Links golf in northern Scotland: courses worth a day
Most people plan a golf trip around a single famous course. Up here the better idea is to plan it around the coast, because the best links in the north sit within an hour's drive of each other on a single road, and then the road runs out into places where a nine-hole course with a clubhouse the size of a garden shed is just as good a day. Old Tom Morris, James Braid and a handful of locals laid these courses out on natural dunes, and the sheep, the wind and the Dornoch Firth have been editing them ever since.
🧭 At a glance
Route: Tain → Dornoch → Brora → Wick → Reay → Durness
Time: two to three days for a selection of courses; allow around six days if you want a round at all six, with time for the drive
Best for: golfers who want links golf in the Highlands without a tick-box itinerary, and non-golfers who need a good reason for a long coastal drive
Don't rush: book Royal Dornoch and Brora before you travel, because summer tee times go first
📶 Before you set off. Mobile signal can be patchy, especially west of Reay. Download the relevant Highland map areas on Wi-Fi and save this page for offline reading. Open each route while connected; downloaded map data can support offline driving directions, but club websites and booking links still need an internet connection.
⚠️ Route warning. Follow the posted limits on the A9 and leave time for the long drive north. The road towards Durness includes single-track sections with passing places. Allow extra time, use passing places considerately, and check your route if you are driving a large vehicle or towing.
1. Tain: Old Tom Morris and a firth view
Tain is the first course on this route north from Inverness, before you cross the Dornoch Firth bridge. It mixes links and heathland with gorse, heather, burns and deep pot bunkers. Less famous than its neighbour across the firth, it makes a fine opening round.
Tain Golf Club
Old Tom Morris was invited by locals to lay out the course in 1889. It runs to 6,404 yards, with views over the Dornoch Firth, and the clubhouse has a restaurant and bar. The railway station is roughly a five-minute walk from the first tee, which matters if you are leaving the car at a hotel.
Time needed: a full day for the round and lunch; allow 4 hours for the round itself
💡 Insider tip. Ask about visitor packages when booking. Reciprocal discounts can depend on club membership, so check your eligibility rather than assuming a multi-course discount.
Official website · Navigate · Google Maps
2. Dornoch: the one everybody has heard of
Dornoch is a compact grid of golden sandstone around a 13th-century cathedral, with a championship links and a wide pale beach a few minutes' walk from the square. Golf has been played here since at least 1616, the club dates to 1877, and Donald Ross, who went on to shape courses across America, grew up in the town. Plan to stay overnight, because the point of Dornoch is not having to drive anywhere afterwards.
Royal Dornoch Golf Club: Championship and Struie courses
Royal Dornoch offers the Championship and Struie courses, two different ways to spend a day on the links. Check the current visitor information for availability, course suitability and any handicap requirements before booking. Practice facilities are available before your tee time.
Time needed: a full day; allow 4 hours for a four-ball on the Championship Course and 3 hours 45 minutes on the Struie
💡 Insider tip. Plan ahead for the Championship Course and use the club’s current visitor booking information. Adult members of Scottish golf clubs can receive a 25% standard green-fee discount, with Championship play restricted to after 2pm; bring the identification and membership evidence the club requests.
Official website · Navigate · Google Maps
Where to eat and drink in Dornoch
Dornoch Castle Hotel: the whisky bar
Dornoch's 15th-century castle turned hotel on the square has a celebrated whisky bar downstairs and the cathedral across the road. It is the natural place to unpick the round over a dram.
Time needed: an hour to an evening
💡 Insider tip. Dornoch Castle is one of the partner hotels on the Dornoch Firth stay-and-play offer, so ask about golf packages when you book.
Official website · Navigate · Google Maps
Where to stay tonight
One hotel and one campsite, both verified on the Dornoch leg of the road.
Dornoch Castle Hotel. Sleep in a 15th-century castle on the square with the whisky bar downstairs. Book · hotel website · Navigate · Google Maps
Dornoch Caravan & Camping Park. Flat links pitches two minutes' walk from the golden beach, with the town and Royal Dornoch on the doorstep. Book · campsite website · Navigate · Google Maps
If you are building a golf break around several courses, the Dornoch Firth Golf Pass lists partner hotels including the Royal Marine Hotel and Sutherland Inn in Brora, the Royal Golf Hotel and Dornoch Castle Hotel in Dornoch, Fionn Lodge in Dornoch and the Golspie Inn in Golspie. Dornoch Firth Golf stay and play
3. Brora: Braid's natural links
Twenty miles north of Dornoch the A9 reaches Brora, and so does the golf that people talk about quietly. It is a natural links where sheep and cattle graze the course and electric fences keep the sheep off the greens.
Brora Golf Club
James Braid redesigned the course in 1924, building on a nine-hole layout from 1891 that was extended to eighteen six years later. It plays as a par 70 of roughly 6,156 yards, with the front nine running along Kintradwell Bay and the par-3 ninth at the far end as the signature hole. Five-time Open champion Peter Thomson is often quoted as calling it the most natural links in the world.
Time needed: 4 hours for the round, plus lunch in the clubhouse
💡 Insider tip. Book ahead, especially on summer weekends, and look at weekday and off-peak times, which can be better value.
Official website · Navigate · Google Maps
Cocoa Skye, Brora
An award-winning café on Brora's station square, famous for luxurious hot chocolate, waffles and properly made coffee. A fitting last indulgence before the road turns properly remote.
Time needed: 30 to 45 minutes
💡 Insider tip. Go straight after the round while the wind is still in your ears.
Facebook page · Navigate · Google Maps
4. Wick: the oldest course on the road north
The road runs on through Helmsdale and over the Berriedale Braes into Caithness, flatter and considerably less sheltered than the coast behind you. Wick is a working town with a links that has been played for a very long time.
Wick Golf Club
Wick Golf Club celebrated its 150th year in 2020 and plays at Reiss, on the links just north of the town. It was extended from nine to eighteen holes in 1907 to 1908. Visitors book online and pay for the tee time when booking.
Time needed: 4 hours for the round
💡 Insider tip. Check the club’s visitor booking page for current green fees, available tee times and payment terms before travelling.
Official website · Navigate · Google Maps
Where to stay tonight
Mackay's Hotel, Wick. Family-run for three generations on Ebenezer Place, the world's shortest street, with its own No.1 Bistro in the heart of Wick. Book · hotel website · Navigate · Google Maps
Wick River Campsite. A quiet riverside site on the edge of town with hardstanding pitches and hook-ups, ten minutes' walk from Wick's pubs and shops. Book · campsite website · Navigate · Google Maps
5. Reay: the northernmost links
West of Thurso the coast turns remote, and Reay sits on Sandside Bay as the northernmost 18-hole links in Britain, according to the course rankings that carry it. It is a short, wind-shaped James Braid design of 5,854 yards that opens and closes with par 3s.
Reay Golf Club
Founded in 1893, Reay declined during the Second World War and was revived in the early 1960s. The modern clubhouse overlooks the course and has a bar and catering, and a webcam covers the first six holes if you want to check the weather before committing.
Time needed: 3 to 4 hours for the round
💡 Insider tip. Reay lists seasonal day-ticket rates on its website. Confirm the current price and tee-time availability when you book.
Official website · Navigate · Google Maps
For a bed near Reay, base yourself in Thurso.
Forss House Hotel, Thurso. A Georgian country house in 20 acres of riverside woodland outside Thurso, with a well-regarded restaurant and a serious whisky bar. Book · hotel website · Navigate · Google Maps
Thurso Bay Caravan & Camping Park. Clifftop pitches above Thurso Bay with views across the Pentland Firth to Orkney, ten minutes' walk from the town centre. Check the campsite’s current arrival, booking and opening arrangements before travelling. Campsite website · Navigate · Google Maps
6. Durness: nine holes at the end of the road
Durness is the opposite of Dornoch, and just as good. Nine holes laid out on rolling natural ground above Balnakeil Bay, a small clubhouse, and views of the beach and the Atlantic from nearly every tee. It is mainland Britain's most north-westerly golf course, and the drive is part of the day.
Durness Golf Club
Opened in 1988 and designed by three locals, Durness is a nine-hole links of 2,753 yards from the longest tees, with a second set of tees on each hole so you can play eighteen with different angles. The par-3 ninth plays over a cliff to a green below the clubhouse.
Time needed: 2 to 3 hours for eighteen holes over the double tees
💡 Insider tip. Visitors book online through the club website. Older accounts describe an honesty box at the clubhouse for the green fee, so confirm how to pay before you arrive.
Official website · Navigate · Google Maps
Cocoa Mountain, Balnakeil
Balnakeil Craft Village's famous chocolatier: the hot chocolate is legendary, the truffles are handmade on site and the coffee is excellent. It sits close to the course, which makes it the obvious end to a round.
Time needed: 30 to 45 minutes
💡 Insider tip. Go for the drinking chocolate if the wind has been up.
Official website · Navigate · Google Maps
Where to stay tonight
Smoo Cave Hotel. A welcoming family-run inn a short walk from Smoo Cave, known for local seafood, hearty bar meals and a proper Highland welcome. Book · hotel website · Navigate · Google Maps
Sango Sands Oasis. Pitch on the clifftop directly above Sango Bay's white sand, tents and vans welcome, with a bar and restaurant on site. Book · campsite website · Navigate · Google Maps
How to do it
For a short break, choose two or three courses rather than trying to play all six. Tain, Dornoch and Brora make a practical southern base. To include Wick, Reay and Durness, allow around six days for a leisurely round at each, with extra time for the coastal drive and weather. Pack windproof layers, suitable golf footwear and a spare layer even in July.
What to avoid
Turning up at Royal Dornoch or Brora without a tee time. Summer slots go well before you arrive, so book first.
Treating Durness as a quick stop. It is a long single-track drive from the A9, so build the afternoon around it.
Rushing Dornoch. The cathedral, the square and the beach are worth the hour they ask for.
Rushing the drive. Follow posted speed limits and allow time for single-track sections, passing places and changing weather.
Next step
If the whisky is as important as the golf, read The whisky coast: Tain, Brora and Dornoch, and for the far north-west end of the road, Durness and Smoo Cave.
Free guide: Golf Course Planner. The courses in order, booking windows and what to pack, in a short PDF for your phone. Get the free Golf Course Planner
Before you tee off. Fill a flask at the clubhouse and take it round. The Route500 Scotland Travel Mug is 20 oz of double-wall vacuum insulated stainless steel in Highland Navy, with a slide-lock lid, and it comes with free tracked worldwide shipping. See the Travel Mug
