Brora Golf Club Best Guide

Now, here was a very unusual thing. An electrified fence on Brora Golf Club course. Not just one fence mind, but eighteen of them, around every green.

My first thought was that for some insane reason, as if getting the bloody ball onto the green in the first place was hard enough, they wanted to make it even more difficult by making the greens no go areas altogether.

Then I had another thought. Perhaps there was an ancient Scottish law that only allowed you to enter the green from one side, so I walked all the way around without finding an entrance. How curious.

Then, in the midst of my musings, a sheep wandered by.

And then a cow.

It seems that the green keeper of Brora Golf Club and its magnificent fairways is given a helping hand by sheep and cattle that are free to graze on the course, and the fencing is to keep them off those hallowed greens.

And hallowed they certainly are, with plenty of borrows and fast downhill putts to keep you right on your toes.

This is golfing history right here. Just fifty miles north of Inverness, the masterful James Braid laid out this traditional links course in 1923, and Brora Golf Club is still the same track to this day. With the exception of just one hole, the outward nine follows the seashore straight out and then the course comes back along the bordering croft land.

So, you survive the perils of losing your ball in the Moray Firth going out, only to find more out-of-bounds danger lurking all the way down the right, culminating in ‘The Snake’ a tricky par 3 over the windy burn and the mightily devilish 18^th – an uphill par 3 with a 200 yard carry with steep banking on the right protecting the clubhouse.

Brora golf club has it all. Winds off the Firth, tight lies, blind shots, hidden burns and even the gentle aroma from the nearby distillery, a whiff that will have you hankering for a wee dram in the nearby Royal Marine Hotel to probably drown your sorrows..

Brora golf club simply must be a part of your north Highland experience. Just make sure that you remember to step over those electric fences!

The Dornoch Firth Golf Pass

North Highland tourism now offers a Dornoch Firth Golf Pass. The pass offers a 30% discount on 5 rounds at Brora, Golspie, Royal Dornoch’s Championship and Struie courses, and the Old Tom Morris Tain course.