamed ‘Cabot Highlands’ and later this year will open a second course, ‘Old Petty’, named after the nearby hamlet & church with the emblematic Highland Cow or ‘Hairy Coo’ as its trademark. Tom Doak is responsible for the design routing the course along a scenic river estuary with views up and down the Firth.

The Great North Road to the Highlands (A9) now makes for a viable golf getaway. There are a host of other northern courses worth considering, such as Brora, Boat of Garten, Fortrose & Rosemarkie and the superb seaside links at Nairn.