The Golf Whisky Trail
With its famous distilleries and wonderful variety of courses, the mystical and majestic Scottish Highlands should be on every golfer’s bucket list.
By David J. Whyte
The Highlands have risen to new heights with a string of major developments on and off the golf course, drawing golfers north to what is surely the most scenically commanding corner of Scotland. The region may require a slightly longer carry, but the rewards more than justify any extra effort.
There are headline acts: Cabot Highlands, Royal Dornoch Golf Club, and, if you swing by Aberdeen, Trump International Scotland. But the Highlands’ lesser-known trails, heathland courses, village clubs, not to mention the River Spey and the constant aroma of whiskey, are also big draws.
From Edinburgh, the chosen route is the A9, the “Great North Road,” climbing steadily from Perth over the formidable Drumochter Pass before dropping towards Inverness. The incidental scenery is worth the trip alone.
Travelling with another writer, we took a break at the House of Bruar, the self-styled “Harrods of the Highlands,” where tweeds, cashmere, country clothing, and enough tartan to outfit an entire clan fill the 200,000-sq.-ft. complex. Even if you emerge without a purchase, the food hall is still compulsory.
There’s also a handy little nine hole warm-up nearby at Blair Atholl Golf Club. Founded in 1896 and later shaped by James Braid, the parkland course is an easy walking with an enjoyable mix of holes that gently ease you into the Highland milieu. Also nearby is Blair Castle, one of Scotland’s grandest stately homes and well worth a visit.
James Braid was prolific throughout the Highlands, leaving his imprint on dozens of courses. Other early pioneers, such as Old Tom Morris and Harry Vardon, also helped shape Highland golf. They must have relished the chance to plate their designs through such stunning landscapes.
Courses like Kingussie Golf Club, Newtonmore Golf Club, and Boat of Garten Golf Club sit near the A9 and are only minutes apart. Heather-clad and in pristine condition, they are courses that reward not just visually, but by offering exciting, imaginative play.
We rolled into the ski town of Aviemore and teed it up at Spey Valley golf course at Macdonald Aviemore Resort, curiously overlooked outside Scotland. Opened twenty years ago, Spey Valley is a bold, modern Highland creation framed by purple heather, Scots pine, and the winding River Spey, one of Scotland’s premier salmon rivers. The atmosphere is further enhanced by the whistles and chuffs of the nearby Strathspey Steam Railway.
The course is long, strategic, and demanding, but the rewards are immense. With the Cairngorms mountains backdropping the undulating topography, the layout is visually spectacular and one you’ll clearly remember.
Nearby, Grantown-on-Spey Golf Club offers a more laid-back experience. This charming heathland course is a perfect example of a community-lead facility, and you’ll find the welcome as warming as an après-golf dram. For the first six holes, we played with hickories, available from the clubhouse, following in the footsteps of Grantown’s most famous golfing son, Bobby Cruickshank. The diminutive Scot emigrated to America in the early 1900s and went on to win 17 PGA Tour titles while becoming close friends with Bobby Jones and Charlie Chaplin.
After the round, we met Hamish Malcolm, the celebrated “Dram Caddy.” Hamish guides golfers through a special tasting of local Speyside whiskies, pairing each dram with stories drawn from the region’s golfing and distilling heritage. Distilleries in the area to visit include Macallan and Glenfiddich.
On the Moray coast, the golf changes character again. Moray Golf Club, Nairn Golf Club, and Nairn Dunbar Golf Club are traditional seaside links shaped by wind, natural turf, and the tracks of time. These are as native links as you will find, and each one is well worth encountering.
Closer to Inverness, the Highland capital, the Castle Stuart course at Cabot Highlands represents another more modern interpretation. Looking over the Moray Firth, the Gil Hanse-designed course remains one of Scotland’s great contemporary layouts, rewarding bold, imaginative golf while simultaneously remaining playable for us lesser mortals.
I first visited when visionary developer Mark Parsinen could be found walking the site at dawn, refining every contour and angle. Parsinen envisioned a second course on the property, and although he did not live to see it, the arrival of Old Petty, which officially opened on May 15, fulfils that ambition. Designed Tom Doak and Clyde Johnson, the rumpled routing marks an exciting new chapter for the property and the Highland area.
Where Castle Stuart sweeps dramatically along the coastline, Old Petty unfolds across broader corridors on a more expansive scale. The aesthetics are different, but every bit as compelling, and together the two courses have elevated Cabot Highlands into a Highland hub of sorts right next to Inverness Airport.
Straight across the Moray Firth, Fortrose & Rosemarkie Golf Club sits on a narrow finger of land pointing toward Cabot Highlands. Wind is a constant companion here, and on our visit, it never left our sides. The setting is as extraordinary as the golf. Dolphins regularly appear beside Chanonry Point lighthouse, attracting sightseers and campervans.
We caught a two-car ferry to Nigg and continued north to Tain, home to one of Scotland’s oldest and most historic links. Tain Golf Club was redesigned by Old Tom Morris in 1890 and remains one of the great traditional Highland links experiences. Set beside the Dornoch Firth, the course combines subtle links contours with a sense of complete tranquillity. There is little unnecessary fuss here: simply clever, natural golf shaped by one of the game’s founding figures.
A little further north past the Glenmorangie Distillery (a must-stop for whisky lovers) lies Royal Dornoch, perhaps the spiritual summit of Highland golf. Tom Watson famously described Royal Dornoch as “the most fun I’ve ever had on a golf course” in 1981, and ever since, the pilgrimage north has only intensified.
If Royal Dornoch was located a little further south, it would surely feature regularly on The Open rota. Geography has kept it apart, but that remoteness has only deepened its mystique and appeal.
The Championship Course itself scarcely needs endorsement. Step onto the third tee and the view alone is enough to stop you in your tracks: a sweeping scimitar-shaped bay backed by gorse and dunes.
Dornoch’s famous greens call for a different approach. Often, the safest option is to keep the ball on the ground, embracing the traditional Scottish running game and using your putter a lot more often and a lot farther than usual.
It’s interesting how popular the town and its golf course have become. The club’s long-awaited new clubhouse further confirms Dornoch’s rising stature, while work is underway to further refine the neighbouring Struie Course, strengthening its role as a complementary but increasingly compelling second 18.
Back in town, accommodations continue to progress. Links House at Royal Dornoch remains the premier option, located only a wedge from the clubhouse and combining understated luxury with genuine Highland warmth. The newly refurbished Dornoch Station is a more contemporary and relaxed alternative.
Dornoch feels far enough north but keep going and the Highland hospitality continues. From Dornoch, it’s an easy 15-minute run to Golspie Golf Club and another short hop to Brora Golf Club, two outstanding coastal courses that are well worth building into your itinerary.
Golspie offers a varied and underrated test while Brora, famously shared with grazing sheep and cattle, delivers one of the most unfiltered links experiences in Scotland. And be sure pay a visit to nearby Dunrobin Castle, one of Britain’s oldest continuously inhabited estates that dates to the early 1300s.
Turning south, we stopped at Trump International Scotland near Aberdeen to sample the New Course, which opened last year (“the Old Course” debuted in 2012). Trump’s team have made full use of this immense dune landscape to create two very different golfing experiences. The Old remains one of the most dramatic and exhilarating in Scotland, although a strong northerly wind can quickly turn exhilaration into survival.
The New is slightly more forgiving, allowing more opportunities to appreciate the extraordinary dune formations through which it moves. Both layouts deliver immense scale, bold strategy, and unforgettable scenery.
But then, unforgettable scenery – not to mention romance and mystique – is just par for the course on a golf trip to the Scottish Highlands.
