The Jewel in the Crown of Highlands Golf - Royal Dornoch

Posted by Jamie on 10 August 2010 | 6 Comments | Tags: Royal Dornoch, Old Tom Morris, Donald Ross, Andrew Carnegie, Sutherland, links, Scotland, Royal Marine Hotel Brora

Royal Dornoch though revered and legendary and brilliant and gorgeous and all of the above, is actually quite a down to earth place.  Many of the Great Clubs of the World are.  If I�??m not speaking out of turn, the club�??s modest website gives little indication that visitors and members alike have the privilege of experiencing one of golf�??s true pleasures.  That�??s part of Dornoch�??s charm.  It doesn�??t blow its own trumpet or tell you that it�??s one of the best clubs in the world �?? it just is.  There�??s a lot to be said for modesty.

The club is steeped in history (aptly paraphrased on the website), its roots being traced back to The Year Of Our Lord 1616 �?? making it the 3rd oldest club in Scotland, after St. Andrews and Leith.  In 1877 it was formed as The Royal Dornoch Golf Club (its previous incarnation being the The Sutherland Golfing Society, which played on the links at Dornoch and down the road at Golspie); in 1906 the club received the Royal Decree.  Despite being titled it can rightly claim �?? as it does �?? �??to exceed the expectations of [their] frequent visitors and loyal members...in a relaxed, informal environment, with an emphasis on traditional highland hospitality.�?�  The first member of staff we met was George, the Starter �?? an aged gentleman who�??s been in Dornoch �??all [his] life�?�.  Because ours was the first tee time on a fine Saturday morning (7.30am), George was out raising the flags and getting ready for the day ahead.  We got chatting and were it not for the golf we mightn�??t have stopped until lunch.  A lovely old guy, proud of Royal Dornoch and to be associated with it.  

Speaking of nice Highland chaps, I must mention John.  The Royal Marine Hotel �?? which kindly put us up last night at the eleventh hour in a lovely suite �?? allowed us to sneak an early breakfast before hitting the road.  (I trust Michael has told you in yesterday�??s blog about the kindness of Joan, the General Manager; the wonderfully traditional sitting room and lobby with walls covered in golf memorabilia and photos of Royal Visits; the awesome leisure facilities; and the generally welcoming ambience of the RMH �?? a wonderful example of Highland Hospitality).  John took care of us while we shovelled in as many calories as we could in 15 minutes or so.  He couldn�??t help us enough �?? and tried to fill our pockets with as much as we could take away, to last us the day!  Just the sort of boost you need when you�??re low on energy.  John could teach most people in the hospitality industry a thing or two...

The words of wisdom from the pro, and from George, were to keep it on the fairway and aim for the middle of the greens.  Pretty standard stuff, you might say, but their words really resonated once we�??d had a chance to see a few of the greens... (a bit like how Kenny Thompson told me at Prestwick, �??you�??ll either find [your ball] or you won�??t�?� when it crashed into the heather).  Call them up turned saucers; describe them as crowned �?? whatever.  In plain English: they tend to fall away from nearly every angle.  The landing areas then are much smaller than you think �?? and Texas Wedging is particularly tricky because your uphill putt often goes downhill before it reaches the hole, making speed Key.  This is where Donald Ross plied his trade as Professional and Head Greenkeeper before making his name over The Pond.  It�??s easy to see where he drew his inspiration (though there is a school of thought that claims Ross�?? Pinehurst No.2 greens were originally bowl shaped �?? quite the opposite to their current state �?? and so his signature design mark is really a fallacy).  

Anyway enough on that.  The beauty of this place is what I most want to impress upon you Dear Reader.  First I want to say that there�??s no better time to play than at 7.30am as the first group out.  The air had a gentle bite to it, but the sun peering through the clouds over the North Sea would soon make its glow felt.  Wind as it generally is was tame during this first stanza of day (take note Tim Borren!).  I felt like the town and the golf course, like me, was just waking up.  Even the gorse managed to look graceful in this soft light (though it soon revealed its true character).  We teed off with scarcely a soul in sight, at once excited and contented.  It�??s in this euphoric state that I enjoy my golf most.

Holes 1 and 2 warm you up before the golf course famously opens up before you on the walk to the 3rd tee.  On 2 I had my first encounter with a Dornoch pot bunker, my ball nestling in a spot from which even Seve couldn�??t have made par.  Mike on the other hand hit a glorious towering short iron to a couple of feet and knocked in his first of 3 impressive birdies on the par 3s.  

[View from behind the 3rd tee]

5 is a great little par 4, one of the best we�??ve played in Scotland.  You hike up to the tee and find yourself presiding over a view that�??s hard to describe as anything other than stunning.  When you steady yourself you have options.  From the yellows (which we were forced to play since they were keeping the whites pristine for a tournament commencing the next day), it�??s only 350 or so �?? and with the drop in elevation you could get on with a good 3 wood or mellow driver.  But.  The green is plateau�??d (one of those terms that I�??ve never been sure about �?? is it a proper word?) and guarded at the front by a smattering of pots covering every angle.  Mike hit a 2 iron that danced around the lip of one of �??em; I laid back with a 5 iron to leave a full lob wedge.  No birdies for either of us �?? but, I guess, no doubles either...  In the wind this could be torturous.  The fairway slopes towards 3 pots on right hand side in the lay up zone too, which you want to avoid at all costs �?? a beautifully designed hole.  Well done Tam.  As the website notes, �??Position of flag dictates best line from tee.�?�

I love the description of the very Scottish sounding 6th hole (�??Whinny Brae�?� - pictured below):  Par 3, 163 yards. Plateau green built into hillside. Thick whins on hillside on left, also 3 bunkers on left edge of green. Large bunker at right of slope at entrance to green. Steep fall of 12ft. at rear and right of green.�?�  Only in Scotland can they make a 9 iron sound so difficult...  In fact if you have the inclination, read the website�??s hole-by-hole description for a good laugh.  It�??s a no nonsense, bare bones description of nothing but hazards!  I wouldn�??t be surprised if it was written by a Scots caddy, who I�??ve heard don�??t sugar coat things unlike their American counterparts.   

On 8 you hit your first blind tee shot of the day �?? ideally over the top of the raccoon tail stick in the middle of the fairway.  As your ball soars off into the horizon you have to trust that no one�??s shifted the stick overnight...because you don�??t have a clue what�??s going on down below.  Fortunately we both found ourselves sitting pretty on the sunken fairway, but still had to leave it all to fate for the approach, which is (semi-)blind too.  I took my instructions from Mike �?? who as he tends to do marched up ahead to the green for a gander.  �??Land it 25 feet short online or just left of the pin, and it�??ll run down nicely.�?�  With a lob wedge I did as I was told, but my ball ended up on the false front that was in fact farther away than Mike described �?? eroding all trust in any future instructions from my travel companion.  A 3 putt ensued, marking the first of Many in a frustrating day on and around the greens!  But that�??s golf, and that�??s Dornoch, and I was too busy enjoying myself to give a rat�??s proverbial.

[View from top of the hill on 8, out over the bay]

[Looking back from behind the par 5 9th green]

Something remarkable happened on the short par 3 10th: Michael failed to make a birdie, instead carding a careless par.  Dornoch�??s collection of (four) par 3s is quite something �?? they�??re all quite short, but well contoured nonetheless, so birdies aren�??t easy to come by.  Mike had 3 of �??em �?? a testament to his fine short iron abilities.  I had another 3 putt from the wrong side of a nasty tier!

By this time the locals were out in force on the dunes and on the beach, their dogs taking them for a walk.  I�??d shed my cardigan it was so balmy.  There were still a few Berghaus Gore Tex numbers about though �?? God knows why; they must�??ve known something I didn�??t (like our good fortune was about to come to an end).  That�??s one of my favourite things about playing Scottish links, actually, now that I think about it.  Whereas in the US at the best clubs it�??s only golfers and caddies in sight (the outside world being excluded by Fort Knox like perimeters in many cases), here you can people watch while your playing partners are hacking away.  Old couples in their parkas with ancient looking West Highland Terriers in tow; young families tearing around with lusty abandon and spaniels or chocolate labs in pursuit; a guy out for a walk to clear the head after The Night Before.  In this way the golf courses are much more part of the fabric of the community �?? places that mean different things to different people, but in any case �?? at least in summer �?? are alive with activity.  And so it was with Royal Dornoch on the fine Saturday morning we played.

[The 12th isn't as hard as it looks]

[Looking across from the 12th tee to the sharp undulations surrounding the 5th green, and bonnie house above]

Down the back 9 there are birdie holes if you�??ve got your short game shoes on.  But like Brora yesterday it was a fine art stopping the ball down wind �?? a fine art that I as yet have still to get a remote grasp of let alone master.  If I was to describe Dornoch�??s green complexes in one word it�??d be �??humbling.�?�  The second word I would use is �??fun�?� - because it�??s genuinely a buzz trying to get your wee white thing close even if time after time you�??re being humbled.  To be sure it�??d be a boring game if you had it perfected.

As we walked up and down the last few holes it was still not 10am, leaving us the rest of the day ahead to use as we pleased.  It dawned on me that I might not be back here for a while, so made a point of pausing to take in the views and grab a snap or two for posterity.  This one below is of the 17th from the top of the hill, looking down to the fairway and back up again to the green.  In spring when the gorse is in bloom this �?? like the rest of the course �?? would no doubt look yet more magnificent.  

Not far from the 18th green was George, ushering Americans to the tee and making sure they got away on time.  We stopped to thank him and to share a few thoughts.  He must surely be one of the reasons why people love this place so much, in that he epitomises the humility and warmth this place exudes.  If you stop in at Dornoch make sure you introduce yourself to George (if you�??re playing you won�??t miss him, of course).

I did a quick rec�??y of the clubhouse and it�??s impressive collection of artifacts.  Among them is the very impressive Carnegie Shield, which is played for every year.  It was donated to the club in 1901 by Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Carnegie, whom I mentioned in the Skibo blog.  In other cabinets were medals from decades and centuries gone by, no doubt played for in good spirits by modest, good natured highlanders.

JP