At the start of April, the NCG Top 100s Tour visited the Highlands, and it proved that Inverness is a great base for your golf trip to the north of Scotland.
Our players took to four amazing golf courses, all with different charms and challenges. Better still, they enjoyed some glorious sunshine across the week.
With all four venues within 30 minutes of the centre of Inverness, it made me think about just how good a base for a golf trip the capital of the Highlands is.
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The golf: one of the best regions in the UK
The Scottish Highlands offers world-famous links courses – but move inland, and you’ll also find wonderful moorland and parkland courses too.
You might even find the odd course that has a great mixture, offering you a little bit of everything through an 18-hole round.
East & South
To the east of Inverness, within a 30-minute stretch along the coast, there are three great options, including two championship-hosting layouts.
Our players tackled both of those championship courses over the course of the Highlands Swing on the NCG Top 100s Tour.
The Championship Course at Nairn – host to the 1999 Walker Cup – was the first of these. With a fresh wind coming in off the Moray Firth, it was a challenging start for our players.
As you play along the coastline on the front nine, you can’t help but be captivated by the wonderful views over towards Cromarty on the other side of the water.
Old Tom Morris, James Braid and the partnership of Mackenzie and Ebert have all had a hand in designing and adapting the course over its long and storied history, one which saw Team GB&I win the Walker Cup – with many a famous face among our ranks – shortly before the turn of the millennium.
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The glorious coastal venue is also home to the Cameron Course – a wonderful little 9-holer, which can be played in as little as an hour. The Cameron also provides one of the best views on the property, looking down from the 5th and 8th tees, over the Championship Course and out to sea.
Just over a mile to the east of the town sits what is, without doubt, an underappreciated gem of a golf course.
Nairn Dunbar might not have the popularity and fame of its cross-town sibling, but it is a cracking golf course in its own right and one you should definitely play if you have the chance. It is an 18-hole layout that has a little bit of everything. It begins as a woodland layout, before opening up to offer up a view of gorse and bracken. Then, later on, you find you are playing links golf as you come down the closing stretch.
Moving closer to the city of Inverness, you come across the other championship venue in this part of the world – the glorious Castle Stuart Links at Cabot Highlands.
The course sits right on the coast, and played host to four editions of the Scottish Open over a six-year period from 2011 to 2016. Luke Donald and Phil Mickelson were among the winners at Castle Stuart. Recently rebranded, and now part of the Cabot portfolio, expect incredible golf in a picture-perfect setting – but don’t expect a calm day when it comes to the breeze.
Look further south, within an hour down the A9, and you’ll come to three cracking inland layouts – all of which are within a short drive of each other.
The Spey Valley Course at the MacDonald Aviemore Resort is one of those, a proper test through Scottish pines and around the River Spey.
The course, designed by former Ryder Cup star Dave Thomas, only dates back to 2006. However, it has hosted the European Challenge Tour on ten occasions, showing its pedigree as a championship offering. The River Spey comes into play at several points during a round, while the mountains of the Cairngorms National Park form a sensational backdrop.
A few miles down the road sits Boat of Garten. It is rather small in comparison to Spey Valley when it comes to length – only just reaching 5,800 yards. However, as a James Braid design, you know that it is going to challenge you all the way round.
Drive another ten miles south down the A9 and, still within an hour of Inverness, you’ll come across Grantown-on-Spey. Like Nairn Dunbar, it has its various sections, mixing in both woodland and parkland holes to create a cracking 18-hole layout. Again, like its neighbours, it is overlooked by the Cairngorms National Park.
And don’t forget, there is also a fine course in the heart of the city. Inverness Golf Club is just a few minutes from the city centre by car, and is an undulating parkland layout. It might not be mentioned in the same breath as some of the other courses in the area, but it’s well worth a visit.
North
If you travel north from Inverness, over the Moray Firth via the Kessock Bridge on the A9, the amazing golf just keeps on coming.
Fortrose & Rosemarkie is the first venue that you will come to, within 20 minutes of the city centre. Along with Nairn, Nairn Dunbar and Cabot, F&R was the final venue on the Highlands Swing on the NCG Top 100s Tour in 2025.
The course sits on the Chanonry Peninsula, surrounded by water on three sides. It also means that it is open and at the mercy of the elements. The front nine loops around the back nine, with the natural water hazard of the Moray Firth coming into play on most holes on the opening half of the course. In the spring, like at Nairn Dunbar, the gorse is in full bloom. That makes the course look even more sublime, with yellow as far as the eye can see. However, it can cause you a few problems if you stray offline with your tee shots.
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The next venue you will come to if you keep driving north is Tain – another course that has featured on the NCG Top 100s Tour before. It sits on the coast of the Dornoch Firth, and was originally designed by the great Old Tom Morris, with 11 of those holes still in play today.
If you’re a fan of quirky little 9-holers, then Portmahomack will be right up your street. ‘Tarbat’ as it is also known, sits slightly inland from the coast, but offers views of the Moray Firth throughout a round. Make sure to play it twice so you can correct any mistake from the first nine.
The Carnegie Club at Skibo Castle is the most private of all the venues in this part of Scotland. It was brought to the public’s attention in 2000, and not because of its golf. Instead, it was in the public eye because it was the location of Madonna and Guy Ritchie’s wedding.
Nowadays, it is a venue, and golf course, that likes to stay hidden away from most. Carnegie’s golf course at Skibo Castle was one of the earliest examples of a private golf course associated with a grand estate, and it has remained that way ever since. The course was initially designed by Donald Steel in the 1990s and has since been extensively improved by Tom Mackenzie and David Thompson. You either need connections or money to get a tee time at Skibo Castle, but if you ever get the chance to play be sure to take it.
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Another venue where the omnivorous gorse is in full bloom at this time of year is Royal Dornoch, and its unbelievable Championship Course.
It is a course that is highly regarded, and it is a venue that might even have hosted an Open Championship was it not so far north. Dornoch’s defences are largely based around the greens. It is not the longest of courses, there are few blind shots and the landing areas are relatively generous from the tee. The difficulties are much more subtle than that.
The venue is also the home to the Struie Course, which is a great second layout. Currently playing off a shorter layout due to the ongoing work on the new clubhouse, the Struie is soon to be extended and improved, the next big job on the list following the completion of the clubhouse.
Pushing towards an hour away from Inverness, you’ll find Golspie – which offers a wonderful mixture of links golf, parkland golf and heathland golf.
And then finally, you’ll get to Brora. Once again, the views from the 1st tee are spectacular, and the opening hole is drivable as well, so it is an exciting start to the round.
RELATED – NCG Top 100s: Scottish Highlands
The city itself, and the history and heritage
Inverness is known as ‘the gateway to the Highlands’ and there is plenty to see and do away from the golf course in the Highlands capital.
Starting with accommodation, there are plenty of great options. We stayed at the Kingsmills Hotel for the week, a four-star option which offers up wonderful dining, and glorious comfort.
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There are two parts to the hotel, with the main building and the spa building on opposite sides of the car park. Both have rooms, with the main building playing host to the meeting rooms, dining areas and the bar.
All of the rooms are beautifully furnished, while the bar and restaurant provide the perfect place to unwind and relax after a hard day in meetings – or on the golf course.
Throw in that the rooms on the eastern side of the Kingsclub & Spa – on the opposite side of the car park – have a view overlooking the 10th green of Inverness Golf Club, and you’re on to a winner.
CHECK OUT: The Kingsmills Hotel website
If you want to move slightly outside the city, you’ve got the likes of the Golf View Hotel & Spa, which is only a few hundred yards from the entrance to Nairn Golf Club. There’s also the Culloden House Hotel, the Loch Ness Country House Hotel and plenty others for a luxurious stay.
Meanwhile, if it’s all about the golf, there is also a wide variety of budget hotels where you can rest your head at night, with Premier Inns, Travelodges and more around the city.
If you want other sports, then there is plenty to do in Inverness. Inverness Caledonian Thistle is the main football team, having played in the Scottish Premiership as recently as 2016. There is also shinty – which you may well know thanks to Robert MacIntyre, who has spoken about his love the game alongside golf. The City of Inverness Highlands Games – which features the caber toss, keg toss and hammer throw – also takes place every year in the region.
When it comes to culture, Inverness also has that in droves as well. The Eden Court Theatre is the main music and theatre venue in the city, whilst also housing two cinema screens as well. Inverness Castle and Inverness Cathedral are both open to the public, with the former having recently undergone significant renovations.
Now have your say on Inverness and the Scottish Highlands
Have you ever taken the long trip north and stayed in the Scottish Highlands? Did you play golf during your time in Inverness and enjoy the likes of Nairn, Cabot Highlands, Royal Dornoch and more? Let us know your thoughts by tagging us on X, formerly Twitter!
