Brora Golf Club played on 29 August, 2020

On our way from Wick in the north, towards our next B&B around 100 miles to the south, there are loads of golf courses. We were recommended to go and play a course with the name of Brora. A club established in 1891 and the course designed by (then again) the famous James Braid.

Our original idea was to play Royal Dornoch, a more famous golf course in the area than Brora, but on our way, we were recommended to rather play Brora. The argument was that Brora was as good a course as Royal Dornoch and you could play it for half the price. So we did.

And we were not disappointed.

A real links course and a very friendly staff and nice chats with other players after the round. Learning about the local area, the best whisky and closest distillery – plus a lot more about life and death in the Scottish highland

And again we found the clubs proudness of their course and the history of the club displayed in the club house.

It is easy to see why so many courses were built on links land.

It didn’t require a lot of earth moving and the land was normally given to the members more or less for free.

And – again – playing these courses is very different from inland courses. It is an other kind of golf.

Here the fairways and greens are firm. Even with a lot of backspin you cannot stop the ball on the green and you can gain a good distance hitting it low from the tee. That is, if you avoid the bunkers. The high flying big hitters are not gaining the same advances on the links, that they are on the modern park courses compared to the more ordinary golfers.

What amazed me the most when looking at pictures like the one above, is not just the difference in equipment, but also the dress code.

The length of the courses fitted the golf clubs and the balls. Old courses like Brora is (even today) about 1 km shorter than the more modern courses. That is one thing, but today golfers are dressed in special made flexible golf clothing, where in the old days golfers was playing wearing a jacket and tie.

Facts about the golf course

Par is 70. From red 71. Course rating 70. Slope from back tee 118. From red 120.

Course record

Pro: 62, David Sanderson. Amateur: 69, L. MacKay

My game

The weather was great though with a good deal of wind and that you could see on the scorecard. 48 stroke out and 37 strokes in. You can guess on which half the wind favored my tee shots.

Evaluation of Brora golf course