No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - 1058: The Scottish Highlands Golf Trip - Royal Dornoch, Nairn, Cabot Highlands, Brora and more

Episode Date: August 20, 2025

We’re venturing north into the Highlands region of Scotland for our latest Scottish Golf Trip planning podcasts with Ru Macdonald. On this episode we profile a number of our favorites in the area including Royal Dornoch, Nairn, Cabot Highlands, Brora, and more. Join us in our support of the Evans Scholars Foundation:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://nolayingup.com/esf⁠⁠⁠⁠ Support our Sponsors: ⁠Rhoback⁠⁠ ⁠⁠FanDuel.com/nlu⁠⁠ If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Nest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: No Laying Up’s community of avid golfers. Nest members help us maintain our light commercial interruptions (3 minutes of ads per 90 minutes of content) and receive access to exclusive content, discounts in the pro shop, and an annual member gift. It’s a $90 annual membership, and you can sign up or learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠nolayingup.com/join⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to the No Laying Up Newsletter here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://newsletter.nolayingup.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to the No Laying Up Podcast channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@NoLayingUpPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Be the right club. Be the right club today. I mean, that's better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most. Expect anything different? Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No Laying Up podcast.

Sali here. This is part three of our travel series, How to Plan a Trip to Scotland. We've previously covered the East Lothian area, St. Andrews, all of that. It's a pretty all-encompassing episode talking about golf in Scotland and why we think that should be the first place you plan a trip to. The second part was the East Lothian area, Muirfield, North Barrick, Renaissance, that part of the country. And part three is going to cover the Highlands area. Yeah, we're going to talk about Real Dornick, all the other courses up along that way. I'm not going to, you know, I don't want to say all the names of the courses because you've got to understand the full context of the conversation.

We brought Rue McDonald back on, of course, from our Scottish golf guru, who's going to help us, help us along the way. T.C., obviously very well traveled in that area, and this is all we've got. We get a lot of emails, a lot of questions about planning golf trips. We are slowly working our way through different locations, trying to put that all into one place in podcast form. so we appreciate everyone that's giving us feedback on these episodes. I want to give a shout to our friends at Roeback. You guys know how much we love Roebuck, the Chris Polo's subtle dog logo.

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and you're going to be wearing some fantastic gear while you do it. Again, shout to our friends, Roeback, great supporters of our content over the years and into the future as well. Roback.com slash NLU to enter. Donning for the delay. Here's the pod. ladies and gentlemen welcome back to another episode of planning your scotland golf trip on the no laying up podcast sally here joined by my guy mr scotland himself could be introducing either one of these guys but it's mr tc hello tron oh that's no that's gonna piss people off i'm excited for this episode this is like one of this is the place i daydream about maybe the most of of of anywhere i'm daydreaming about it for a future trip already great to be here sallie

And we are joined by somebody who knows the Highlands better than anybody I have in my phone book. That is Mr. Rue MacDonald. Hello, Roo. Where do we find you this morning? Hello, you find me overlooking the 18th Green in St. Andrews. I'm looking over the West Sands in St. Andrews. I have a five-hour trip, road trip down to Macrohanish after this. So hopefully this is a nice pallet cleanser before that.

And of course, you find us all before Royal Port Rush in a couple of weeks' time. so it's very much lynx golf season it is links golf season we're recording this here uh this is july first uh for those we're still unsure when this is going to be published but uh it's always lynx golf season in our minds but tc you've been to this region a couple times uh my experience is kind of medium in this region i've been twice but kind of played the same four courses we're going to break down the courses similar to how we did on a previous podcast uh the previous episodes we've done kind of tearing them out helping you play in your scottish golf trip uh if you're heading to this region but when i say highlands what do you think of

Why are you daydreaming today? Yeah, well, I mean, I would say I think of Dornick. I just think of walking up the, you know, walking down 14 Foxy or going down the hill, down, you know, three, four, five, six there at Dornick. I think of Brora, that's kind of really what I think of. But I think as I've taken three trips now and really what I've had more of is like seeing how much more there is to it and not really, you know, I think, I think Inverness is getting a lot cooler, a lot like, you know, there's just more going on. But I think also just,

we've been to Nairn, but, you know, Castle Stewart is, or, you know, Cabot, whatever is, is, is doing well. And then you've got other stuff up, you know, kind of in the Karen Gorms that is still considered highlands as well, like boat of garden when I went there, that just knocked my socks off. So the more I think about the highlands, the more, it's like, man, I've only scratched the surface, and I cannot wait to get back because it seems like it's just heaven. It's my favorite, favorite area of Scotland. Yes, this is one of the regions we did cover on Torres Sauce Season 2, which is on our YouTube channel. Listen, do we wish we had full on cameras and some of the technology we have today

and our production style today? Listen, maybe we have to redo that one as well. I'm happy to go back there, but you will find a bunch of courses on that season. We went to Roald Dornock, we went to Brorough, we went to Castle Stewart, which is now known as Cabot Highlands, is that what it is now? Yeah. And then we played Nairn as well. But when I say Highlands, what is considered the Highlands region and what is this region, I guess, known for?

We've touched on Dornick, but when somebody asks you, what are the Highlands, why would people go there and what defines it? Yeah, I think, you know, I also like TC, kind of close my eyes and hopefully the When they think of Scotland, they think of huge landscapes, rolling mountains, locks, seas, and that is what we see when we travel through the island. So I think of that. I think of anything that's really north of the Aberdeen area. The Karengor mountain range kind of cuts through the centre of Scotland.

And it divides, you know, essentially divides the urban area, which is Edinburgh and Glasgow and Dundee, the main kind of population in Scotland and then the remote north of Scotland. So yeah, I think we all touched on there, the three main ones historically have been there in Castle Stewart, which is now Cabin Highlands and Royal Dornock. I think over the last five or six years, you know, in part to you guys and what you did with tourist sauce, I think you're seeing more and more people gravitate to these other areas of Scotland. And I'm going to say it probably in the next 10 years, you'll see Dornock as an emerging destination in his own right. And we can maybe get into that a little bit in terms of the exciting projects that are. taking place there but um this is a huge destination a huge golf destination that um you know more and more golfers are visiting hey do we so just for our purposes ru is it because you said

everything kind of north of north of aberdeen is is do you consider like more a lossy mouth is that kind of its own region east of there yeah that kind of the dividing line or yeah and unfortunately you mentioned a couple of those courses they kind of get bypassed a little bit i think cullen's a great spot you guys have got a great affinity to cullen but that is on the east kind of real east corner northeast corner for me the highlands is just north of that i would include murray and cullen as maybe a stop on the way to the aberdeen region i think we'll do that stuff more probably in the you know aberdeen fraserborough like that that sort of episode right where yeah yeah yeah we're going to cover all the regions over the course of time how you define them is truly up to you but yeah it uh i was looking

at that as well tc to say like some of these courses are about three hours from each other i think i think that classifies as different regions i think but yeah so we've covered the fife area um we've covered the east loathian area those two are are relatively close to each other about an hour and a half hour 50 maybe uh between north barrack and um and st andrews if you are planning a trip to the Highlands, do you think, Rue, is this, do you only go to the Highlands? Does this region make sense to combine with another one? If you were to combine it, what would kind of shoot to the top of the list, kind of help us, we're going to break down the individual courses and all of that, but help us link up why somebody would go to this region and how it would fit into their trip.

Yeah, I think, you know, hopefully, you know, without repeating myself, the sense is that you could go to these places and stay for a lot longer than people have been doing. And I think you guys have been great advocates of that. As the new goal, courses come online in the area there's obviously more reason to stay i think at this moment in time you're looking at three or four nights in this region and combining it with another region i think in hopefully in eight nine years time that will look a little bit different and you could actually come here exclusively and for many you know for the listeners in their 30s and 40s i think it's having the sense of gratitude that you can come back to Scotland and ireland for many many years and just

giving yourself enough time to see these places properly instead of driving around and again I'm repeating myself but historically that's what people have done and you guys tourist sauce was the great example of that just not even that was a good example of what not to do exactly you know and obviously you're you're doing work but um yeah having the having the kind of yeah the balls to basically slow down and and just see things properly and and breathe you know breathe the place in and there's no you know, cleaner, cleaner air than the Scottish Highlands to kind of breathe then, you know, a beautiful part of the world, some great golf. Well, I think that's kind of the point of these podcasts is like, hey, guys, it's not that

hard to print off a top 100 list and find the best courses in a particular region. I mean, we don't, you don't need our help doing that. We hopefully can share between the three of us some really great experiences that might not jump to the top of the list where, hey, you are going to be in this region for a certain period of time, but you need some filler courses. You need some high floor courses, some different looks, some variety. We're going to get into our tiers, which we got a lot of great feedback on those tiers in prior episodes of how we've slotted the courses out. And that's where I think some of the beauty of this region.

And I'm interested to hear kind of how Brora, you know, Nairn and Castle Stewart kind of tear out in your guys list. But travel-wise, in and out, there is Inverness Airport, which, to my knowledge, seems to be growing. I haven't been back there in eight or so years, Root, but there's international flights that come into that area from the United States, yet there's also people, I think, that would travel into Edinburgh, maybe go to Fife first, and then maybe go to the Highlands. So kind of how do people find their way to this region typically,

and what would you recommend? Yeah, I mean, Inverness is a growing airport. They have a number of connecting flights to London, Amsterdam, I believe, as well. So definitely an option, more often than, not though it's Edinburgh still. That gets a majority of direct North American flights. But if you can, try at Inverness because you've got, you know, the first golf course is literally next door at Cabot Highlands.

And I'm pretty sure Caput Highlands come and pick you up there. So, you're a couple of miles away. So close. Incredibly close for if you've never seen it on a map. Like it's like four minute drive or something like that. Which I think something cool too. Like as more, you know, as there's just more critical mass up in this area. Plus I'm going to nerd out for a second.

I think the A321 XLR, like, that they can throw on these long and skinny routes. Once that starts getting delivered to more U.S. airlines, I think that two or three times a week, you know, if it's Boston or Philadelphia or New York to to Inverness, like, they could, they could make that work. And, you know, you throw some lay flats in the front of that thing, and you only got to sell 70 to 100 seats to make it a profitable route. And if you do that, say Wednesday nights you know Wednesdays Sunday like basically Wednesdays and Sundays or Thursdays and Sundays like you could you could easily take a long weekend just to just to the Highlands and you could get there you know Thursday morning you could play probably 27 holes if not 36 holes that

day you could play all day Friday all day Saturday and then you can even play Sunday morning before you fly back to the States like I think that's that's going to be a kill killer thing. I think that's going to be an awesome thing to watch for with Scotland here in the future, the connectivity and how much more a variety there is. Because right now it's just like flying these 507s into Edinburgh right now and they ramp them up in the summer with more frequency. But like they're still narrow bodies and there's no, you know, they're not, you know, it's just dumping you into Edinburgh instead of, hey, you know, getting you into Inverness. Like that saves you almost a full day right there. Yeah. I'm so mad when I, the whole time I lived in Amsterdam.

I never jumped that KLM flight to Castle. Like I could just, I could have woke up Saturday morning. Take, you know, I was 15 minute train ride to the airport, flew there, about an hour flight maybe, played 36 and flown back that night. And I never did it one time. It would cost me a hundred euros probably to go do that. I'm such an idiot. Like it's such a, a cool and efficient way to do that. But so if you're going to this region, where should you stay? what are the options to stay you know what uh you know how many nights are you recommending based on the number of courses you kind of mentioned that but how would you go about booking do you book direct with a lot of this stuff do you do a tour operator that's going to help you uh with the

region kind of in your experience ru what would you recommend here yeah i mean i'm i'm in love with dorok as a town um it's you know one of the you know a few golf towns and again i repeat myself again but there's some magic to the place there's an energy there's an energy that kind of fades away by 10 o'clock at night so if you are you know some of the guys that are looking to almost go down a bachelor party kind of experience at dornox maybe not for you unless you've got you know self-catering accommodation that you can take the party home to but you know what has been really encouraging with dorna because there's a couple of larger hotels coming online there ones that have sort of 50 bedrooms so the the opportunity to stay there

the other amenities that come with that I just think there's something there's something something to be said about walking back to your accommodation and then walking back to your golf the next day, you know, walking to the coffee shops, you know, past the cathedral where Madonna and Guy Ritchie got married. So there's all this cool stuff going on and there is a, you know, I think some locals in Dornick think that it's maybe becoming a bit overran by tourists. But for me as a kind of outsider living three hours away, there's still a huge amount of charm sense of place there, which is somewhat lost in St. Andrews, just with how vibrant and busy it is. What if we're tearing out hotels or what, what are some of the places, I think I stayed

at the Dornick Hotel several years ago. And I think at the time, at least, it was ready for a renovation. Has it been renovated? What do you recommend people go fine there? Yeah, well, I think arguably the best golf accommodation is Link's house, which is owned by a, a Chicago businessman, Todd Warnock, who's a philanthropist and spent a lot of money in the town and has created this incredible five-star experience, literally next door to the clubhouse there. So that is a free ad. And then the new bigger sort of spot that's online is the Dornex Station Hotel, which is part of the Marine and Lawn group. And that is right now next to the first fairway.

and then you have, you know, a bunch of other hotels in the, in the town, more and more self-catering lodging. So definitely plenty of choice. I would be, you know, like a lot of these trips booking about 18 months ahead now as tea times come online. I'm almost certain that, you know, Ronald Dorox tea times went live in May of this year. So you are kind of, you know, definitely at least 12 months ahead now at this point to book tea times. And that's probably our tier one, right? I think before we dive into it, you know, that is everyone's tier one. It's probably top five golf courses outside the United States regularly, year on year. Yeah, it's top five golf courses in the world for me.

I mean, it's, it's, it's, there's just something special about it. Solly, is the is the is the, is the, is the, is the, is the, is the hotel Dornick that you're talking about? Or is that, yeah, that's the one right next to the car, but in the car park there in the way. Yeah, that's, I don't know. I mean, I don't even remember the rooms. I just like the ability to walk out that back. door and be on the first tea there and walk through that little archway that's just like that's to me what I think of when I think of Dornick and having a scotch on the on the you know in that back room

there like that back room and and just for breakfast or for dinner or just drinks is like that's heaven to me like being able to play till 10 10 30 p.m. at night you know late late you're so far north and then retiring to that backroom and just you know talking about the day like that that to me is like probably like that that would be like bury me that kind of thing it's and and and as someone who loves hotels and used to work in that industry like that that to me is like everything that I dream of it you know in a hotel just like sense of place great location great service there's all those bag tags hanging from that bar in there. It's just, it's so cool.

Oh, I hate doing these pods, man. Give me on the road. Give me back out there. I mean, I love doing them, but I hate doing it without it on the schedule and hearing Bruce say 18 months out. I just know I know I'm that much farther away from doing it. But let's get into some golf courses then. Let's talk about our tears because we got some feedback on this the last time around.

Loud feedback. Differing opinions on how it works. As mentioned, it's not hard. to rank the course it's not that hard to rank the courses not that hard to come over the list of the top ones it's a little harder i think and that was the goal of the exercise to get them into these four tiers you can critique it however you like but tier one is must play no questions asked face your trip around these courses and do not miss them uh i think we had we had said carnusti was in the tier two which is a series of courses to select from you cannot go wrong with these but

probably can't play them all by definition i think on the carnusti i have been to the fife region multiple times and not played carnusty i greatly enjoy that golf course it's 40 minutes from from st andrews i've had maybe played it four or five times freaking love the place by definition i have not considered it must play because i've gone to the region and not played it sometimes it works into the trip sometimes you're doing kind of more of the ely and krail thing in that region. So it is, I just want to emphasize how hard it is to get into tier one. And the goal, the goal, the tier one is like, here is why you go to this region to play this course and the rest kind of fill in. Tier two is still a massive, massive compliment

and a massively very, very good golf course that you should play. T.C., I don't know if you have any color here. Yeah, no, I think that's, that was the one we got probably the most feedback on in the five episode, in the East Lothian episode. A lot of the Craigie law members reached out, which was very, very jarring. He's got a fig going with the Craigie law members right now. Again, this is, this is for out of town, largely international visitors. This isn't for like, hey, if you're Scottish, just straight up rank the golf courses. Right.

And like, I'm not, I'm not traveling to East Lothian, much less Scotland, to go play Craigie law. I think the, you know, Golan, it's like, that's a huge blind. spot and we said that on the you know on the pod of like and rue i think you you know i don't know if you're welcome and gullen anymore but uh this is easy for us ru's got to live this life he lives it yeah yeah going i mean going and we said like hey the the short one sounds awesome i can't i can't i can't remember if it's number one or number two i think it's number one sounds sounds like a proper proper links test and some of the best lynxland you know in all scotland and

then, uh, you know, there's, there's other ones like Luffness or Archerfield or, you know, places that, you know, sound great. And I think with North Barrick, like I'd just like to say as well, like that's just like, North Barrick's a great golf course. Like it's, it's, it's, I'm not slagging it off. I just think Dunbar is like, it's equal. And I think that every time that I think part of the charm with North Barrick is being lost. And Rue, maybe you can speak to this a little bit, is like I think that this is probably a trend within Scottish golf is a lot of these courses have gotten so high on the hog with tourist dollars that they've stopped raising their dues or they've stopped and they've just jacked up their greens fees and so then when you stop raising

your dues people keep their older members keep their memberships for longer even if they're not playing and that that forces you know a lot of the younger guys in East Lothie. are stuck on a waiting list or the waiting list is even closed and then it feels more like a tourist factory than ever versus you know feeling like a true golf club through my off base there with that yeah I just think there's a lack of you know really good golf

and he slowly and you know for for guys outrage to get in you hear that a lot on the carnusti front I mean there's a reason why private equity came in there and then jetted a bunch of cash into that and I look forward to seeing what what they do there with the Carnoustie golf links and you know how do they convince or change the

our opinion that you know we don't dream of going to Carnuscy that's a great challenge for somebody there that clearly loves Scotland and is putting up some some money there to try and reshape that and hopefully bring the open back there many many times

all right well getting into again that we cover those first two tiers tier one must play no questions asked tier two there's going to be probably more there's a lot more courses in this region in this number and depending on the region there might be you know there's more in different regions than there are others not spread out equally maybe you can play you know we described it here is you cannot go wrong but can't probably can't play all of them i probably disagree with this region at least the ones that go and get into my tier two i think you can probably knock off all of them

tier three is called it's going to be not a top one not on a top 100 list but you should play at least one of these on your trip and why so kind of in this group are some of the courses like Grail in the Fife region or Kill Spindy, I always reference in the East Lothian region of like, hey, this isn't like the most special place in the world, but you should play a place where like real Scottish people play. That's not a tourist factory, right? That's kind of that goal, that tier three. And tier four is the TC Hartzell tier, I think.

Like, let's get weird. Like, you know, if you've got the time and the curiosity to go off map, like here's some ideas on places to go and what to expect. Again, you might not be into the weird stuff, but Cullen, I think most definitely goes into this list, weird pars, just- Is Cullen, are we saying Cullen is- No, we're not saying Cullen is in this region. I'm just saying, that's probably the golf course. You're about to short-circuit me.

Wreck it your brain, I know, but that's a weird golf course that we've covered, have a, you know, a Taurus video there that, like, it's hard to, hard to stress how much, like, I think of that place more than I do, I'd say Castle Stewart, and I really like Castle Stewart, but the memory I have from playing that and just a totally different style of golf than any, I could get anywhere else in the United States or in my world was a great, great memory. So I think that's kind of a goal to say that's a little, maybe, maybe that's second time through, maybe that's expert level travel. I know a lot of wide variety of people are going to listen to this, but we can cover a lot of golf courses in that region. And you should mix some in.

I'm going to give you a lot of a lot of reasons why on particular golf courses. So it sounds like I think there's there's courses that expand your reception of like what golf is. 100% place like Colin is like that. Like I've never, I haven't been all the way up there, but like Derness sounds like that or Covesy. That's kind of like the hot name in the streets right now. You know, I saw I saw our friend Jamie Kennedy was there, you know, not long ago Tom Coyne took a group there. Hartzl's been trying to get me there for forever. And he's like, dude, like this place just, it exists because like somebody just decided it should exist.

And like the golf world is better for it, right? But it almost sounds like we're talking about two, you know, there's like two levels of trips here. Because I think the cool thing about the highlands is like you can go knock off four or five days of like excellent golf, see, you know, all the tier one, tier two stuff get a little bit more of that flavor. And then if you want to go see the tier three, tier four stuff, that, you know, I think if you make the commitment to go see that, that stuff's going to probably live in your memory just as much as the tier one and tier two stuff. And so it's almost like it's, it's not even tiered out. It's just a matter of how much time do you have and how adventurous do you want to be, right? Yeah. And I think seeing one of those at least in tier four just allows you to appreciate the other ones way more.

And again, I'm repeating myself. I said that before, but it just gives you a sense of what golf was and what it looked like and how it's got to the place it's got to and what it should look like a little bit more often. I think with Insully kicking it off, I think Dornick, part of the reason it's among my top five favorite courses in the world is because it, I don't think there's a course that marries up being a true championship test. You know, it's not, it's not that long. It's what, 7,000 yards but it's you know it's truly like everything you think of when you think of of you know major championship level golf or just you know the bunkering every facet is there but also so much like

so many times those courses start to lack the charm where they're so big and brawny and penal they're just kicking in the face over and over again where I think Dornick is just the views and the routing and it's just so magical and there's just such a just the cadence of the round even is I mean it's one of the best sets of part three is in the world and so I think Dornick is just like like no other course I've played it's just I think it has every ingredient of what you're looking for when you know like so many people want to want to go play open road of courses or top 100 courses and then they realize wait the only thing that's really separating these courses out from the next 100 or the next 100 after that is just having another four or

500 yards and you know being a proper championship test and they're not going to you know derive a lot of value from that you know from that distinction whereas whereas dornick is like dornic is it it is everything that you've ever sought after in a lynx golf course all rolled into one yeah the evening we we that was the episode 12 of tour sauce season two the last course we played on the trip we had the place to ourselves i still don't really understand why uh you know it's not like that anymore i'm sure and you play the first two holes that kind of link up the town the hotel the clubhouse obviously with the rest of the course and then once you leave the second hole the par three second hole which standard for uh of course the

the phrase is almost every hole almost every course has this hole which second hole is the shortest par five in scotland of course deemed by tom watson uh which is really difficult part three that you could ping pong back and forth if you get pin high on and then you turn left you know you kind of cross a little path and you turn left to play the third hole and it's just like whoa like the whole setting changes you're playing up a top along this ridge uh you know for three four five six and then seventh hole so i haven't been back since they moved the seventh hole. It was kind of a little bit more inland on this ridge. They moved it up against this ridge, keeping some vantage points. They lasered everything. It's the same hole, allegedly,

but helped it fit in there with the eighth hole, which is this big drop off back into this corner of the property. Then you play the back nine or nine down the lower ridge and ride the link's land along that series. And it's just hard to describe the symphony. It's just a beautiful mix of hard holes, easy holes. There's elevation change and like, you know, you get some wild stuff. I mean, Rue, are we glazing this place too much? No, no, you just said everything I wanted to say, so that's all good. Yeah, and I know, again, golf's probably lost its way a little bit in Scotland in terms of

perfect playing conditions, but I always find, and this is me geeking out here, but I always find the condition of Dorot to be really nice and, you know, fescue and fast and firm. So, yeah, I think it's just magical. We haven't really spoke about the drive up there, which is not a goal part of the golf experience, but very much part of the experience. And it's that kind of adventure that's said, you know, T.C. You're a man that's adventured far and wide in Scotland, but, you know, on land and by sea. But there's something about that drive from Inverness through the highlands, over the bridges,

and just arriving into this quaint village in the middle of the Scottish highlands, which happens to have a world top five golf course. Yeah, and I think, Soli, your point on seven, for instance, like, A, that sense of anticipation that builds throughout the drive and then you get in and then you know the golf course is out there, but you can't really see it.

And then all of a sudden it just opens up when you kind of duck through after two. And I think just the thought process and the willingness of the club to basically say, if, you know, if we could have initially done this a hundred and however many years ago and built this hole and taken out all this gorse and built this hole on the cliff side, we would have done that. So now we have the wherewithal to do that. Whereas I think so many courses in the United States get, get so stuck in, well, no, like, this is how they designed it

in the first place. And this is what we're here. Yeah. And that was always kind of the weakest part of the course. It's a cool hole. And, Now, likewise, I haven't been back since they redid that, but the willingness to constantly improve. And then not only that, that also opened up, you know, putting a better T-box in on eight and making that whole more coherent for, you know, having longer hitters have to really earn getting down the hill on eight. You know, that's just a really like, just speed and really all the stuff that they're planning to do here in the near future, too, with the struy course and bringing in King Collins and Dormer.

And, you know, there's just kind of making it in like, obviously, new clubhouse too. That's probably the one thing that they, that they haven't gotten right. It's probably one of the ugliest clubhouses in golf up there with West Lanks and a few other places. Hey, let's take a shout of my West Lanks, guys. No, that's part of the charm, though. I know. You know, if it'll be coming after you with that. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. No, but I think it's, you know, it's truly like, because the Struy is always, like, I've never actually played the Struy before. And it sounds like, you know, turning maybe a strength or, you know, just kind of the B-side course into a, you know, turning a weakness into a strength is awesome. Yeah. And you know, we, I think we've sold Dornock collectively there at the championship course. What is cool, the golf club and their various committees are at the forefront of evolution and, and like you said to the point about the seventh hole looking to sort of tweak things without losing tradition

and you know one initiative I feel that they've done really well better than any golf course in Scotland golf club in Scotland is they have a sense of community aspect and every you know not every pound but a portion of your pound that is spent there goes into the community serving you know it's a very fragile rural part of the world and the amount of young people that are working there they've got the golf college also nearby and a lot of people from there work there in the

summertime so um you know it's a they do a great without without the golf course dorlic doesn't really thrive the way it does and they they've appreciate that and they understand that and they they try and contribute what they can to the town and the people and it's a better place for it hits a little different too when you when you when you i guess like the service level and the excitement level of everybody else makes you that much more jazzed up when when you understand the impact golf tourism has on the region and like they get so excited you're there which enhances your experience and they don't it's not the american way of doing it which is like kissing your ass expecting a tip like people are just pleasant like super pleasant and excited you're there

and happy to share off their part of the world so yeah and so i think like even just like you play on that low part like like you know randy got the shanks there on that part and all that. It's reading from the book of yardage. One of the best stretches of golf in the world for me. He's hitting bump and hybrids to avoid hitting the shakes. Yeah. And there's just, you know, the way that all the holes, the different directions they go down,

it's just really creative. And then you get to 14. And like, that was one of the true spots in my golf life that I'm like, holy shit, this hole is different. Like, there's no bunkers. And it's just the strategy of it is, is. incredible. And then, you know, 15, 16, you kind of go up that, you know, up that ridge line. And then, you know, 17 dips back down. And then 18 is like, you've got just this grand

magical scale that, you know, it's just a long, long par four with like a massive green. And you're just like, man, this is, this is all the ingredients rolled into one. You've got, but I think like that that progression from three, four, five, six of like getting, you know, progressively more difficult and just, yeah, and then six is, I think six is like a probably, you know, one hand, like top top five favorite part three is and all of golf. It's, it's that good. And just built on a little shelf into this hill. It's such a exacting shot you've got to hit or you're going to be having a bad, bad, bad time. Awesome. some pop bunkers. I think in that torso, it's like three of us birdied that hole,

which was like one of the more rare feats. I think you would, you would ever have on that one. But it's just, it's, I don't know, man, it just looks so natural. It looks like that, this place was just boring to be golf. I love the fifth hole, too, a short par four in the right wind could be driveable, but there's three little pop bunkers. You got to negotiate and deal with at some point. If you drive it to 50 yards, I don't know how you get around those pop bunkers, but your brain's just working overload. We honestly don't need to to spend all the time on Dornick, if you're going to this region, you're going to play it. But the amount of time we did spend on it was to say, go to the Highlands, go play golf here,

go set out to see this golf course in your life because it is that good. Coming from a couple, a few guys that have seen a lot of the top golf course in the world to definitively state how high it sits on the list, I hope is enough of an endorsement. And then we're going to have a lot more, both for our electricity, just blinked a little bit out of their TC. we'll have a lot more here that'll make your trip worth it. But so tier one must play. No questions asked. Base your trip around these courses.

Do not miss them. Dornick is in there for all three of us. Just going to assume that anything else make tier one in the highlands for either of you. Raise your hand if so. Oh, he's doing it. Oh, look, he's doing it. I'm doing it. I think if you're in the highland, it's only, what, 20, 25 minutes north.

I got to go to Brora. It's just, because everything we've talked about, it's just a perfect, it's a B-side court, or it was a B-side course, but to me, it's like, I think of that course just as much as I think of Dornick. And it kind of, between that and Ely, those two kind of introduced me to James Braid. And every James Braid course I've played since then has just knocked my socks off and been awesome. And I think the other thing that sets the highlands apart, and you get this in other areas. is of Scotland, but you get it just more, um, you know, just stronger up there is the people. And there's just a certain sense of like, you know, they truly appreciate you making the trip to come up there and everything. And nowhere have I gotten that more, uh, strongly than

at Rora with Malcolm, the head pro and just generally speaking, the members there and everything. Everybody's just like, man, like that, like thank you. And it's, yeah, it's awesome. And the course itself is just it's everything i love about scottish golf of like you throw the you throw the yardage out the window you throw the par out the window and you're just like how do i get the ball in the hole on this hole and you got all these par fours that range from you know two 250 to you know 45 and it's like you kind of it's like ely you never really like i'm not sure even what the par is at aurora and i don't really care. You just get out there and you're, it's just proper golf linksland and part threes are awesome. And it goes, you go all the way out to this, you know, far end on, what is that nine green

out there? And then, you know, 10T. And you feel like you're playing like up to the northern tip of Scotland almost. And like that's, and then looking back at the town, or, you know, at just the whole course laid out in front of you on the way back is just, it's such a. that to me is like why I go to the highlands like Dornick for the golf course and then me for like that just standing on that ninth green 10th tee out there and being like holy shit

like I'm at the edge of the world right now yeah I actually make a point to tell everyone that goes to Royal Dornock that you're not doing it right unless you go to Brora and the matter of people that miss it blows my mind but I do agree it's changing there's more and more people going up there and I think you guys mentioned it

you know I wrote about Brora and their decision to, you know, remove the livestock. And I think you were fair, just to remind people. For, yeah, remind people of this, there was, there's roaming livestock around the course, including cows, Highland cows, and sheep. So there was electric fences around, as part of kind of, I don't want to say it was a bit of a novelty, but part of what attracted people there was like sheep roaming around the courses and these little tiny electric fences that border the greens to keep the sheep off the greens

was what it was known for for quite. some time but some changes have taken place there route yeah well from you know people that played it in the last couple of weeks they're still there and so that's that's being worked through at the moment but and certainly for the majority of people that I speak to that's a huge part of the experience there and yes it's a member's golf course and it's their proletive to to do what they want to choose to do and I think I state that and you guys have mentioned that but and I do wonder you know what

what the end result of that is? Is it a case of just climbing up a few spots in some ranking? Does it lose a little bit of what, again, what the outsiders love about it? You know, again, it's a member's golf course, but that was certainly my thoughts there. And I think that is part from my experiences there

is a huge part of it. Yeah, I think that, I don't know, I'm torn there. I think that if, you know, like I know the greenkeeper, he said, hey, I've taken this place as far as I can take it in the current iteration. also like, hey, if they do have, it doesn't seem like as it's as wrapped up in rankings as it is just certain stuff that they want to do with bunkers here or there or making it the best

version of itself. And I know there's some, you know, some sacrifice there. But I think at it's hard, it's a golf course. Right. And, and, and I think, you know, how do you fully extract the golf course from this? And, you know, I have no problem with them trying to, you know, make it fully realized on that on that note and just you know even from a from a green from a greenskeeping perspective like I you know I could see how frustrating that would be as well to constantly be cleaning up you know cow and sheep shit and and and and hoofmarks and all of that stuff so you know I have I have no issue with it and I applaud that like it's it's a difficult decision right and I applaud them for probably doing the unpopular thing, right?

So, Sally, I think we're kind of burying the lead here, too. You've, you know, this is, you know, nobody was going to ask you about it, but, you know. Oh, no. You have a very personal. No, yeah. I mean, a lot of people ask me about it. I'm kind of sick of talking about it. But, yeah, I made a whole in one at Aurora.

It's just, it's not that big of a deal, you know, there's nothing that much special about it. It was nice little easy driver. over the hill 334 yards on the 14th hole and it went in like I you know I think people have heard that story I don't think we need to keep reliving it little downwind little off the left um you know look for the ball for quite some time couldn't I don't think we need to talk about it you know one of the only my first hole in one of my life um you know I kind of ruined it a couple years later by making a hole in one on a par three I wanted to you know only ever have a hole in one on a par four no we don't we don't talk we don't let's move off we don't have talk about it but I honestly

TC, I'm glad you put this tier one. I don't, I still don't know where I'm going. It's like tier one and a half for me because like by, like you, there's no way you should miss it if you go to Dordock. There's no way. So by that, that answers it. So it should go to tier one. It also doesn't feel right that it's on the same level as Dornick, right?

Because you do go to the region to play Dornick. I don't know if Brora has the full gravitas to pull people in as a, base yourself here for this golf course, right? So I made the tiers. And so I shouldn't be in this problem. And I hate that I've walked myself into this problem. But I got to pull like a, if you are going to this region, you can't miss it. I'm not asking you to base your trip around it.

But I'm making an exception here to say tier one. Like if you go here and don't play this. Like it's a step above Castle Stewart and Nairn for me, which are going to be in the next tier. So I got to put Barora at tier. one and ruin. I'm curious your reaction to that. I don't mind it. I don't mind it.

I like all these. It's subjective, isn't it? It's all our opinion. So everyone that comments is back. We don't care. Obviously we do. We obviously do. Yeah.

I just think like that kind of, you know, two, three, four. Like that's truly when I, you know, like we had done that whole trip. and I think we were delirious by the time we got up there. But then I remember just easing into that round and you're like, oh, man, like, this is different. This is, this is similar to Ely. And then I know much about it. And then you get out to like five and six and like there's these streams that kind of run through. And there's just, man, there's just really like the way that it uses those streams, like 13.

One of the most kind of pastoral, peaceful settings for a par three I've ever seen before of just this winding streaming every time every time i play that hole i'm like man this is this like just take take a minute there's a little bench there and you're just looking back northern i'm like man just just this is this is about as good as it gets and it's kind of a little reminder of like because 10 11 12 you're heading back you know south or southwest there and then 13 kind of just you know you take a little detour back back to the northeast there and it's like oh man like you get you get to look back out at the mountains and all of that and then you know and then 14 14 15 then 16 17 are like you know kind of awkward interesting holes and then 18's like a

ball buster par three straight up to crazy which which is wild too so just it's got everything i love in a golf course and all in a pretty tight package of you know like what is it like 62 6300 yards and and you know anybody can play it and you're probably not going to lose a golf ball folks dj pie here quick break in the conversation to let you know that no laying up is brought to you by a fan duel whether you're dial into every shot or just following the action on the weekend fan duel keeps you locked into the pj tour action all week long because all customers get a profit boost every third and fourth round of this week's tournament use your boost on anything from closest to the pin to outright winners top 20s all kinds of different things plus you can stack those bets to make a parlay and if that wasn't enough you can also track your favorite golfers in the app with live leaderboards. You got player shot tracking. TC can follow his favorite players even after they get dropped from coverage. That's always helpful.

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Fandual official betting operator of the PGA tour. It's a delight. It's it's something you're worth seeing in your life. And it just because, you know, if the, if the electric fences end up going away and it becomes less of that novelty does not mean it's not worth seeing, I get the attraction level of a certain level of tourists of those things in particular. Honestly, I was one, I was, I was told about this place.

You've got to see it, the sheep room everywhere. And like that brought me there, which I'm glad it did bring people there and does bring people there because the experience once you're there is different than what's advertised. It's not just a novelty. it is truly one of like a very, very, very memorable golf experience that you're going to have. And, Sally, I would say, too, like just another thing about tier one is like a lot of the people, I would say 75% of the people listening to this are probably above a five or six handicap. Like, it's not going to kick your teeth in.

Like, you're like, Dornick's a very hard golf course. And this, this is every reason why you come to Scotland. And you don't have to worry about like, where's my ball? You can just kind of lock in on like walking around with your head up instead of having to lock into the round and feeling like you're white knuckling in a little bit. And I think if we could, you know, explain if Karnusti was 20 to 25 minutes north of Dornick, I think it would be tier one in this region for me. That being tier two and Fife was more of a, the volume of what is right at Fife. other options, other variety options within that region, I think is, if you listen to this and say, how is Brora Tier 1 and Karnusti is not?

It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's not a ranking of the courses. It's relative for the region of how you should go about planning your trip is how I would describe that. So that's my opinion on that, or my opinion. Uh, let's get down to tier two then. Uh, we again, define as a series of courses to select from cannot go wrong, going to have a great time. If you don't play all of them, not the end of the world.

On this one, Rue, what are your, what are, you can just go through your list first of what's in tier two. Then we can kind of break it out by course and T.C. I'll go to you next. Yeah, well, it's about the time we gave Cabot Highlands, formerly Castle Stewart, some flowers here. Because I personally have them to thank for my, you know, path in the industry. And how I got into it, I actually, my first kind of role in the kind of social media world was actually working at the 2016, Scottish Open won by our countryman, TC, Alex Noren. so that was how i got eventually working for the deeping world tour um so but what that um that particular place has achieved in the last few years is obviously the addition of the second golf course uh old petty as well so um and they've got lodging coming online as part of the cabot group um for

2027 i believe um so that is um a different experience altogether you know you're the chance to stay at a resort play two incredible 18-hole golf courses. I think Mark Parson is a man who I didn't get to know, but obviously he was responsible for Kings Barnes and then on to Castle Stewart, sadly, you know, left us too soon, but left his mark on Scotland and some of the modern golf courses, Lynx golf courses that were built here. And for whatever reason, Castle Stewart, the original 18 there,

never gets the credit. It never, for me, again, if you're not, Looking at world rankings, it always seems to rank a little bit lower than some of its counterparts as their modern links courses in Scotland. But I love it. I think it's great. And the sense of, you know, playing golf on holiday, having fun, finding your ball, hitting off short turf, huge playing corridors, great views. A lot of what I love about Lynx Golf in Scotland is the views and the creativity that that golf course allows you to have using slow.

and not having to carry the ball through the air a whole lot. I think it's an incredible golf course. And by all accounts, the second golf course, which is the Tom Doak one, which is coming online for preview play in August, is, you know, the reports there is, I think it's going to surprise people. Clyde Johnston was the lead associate there for Tom Dock. And he's a man that everyone is bullish on as one of Tom's disciples. So I think everyone's pretty.

and yeah pretty excited about that i couldn't agree more ru on like i i would if you gave me 10 rounds between castle stewart and kings barns i'm going like 9-1 castle stewart 8 too yeah our feedback was a little harshish i think on kings barns for a variety of reasons you know we we've said like i don't think it's a modern like american style links uh kind of right outside of st andrews the offerings of why i think you should go to st andrews the differing offerings are are why you would make the trip there is not to play kings barns in my opinion i think it if you see some of the really cool or lower different level stuff that's old and kind of makes what scottish golf is special then you can kind of reach that conclusion yet i don't feel

the same way about castle stewart and i'm honestly i don't know if i can describe why the the short reason a version would just be like it just it doesn't if you told me it was an old golf course i believe you and understand it. It doesn't feel especially modern. It feels like it's, you know, trying to blend in very naturally with the surroundings and not be eye candy. It's, it's the elements, all the elements of links golf that I love are there in present and strive there. Like they, they, it's, it's really, really, really impressive. I've played it three times, I think. And I, I think about that place a lot. And usually we're beating the drama like, go see the old stuff, go see the old stuff, go see the quirky stuff.

But man, this is a really, really, really good golf course that is a great blend of modern and old school scotter style that I think is definitely worth your patronage. Yeah, I think it's like, like you said, Sally, it feels like it's been there a lot longer than what opened in 2009, I think. It's like it's strategic. I think if you play to a certain side, especially on the back nine, if you play to a certain side of the fairway, you're going to have a look at the green. but it's not going to, like, it's strategic for low handicaps, but it's not going to beat the shit out of high handicaps. I mean, Randy, she got one of his career rounds ever there. Yeah, the front nine runs together a little bit for me,

but the back nine is just like, I don't know, the back nine's like one of my favorite nines in Scotland. It's like all these infinity greens and the way that it frames the, you know, bridges over the firth in the distance, and you got the mountains and the background. It's awesome. Um, yeah, it's like it's, and it's pretty singular too, like it's got a cool clubhouse there and, and, uh, you know, it's always in great shape. You can run balls up. Um, yeah, it's like, I don't know, it's like, it's like, it kind of distills down like every like cool links golf, but then makes it into this modern fun, you know, a package that, you know, almost over indexes on some of that some of that fun stuff. But in, you know, kind of in a way that it's like, all right, like, yeah, this is modern. Like, you know, like, It's taking all the stuff you love and, like, you know, pumping it full of steroids a little bit.

So I think Gilded an awesome job. Yeah. Yeah. And then you summed up well there. And, you know, another thing I think is a huge part of the experience there is the people. And the people there have worked basically from the start. And so, yeah, well over 10 years. And now, you know, finally they're seeing the place come to fruition through, you know, Ben Cowan and the guys at Cabot.

So the same people are still there. They still are proud of, you know, the region they're from and, you know, showcasing that to the North American, typically the North American golfer that comes through. So I'm really pleased with all them. Next up, we're going to move through these just a little quicker than some of the starters on there. But this is the fourth and final course that I've played in this region. So my knowledge is going to end after this one, but definitely goes into tier two for me and a place I think about, I want to play this one once. and I think about this place at a completely outsized rate for where it ranks and kind of where, you know, how many times I've played it.

And that's Naird, which is very close by to Castle Stewart as well, just a little bit farther east. Of course, it was also featured in Taurus sauce. Great. It just seems like a great kind of ham and egg one, two punch between these two courses. I'm like, yeah, you have the modern links course and then you have another old golf course that has some of the weirdest and funest quirks. You know, it's a full-size-length golf course.

not like a miniature golf course, but you have several holes in the front nine that are jammed in where you're teeing off over the previous screen that you just played, you know, some of these back tee boxes and just an unbelievable open start to the golf course along the sea before working back inland a little bit. But I think this is firmly cannot go wrong with getting a game in at Nairn. And then it's it's an awesome, awesome golf course. It's a cool routing to like the way that it just go off. the hill there was that 13 14 great club i mean god uh sharpy and all those guys like i was just i feel like i have lifelong friends at nairn right you know go back in 10 years and i feel like pick up right

where you left off and drink some tenants and then washed down with a kumel in there so just a just a great club and yeah truly gives you that sense too of i think you know if you're a castle steward or even at Dornick a little bit, like you go to, you know, some of these places that, that you get the tour buses out. And I think Nairn, you can truly get that club feel as well. Like, hey, you're, you know, you're going to a distinct member's club here, but in the most welcoming way, if possible. Two things to, to look forward to, or one thing to look forward to a particular one of the coolest halfway houses in golf. Uh, just closed all three times I've been. Seriously? It's, it's off the ninth green, like way out on the,

far end of the property it's an old barn i think i have like 25 pictures in my phone of this place alone every time i've been there it's well i'll correct you so it's it's an old ice house so they used to catch salmon and yeah all sorts of fish out there and store in the ice house um so yeah it's it's a pretty unique building it's so freaking cool it just set in this again one of those places just like i can't believe i'm here right now it's so cool and then i don't know if they they They were very kind to us and let us go to explore the archive room. I assume if you ask somebody inside, if you can get a tour of it, it's worthwhile. You would know nothing of the history of Nairn,

and maybe you don't care about any single detail, but it's very cool to go see and read, like, old, just, again, the history, the depth of the history of just a somewhat random golf course, you know, kind of in Northeast Scotland, of all the old matches, all the, all the medals, all of the stuff in there. It's just such a well-decorated, it's just a great golf room. And we showed some of that off in the Tourist's episode there as well. But if you do make it there, if you can ask someone, hopefully they don't mind me sharing this,

but ask somebody for a quick tour of that, it's definitely well worth your time. Yeah. The only caveat, and this is more a dig at golf clubs like Nairn, is, you know, they have that membership component and they have the visitor component. I'm looking at green fees for 20, 26. I think the green fees have gotten out of control. Yeah. And that's what are they're they're trying to tuck up underneath. What'd you say three 350 pounds?

Yeah. Whoa. Yeah. Now it was the same like I took Zach and Dan there on a trip and like we stopped by. And it was yeah, it definitely feels like, hey, the Dornick like that tier, the top of the pops feels right. And then everybody else just tucks up right underneath. them and we talked about it on one of our previous episodes of like everybody feeling like cost means you know price means it means quality right instead of like value is kind of gone out

the window yeah and you know another thing i would sort of project is if if cool links comes comes off or you know as as king colin's dormers uh work and and courses at darnit comes online you might find that nair is the one that falls off the itinerary um maybe they're just try to cash in now when they can. So I certainly think that that might be the one that people miss out on if they're short. Yeah, it's definitely kind of an outlier, pretty far east, you know, everything. And yeah, you definitely have to, you know, make it a point to get out there and back, especially if you're kind of basing yourself there around Inverness.

Excellent points there. I think, yeah, it's a little harder to enjoy at that price point, I think, you know, You almost kind of, you know, you go in with higher expectations, you know, than if you're going to pay that much for it. But have you played the other one there, Nairn Dunbar? Yeah, near Nenbara, yeah. I mean, certainly that sort of tier three level. But, you know, the previous greenkeeper who I knew a little bit better,

Richard, he's now at Roll Aberdeen, but he did some incredible work there, you know, did a lot of work, basically, a lot of overtime. And that's more your kind of working, you know, members club there than there is the one that, you know, if you're, if you're doing well professionally, you tend to join. Yeah. Do you see anything else in tier two for you? It's, so this is such a tough region for me because, A, like I don't feel like I have the, you know, I've been, I, I don't feel like I've just gone to the ends of the earth to like, like Derness. I've never been to Durness. I've played Gullsby once.

I've never been to Tane somehow, which is embarrassing. I've walked around Fort Rose and Rosemarkey. I've never been to Wic. I've never been to Cove C. I would say I'm tempted to put Boat of Garten into Tier 2, but I think it's probably a Tier 3 of it's just so far out of the way. But it's a truly different experience of like, so I guess that would be kind of the first of the first of the Tier 3

I guess we'll just kick that off is like Boat of Garden is like everything that you know just kind of turns Scottish golf on its head a little bit of it's not links you're up you know you're up in the in the kind of the foothills of the mountains there there's a little steam train

there that you know runs next to kind of the front nine you've got it's a par three opener it's James Braid it's all the stuff that you loved at Ely and at Brora and it's just you know it's just up in the mountains and um just a great piece of land and all those kind of half

par par fours and and uh par fives and i think that um yeah i don't know it's just it's almost like a place that just feels like a fairy tale or it feels like it's just like exists within your imagination of um even the drive up there you know you're kind of going through the the moors and it's just a it's almost a little bit spooky like i went from there to uh i think from there and down to there and then and then over you know kind of across and yeah it's just it takes you into a different part of Scotland that I think a lot of people just kind of drive past on their way from Edinburgh up to up to up to Inverness right it looks like it's about 50 50 minutes from inverness about an hour and a half from Dornick if you're basing yourself there yeah and you know I've

said this before in another podcast but you know typically coming to Scotland you want to play of lynx golf but boat of garter is kind of almost heathland um vast and firm incredible views and it's a nice little break from potentially five six days of being battered by the the wind and the lynx golf so and it's actually quite nicely placed if you're you know around inverness another place worth checking out non-golf um is avie moor which is where you know people tend to holiday certainly i holiday there with my young family beautiful scottes It's pines and the cairngarms and all the sort of walks that you can do there. And then you've got granted on spay, which is another cool spot there for some sort of parkland golf, a bit of respite.

Yeah, Sally, I think you would love boat of garden. I think anybody, just like the way that the fairways, there's more movement in those fairways than just about anywhere I've ever seen. I don't even know if they have par fives. I think it's a par 68. But it's truly one of those places where, like, yeah, you just feel like you're playing these like dope, 340-yard holes over and over and over again. But like going for it's like not the right play either. And it's, you know, but it's probably highly seasonal as well.

Like if you get, if you get it late summer into early fall, it's probably perfect. And it's probably not a place that I'd want to play like late April, you know, with you know kind of softer turf conditions so so that that leads up tier three for you tc but ruud did you have anything else that you would have kept in in tier two for this region again series of courses to select from can't go wrong but you can't play it well we're going to have the old tom morris golf club of tain up in arms because i haven't played there yet either which is an abomination so we need to go play there tc um gold speed is is great i love goals being it would be firmly in my tier two

in that Doric region sort of on the way to Borough so another great non-golf addition here would be Dunrobin Castle which is definitely worth seeing again right near golfs being on the way to Borra so you know for an afternoon

away from the golf course and then my I don't know if we've got any other tier tier two's the other one I was going to throw in you know, sort of a wild card would be Skibeau in the Carnegie Club and T.C., this is definitely your jam.

It's probably one of only half a dozen private clubs in Scotland. I feel like this goes into the renaissance thing. It's like renaissance and what's the one out out on Ardfin? The Ardfin and like, I don't know.

I just don't have a whole lot of desire and it could be it could very well be a you know great golf course but it just doesn't seem like you know I'm more I'm traveling I'm giving up a day at Goldspey or or somewhere like that to go to go yeah well it you played it yeah I've played it and yeah you need to know a member as I said it's one of the few private courses in Scotland it's probably three four miles away from Dorok um so yeah great links course um incredibly private unfortunately but yeah worth worth checking out if you if you know someone it's hard yeah i've not played tain

or goal speed but whenever people ask me for recommendations in the in the highlands regions i've never heard a bad word about either of them uh i don't know if i can rank it above castle stewart or naren uh but does seem like they're worthy members uh kind of in that tier two maybe borderline tier three again haven't seen them so it's really hard for me to rank them but i think it sounds like you you're very unlikely to go wrong with either of those and you might get that's a little off the beaten trail of of a ton of tourists coming by which is a fun part of

a golf experience as well. You don't want to just be seeing tour buses everywhere you go. The Brett Hawstein had a really good piece on the routing at Tane of just how it's, it changes throughout and it gives, you know, it gets you into

kind of different, kind of like a like Formby, Sally of like you get kind of those different you know, vegetations or even Cyprus of like you get those different you get to the forest and then you get kind of the sandy stuff and you get the ocean side stuff so um yeah I apologize to like I think Goldspey's goldspey's really cool I would put Brora a step above it but um you know I'd say Goldspey's probably like that tier two and a half it's kind of like right between two and three

for me so anything else in tier three rue that we have not mentioned so far yeah for Trows and Rose Markey which is unique golf course to say the least it's super cool it's 18 holes on a peninsula you know actually directly opposite Castle Stewart and with a lighthouse at the end of it and yeah just you know probably a case of too many golf holes crammed into a little spit of land

but it makes it fun and unique and yeah certainly it probably won't be from a golf architecture standpoint the most promising golf courses but memorable golf experience absolutely and I know I know I think TC you maybe walked it but you can speak for the yeah I walked kind of the I don't know just like around the outside I had like an hour and so I just kind of popped in and like I think they've gotten duffed by coastal erosion here over the last five or six years I know they've been doing some fundraising and trying to you know it's just yeah like it's it's on this

narrow spit of land that that kind of goes out you know Yeah, it's truly, I mean, we should, we should just pop up like a Google Maps thing on here. But yeah, like the front nine kind of loops around. So I didn't have a great sense of the back nine because it just seemed like, you know, that was just somehow around it within the middle of it and all of that. But there's some really cool holes on the front nine. Yeah. And like I said, well, that was sounding like appropriate record here is when you've got time,

you've got a time and a place to go find these places and you'll definitely enjoy the walk for three hours like it won't it won't probably be the top 10 course you'll play in your life but you'll remember it you'll have a good time doing it yeah i would say that um tain's up there as well on that front of like everybody that i trust that's been there is like oh yeah this is like very proper golf course worth seeing um ru have you played ray ray is on my bucket list um and the they're looking amazing. Ray and Wick would be two on my bucket list.

I have played Durness. Derness is an incredible nine hole course on the far north tip of Scotland. And as you say, it's become a bit of a spot now for hashtag content creators to get up. But yeah, again, it's just if you had AI generate a golf course

in the Highlands of Scotland, they'd create Derness. It's a well worth a drive if somebody's got half a day to get up there and half a day to get back. But yeah. That's firmly in tier four, which is again,

let's get weird. If you've got time, if you're a curious traveler, if you're going off the map, kind of Durness fits into that category for you, Rue. Yeah, Durness, yeah. I mean, I know for a fact, I think Mike Kaiser had to look at,

you know, the sand dunes up there. And next stop is Shetland. so you're right on the north you know north tip of the scottish mainland there so just yeah for people's reference it's it's two hours 51 minute drive from inverness airport all the way up to durness so we're we're really expanding expanding the region and there's not much there's not golf along the way either there's not you're not double dipping that with anything and you well you've got yeah you've got you know wick is it thurso thurzo yeah yeah thurzo you've got

Lybster, which I've never heard anything about that. I think the thing about Dernis is like, I think the thing about Derness is like not only is it so far north, it's so far west as well, of like it's almost, and then you're almost coming down. It's almost like the North Coast 500, you're coming down that other side. And if you've been over to, is it Ola pool? Ola pool, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That looks cool as well. And you can kind of do a big circle and then go through. I got to say it, Bonar Bridge. I'm not sure about that pronunciation. We'll go with your one, though. It sounds a bit more interesting. What we haven't mentioned here is I think it's one of the,

it's probably my favorite golf destination, Scottish Highlands. It is an incredible destination for, you know, a couple's trip. And if you're with a spouse, that doesn't want to, you know, walk every golf course with you. It's a very easy sell to go, let's go to Scottish Highlands. play four or five rounds of golf and we'll go to Sky and we'll do all this other stuff. Yeah. So I see a lot of, I see a lot of kind of young couples going on Scotland.

We're doing, and for Sky and all the other islands, we'll do that as kind of a separate, separate deal. What about Gerlock? Gearlock, Gearlock. Gearlock. Yeah, spectacular. Again, again, a massive drive. But, you know, you'll get rewarded for it.

But yeah, that's certainly for people that are maybe coming back. I'm wanting to thirst for something out so the Jim Hart is on trail That's tier 16 That's where you'll find me next I feel like I have an obligation To cut in here at some point And that sounds like

When we're at the courses That TC can't pronounce Is when I move us towards Rapping this part But Hold on hold on hold on I got two more I got two more

We got a hard out here I know I know But Strathpeffer Strath pepper That was good I haven't played that one Okay

Mure of Old of Ord. Muir of Ord. I haven't played that way either, but now you're on some sort of Castle Trail. Okay. And then I think,

and then Covese is kind of the one that, you know, I don't know whether that's, I think it's west of, of Lossie mouth. So it's kind of, yeah. You know, Covese and Hopeman

are over there and Hartzell's just been in my ear for like the last four years, five years on like T.C. Like, it's unacceptable that you haven't been here before. Yeah. Andy and Angela,

who have single-handedly kept that nine-hole course. Well, they've created it and then they've maintained it. It's the Sweetens Cove of Scotland. And I've said it out live now. So now everyone's going to, you know, flock. It's a, yeah, it's a special place, you know,

created by two special people. So hopefully more and more people can go and see it. Brew, what is the latest with cool links? If I remember right, maybe eight years ago, I think we right around this time of the year. We podcast and we talked about the potential development of cool links which for those that don't know what it is can you give us a brief background and where things stand with that potential development yeah so this this is a site a couple miles north

of dorok and described by you know somebody who knows a thing or two about golf courses as you know one of the best lynx golf sites in the world and and it's been you know fraught with you know a lot of environmental issues and objections and um the first application both applications passed um i should say that it was a mike kaiser backed development it was a bill coer designed golf course and you think about what they those two guys have done with with the lynx inspired golf in their latter end of their careers and what this could be as a bit of a you know walk off in the sunset together um and for them to leave a legacy in Scotland would be pretty special and that's for the people listening to this podcast who understand

those people and if you're non-golfers you don't understand that and people that care for the environment as well and that have built golf in a minimal you know low impact way um so where we are we had a second application and that a local group resurrected the project and believing that it was for social and economic benefit of the town and where we are is you know again that passed local planning and then it was called into the national government and now we wait and as I said to you guys at the start before we press record good things come to those who wait so hopefully we wait a couple more months and then we hear whether or not cool links gets the go ahead i personally know that if it doesn't get the go ahead you know Scotland's lost something incredible

and again it's kind of the ignorance of people that don't play golf to say why do we need another golf course and people listen to this podcast know there's more and more golfers there's more and more people looking to travel to play golf and there's more and more people falling in love with links golf adjacent um golf in the north america thanks to mike kaiser and others so um yeah but no doubt it would be very successful and uh fingers crossed hmm i mean yeah if there if there's 18 month out for doorneck tea times like there's room for demand like the demand is there people will come yeah there's you can keep building them and and we're going to keep coming it seems like something too where it's like man if you get some critical

mask going the train you know the train makes sense and you can get a kind of a shuttle system going from train stations to you know it's like kind of obfuscates the need for rental cars and that sort of thing it just makes everything make more sense up there

Rue would you ever like does it make sense to base yourself in Inverness? Yeah I think yeah I think if you're certainly you know a group of golfers that maybe want to you know go out of a few more nights and stay out late. And yeah, I think, you know, Dorek's, Dorek for me is the choice,

but I could also see, you know, three out of 10 trips, maybe going to Timberness. Because there's a couple of nice new hotels there in Inverness as well. Yeah. Yeah. And then you know, you're very, you know, short drive to Castle Stewart and, you know, other other courses we mentioned. So I can see, you can see both arguments. Yeah. And then, you know, you mentioned about the economic impact, you know, the Struy and the Dornock second course, third course coming online as well. Yeah, I'd be putting some chips

on the, the Dordock Highland region, for sure. Yeah, and then from a train perspective, I've always looked at like, because that's kind of like the, that's that like Harry Potter train, right? Kind of around that area, you can kind of take it from there

and do the kind of the Highland. The Harry Potter train, yeah. Yeah, so that's become a tourist attraction for sure. So that's the Glenn Finnic Viaduct, which is more on the west coast of Scotland. But, yeah, you can get access to that from Inverness. Unfortunately, the railway line connectivity, kind of, you know, without getting too political stops, is when you get to Scotland or Edinburgh. It doesn't go too much further north than Edinburgh, but you'll get the odd trade.

Yeah. And then, Sally, your question from earlier, like, this seems like the best region in Scotland to book the trip yourself. what you know or I think the islands and then this of like it seems like especially if if you're one that wants to plan the trip and you want to get weird like this this is this is it for you know I think you'll probably have to get ahead of it with with a Dornick um but otherwise you know I think the rest of them you know you're probably in a pretty good place to like you know you're just sending emails and booking online and calling the club and it's you know it's it's it's it's it's probably the best of like, you know, it almost feels like going back to before things were overrun down in Fife or East Lothian, you know. 100%. I think it, you know, if you're that far in advance too with Dornick, I think you're going to be able to get in slots with the other courses that we mentioned here and build out a quite

nice itinerary. So, all right, that is going to move us to wrap. This is the third of this series. We'll be back somewhat soon. I think we're going to get to the Aberdeen area. We've got to get, you know, to the Ayrshire area. We got to get islands. We got a lot to do. A lot. to do and a lot more regions to cover but rue we really appreciate your time and efforts enjoy your drive to macra hannish uh and uh 36 holes you have ahead tomorrow we're we're envious of that and we'll cover that in a future episode as well so appreciate your time buddy okay cheers guys must be 21 and over in present in select states and 18 and over in dc kentucky and wyoming opt-in required bonus issued as non-withdrawable profit boost tokens restrictions apply

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