The Moray Firth Is Already One Of The Best Places To Play Golf In Scotland, But There's A Lot Going On At Cabot Highlands And Elsewhere Right Now...

Much is afoot on the golfing front in the north of Scotland. The second Trump course at Aberdeen is under construction; the prospect of a course at Coul Links just north of Dornoch rumbles on, with the Highland Council voting in favour of a revised planning application in December 2023; and Royal Dornoch broke ground on its ambitious £13.9 clubhouse project the same month.

The Moray Firth midway between Aberdeen and Dornoch has been busy, too, with Cabot Highlands (née Castle Stuart), Nairn, Spey Bay and Fortrose and Rosemarkie all catching my eye for various reasons. Some queried my wisdom when I decided to head up there in January 2024 but not Golf Monthly photographer, Kevin Murray, who was very much up for it when I found an unbelievable BA flight and car hire deal.

Nevertheless, when Fortrose and Rosemarkie posted photos of the links under snow with ten days to go, I anxiously emailed manager, Mike MacDonald. “No problem,” he replied. “I just played 18 holes with some mates. Round in 63 in two hours 35 minutes.” I’m not sure what was more incredible – the disappearing snow, his score or that round time!

Suitably reassured, we flew up on January 29 and made straight for Nairn Golf Club. It had been a while since my last visit and I was keen to see the Mackenzie and Ebert changes for myself, including the repositioning and remodelling of the 1st, 7th and 14th greens, with those first two now closer to the shore as the links forges out west along the Firth. Green surrounds have been redesigned to allow more scope for my favoured chip-and-run, while bunkers have also been redesigned and natural open sand areas introduced in places.

I was suitably impressed on a bitterly cold day that saw the 397-yard 13th, as the links deviates briefly inland, demand a Sunday best hybrid to just scrape home. After a scrappy front nine, I steadied the ship coming home, perhaps fortified by our midway stop at The Bothy to warm the outer man by the stove and the inner via a Tomatin single malt miniature! Surely one of golf’s finest halfway huts.

I knew big things were happening 35 miles east at Spey Bay, which I’ve not played, but had no idea of the scale. The place was a hive of activity despite torrential rain and 65mph winds that almost ripped the car door off its hinges as we stopped for a chat with general manager, Bert Mackay. Thankfully, a brief lull allowed Kevin to get the drone up to capture some of the work going on under the guidance of architect firm, Clayton DeVries Pont.

The course had had little investment over the years until Links, a concept that offers members access to 400+ top courses worldwide, bought it last May. Mackay arrived in July and huge strides have already been taken towards the ultimate goal of a reversible links, which will be played clockwise some days and anti-clockwise others, requiring a couple of extra greens and some new tees.

“The overall plan is to remove about 14.5 acres of gorse as it had become very invasive,” Mackay tells me. “On some holes you could have been 150 yards from the sea and not been able to see anything. So we’re widening out the fairways and the surrounds to take full advantage of being so close to the sea.”

The five and half acres of gorse already removed were piled high in the yard awaiting disposal, with some 68,000 tons of sand used so far to backfill the scarring. I look forward to returning to play both routings when work is complete.

At Cabot Highlands, general manager Stuart McColm tells me 36 holes and accommodation were actually the plan right from the start. When Cabot took over in July 2022, it rebranded to Cabot Highlands but retained the Castle Stuart name in the existing links.

The second course, now well underway, will be a Tom Doak links (christened 'Old Petty') with six holes closer to the existing course and 12 the other side of the bay. “We broke ground in April 2023 with 28 conditions of planning, not least of which the wintering birds that come into the bay,” McColm tells me. “There’s an embargo between October 1 and April 1 and we can't do any work then.” Nor will golf be allowed during those months, although the existing course has always closed over winter too.

One intriguing element is that the 1st hole criss-crosses the 18th on land where the driving range used to be. Another is the 16th hole, which plays over a reed bed at the top end of the bay, with a boardwalk transporting golfers across. Several holes are already shaped and some seeded, with the current plan a soft opening in summer 2025 to  coincide with the 400-year anniversary of the castle itself. As we depart, Stuart kindly gives us both a lovely hand-drawn plan of the new course printed on firm board, which thankfully made it home intact in my golf club flight bag.

Almost opposite Castle Stuart lies the unique links at Fortrose and Rosemarkie. It occupies most of a slender peninsula, with the excellent par-3 5th by the Chanonry lighthouse at the far end taking you from its northern to southern shore. I loved it the first time I played it, so was concerned to get a message from MacDonald telling me the 1st and 2nd holes on the northern shore had suffered considerable damage in Storm Ciaran in October 2023.

Remedial work has begun on over 100 metres of rock armour to protect the 1st and 2nd tees. That work is costing over £92,500 + VAT, over half of which is being funded by the Highland Council and Scottish Water. It doesn’t cover repairs and restoration work to the stretch between those two tees, though, where up to five or six metres have been lost in places, so the club has launched a Go Fund Me campaign that you can find via a dedicated page on its website at fortrosegolfclub.co.uk/coastal-erosion/.

This historic links offers a one-of-a-kind golf experience so I very much hope sufficient can be raised to help protect it from further severe storms. In the meantime, it remains as enjoyable as ever and is somewhere every golfer should play at least once, although if you do, chances are you’ll be irresistibly drawn back again and again.

We had time for two more course visits before flying home, including the nine-holer at Covesea, which I’d not heard of until spotting an enticing photo on Twitter last year. This compact links, both a labour of love and a family affair, deserves to be talked about as much as the millions being spent at Cabot Highlands and Spey Bay.

We chatted to owners, Angela and Andy Burnett, before heading out. They bought the land in 2004, with Andy and his then employees, Greenstaff Services, working hard to create the course while still tending other courses, bowling greens and sports pitches in Aberdeenshire. Covesea opened in April 2010, with Andy and the couple’s boys - Andy Jnr and Miles - looking after the links while Angela welcomes golfers and spreads the word via social media.

With the temperature still in minus figures and the course mostly in the shade, I had to wear five layers – think golf in a straitjacket - but loved it from start to finish. The first four holes play over classic linksland and the final five head up first onto and then along the foot of a high bank. The short 5th plays steeply up to one of the narrowest, most repellent greens (as in it repels balls!) I’ve ever seen. The par-3 7th then plays blind over a huge rock bank - shades of Cullen 30 miles further east.

We popped in there too in weather only the clinically insane would venture out in. I’d played this short, Old Tom Morris gem years ago and if ever a course were ‘once played, never forgotten’, this is it. The sharp climb via the par-3 2nd to the higher ground by the long-lost railway lives long in the memory, as do the holes from 11 to 14 on the lower ground that weave through extraordinary red-rock formations resembling Uluru in miniature.

Despite the weather ruling out any golf, Kevin managed to get the drone up to capture the image here plus many more. If this doesn't stir you into wanting to play Cullen, then I worry for whatever liquid is coursing through your golfing veins. I know it’s a must-revisit for me next time I return to this ‘happening’ stretch of coast.

Firthside House: a perfect base for groups of up to 18

We were extremely fortunate to be offered the chance to stay at Firthside House for the duration, a luxury five-star, exclusive-use rental property a mere par 5 from Nairn Golf Club with which the club hopes to work closely for group bookings.

Built in 1885 by Alexander Ross, who had a big hand in shaping the architecture of Inverness, it offers superb, elevated views of the Firth and has recently been renovated to an extremely high standard, while retaining countless period features such as original fireplaces and leaded glasswork. The snooker room, complete with roaring log fire, saw much action in the evenings!

The property can sleep up to 18 in nine beautifully appointed bedrooms and for 2024 was being offered at the introductory price of £12,000 a week including housekeeping. Three-night breaks are also available at £8,000 starting Thursday and £6,000 starting Monday.

You can find out more at the Firthside House website or by emailing manager@firthsidehouse.com