All You Need to Know About Royal Dornoch Golf Club

The Royal Dornoch Golf Club originates from Dornoch, Sutherland, Scotland. But most of the people just call it “Royal Dornoch.” The golf club consists of two 18 hole courses: the Championship Course and the second one being the Struie Course. The Championship Course is placed on Dornoch Firth and is a links course – one of the oldest golf courses initially developed in Scotland. And it is everything you could imagine – breathtaking, beautiful and green just like the rest of Scotland. Here’s a chance to learn more about the Royal Dornoch Golf Club.

Tournaments Held at Royal Dornoch Golf Club

The Royal Dornoch Golf Club did not host any modern professional tournaments. It welcomed the 1985 British Amateur Championship; besides that, the Royal Dornoch also welcomed the Scottish Amateur tournament on multiple occasions – 1993, 2000, and 2012.

In 2007, the Royal Dornoch’s Championship Course was placed 3rd on the Golf Digest’s Top 100 International courses – outside the United States.

David Brice named the Royal Dornoch’s Championship Course the “king of Scottish links courses.”

The Championship Course was also ranked as the no.1 course on a global level by the online golf reservation service golfscape.

History of Royal Dornoch

In the Dornoch, golf has been played since the early 17th century, circa 1616. But the golf course we know now was established 144 years ago, back in 1877. And it got its royal status 29 years after that, in 1906 by King Edward VII. Thomas Mitchell Morris, or as most people know him by Old Tom Morris, has the design for the Champion Course assigned to his name.

The golf greens keeper was none other than Donald Ross, born in Dornoch, Scotland. So he grew up playing on the Royal Dornoch Golf Club and got his first-ever job there. He served as an apprentice to Old Tom Morris at St Andrew’s, starting his career and gradually learning new golf-related skills like club making, architect, greens keeping and being a golf pro. Not long after his first job, he decided to move to the United States and continue his career there, where he eventually spent most of his life.

A well-known member of the Royal Dornoch Golf Club, Tom Watson, once said that visiting Royal Dornoch Golf Club was the most fun he had while on a golf course. And when a professional golf player with 70 wins says that about a golf course, you can realize why a rich championship history isn’t always needed to catch the attention of golf lovers.