By Neil White
In the late 19th century, Nairn Dunbar was the working people’s alternative to nearby Nairn, where they couldn’t get a game.
Now, the club is at the forefront of change in a sport with a reputation for preserving old-fashioned ideas. It won the Golf Environment Awards in 2023 and now has its first female captain.
Meanwhile, significant and beneficial changes have been made to the golf course.
NOW READ – NCG Top 100s: Nairn Dunbar course page
CHECK OUT – NCG Top 100s: Scotland courses ranking
And the club’s management team is clearly looking for avenues to extend its income, such as advertising banners around its putting green and every flag sponsored by a local business.
I suggested that the one that proclaimed “Friar Tucks” might have been in honour of a rotund, balding visitor from Nottingham, but it was actually advertising a fish and chip shop. This emphasises that Nairn Dunbar is a community club, which was also apparent upon arrival at the clubhouse, where mothers with babies gathered at tables alongside veteran golfers.
It was a special occasion for Mrs W and me because we met up with my boss of 20 years ago and his wife, who are both members.
We went on to have a super day in great company. Aside from the quality of the holes, the key to our potential success was the strength and direction of the wind. We were told it was unusual that it was in our faces on the way out but would be behind us on the way back.
This meant the 400-yard, par-4 opener was more challenging than expected. Bunkers on either side threatened to cause problems, and gorse awaited those offline.
The yellow stuff was in glorious bloom, framing many holes. The difficulty ratchets up on the long, bending par-4 4th down an avenue of gorse. The fork of a thin ditch emerges in the rough on the left. It may seem innocuous, but I found it.
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Champagne arrived on the adjacent 5 which was with the breeze. This is a long par 4 for men but a par 5 for women. Mrs W avoided a trio of sand traps on the left-hand side of the fairway and then hammered the ball into a green, protected by bunkers on either side and a bank on the right. She missed her eagle putt but celebrated a tap-in birdie, and the drinks cabinet was opened.
The 7th is one of the stronger holes. It demands an accurate drive over a sandscape down the right, avoiding going too far into trees on the left. The green is perched on a bank and has tricky undulations. It is followed by a classic par 3 with a trio of half-moon bunkers in front of the target and a grassy dune behind it.
In 1994, three holes were sold to a housing developer, and the proceeds were used to fund a new clubhouse. They were replaced by the current 9th, 10th and 11th, which make up the best sequence on the course. The curving par 4 10th is great fun and has a lovely water feature, complete with St Andrews-style bridges running down the left.
Drives down the right that avoid a fairway bunker will be rewarded with the chance to find a green which runs steeply from back to front. Not for the only time was my hope of birdie denied by a cold putter.
Being close to the sea, the bunker sand at Nairn Dunbar is high quality, but as I found on the 15th, traps can still wreck a rather promising round. My tee shot into this awkward par 3 flew into rough on the left, and my improvised chip was slightly overstruck. It drifted past the flag into a steep-faced pot bunker that is common here.
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I had dreams of salvaging my score on the par 5 16th when my second shot whizzed over the brook that bisects the fairway and landed on the front of the green. Could I nestle my second eagle in a week? Nope. I three-putted.
The 18th is a super finishing hole. It is a risk-and-reward par 5 with a fairway in a dip, out of sight of the clubhouse, before a steep angled rise to the green.
I gambled nothing because I laid up with my second shot but nearly yielded a birdie. Nevertheless, par was a perfectly acceptable finale to a round which had exceeded expectations.
Nairn Dunbar is not only worth a visit to those playing its more illustrious neighbour. It is worth a game in its own right.
About Neil
Neil is a panellist for the NCG Top 100s course rankings.
Listen to his podcast The Golf Pilgrim here.
NCG Top 100s Rankings
Nairn Dunbar is one of several venues in and around Inverness that make it on to the NCG Top 100s: Scotland list, along with the likes of Cabot Highlands and its close neighbour, Nairn.
NOW READ – NCG Top 100s: Nairn Dunbar course page
CHECK OUT – NCG Top 100s: Scotland courses ranking
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